138. How to Get the Most Out of Your Paid Time Off (PTO) in 2026

Ready to turn your vacation days into unforgettable adventures? In this episode, Michele reveals the smartest PTO hacks for 2026—discover exactly which days to request off around holidays to maximize your time off without using up all your vacation days. From extended long weekends to epic holiday breaks, unlock insider tips to make every PTO day count. Plus, Michele shares personal stories and a sneak peek of what’s coming next on Makin’ Memories Travel Co. Your journey to “Extra AF” travel begins here!

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

• 65. The Top July 4th Fireworks Spectacles Across America
• 117. Summer’s Not Over Yet! Last Minute Luxury Travel Getaways You Can Still Book

Connect with Michele on IG: @jetsettingwithmichele or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/MMTinsiders

Contact Michele to plan your next vacation: www.makinmemoriestravel.co/contact, michele@makinmemoriestravel.co, or schedule a 15 minute consult: https://tidycal.com/texasmfs/15-minute-meeting

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Hello jet setters and welcome back to another episode of Jet Setting with me. I am  Michele, your resident wanderlust instigator from Making Memories Travel. Here is a wild stat for the day. Americans leave an average of nearly 20 vacation days unused every single year. That would never happen in like any other country, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, even Mexico. They take siestas like nowhere. We work so hard in this country. So imagine that you are gifting your boss a full month of your well earned freedom.

That is a full month of work days, four weeks of five days each, 20 vacation days. So that never ever sat right with me. So today I am going to help you turn those PTO days into extra AF adventures in 2026. Vacation days are so precious. So let's unlock how to stretch just a few days off into long weekends or epic breaks. Here is your ultimate PTO cheat sheet. Buy Key Holidays because smart planning makes all the difference. So we're going to break it down by season.

Here we go. New Year's Day very obviously holiday is Thursday, January 1st. Request off one PTO day on January 2nd of 2026. I know. Take your PTO right away and you get a sweet four day weekend from January 1st to January 4th to recover from the holiday season where we all burn the candle both ends, we run ragged to see everybody bake all the things, taste all the go to the year end wrap parties, maybe even like travel between Christmas and New Year's where it's chaotic and we talked about travel chaos on the episode about not being a Karen. So take that day, start your year off and get that four day weekend. Next up, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

So the actual holiday is Monday, January 19th. So if you take off Tuesday, January 20th. Again that's just one PTO day. You've got a four day weekend from the 17th to the 20th. Now if you want even more, which why wouldn't you, it's shoulder season, the best time of year to travel. Request January 20th through the 23rd and use four TPO days. But you score an epic nine day break all the way from January 7th to the 25th. And if you've got the winter blues then it is the perfect time to travel.

Because you know travel helps our mental attitude and induces it releases our great endorphins in our mind. We think differently. It's mentally, it's statistically science proven. I have previous episodes on that too. All of those are listed for you in the show notes. But. But if you can't figure out where to go because you have the winter blues, I encourage you to take a Look at episode 117, Summer's Not Over Yet. These are last minute luxury travelway getaways that you can still book.

It gives a lot of great places to go that you can use for Winter's not over quite Yet. Where do I want to go to get some sunshine? Including a great place to do the Martin Luther King tour in Memphis, Tennessee. Okay, next up, President's Day. So we've gotten some time off in January, now it's February and this is going to be the last chance to take a long weekend until we get all the way to the beginning of the summer in May. So do not sleep on President's Day. The holiday is Monday, February 16th. Request off Tuesday the 17th. That's one PTO day and you get a full four day weekend from Valentine's Day of February 14th all the way through the 17th.

Now if you're really ready to take four days off, take four PTO days off between the 17th and the 20th. Then you have time to take a cruise because you've got a nine day getaway all the way from February 14th to the 22nd. And take your Valentine to the Caribbean and get some sunshine by February. You need all the vitamin D you can stomach. It is a great time for a cruise. And if you really want to do Valentine's Day on an adults only cruise, Virgin Voyages usually does special Valentine's Day cruises out of Miami. So I can hook you up for that for sure. Now as I said, it is a long stretch now because remember we're at the beginning of 2026.

We've had off at the end of 2025. We've taken our PTO day to get some time off in January. And now in February we have all the way until May, folks. Not until May. Memorial Day. The holiday is Monday, May 25th. Take that Tuesday. That's one PTO day.

