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It comes down to how far you're traveling.
A regular local tournament is just a Saturday, and I'll drive before and after on the same day. If I drive down to Battlegrounds in Plainville, MA it's about two hours, so I get up early and don't get back until late, whereas if I go to one at the Game Castle in Londonderry, NH it's only 15 min, so I can be back for dinner, but it's still same-day.
When I've gone to weekend GTs in Rhode Island, PA, NJ, and NY I usually take Friday off (or sometimes just work in the morning) so I can sleep in or do a little last-minute painting in the morning, depart around noon (usually carpooling with friends/club-mates) and arrive around dinner time, so I can meet up with and hang out with friends I see primarily at GTs, have a nice dinner out and drink with them, and maybe get a warm-up game. But then we'll usually drive straight home on Sunday after the GT ends, maybe getting back late but still able to go to work on Monday. Those are with a 4-6 hour drive, usually (only 2.5 for Rhode Island).
For events I fly to I usually do more or less the same; often I only need to take a half day, or sometimes I can even get in a full work day the day before the event, because the flights to Baltimore, DC, or Chicago don't take all that much time.
Adepticon's a bit special, because it's got an extra day (now two extra days, in 2013), and it's also the farthest West I normally go (Vegas in 2011 was exceptional), so there are people I only get to see and hang out with at that one event. So I now make a point of getting there a bit earlier. I've also started staying over Sunday night and taking Monday off for more socializing and so that I'm not beating myself up/stressing myself out hurrying to make a flight back to the East coast right after the tournament ends on Sunday.
Of course, if you're flying somewhere, it might be a good idea to take some extra days and make the GT part of a full vacation.
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