A Traveler in the Foreign Service: where paid time off is taken seriously

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2-14-2012 @ 4:21AM

Diane said...

For home leave the USG pays for the flights, but the employee pays for everything else. It is great for me, I'm single and my family lives pretty much in the same area and I can stay with my parents or sisters interchangeably. However those who are married with kids (and pets) have it more difficult and often end up paying for accommodation, if they don't have anyone to stay with or end up moving from house to house so they won't overburden family and friends. And you have to take 20 working days of home leave, so counting weekends it can get rather expensive.

I was posted to Israel and one year the lunar calendar fell where the holidays were on weekdays pretty much all year. My mom asked if I was EVER at work! The next year the holidays pretty much fell on weekends...

CODELs, don't get me started, though in 16 years of FS life I have yet to meet a senator or congressperson from my home state and I've served in some pretty high traffic posts.

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