Meanwhile, in Sweden, 5 weeks paid vacation per year is the legal minimum, and everyone has the legal right to get 4 weeks continuous vacation in the period between June-August if they want it.
(I think you have to spend a few winters up here to understand why we appreciate summer vacations so much. :-) )
To sort of tie back to the original post, with a vacation culture that is completely different from the US, situations like in the blog post never really happens here. Everyone gets several weeks off every year, so businesses adjust for it. Everyone knows that June-July-August are "slow" months. No manager will ever be surprised by people asking to take several weeks off whenever. If you work at a larger company, there are always routines in place for covering for people during the summer months, and you usually make sure that there's always someone around that can handle things.
If you work in the manufacturing industry, there's nationwide coordination so all of it shuts down at the same time, usually four weeks in July.
It's a completely different culture, and definitely worth knowing if you ever do business with companies in Europe during the summer.
I think it's actually four weeks in June-August, three of which consecutive. Still good though. Not to mention that many parents of small children begin and end the vacation with some parental leave (to which the employer can't say, if two months advance notice is given) so 7-8 weeks is not uncommon.
Here in Europe vacation does not necessarily imply that you're flying somewhere else. For example, I currently have 3 weeks of, but I'm only spending one of these weeks hiking. During the other weeks I'll do just whatever makes fun (maybe going on a multi-day bike ride).
Of course, you can also take less vacation in one year, and therefore take more in the next year. For example, I only took 3 weeks of vacation last year, and I've planned 7 weeks of vacation this year. All of them paid. :)
Everyone's free to do whatever. Personally, I spent a week in Bali this Easter, it was very nice to get away from the snow and ice for a while, and I'm gonna take three weeks now in July and do pretty much nothing, just enjoying the summer weather.
(I think you have to spend a few winters up here to understand why we appreciate summer vacations so much. :-) )