This thread is making me appreciate my part-time/contract job a whole lot! I did the 2-weeks-a-year thing for an eternity and it sure is nice to be on a different schedule now. Machka, those of us in the US don't get a "summer holiday" most of us just get a few weeks of paid time off a year (if that) and very little freedom to use it in big chuncks.

I'm going to Arizona for a week of supported bike tour, the week after next, a 4-day weekend in CA (Death Ride) in July, and some kind of 3-4 week self-supported tour in September in the Cascades.

I don't get vacation pay or any other benefits, but I like it this way - lots of freedom.