What is a Holiday: vacation: leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure; "we get two weeks of vacation every summer"; "we took a short holiday in Puerto Rico" a day on which work is suspended by law or custom; "no mail is delivered on federal holidays"; "it's a good thing that New Year's was a holiday because everyone
"A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours." John B. Priestly
When you've been working long and hard at your home business for a while, you might feel like you've earned yourself a little break. There are home business owners out there who haven't taken a real holiday since they started their business -- including some who started their business as long as five years ago!
After all, how can you ever just desert your business and your customers and go bronze yourself on the beach? How can you avoid being on call 24/7 throughout your holiday? Well, everyone deserves some time to themselves at least once a year, if they want to keep being productive and avoid stress. Here's what to do.
A quick and simple way to let people know that you've gone away is to change your answerphone message. This allows you to still hear what people have to say when you get back, and stops them from wondering why you never seem to answer your phone.
A good format for the message is as follows: 'Hi, this is [your name] at [company name]. I'm sorry I'm not in the office right now, but I will be back on [give a date]. If you leave a message, I will be sure to get back to you'.
Of course, when you go on holiday, you're relying on people being willing to wait for you. That means you can't really take the kids to Disneyworld for two weeks, or spend a month staying with a friend abroad -- it's just too long to be away from your business for.
Similar to an answerphone message, but less commonly used, is the email autoresponder. Again, you don't want people to wonder why their emails are going unanswered, so your best bet is to set up your email program to automatically reply to any email you get with a message saying that you've gone away.
Of course, when you go on holiday, you're relying on people being willing to wait for you. That means you can't really take the kids to Disneyworld for two weeks, or spend a month staying with a friend abroad -- it's just too long to be away from your business for.
You should regard a weekend away as ideal (it avoids the whole problem for the most part), and a week as the maximum you can allow yourself. Don't let people make you feel bad about only taking one-week holidays: after all, you could always have more than one each year.
Of Course this famous quote from Amanda Bradley is still the best:"Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!"
There are many reasons that a planned trip may have to be cancelled or delayed. Unfortunately, many holiday insurance packages do not cover delays and cancellations as standard. For this reason, it is wise to check over a travel insurance policy with a fine toothcomb, and to then take out further cancellation cover should you need it.
Taking out insurance against these eventualities may be wise as you could gain compensation for a trip that had to be missed or cut short. However, not every possible reason for holiday delay or cancellation is covered as standard by these policies ? now often called trip protection cover.
Holiday delays
Cancellation and curtailment insurers offer differing amounts of compensation depending on the reason given for curtailment. The most common causes of delay are as follows, and are usually covered as standard ? but make sure you read your policy's terms and conditions very carefully so that you know exactly which reasons you can claim for.
Natural disasters - hijacking - lost, stolen or damaged money - bad weather - delay caused by a bad traffic accident en route - unannounced strikes at airports, en route, or in your destination country - lost, stolen or damaged travel documents - unexpected need for quarantine.
Furthermore, anyone seeking to take out curtailment insurance should be aware that typically each policy has a daily maximum amount for reimbursement, which varies from insurer to insurer. The majority of policies also have a set period of time that the trip must be delayed by before you can claim ? usually this is between 6 and 12 hours.
Cancelling your trip
There are so many reasons that a trip abroad may need to be cancelled. Many of these causes will be covered as standard by cancellation insurance policies, others will not.
Covered reasons for cancellation may include:
Accident en route - illness - hijacking - injury to one of the travel party - flood or fire at home - natural disasters - being selected for jury duty.
Most cancellation policies will not cover these reason as standard:
Self-inflicted injuries or illness ? change in plans - contractual obligations - injury or sickness contracted through the use of illegal substances - change in your financial situation leaving you unable to afford your holiday.
Both David Mclauchlan & Matthew Newport are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.