Fwiw, this article contains a graphic summarizing vacation days in different EU and non-EU countries. Surprisingly, Portugal and Austria lead the pack: http://m.welt.de/wirtschaft/article144702793/Der-Mann-der-se... There's another graphic where people were asked how much vacation they prefer. Not surprisingly, many want more than what they have... The article, by the way, is about an American who works for only six months per year. That's all possible unless you want to get some financial security (sickness, age, family) or if you are lucky and have a nicely paid seasonal job. I do know examples of people like that - the operators of a sailing/surf school/café, for example, who only work between March and September, but then often 12 hour days.