Should my mail come on vacation with me?

Just have the USPS hold your mail - then you can pick it up all at once when you return. I did this last year, and when my 30-day trip turned into a 4 month trip I was very relieved that the PO simply kept my stuff in one place (minus the junk mail) and handed it all to me in a bin once I returned. I've had friends gather my mail for me before and things got lost, and mail forwarding takes up to a month to go through (according to the PO) - so it's really easiest to just to a "vacation hold" with your closest Post Office.

I've had the USPS hold my mail when I've been away; never longer than two weeks in my own case, but it's never been a problem. You can have them deliver it all after a certain date, or keep holding it until you call to pick it up, your choice.

I have had mixed experience with temporary holds at the post office, and I'm loath to ask them to do a temporary forward; that seems like a recipe for disaster. For a month, I'd either ask your friends to send you the personal mail/magazines you want (there are USPS mailers that allow you to mail anything that fits inside for a flat rate--meaning your friends wouldn't have to be bothered with going to the post office), or I'd just buy the magazines for that month.

Oh, lovely. The idea of flat rate mailers can solve our problem; our friend can do that a few times during the month and we won't have to enter the world of USPS bureaucracy or have to guess the amount of postage to put on mailing envelopes. Thank you, hive mind. California, here I come!

Considering how long it takes them to actually start forwarding my mail and then how long it takes for forwarded mail to reach my new apartment (even when I moved within the same post office's jurisdiction) I would not trust the forwarding system to be helpful for a month long vacation. I'd go with the priority mail flat rate envelope and some helpful neighbors idea.

I realize this was asked and answered a few days ago, but for anyone who finds this via search, another anecdote in favor of having mail picked up by a friend, rather than forwarded or held by USPS: My parents live in New Hampshire. They spent last February and March in Florida and had the post office hold all their mail. When they returned to New Hampshire, there was a warrant out for my mother's arrest. That big pile of held mail contained a summons for jury duty, which of course was not responded to.