10 Top Tips to Enjoy Weekend Travel while Working Full Time

When we moved to London we knew we wanted to do two things - progress our careers and explore Europe. We were told this may not be feasible and to consider taking a sabbatical to travel instead. Having been here 4 months I can confidently say that working full time and pursuing weekend travel is not only workable, it also has some serious benefits. Besides having a steady income to finance your travels, it can be quite nice to return to your own bed and eat a week’s worth of healthy meals before embarking on a new adventure.

Read on for my top 10 tips to make this work for you.

Planning holidays

1. Use normal weekends for quick, nearby city breaks and save your long weekends and holidays for more distant jaunts. For example, we used our normal weekends for Madrid, Berlin, Brussels & Edinburgh and saved our long weekends for Norway and a three-country trip to Basel

2. Extend public holiday weekends to maximise your leave e.g. during the Queen’s jubilee public holiday we took 3 days of leave to get a 9 day holiday

3. Narrow down your search to flights that return to London by 9pm at the latest. The later your flight, the higher the chances that you’ll face flight and train delays. 10.30pm return flights can be cheap and tempting but the extra holiday hours just aren’t worth it.

4. Book early - unsurprisingly Friday night & Sunday night flights are in high demand. When you find well-timed flights at a good price, book ASAP. For more tips on how to save money when travelling, check out my post

Before you travel

5. Before you head out on Friday night pack your work bag for Monday morning. You will thank yourself later

6. Also, before you leave on Friday prepare a quick dinner you can reheat on Sunday night

7. Try to get ahead of your work on Monday. This could mean working later on Thursday, or getting to work early on Monday (for me it’s both). I tend to lead my biggest meetings on Monday so this is a big comfort

8. Try to do housework during the week. If you’re able to work from home use your lunch break to do laundry and vacuum

When you arrive back

9. Get out of the airport as fast as possible. This includes getting off the plane, and getting to and through immigration. Travelling light and sitting close to the front of the plane helps a lot with this. I’ve found that the earlier I check in for flights, the better (and more upfront) my seats are

10. Finesse your Sunday night return routine. For us, this means putting all our stuff into a Bedbug heating chamber (travel is a great way to invite all sorts of bugs into your home, so this gives us huge peace of mind), jumping into the shower and eating a quick dinner. The whole process takes about 20 minutes meaning that we maximise sleep before work the next day