A travel expert has shared how you can maximise your annual leave to get more than two months off work in 2025.
Charlie works a 9-5 job and has discovered how to make the most of his annual leave to go travelling. He posted a video on TikTok explaining how you can use 29 days of annual leave to get 64 days off in total.
The travel pro listed what dates to book off work to get the most time off overall. He has visited six countries this year, using his annual leave.
Speaking in the TikTok video, Charlie said: “This is how you’re going to maximise your annual leave in 2025 – 29 days of annual leave can turn into 64 days off.”
He started off with the new year as he showed that you can get five consecutive days off if you take Thursday, January 2 and Friday, January 3 as annual leave because Wednesday, January 1 is a bank holiday and January 4 and 5 is the weekend so most people will have these days off already.
Easter is when you can take the most time off for a holiday, using Charlie’s method. He explained that if you take eight days of annual leave on April 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24 and 25 you can get 16 consecutive days off work altogether as the other days are weekends or bank holidays.
Other times of the year you can get long holidays using your annual leave in 2025 are August and Christmas as these months have at least two bank holidays in them and you can take time off before or after weekends to get more days off in total. Charlie’s method isn’t foolproof for everyone though as not everyone gets bank holidays or weekends off work and many people do not get 29 days of annual leave.
The travel pro’s TikTok video has got a staggering 7.5 million views, 263,000 likes and it has been favourited 220,000 times. Thousands of users have also commented to share their thoughts.
Many people said this hack wouldn’t work for them as they work in industries where employees do not get weekends or bank holidays off. Some TikTok users said “cries in retail” and “cries in NHS” to reflect that because of their roles, they still have to work on weekends and bank holidays.
One person commented: “29 days of annual leave! Who gets a month off a year?” to which Charlie replied: “British people are legally entitled to 28 days a year off.”
The UK Government website states: “Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.”
Another TikTok user who maximises their annual leave, like Charlie, said: “Twin! Where have you been? I try to always plan my days like this!” Several people expressed their gratitude to Charlie for sharing this video.
One commented: “Be blessed. What a legend you are. Thank you.” A second user added: “When people say ‘doing the Lord’s work’ this is what they mean.”
