How to get 18 consecutive days off in 2019 for just nine days of annual leave

Jordon Cox
Jordon Cox | Edited by Anthony Hill
Updated 2 January 2019 | Created 29 October 2018

I don’t know about you, but I’m already thinking about my holidays for 2019 and where I could jet off to. Luckily for me, and anyone else who works Mon-Fri, there’s a way to get a massive 18 days off in a row this year – for just nine days’ annual leave.

For 2019, we’ve hit the jackpot when it comes to bank holidays in April and May. By booking annual leave in the days between Easter Monday and May Day, you’ll be stringing them together with your bank holidays to give yourself a close to three-week break from work (sorry bosses of the UK). In 2018, the dates were too far apart to pull off this trick.

This may not work for everyone but we've based this blog on a typical five-day working week (there may be ways to work around this if you work different hours).

How to do it

The Easter dates in 2019 fall quite late, on 19 April (Good Friday) and 22 April (Easter Monday), and with the May Day bank holiday on Mon 6 May, by taking nine days of annual leave in between those dates (from 23 April until 3 May), combined with the weekends you’ll get 18 consecutive days off work.

Here’s a calendar view of the days you need to book. I've highlighted the days to book off in yellow, with the bank holidays marked in a red font:

I hope this helps you out when planning your holidays this year. As soon as I’ve finished writing this, I’m going to go book these dates off (Editor’s note: Request denied).

What would you do with 18 days off in a row? Let me know in the comments below on Twitter @MSE_Deals.

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