Published 29th Sep. 2025
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Every year, the same story plays out: employees in the UK let holiday days go to waste. One recent survey found that 65% of UK workers don’t use up their allowance – and a whopping 17% leave five or more days unclaimed. Another source concurs: in 2023, 61% of workers reported not using all of their annual leave. This is all especially galling when you compare us to our European neighbours. Across the EU, the average entitlement (including public holidays) is about 34 days per year, whereas in the UK, many of us are left with just 28 days. In short: Brits are entitled to fewer days off, and we squander a higher proportion of them.
At Original Travel, we think that’s a crying shame – which is why every autumn we launch our ‘Use It or Lose It’ campaign. After all, time off is not a perk; it’s part of your salary, part of your wellbeing, part of what makes the work/life balance just that: balanced. So, how best to use your last remaining holiday allowance? As the proud inventors of the concept of the Big Short Break – trips designed for maximum experience in minimum time off – that’s where we come in. Setting modesty aside for a second, there is no-one better to help you finesse your remaining time off into marvellous and meaningful trips spread across the final few months of the year. Whether that’s a wintry weekend in an immaculate Italian city or a snowbound short break spent hunting the Northern Lights in Swedish Lapland, we’ve made it our business to ensure no holiday allowance goes to waste.
The truth is, once the clock strikes midnight on 31 December (or 31 March in some companies), unused days are gone for good. And we know from experience that nobody ever looks back and says, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at my desk.’ So, here’s our rallying cry: don’t let the HR department win. Take the trip, make the memories; use it, or lose it.
Another recent survey from the European Society of Cardiology found that men who took more than three weeks of leave per year were 63% more likely to live longer than those who took three weeks or less. So even if you have just one day of holiday left, that’s as good an excuse as any to book a long weekend away. In San Sebastian, the foodie capital of Europe, you’ll feel the years practically piling on as you tour the city’s best pintxos (Basque tapas) bars, learn the tricks of the tradition at one of the city’s top secret culinary societies and admire local artist Eduardo Chillida's impressive wrought-iron sculptures along its halfmoon Playa de la Concha.
In the summer, most Brits use Calais as a springboard for the country’s sun-drenched south. But with two days of annual leave remaining, we recommend sticking round France’s northernmost region for a while. Firstly, because Hauts de France has been awarded the European Region of Gastronomy for 2023 and secondly because it’s home to some of the country's best beaches and sand dunes (both wonderfully wild in autumn), gothic architecture and marshland (hello floating flower markets). From Le Touquet, where you’ll most likely eat your bodyweight in Michelin-starred surf/turf combinations, it’s on to Lens, home to a futuristic outpost of the Louvre which serves as a symbol of the region’s renaissance. From there it’s just a 30-minute drive to Lille, where you’ll find the incredible La Piscine de Roubaix, an Art Deco pool-turned-museum and cultural hub housed in a former postal sorting centre. Who said France was just Paris and St Tropez, right?
Luxury walking holidays are on the rise – a trend we have dubbed Bootiquing. Keen hikers are asking for boutique hotels and luxury cabins (a step up from the basic accommodation that has historically catered for the market) and we’re delivering with a host of new luxury walking itineraries including a four-night trip in the Dolomites. The Dolomites in autumn is not to be missed either. Before the slopes become swarmed with skiers and snowboarders, they are festooned with crimson larch trees that turn the mountainside into a riot of red and gold. Use Val di Fassa, home to Locanda degli Artisti (part hotel, part art gallery) as your staging post for one of the most spectacular trails in the Dolomites, the ‘Viel del Pan’ (Way of the Bread). Follow its seven-mile path to your second stop and the only rifugio of the trip – albeit a rifugio with a difference. Complete with a wine cellar, housing more than 700 wines, you’ll hike on before being transferred by car to Hotel Gardena, a Relais & Chateaux hotel with spa and Michelin-star restaurant. On the last day, it’s a ten-mile hike to Alta Badia to stay at Ciasa Salares, a luxury gourmet hotel in the heart of the Dolomites, with its own cheese room and chocolate room (you’ll definitely have earned both).
Image by Faustine Poidevin
Our concept of Philantourism encourages clients to actively visit down-on-their-luck destinations to offer solidarity and moral and financial support. And in light of its recent earthquake, Morocco is a country that needs it more than most. Fly in and out of Tangier at the country’s northern tip, thankfully left unscathed by the quake. Here you’ll have the chance to explore the city that inspired the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac and Matisse before heading to Chefchaouen, a captivating, blue-washed mountain village perched beneath the raw peaks of the Rif. End your ‘use it or lose it’ trip in the cool coastal town of Asilah, where you can while away days ambling round its extremely pretty medina (thanks to its numerous art galleries and plentiful street art).
With five days to play with (technically seven once you count the weekend), the world is your oyster. And nowhere is more worldly than Kenya. Home to snow-capped mountains, frenetic cities and three national parks, each teeming with wildlife, a holiday to Kenya is definitely one you’ll want to use – not lose. Spot the country’s top billed animals, aka the ‘Big Five’, on game drives through the legendary Maasai Mara, join Maasai guides in Laikipia for bush walks on the wild side and spend evenings cooling down under canvas camps complete with open air swimming pools. If you’re quick off the mark, you may be just in time to witness the wildebeest migration through the Serengeti plains from Tanzania to Kenya.
Image by Olivier Romano
Written by Naomi Pike
Header image by Alix Pardo
Practical advice and inspiration for your next trip
When it comes to your holiday, a little planning goes a long way. Recently, we’ve noticed a pattern of both last-minute and long-term bookings, which we’ve named the Concertina Effect. But why are people booking so far in advance? Our co-founder, Tom Barber, thinks ‘anticication’ has something to do with it: ‘in uncertain times, planning something joyful far ahead becomes an act of hope’. Whether admiring cherry blossoms in Japan, celebrating the Holi festival in India, cruising down the Nile on the Steam Ship Sudan, or spotting gorillas in Uganda, some holidays require extra attention.
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We work with you to build an ultra-personalised holiday itinerary with your choice of accommodation, experiences and activities
All of our holidays include little extras designed to make a big difference to your trip, from fast-tracking you through airport check-in and security to our network of local Concierges
