Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#71

Post by wasmitnetzen » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:20 AM UTC

spzzz wrote: post #63

Really neat idea! However, half of the world has Monday as the first day of the week. A setting to change that would be nice :) Also there are some holidays missing for Sweden. This is stated in the Swedish Annual Leave Act, which establishes that Midsummer's Eve as well as Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve is to be considered equivalent to a Sunday. https://www.government.se/contentassets/eaf3467d4f484c9fb727...

Doesn't work for Sweden anyway, because people will think you're mad if you don't take at least three weeks in July/August, where there are no other public holidays.

Maybe a feature where I'm manually picking some days and it tries to figure out the best way to stretch the remaining nice would be useful.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#72

Post by gunnihinn » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:21 AM UTC

That's pretty cool. Unfortunately school holidays mean I can't take time off whenever, but I can definitely use the idea to plan time off around those.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#73

Post by bittermandel » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:44 AM UTC

I love this! Every year in Sweden around christmas, almost all popular magazines publish articles for how to optimally book your vacation days. We have quite a few bank days between christmas and new years, so certain years you can get like 3 weeks off by booking 6 days or so.

This year it looks like you can achieve the following: In december, take 23rd and 27th off and you get 9 days consecutive time off between 21st and 29th. Add 30th and 31st, and you'll get 12 days consecutive. Add 2nd and 3rd of January and tada, you have 17 days vacation for the price off 6 PTO days! The website linked in this post doesn't get this quite right, as 24th is technically not a public holiday but the vast portion of companies regard it as such.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#74

Post by MoreQARespect » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:48 AM UTC

lumb63 wrote: post #29

Ha, this reminds me of a very similar practice I used to engage in with a few buddies when we started work. It was always fun to try to figure out how to optimize the PTO to get the “most days per day”. Nowadays, I find that the best time to take PTO is when I feel like taking PTO. Taking a long weekend when I’m feeling burnt out or disengaged goes much further for me than grinding for the entire first half of th yea…

Most days per day also probably means that you're maximizing the amount you spend on travel and the pain you experience. It's not cheap or pleasant traveling around July 4th.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#75

Post by TrickyRick » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:48 AM UTC

bittermandel wrote: post #73

I love this! Every year in Sweden around christmas, almost all popular magazines publish articles for how to optimally book your vacation days. We have quite a few bank days between christmas and new years, so certain years you can get like 3 weeks off by booking 6 days or so. This year it looks like you can achieve the following: In december, take 23rd and 27th off and you get 9 days consecutive time off between 21s…

The 24th of December is a weekend by law in Sweden (Semesterlag 3 a §)

"Lördag och söndag räknas inte som semesterdagar annat än i fall som avses i 9 § tredje stycket. Med söndag jämställs allmän helgdag samt midsommarafton, julafton och nyårsafton."

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#76

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:50 AM UTC

Fun experiment but in reality people take vacation in the summer due to the season and schools, not because there are more public holidays then.

This tool just told me to take all of December off, great time to sit somewhere in the cold.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#77

Post by TrickyRick » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:51 AM UTC

hackernewds wrote: post #32

jaza wrote: post #26

I typically try to take annual leave and to travel exactly on the opposite dates to what this tool recommends. That's because I care more about avoiding the significant extra expense, traffic, and crowds of travel over public holiday periods, than I do about getting a few extra "free days" of leave. No free lunch!

Good luck traveling on work days!

Works great with an evening flight, you can work all day and leave for the airport after work.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#78

Post by blitzar » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:51 AM UTC

hackernewds wrote: post #32

jaza wrote: post #26

I typically try to take annual leave and to travel exactly on the opposite dates to what this tool recommends. That's because I care more about avoiding the significant extra expense, traffic, and crowds of travel over public holiday periods, than I do about getting a few extra "free days" of leave. No free lunch!

Good luck traveling on work days!

GRINDSET 24/7/365 - every day is a work day but it is never rush-hour.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#79

Post by Farbklex » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 9:56 AM UTC

apexalpha wrote: post #76

Fun experiment but in reality people take vacation in the summer due to the season and schools, not because there are more public holidays then. This tool just told me to take all of December off, great time to sit somewhere in the cold.

December is a great time to take a vacation to somewhere warm if you don't like the winter. I like to travel to the Canary Islands from end of December to January. Last time we had 20-25 degrees. Definitely warm enough for the beach.

Re: Show HN: Stretch My Time Off – An Algorithm to Optimize Your Vacation Days

#80

Post by walthamstow » Wed, Nov 13, 2024, 10:03 AM UTC

Farbklex wrote: post #79

apexalpha wrote: post #76

Fun experiment but in reality people take vacation in the summer due to the season and schools, not because there are more public holidays then. This tool just told me to take all of December off, great time to sit somewhere in the cold.

December is a great time to take a vacation to somewhere warm if you don't like the winter. I like to travel to the Canary Islands from end of December to January. Last time we had 20-25 degrees. Definitely warm enough for the beach.

Even if it was cooler, say 15 degrees, going somewhere with more daylight hours is really great at that time of year.

On 1st January, London gets 8 hours of daylight, Edinburgh 7 hours, Stockholm 6 hours. Tenerife has nearly 11!