I like your points and agree completely. I want a weisure like job/lifestyle because I just can't stand to escape any part of myself. I want to be myself all the time and enjoy all my moments as much as possible. That means having work and life be seamless transitions that sometimes blur.

Most my jobs have been the can't bear to think about it type when on vacation, and I've always hated that I feel that way about work.

In the end, I think to truly love what you do, you have to be an entrepreneur – not even full time. Being in control of your own freedom and finances is what I am looking for.

Lisa

There is a basic need to put work stuff down and disconnect – Clear your head entirely – And I just don't buy the idea that "an hour of two a day" while on vacation can really accomplish that. I know you said that you wanted to do this, but workaholics always want to work. Let's dig deeper.

A TRUE relaxation can take many continuous days to develop. With each passing day of vacation, or complete lack of responsibility, new feelings arise. This is not a process that can be forced or interrupted. Even the idea that an email might come that needs attention or that the cell phone could ring is disruptive.

I understand that companies like The Fool have pulled this off. But a few counterpoints on that too. First, the Fool is a small organization (compared to the corporate giants) with an entirely unique culture that is hard to replicate. I would make a large bet that once they had 10,000 employees that this policy would be gone. Second, when a company like the Fool hits harder times and the commitment of their employees is really tested due to salary reductions, layoffs or worse, this policy will also be difficult.

Again. I totally buy the idea of doing what you love. The true route to success comes from following your passions. And wanting to do work on your vacation can be sign that you love what you do, which is generally positive. But I would argue that you should fight the urge to stay connected on your vacation as much as you might want to. True relaxation, on a seriously deep level, will take many continuous days of no email, no thoughts about work, no cell phone that could ring at any moment. In fact, I think that if you do this two or three times a year you will find yourself more balanced, creative and energetic when you do get back to work than if you don't. You will actually do a better job and approach your work with more perspective having found some healthy distance from it a few times a year.

Australia and Britain have a minimum for four weeks (20 days) stipulated by law. In Europe it's usually six weeks.

Vacation time is terribly important for personal sanity, for family happiness, for many, many reasons. But it can sometimes be hard to fit around work commitments and if you don't HAVE to take it, the temptation is not to. You'll take some of course, but nowhere near enough.

In Britain they make you take all of your holiday entitlement in the year you earn it, so people take it. In Australia, it rolls over to the following year so quite often senior people who are quite indispensable to a company don't take all of it and wind up with a huge backlog owed to them. The higher up the food chain you are, the more difficult it is to take a holiday.

Minimum vacation time is not about big government getting in the way of private enterprise. Americans accept that the government will set rules on the minimum wage (even though it's low, it still exists), the minimum working age (no child labour), health and safety, discrimination, all manner of things deemed to be important. Vacation time should be up there with the rest of them.

I work for myself so I understand what Ryan is saying when he talks about the blurring of work and personal time. I'm quite happy working on the weekend for myself (though I would be less happy doing so for an employer). It's my choice and if I want to skive off mid week to make up for it I can. But even though I work for myself and love what I do, I do like to sometimes get away from it all. Some of my holidays might involve some low-level checking of email and so on, others will be in a wilderness area truly escaping city life.

My husband and I have two classes of vacation: 1) the doing-an-hour-of-work-here-and-there, call-me-if-necessary vacation, and 2) the totally-unavailable, dark-side-of-the-moon vacation. Given the nature of our work, 2) is pretty rare. But even 1) is way better than no vacation at all.

That said – I do think it's valuable every once and awhile to take a block of time and get your head completely out of work. Maybe this is really only necessary for some people after some years at their job, whereas some people may need it every year.

I know I've heard some people say, and have felt it myself, that when you *really* need a break, even a week is too short. It takes a few days to really detox your brain, and the last 1-2 days you're already thinking about coming back.

Meanwhile, travel industry data says that vacations in the US are getting shorter and shorter. Two weeks in the summer (camping, road trips) used to be fairly common; now they're rare. One week is becoming rare; the most common vacations now are the 2-4 day long weekend variety.

I've even read how some national parks have fewer visitors now, and there's speculation that many people feel unable to take a full week of vacation, which is discouraging them from traveling to more remote locations. They simply don't have time to travel to get there.

Goes Completely Off Rocker. "There should be no such thing as vacation days. By telling employees they are allowed fifteen days off from work a year, you are in effect telling them that they will need to escape the daily grind. With new technologies a…

All small business owners and corporate robots would benefit from "taking a week off to try and recall the whole year" to paraphrase Jimmy Buffett.

Even Marc Andreesen . . .