Meet, Plan, GO!

On October 18 I took the opportunity to go to the Meet, Plan, Go national event.  Meet, Plan, Go is an organization to support people in taking career breaks.  A career break being defined as a month plus break from your job.

Back in 2003 when I took my first Contiki tour, I never thought 6 days could change my life so much.  I met people who were taking 3, 6, 12+ months off from work to travel the world.  WHAT?  It was crazy, I had heard about people taking a gap year after college and before going back to work.  But your company was holding your job while you were traveling the world?  Between that and the experiences on my trip (and in hindsight I wouldn't even call this my best Contiki trip) I came back and started to look at my life from the outside and was horrified.  Ok, it wasn't that bad, but I wasn't in love with my life either.  I did make some adjustments in my life, but it's a process.

8 and a half years later I'm still processing those emotions and considering my options.  For 8 years of processing I haven't gotten that far...  That is why I decided to go to the Meet Plan Go national event, to help get a push in the process.

What did I get out of it?
No one who has done a career break has regretted it.
My concerns about health insurance are real (check out my other blog at http://creatingabeautifulmouth.blogspot.com if you want more information on that.)
I need to start saving more (or cutting out more spending), maybe both ;)
There are companies that already support sabbaticals, and many others will even if they don't know it right now.
You should incorporate volunteering or learning in your trip, it will give a better justification for the trip and improve your resume when you come back and want to find a new job.
Have a purpose for you trip.


What are my next steps?  I work for the government so a sabbatical will be harder then it might be for someone in private industry.  BUT, I do get 5 weeks of vacation time, which is FANTASTIC for an American and a reason I do stay at my job.  So, after I finish all the work on my teeth I will take a month long career break - that should be in about a year or so.  I'm still trying to decide where, but it will likely be either Australia or New Zealand.  I'm open for opinions on that, as long as you don't get offended if I don't choose your choice of destination.

I can retire from my government job in about 7 and a half years.  I would like to make it that long at my job, but I'll have to see what the future holds.  But once I retire I fully plan on taking at least a couple months to travel.  Knowing that I plan my shorter trips to hit places that I would be less likely to visit on a 3+ month trip around the world.

All of this is a rough plan, but gives enough structure to allow me to start making choices in life.  Do I really need a new car with a hefty monthly payment?  Or would a used car be ok with a smaller payment?  Do I really that stupid thing in the store that's just going to collect dust?

On a completely different note, a reminder about my giveaway that is ending on October 30 for a copy of My Memories Suite 2, digital scrapbooking software.  You can find out more about this here.

If you're interested in a career break here are a few websites that you might want to check out (I originally made a list, and then got a better list via email from Meet, Plan, Go so I copied that):

CAREER BREAK/RTW TRAVEL SITES

http://meetplango.com/

http://meetplango.com/basic-training/

http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/

http://careerbreaksecrets.com/

http://rebootbreak.com/

http://www.gobackpacking.com/Blog/

MONEY/BUDGETING SITES/BLOGS

http://www.rtwexpenses.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-travel-around-the-world-year-1-summary/

http://alittleadrift.com/2009/10/rtw-budget-travel-around-the-world/

http://travel.booklocker.com/2009/05/04/round-the-world-travel-budget/

http://manvsdebt.com/

http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/round-the-world-tips-budgeting-for-your-rtw.html

http://www.theroadforks.com/offtheroad/how_we_budget_for_rtw

http://almostfearless.com/2009/09/07/planning-a-travel-budget-that-works-day-7-of-30w30d/

http://globetrooper.com/notes/travel-budget/

http://takeyourbigtrip.com/2010/03/03/how-to-estimate-a-big-trip-budget-an-introduction/

