A Random Wednesday Conversation Starter

This question is, I suppose, pretty much limited to non-teachers and non-retired people: How do you allocate your vacation time?

What I mean is this: suppose you get, say, three weeks of vacation time a year. Do you take three entire weeks off? Or do you scatter the days off throughout the year by taking a three-day weekend here, a four-day weekend there, and so on?

I do the latter. I will take a full week off if we actually have a trip planned that requires it, but otherwise, I prefer to just take four-day, five-day, or even the occasional six-day weekend. I'll take Friday and Monday off, or Thursday-Friday-Monday, or if I'm feeling extravagant, I'll throw in the Tuesday as well. Now, taking the entire week off means getting nine days off from work in a row, as opposed to the four, five, or six I get doing it my way, but here's the thing: I always find it hard to return to a full work week after taking an entire week off. By the time I get to Thursday morning in that first week back, I'm inhaling fumes. I don't know what it is, but bracketing a bit of time off with a pair of shortened work weeks really appeals to me, so that's the way I almost always use my vacation time. (Plus, this way allows me to get a bit of time off more often. I'm not just scheduling my entire weeks off and being done with it.)

This question also assumes that you're allowed to scatter your vacation time thusly. I did work for one company that required that all vacation time be used in full-week chunks, so you had to do the nine-day-off thing.

What say you, folks?

(Yes, this question arises from my having just been on a four-day vacation weekend. And it was awesome.)