And we've got a four day weekend the 23rd to the 26th. Again, if you want to unlock that nine day vacation getaway, you can use four PTO days and go the 26th to the 29th with take those days as your PTO and then you've unlocked nine days from May 23rd to the 31st. Next up is Juneteenth. Relatively new holiday for all of us. Very exciting. We get a holiday in the beginning of summer. June 19th is the holiday Monday, June 22nd is the PTO day. That gives you a four day quick weekend from the 19th to the 22nd, right as summer is beginning to blossom for us.

Next up, we all know Independence Day. It's hot, hot, hot. We need that extra time off to recover and stay in air conditioning or have a cookout and be by the pool. So the holiday this year, well in 2026 is Saturday. So the observed day for work and federal holidays is going to be July 3rd. So if you take Tuesday, July 2nd, that's just one PTO, you've got a full four day weekend. The second to the fifth. I have episode 65 with the top July 4th fireworks spectacles across America.

Take off just one PTO day. Get a four day weekend and travel to some of these locations and see some unique, unique firework displays. Now again, it's a slog for through the end of July and August. We don't have any holidays. It's hot. So here comes Labor Day, Monday, September 7th. If you take off Tuesday, September 8th, that one PTO day, you've got a nice four day weekend, September 5th to the 8th, dare I say, take two PTO days and take off the Friday before Labor Day and extend it to a five day weekend and you've even got enough for a four day cruise. You know, I love to cruise people now again, all the way to September until, well, I always take time off for October for Halloween, but that's because it's my national holiday and we all know why.

But here we go. It's holiday season already, the end of 2026, and Thanksgiving's always on a Thursday. Some of you may even get Friday, November 27 off without having to take a PTO day. But if you don't, well, you should. How else do you get Black Friday off? And then of course, you need to take Monday for Cyber Monday. I mean, come on. And by this time, why not just throw it all in? Take four PTO days. If you have kids still in school, they get off that whole week, so why shouldn't you? And then you get a dreamy nine day escape from November 21st to 29th, allowing you to spend Thanksgiving wherever in the world you want to.

And then we get back down to it a year from now, Christmas and New Year 2027. So Christmas Day is on a Friday, December 25, and that makes New Year's is also on a Friday, January 21st. So if you request off four PTO days between Monday, December 28th through Thursday, December 31st, you've got a glorious 12 day vacation from December 25th all the way through January 5th. And you know what that means? It means that you can get out of the holiday chaos at home or at the source or really anywhere between Christmas and New Year's. December 25th to January 5th is a beautiful time to take vacation. And I know I can hear you all saying, but  Michele, you're the one that doesn't want us to be Karen's and traveling on December 25th is a nightmare. Actually, traveling on Wednesday, December 23rd is going to be a nightmare. And Thursday, Friday, December 24th is going to be a nightmare.

Friday, December 25th, a great time to be traveling overseas because your flight will be at night. You will travel across the ocean on an overnight flight, you will land and you can spend New Year's in a new country. It's fabulous. Or you could do what I did this year for the holidays. Thanksgiving we spent at Mickey's very Merry Christmas party and Merry Grinchmas at Universal. We went there the whole week of Thanksgiving. Yes, it got crowded for the holiday, but then on Thursday and Friday, we didn't go into the parks. We went earlier in the week.

And then Thursday and Friday we had a lovely Thanksgiving reservation at a restaurant that was at Walt Disney World. Of course, you just heard all about my trip last week. But this year for New Year's, we're going to a bowl game. So you can travel. You can break up that travel or you can do it all together and go somewhere outside of the US because you've got that kind of travel time. Or maybe you just want to hang at a beautiful resort and get some spa time. But whatever. The holidays is always a really nice time to rejuvenate, recharge, get ready for the new year and take some travel.

So my pro tip, submit those PTO requests early in the year. These golden dates are going to go fast. Your colleagues are going to listen to my podcast and they are going to want them to. So why not start now, submit that January PTO request this week and get going on the rest of the year. You know why? Because PTO is more than just time away from your desk. I mentioned this earlier. It is essential mental fuel. It is a creativity booster.

It is my favorite, a memory maker. Every well planned day off brings you closer to those extra AF travel moments that you deserve. And speaking of taking time off, I am unplugging myself soon. This podcast takes a little holiday break. For the next two weeks, there's no episode. I'm going to recharge my own travel batteries. As you know, I. As you can probably hear, I've still got that little bronchitis thing going, but mark your calendars.

I am back January 8th with the scoop on 2026's hottest travel trends, from Lux escapes to hidden gems that are going to blow your Wanderlust mind. So until next time, make every journey a memory worth savoring. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be so grateful if you would follow, download and share jet setting with me with your fellow travelers and Wanderlust pals.