Compared with her European Super Pals, Girlawhirl's vacation allotment, like the average American's, seems paltry… two or three weeks compared to the four to six weeks most of her Euro Pals get. So making the most of her time off is essential, and according to Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human resources at CareerBuilder.com, ‘time off from work is essential' for Girlawhirl to continue to perform her duties at the level that's expected.

So what should she do? Based on the article ‘Survey: One-in-Four Workers Plan to Work While on Vacation. Seven Tips for a Stress-Free—and Work Free—Vacation,' written by Haefner and available on CareerBuilder.com, Girlawhirl came up with a plan of attack to prepare her co-workers and those who report to her for a week without her.

Girlawhirl, who usually travels fully wired, with a cell phone, a BlackBerry® and a computer that seems to work almost anywhere, used to field calls and answer emails wherever she was. But this trip will be different. She's finally implemented the auto-reply function on her inbox and will allow emails to sit, or be answered by others until she returns.

But she's sure she'll still have to call the office just once or twice.

There's more vacation advice from Rosemary Haefner and CarreerBuilder.com in the article ‘Survey: One-in-Four Workers Plan to Work While on Vacation. Seven Tips for a Stress-Free – and Work Free – Vacation'.