I was wondering about holidays too.

I will be staying with the my boyfriend's parents over Christmas and New Year and know i wont get any work done then - they like to spoil my boyfriend and I as we only see them a few times a year. I am planning a five day break away at the end of next year and will probably have a few days here and there but I'm not sure how many more days I will take off.

I tend to work when I get home at nights and I work almost every weekend (granted it's only a few hours) so I feel that I will definitely have to take a solid week off sometime or I will burn myself out. Do I sound weak?

Like an idiot when I first started my PhD I thought I'd have plenty of time to head away on holiday. The next four years were going to be an oasis of studying with constant visits abroad for holidays. Indeed, in 2010, 2011 and 2012 I had earmarked Canada; Singapore/Australia/New Zealand/Japan and the USA respectively for my trips abroad. Granted I was looking to tie those in with conference presenting (which I still might) but think it was a tad ambitious!

Still I am settling for some breaks over the course of my PhD. I'm definitely heading to Greece next year (June) for a week to see a friend. I'll also head over to Oman (probably October next year) as I've got a brother workign there. Canada in 2011 is a possibility as by then would hope to be ahead but I think these grand travel plans I had/have may be saved for a sabbatical a few years into my career!8-)

Ive not had a holiday since september 2008 and feel rubbish (down)

This is a good question - all my holidays for 3 years, bar my honeymoon 2 years ago and a week in Crete this July, have been conferences. I worked every weekend and each year I've been in at Xmas too. If you're running a cryostat, someone's got to keep an eye on it. Last Xmas I went in on Xmas day. I'm on writing up stage at the mo, and I'm planning to enjoy some time off with my husband, as he's a teacher so he gets good hols. I always found it pretty cheeky of other students in my group to go disappearing off for 3 weeks at Xmas like a flaming undergraduate; we work as a team so we ought to pull together and share out the weekends and holidays.

I usually go to my home country every three months (except last summer) and I stay there on average 3 weeks each time. This does not mean that I take three weeks off every time I go there. I usually work on my research while I'm there but the time spent on it always depends on how much has to be done. And of course I try to balance my family and social life with my work.
As long as we can meet deadlines and as long as we achieve the goals set by us and the supervisory team, there is nothing to worry about.

I will go to my country for three weeks over the holidays. And it is well deserved, as I've been working a LOT!

My advice for you Maria1 is to plan your research and to listen to what your body and mind need, and based on this decide how often you should take a break.

I can't say that since I have started my PhD I have enjoyed any proper holidays. I am based in my country and I work full-time while doing my PhD part-time. Whenever I have holidays from work (I work as a teacher) I try and work on my research. BUT, my OH lives very far and we rarely meet. So, when he has some free time and is able to come to my place or somewhere in the middle of the distance, I consider these days holidays.... I don't mind this, because, so far, I haven't found the PhD a difficult task. I have done much nmore difficult things (especially and MBA with a very baaaad and racist tutor, who used to tell me that I was crap because I was not English and used to tell me that I wasn't worth of a postgraduate degree and that my first master had been a uni's mistake!!!!!! )
You need to find a balance between work and holidays. A balance between uni and personal life....