2017 is looking to be a great year because it has more long weekends

Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:43 pm

In Singapore, when you enter the working world, you’ll come to realize that there’s very little in life you can look forward to–promotions, appraisal, payday and of course, holidays.

We know that we’re still in the first quarter of 2016, but when the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) released the dates of public holidays next year, we knew we have to share it with you guys.

That’s right, more specifically, we want to share the long weekends with you people out there. From the 11 gazetted public holidays in the list, 7 of them falls either on a Friday, a Monday or a Sunday where the next working day will be a public holiday.

On a separate note, anyone find it interesting that there were 6 long weekends in 2016, and now it’s announced that there will be 7 long weekends in 2017? If the trend continues, we’ll be looking at 9 long weekends in 2019. How awesome is that? Although we probably wouldn’t appreciate it if there’s zero long weekends in 2020. Just saying.

Want to take a short vacation but running out of annual leave? Or maybe you’re just hoping for a longer break in the midst of the year so that you can take a breath or two before rushing back into the daily grind. Whichever it is, we’re sure you’ll be happy to hear this.

We’re starting the new year with a bang, with the 1st day of the year on a Sunday and the following Monday a public holiday so you will be able to rest for a day more before going back to work or school.

It’ll be followed by another public holiday on Monday for Chinese New Year, so you’ll have an extra day for Chinese New Year visits, or simply to relax at home away from annoying relatives. Here’s an idea: want to escape annoying questions from relatives for CNY next year? Just take a short trip. It’s a valid excuse, after all.

Good Friday and Labour Day are two public holidays you can look forward to for a short break.

Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji falls on long weekends too, so our Malay friends have one extra day to celebrate as well. And finally, Christmas 2017 falls on a Monday, so you can enjoy yourselves to the fullest on the weekend and take that extra day to recuperate from all that beer and Christmas parties.

So folks, now that you know when the long weekends are, it’s time to visit those travel sites or trawl though budget airlines’ sites to book your tickets way in advance. After all, the earlier you book those tickets, the cheaper you’ll get them at, right?

Top Image: Etaphop photo / Shutterstock.com