7 reasons to attach a work week to your vacation

It's not that I'm counting down, but maybe I have a countdown app on my phone. The abacus indicated that it would take another 64 days before we went to Greece and suddenly it all felt way too long. And that's why we're going earlier. A whole week, to be precise.

How did it come about? In an app, someone sent that they were diving into the pool during lunch to cool off because it was scorching hot. I had never heard the term scorching hot before, but it sounded delightful. I also wanted to jump into a pool because the sweat was dripping off my laptop. Working there is still better than here, right? So I won't start my trip to Greece with two weeks of vacation, but just with a final work week with my feet in the sand. Handy that ticket with that option to change your flight up to two weeks before departure, as if they knew it at Transavia.

So I'm not leaving in 64 but in 57 days and I can't wait. Which I have to, because now it's time to stop bringing my trip forward. Because I want you to have this too: the nine reasons why you should also attach a work week to your vacation.

1. A change of location during your vacation feels like a vacation within your vacation. That's almost two for the price of one, even if you have to work. Just remember that an apartment or house works better than a hotel room, Airbnb is full of them.

2. You're better at your job if you can swim in a pool in between, because it's just scorching hot. I'm telling you.

3. No one can tell you that you really need to be in the office that one week, because hello: we've all proven that's not the case. If it still isn't allowed now, then it's time for a serious conversation with your manager.

4. Make use of the time difference. It's a whole hour later in Greece, so you either get an hour ahead of the rest of the working world or you have an extra hour to start the day with a dive in the sea. You get to choose.

5. You don't have to cook in the evenings, because in your free hours you are of course on vacation. That's about four hours a day and five days a week, so you extend your vacation by a quick calculation of twenty hours and a whole weekend. Pure profit.

6. That tropical beach as a fun background during your Zoom meeting is suddenly real and that's also nice for your colleagues. I hope so. It could also be that you end up on a blacklist.

7. You can already detox from your work if you attach a week beforehand, but it's also an option to do it the other way around and gently wean off with a week at the end of your vacation.

And, do you seriously need more reasons to do this? Come on, just attach that week.