Question:

'At some point this week I would like to sit down with you and a calender and arrange the rest of my time here in Europe. I would like to begin planning further trips in advance to avoid high cost flights if possible. Please let me know when you might be available to discuss my options. Thanks,'

Response:
'please be aware , that your first job is to support the launch team . I cannot plan activities , because nobody can say , what will happen in the future .'

My colleague is finally back this week after his scheduled 3 week vacation. We were talking briefly about other places I wanted to go and he said, 'I have this week off. Oh, and this Friday here.' Which begs the question of how can I get the above response when I want to schedule a day or two off? It's after 9am and my colleague hasn't shown up yet by the way. Also since his return I no longer get responses from the local team. I get a lot of questions from the customer, but no longer have answers. But now I'm diverging from the main subject of my rant. When I get back home in two weeks I'm going to sit down with the president of the US office to discuss this issue. I remember very well a German colleague who came over and took multiple weeks off during her time in the US. It seems that vacation time is a one way street. Germans have more and can use them anywhere in the world. Americans have crap vacation time and can't use the time off. I think when I come home I might pack up all my stuff and request not to return... that or just leave the crap... Clothes are cheap, my time is not.