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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And, no, hourly employees do not generally get to bill time for travel. Mileage and per diem yes, but travelling out of state to work a convention? Absolutely cannot claim air or drive time as working hours. You would bankrupt universities and non-profits if this were true. [/quote]

What? Are you kidding? I travel on the regular with my. Family and always bill for travel time. Sitting with a baby on flight to Tokyo while my mb sleep is work and I’m paid for that. [/quote]

You’re a nanny. And you are taking care of the child. Not sitting there watching your own movie and doing whatever else you want. [/quote]

Plenty of APs do that too though. I am an AP and have definitely had the lion's share of the care of the kids during flight time. I can actively remember a trip to Hawaii (5 hours) where the baby didn't want to settle and I spent the entirety of the flight walking up and down the aisle, the parents only holding the baby at landing and take off.  Most hf don't seem to count flight times as work hours though, so despite doing 5 hours with no break on the flight I still had to do a full day whilst there because of course so much need to be done on the first day, I am one of the AP who appreciate the gesture of being invited on a trip but often dislike the reality of it. More often than not trips are a massive grey area where no proper schedule is set so AP is always semi on call, where you can't go late at night at the risk of waking people in the hotel room up, where you are stuck somewhere with gorgeous landscapes that you often can't really explore (no access to a car, stuck in an all inclusive hotel by the beach but far away from any local cultural experience etc...), I also find host parents to be way more lax (not in the best way) about the schedule because somehow they feel like they are doing a good deed for taking you along and know they can push the line a bit because saying anything would make the AP ungrateful.

I was very appreciative of my hf taking me with them to hawaii but I was also stuck in a very tiny town in the middle of nowhere with only 1 restaurants and 3 shops and nothing to do without a car (and I didn't have car) and I was bored out of my mind, (I had my real hawaii holiday when I took a week off to explore and had full freedom to do so) I was appreciative of the experience but if my hf had wanted to make this a bi-monthly thing I would have really resented it. It wouldn't have mattered that I had Saturday day off or Sunday day off and to do as I please when there was NOTHING for me to do in the area. [/quote]

It sounds like you probably were not mature enough to entertain yourself at that age - if you could not entertain yourself or manage to find joy and enjoyment in Hawaii of all places. Yikes. Vacations are a gray areas for APs, too, ours do not wake up early on a schedule unless there is a planned activity, have no trouble planning and organizing activities, and communicating as adult women (e.g., our AP asked if she could book a surfing lesson at a specific time, we dropped her off and picked her up, booked herself a massage on the beach (we dropped her off and picked her up), and looked up free yoga and hikes she wanted to try. We had a detailed discussion regarding hours before the vacation. We indicated she would not be left alone with DD throughout vacation, but would be expected when with us to assist when asked. We asked her to make a list of activities she wanted to do, and we would try to combine with our trip objectives. We do screen for older, mature APs, however. Plus, our agency recommends that APs pick one and HFs pick one in terms of vacation. We could have asked for her to use vacation time. I would have beg borrowed or stolen to have a working vacation in Hawaii (still would). The idea that an au pair expects a “real Hawaii holiday” on what is essentially a work vacation is pretty narcissistic. I would never tell my boss that a European work trip is my personal holiday. [/quote]

Did you even read the post?  The point is it is not a vacation for the AP and its work.  It absolutely is work.  Where was this poster to go in a small town with no car in the middle of no where.  [/quote] In Hawaii, even rural Hawaii, there are buses. She could ask her HPs for a ride. She could lyft. She could exercise her mind by reading. She could exercise her body by walking, hiking, swimming, yoga, whatever. Presumably the parents also went places in Hawaii that AP tagged along to. But again, a work trip is not a personal vacation. I travel to real boring places all of the time: adulting is hard. [/quote]

I am the poster who went to Hawaii did you READ my post? There was zero buses, the nearest beach was 30 minutes drive, walking wasn’t safe because there was NO sidewalks nor street lights (though I did walk), there was no books nor TV in the Airbnb and asking my hf for rides was NOT an option. My hf was into remote holidays were they could disconnect from the world by staying in the middle of nowhere catching up on sleep and reading (they had their own kindles), stop PRESUMING and start reading, please.

My hf had a blast but I didn’t (I loved Hawai’i when I got to explore it during my actual holidays and do the things you mentioned ) and yes I would have been resentful if my hf expected me to do this type of remote weekend twice a month for free. 
[/quote]

I READ it, but I did not BELIEVE it. I have stayed in rural Hawaii many times, there are buses, they might not come frequently, but they have them. I doubt there was no tv in an airbnb, they may not have had cable, but you could almost certainly have hooked the tv up to your laptop or phone. Your HF also had a car - I do not believe that they refused to take you to places or things you wanted to see, or give you driving privileges. Surely, their kids were getting out and being taken to see things. It sounds like you were not interested in doing the family stuff and only wanted to do what you wanted to do on a working vacation. Wouldn't we all!
Also, the traffic in Hawaii is really bad - so it might take 30 minutes in a car to get to a beach in walking distance. "Beaches" in Hawaii are often just crossing the road and getting into the water - the actual sitting area can be narrow and rocky. Hawaii like MANY states/cities have NO sidewalks or street lights ("light pollution" is taken seriously in Hawaii) - most adult women are capable of packing their own reading material and laptop with movies, and having a stocked Netflix list, and asking for a ride....[/quote]

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