hopefully we work someplace we can carry over time, so we have 3 weeks saved up, and only used one week during the year between worlds. Or with many jobs if you've been there long enough you have more than two weeks, after 20 years at a job you might have 5 weeks a year (that's a really good company) many top out at 3 weeks, really only some of the masters are in that boat.

Quite a few of our guys in Sheffield quit ther jobs prior to travel. I only had one week of paid vacation available, so I took three weeks of unpaid leave, this was almost not approved and I was prepared to quit my job if that happened. Basically it means there is a lot of planning and saving for that year between events. It also means there are a few very talented players who are unwilling to do this to their life, and therefore will never play at worlds.