Two weeks ago, I was at a nightclub in Hamburg, Germany, hanging out with an old friend who lives there. I met several of his friends, all of whom speak English. They asked me how long I was in Europe for, and I told them I was traveling four countries in two weeks. “Just two weeks?” they all asked. “Why would you come all the way here for only two weeks?” I told them I only had 11 vacation days from work this year, and between those, the weekends, and the July 4th holiday, that amounted to just over two weeks of freedom.

“You only get ELEVEN vacation days?” they asked in a stupor. They seriously could not believe it and laughed, somewhat convinced I was joking. “Why?” I asked. “How many days do you guys get?” A few said 25, but most said 30. They explained that is standard, and some people even get more in Germany. And that’s not counting holidays.

According to an article about world-wide vacation policies in In These Times,

The European Union requires its members to set a minimum standard of four weeks paid vacation (covering part-time workers as well). Finland and France require six weeks paid vacation, plus additional paid holidays.

America is the only major industrialized country to have so few vacation days — not just that, but there are no American laws that even require us to even have paid vacation days. Because of that, some employers provide none or very few. We work increasingly long hours (when I was younger I was told everyone worked 9-to-5; since graduating college I’ve learned that it’s now 8-to-5). We aren’t given enough time to take off work and relax and see the world. In fact, we aren’t even using all of the few vacation days we’re given.

What’s wrong with us? Why do Americans work so long and so hard without breaks? Why has our government not stepped in and made regulations about this? I’ve already written about studies finding that not vacationing can cause major health problems. I wonder what else has to happen before we hit a new low. Our economy isn’t doing too well right now, so there’s no way the government or employers will favor paying people to work less anytime soon. But what will it take?

I’m afraid people will continue to work longer hours and take even less vacation as time goes on and America struggles to stay a superpower. This benefits employers for a while, until workers become sick and burnt-out. Americans truly need more vacation time, even if they don’t use that time for anything except hanging out at home with family. People need a break every once in a while or they will fall apart. In Germany, everyone said they were given enough vacation time to take some nice trips (I think seeing the world and becoming more cultured is SO important) but they also have enough days that they can just take an occasional day off when they are feeling burnt out or have a friend in town. I rarely have enough days to spare to do that. Going on this long trip truly revitalized me and gave me a wonderful break from work and life, though I had to use every single vacation day I had to use it — now I only have several holidays for the rest of the year, such as Labor Day and Thanksgiving. If any surprises come up, I’ll have to use one of my few remaining sick days. I just wish we had Europe’s policies so I could do another two-week trip (or staycation) six months from now.