Any experience taking a sabbitical or gap year?

[digger_R]

What are your experiences with taking a break from your 'regular' working life?

I didn't renew my contract with the company I've been working with and now I'm a few weeks away from heading over to Canada - I have a 12 month work and travel visa and no work lined up at the other end. I've started writing a book (5 pages in so far ) but have no real direction in terms of where I want to go with the rest of my journey other than having a good time and getting my book written asap.
I'll be landing in Vancouver so will start off on the west coast

[King Herald]

digger_R said:

What are your experiences with taking a break from your 'regular' working life?

I didn't renew my contract with the company I've been working with and now I'm a few weeks away from heading over to Canada - I have a 12 month work and travel visa and no work lined up at the other end. I've started writing a book (5 pages in so far ) but have no real direction in terms of where I want to go with the rest of my journey other than having a good time and getting my book written asap.
I'll be landing in Vancouver so will start off on the west coast

I took off when I was 29, sold everything, went to 'find myself', as hippys are want to say.

It was great fun, lasted 13 years, but now I'm pretty much back in the groove, living in the UK, married, house blah blah...

[Moose.]

I'd love to do it but, until the housing market picks up and I get out of negative equity so I can sell it, I'm stuck in this sthole...

I wouldn't restrict yourself to just one county though. Explore the world a bit, there's lots to see

[sal 965]

I (we) sold up at 27 and travelled for two years but didn't work. Came back and started the career again but with more purpose and direction than before. Working since 16 had become a drag.

Edited by sal 965 on Thursday 18th June 10:09

[digger_R]

I've lived in a few different countries but never did the backpacker thing - at 31 I doubt if getting drunk on cheap booze with loose chicks really floats my boat

[Don]

digger_R said:

I've lived in a few different countries but never did the backpacker thing - at 31 I doubt if getting drunk on cheap booze with loose chicks really floats my boat

It was an ambition of mine to live and work in a couple of countries - specifically the US and Australia. I did both whilst working. So I couldn't do the backpacker thing...but every weekend I could do stuff with MONEY and I also made lots of local friends...and so experienced life as a local.

That was brill.

[tegwin]

Threads like this dont help me..


I am 21 on Saterday... been working since I was 17... Every turn all I want to do is sell up everything I own and bugger off and see the world....

But im not sure what I would do when I get back...

I know I will regret it later in life if I dont though....

[digger_R]

tegwin said:

Threads like this dont help me..


I am 21 on Saterday... been working since I was 17... Every turn all I want to do is sell up everything I own and bugger off and see the world....

But im not sure what I would do when I get back...

I know I will regret it later in life if I dont though....

I've been working since I finished my second Uni course at 22/23 and now I can't wait to go. There is a small niggling doubt as to whether giving up my current earner is a good thing to do...

[tegwin]

digger_R said:

There is a small niggling doubt as to whether giving up my current earner is a good thing to do...

That is the same niggle I have... I dont particularly like the job I am doing now, but if/when I come back.... I have no idea what I would do for money... and being that much older and having no money starting a career on my return might be tricky/impossible :s

[shirt]

tegwin said:

Threads like this dont help me..


I am 21 on Saterday... been working since I was 17... Every turn all I want to do is sell up everything I own and bugger off and see the world....

But im not sure what I would do when I get back...

I know I will regret it later in life if I dont though....

21 and you're dithering, get your notice in and go. you can travel for a few years and still have your whole life ahead of you for your career.


i'm 28 and regret not having taken a gap year. been trying to get work abroad but all avenues open to me [limited career options in my field] are drying up.

work have started offering sabbaticals at half pay as a cost cutting measure. am just trying to finalise a loan to finish a property renovation then i'm putting in for it. i fancy touring the americas on an old bsa or norton.

king herald - what did you do for work in those 13yrs? were you experienced in that field prior to leaving?? i really want to travel/work but not in this industry.

[Sheets Tabuer]

It took a year out from IT to spend time at home, now I find I can't get a job, it's almost as if people think you have forgot how to do it in that time.

[tegwin]

Sheets Tabuer said:

It took a year out from IT to spend time at home, now I find I can't get a job, it's almost as if people think you have forgot how to do it in that time.

Yes..... thats what worries me...... Technology moves on, but its not rocket science is it....


Will see what happens... Could always take a year out and then go to uni before starting a proper career in something more interesting than my current one..

I just fnacy heading to Thailand/Laos/cambodia area... I am sure you would meet some interesting people also traveling, and join with them to see stuff, then hook up with some other travelers and travel with them for a bit... meet loads of poeple and experience loads....

[shirt]

tegwin. seriously, you're 21. you have 44 years until you retire. 2 years out of that won't matter a jot. do it now before you develop too many ties like a mortgage/OH etc.

[cyb]

Sheets Tabuer said:

It took a year out from IT to spend time at home, now I find I can't get a job, it's almost as if people think you have forgot how to do it in that time.

Snap, I'm considering looking for a company that has recently gone under to fill in the gap in my CV, as I don't believe I've morphed into an unemployable dribbling cretin in the last 18 months.

[Celt]

Im considering this. Would like to start in brazil. But I hardly have a qualification to my name and no proper work experiance. I think I will need to get one of those before i bugger off for abit. But im only 19

[CVP]

I've always regretted going straight from Uni into work and not travelling more when I was younger. However like Don's experience I'm now living in another country working there and make sure we do things each weekend to get out and about seeing the country (USA). I think of it like being a permanent tourist but with no time pressure.

Given my time again, I'd definitely start travelling at a younger age.

Chris

[rev-erend]

digger_R said:

I've lived in a few different countries but never did the backpacker thing - at 31 I doubt if getting drunk on cheap booze with loose chicks really floats my boat

Yer .. right.

[King Herald]

tegwin said:

Threads like this dont help me..


I am 21 on Saterday... been working since I was 17... Every turn all I want to do is sell up everything I own and bugger off and see the world....

But im not sure what I would do when I get back...

I know I will regret it later in life if I dont though....

I've mentioned this story before, but in a nutshell: one day you'll be 31, then 41, then 61, and then you'll wonder just what happened to your life.

If you're worried about what you'll do when you get back, think what will you'll do if you never left?

[King Herald]

shirt said:

king herald - what did you do for work in those 13yrs? were you experienced in that field prior to leaving?? i really want to travel/work but not in this industry.

When I ran out of money, after about 18 months travelling and partying, I went banging on doors in Singapore, on an industrial estate. I got a job in a yacht marina, as a mechanic come general engineer, fixing sailing and power boats, with work visa, green card, the lot, even though I had never set foot on a yacht in my life before.

I spent two years there, then got a job working offshore, as a mechanic on oil survey ships, even though I have no engineers tickets or seamens qualifications.

If you don't ask, you don't get, and nobody is going to come looking for you to offer you a job.

[okgo]

Cool story!

I am going to release myself soon I think!