And to close out the series, here’s one last bit of advice that will help you better plan and enjoy your time off.

• Never, ever start back to work on a Monday following a long vacation. Monday is, of course, the worst work day of the week for many. There’s a whole weekend’s worth of work to handle, and it’s a good five days until the next weekend. So skip the hassle of having to return to work on a Monday and come back on Tuesday instead. At the very least, you’ll find yourself enjoying that last Sunday of your vacation much more than if you had to go back to work the following day.

I hope you enjoyed this series and will use it to help strategically plan your vacations from work. If you have any other suggestions for optimizing your time off, please feel free to share them here so everyone can benefit.