http://www.rtwexpenses.com/

ACCOMODATIONS

Hostel/Hotel Sites

hihostels.com 

http://www.gomio.com/

http://www.hostels.com/

http://www.hostelworld.com/

http://hostels.bootsnall.com/

http://www.hotels.com

Apartment/Condo/House Rental Sites

http://www.vrbo.com/

http://www.homeaway.com/

http://www.airbnb.com/

House Sitting

http://www.caretaker.org/

http://www.housecarers.com/

http://www.trustedhousesitters.com/

http://www.mindmyhouse.com/

http://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/Home_Exchange.aspx

Staying with Locals

https://www.tripping.com/

http://www.couchsurfing.org/

Homestays

http://www.usservas.org/index.php

Home Exchanges

http://www.homeexchange.com/

http://www.homexchangevacation.com/

http://www.homebase-hols.com/

Working Abroad/Exchanging work for room and board

http://www.helpex.net/

http://www.wwoof.org/

http://www.aupair.com/

http://www.workaway.info/

VOLUNTEERING/VOLUNTOURISM

http://b2b.meetplango.com/2009/03/how-to-choose-an-international-volunteer-program/

http://www.idealist.org/

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/

http://toolkit.bootsnall.com/volunteering-abroad-travel-guide/volunteer-abroad-links.html

http://www.geovisions.org/

PACKING

http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/faq-packing.html 

http://meetplango.com/2011/08/choosing-the-perfect-backpack/

http://www.poweredbytofu.com/how-to-pack-for-a-1-year-round-the-world-trip/

http://alittleadrift.com/rtw-travel/rtw_packing/ (includes a female packing list)

http://blog.hostelbookers.com/travel/how-to-pack-your-backpack/ (how to best pack your backpack)

http://www.travelindependent.info/whattopack.htm

http://gogreentravelgreen.com/extended-travel/ultimate-packing-list-for-a-round-the-world-trip/(2 female packing lists)

http://www.aswetravel.com/rtw-gear-list-our-2011-packing-list/(male and female packing lists for two digital nomads) 

AIRFARE SITES AND DEALS

http://meetplango.com/round-the-world-tickets/

http://www.bootsnall.com/tripplanner.shtml

http://tripplanner.airtreks.com/?ref=BOOTSNALL

http://www.kayak.com/

http://www.hipmunk.com/

INSURANCE - MEDICAL/TRAVEL

www.insuremytrip.com

http://meetplango.com/travel-insurance/

http://www.hthworldwide.com/

TRAVEL MESSAGE BOARDS

http://boards.bootsnall.com/

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa

 

Making a Change: Keep it Simple

I've been a bit inspired by a couple different things recently about the idea of changing your life - making it simple and maybe traveling. I've been looking at some different stuff about taking a year off, a gap year, or just a round the world trip. It seems like there are a lot of people out there who are working to make money, but not for enjoyment. Actually, a lot of people seem miserable. If you want some insight into this check out the books Work to Live by Joe Robinson or The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. But then if you look around you see people who don't like what they do and do something about it - The families from A Brilliant Teacher, the blog From Here to Uncertainty, Six in the World, A Year in Europe - just to name a few... For all of them there is a need to see the world and change their lives by taking a leap of faith.

They all seem to come home and simplify their lives a bit. Work to Live, and then live within those means. Also, when you see people living with less, or just keeping things simple even though they can live larger, they identify a better quality of life in the little things - not the big TV and nice car. I have plenty of people around me who have nice cars and big houses and they don't seem to have any more fulfilled lives then those with fewer things. Part of this has to do with the fact that Americans like to identify themselves with what they do, not with who they are. Few people who know me would identify me with my job, it's my job and while I enjoy it most of the time and find it rewarding at times it's my job. I do other things when I leave work too, like write a blog on travel... I often think about leaving my job and exploring other things to do, but I've decided not to for a couple reasons - I make a good living (not great, but good), I get a lot of vacation time for an American - 5 weeks, I do find my job at times rewarding, there are a lot of different things I can do on my job - I have already worked in 6 different places in 10 years within my job and finally I can retire in 10 more years with a pension and health insurance. I'll have my gap year then if I don't like what I'm doing or if I'm happy maybe I'll stay longer, I'll only be 43. In the meantime for the next 10 years I'll work on what to do on that gap year and what I want to do after it.

If you're interested in a gap year or wonder what goes into planning and executing a gap year I have a website to recommend: Briefcase to Backpack. The site is relatively new so it's not fully developed, but it has a good base of inspiration and ideas and suggestions for how to deal with the issues revolving around a gap year. Good luck and enjoy life.