Don’t you just want my Swedish vacation?

First week of Swedish vacation in the Stockholm archipelago

I talked to my brother yesterday on the phone. “I’m jealous of you man,” he said. “I can’t figure out how you’ve had three weeks of vacation. Then you’re going to take three more in the states and be away from work on father leave for six months. What does your boss say?”

That’s Sweden, I told him. You have the right to vacation and bosses don’t mess with you because they are on vacation too. There’s no fear of taking time off like in some countries. In Sweden, the boss encourages it.

There is good and bad about any country. In Sweden, one of the goods is if you have a full-time job, you start with 25 paid vacation days. Those days are required by law, and don’t include public holidays.

In fact, in most industrialized nations, vacation is required by law. Unfortunately, not in the US.

Second week of Swedish vacation on the Skanör beach in the southwest tip of Sweden

When my wife and I talk about moving to the United States, we know one of the hardest adjustments will be lack of vacation time.

Aren’t there any people fighting to increase the amount of vacation Americans get?

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