Quitting Your Job to Travel
- Thread starter Mr. Wade Garrett
- Start date
We have an unpaid sabbatical program where I work. I know of exactly one person who has taken it and he left about two months after coming back. One of the guys I work with has always referred to our sabbatical program as our "trial layoff period" somewhat tongue in cheek. Unfortunately, the reality is if we can do without you for three months, we can probably do without you period. I think that is one of the reasons the sabbatical is so rarely used.
In reading a bunch of these responses - what did those of you who quit and traveled do about insurance? That would be one of my biggest concerns. While I am a pretty healthy person, having something happen without insurance would scare the crap out of me.
I am pretty fortunate in that in my job I travel quite a bit so over the years I've gotten to see lot of the world. Work has taken to me to Europe 40+ times - Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. I've probably missed one or two others as well. I've probably been to Sweden 15 times alone as I did a bunch work with Ericsson for 7-8 years and was going to Stockholm (one of my favorite European cities) 2-3 times a year. Last year I had a trip to China that I was looking forward to canceled. That was a bummer as our guy in China goes out of his way to make sure the US visitors see a lot while visiting.
Frequent flyer miles I've racked up as a result of work travel have taken me and my family of six (six people will suck up some FF miles pretty quickly) to Ireland, Japan and Mexico and a couple places in the US. We just did a week in Yosemite on FF miles two weeks ago. I've also been to New Zealand and Australia (before kids).
I purchased a medical insurance policy with high deductibles and co-pays during the time I was away.
I used it exactly zero times.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
Comrade Obama made it illegal to not have insurance. Build the cost of one of his socialist insurance policies into your plan.
A company stable enough to have time to dream up bullshit like sabbatical programs is stable enough to not need any one employee.
A company stable enough to have time to dream up bullshit like sabbatical programs is stable enough to not need any one employee.
OK.....here's where I've been..........Montreal & Toronto. Nassau, St. Maarten, Jamaica, San Juan, Aruba, Cancun. Favorite was St. Maarten which I visited 4 or 5 times. Also, like New England.
Or smoking weed, flipping houses with your lover and posting ESPN.com links all day to message boards.
Definitely go for it. Traveling solo in foreign countries is a great way to relax, have fun, and learn more about yourself through interacting with people from different cultures on their home turf - much different than on your home turf - as you need to adapt to their way of things. You also see things differently about your beliefs in a good way as others don't necessarily relate to the same indoctrination that has been fed daily by US educational system and MSM. History has multiple perspectives.
If Japan is on your radar, definitely purchase in advance the Japan Rail (JR) ticket (must be done from outside Japan) which costs about JPY 35,000 and is good for a week to travel anywhere. A single round-trip between Tokyo and Kyoto may cost JPY 25,000+ alone - Otaru (great sake and sushi at cheap prices), Sapporo, Noboribetsu (onsen haven) in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yufuin (onsen haven), Kobe, and Okinawa. Germany, Rome, Florence, Venice, Bruges, Prague, Istanbul, Budapest, Krakow would be must-do's in Europe. Mykonos or Santorini islands in Greece. Reykjavik is a must-do. Bangkok (Pathumwan Princess is a great hotel), Phuket, Pattaya (Walking Street makes Bangkok look like minor leagues), Boracay, Hong Kong (similar vibe to NYC), Macau, Bali (Nusa Dua & Ubud areas; skip Kuta), Ho Chi Minh (take river boat to see the Cu chi Tunnels), Singapore (1-2 days to experience the quality of life)...so many other great places to visit in Europe and Asia, as well as Africa and South America.
There is always a risk taking any time off from work (especially a year) could cause issues coming back but in this case I think you would have a great experience, story, and learnings to convey to any future employer. You may also find one place upon your travels where you meet someone who might have an interest in the work you do for their company and may want to relocate to and decide to live for a while. Never know. Perhaps write a book about your travels and experiences...It's a once in a lifetime event and better to do it in your 30's while single. If I had that much saved at that time in my life it would be a no-brainer, especially given what I know now after living abroad over 10 years.
If Japan is on your radar, definitely purchase in advance the Japan Rail (JR) ticket (must be done from outside Japan) which costs about JPY 35,000 and is good for a week to travel anywhere. A single round-trip between Tokyo and Kyoto may cost JPY 25,000+ alone - Otaru (great sake and sushi at cheap prices), Sapporo, Noboribetsu (onsen haven) in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yufuin (onsen haven), Kobe, and Okinawa. Germany, Rome, Florence, Venice, Bruges, Prague, Istanbul, Budapest, Krakow would be must-do's in Europe. Mykonos or Santorini islands in Greece. Reykjavik is a must-do. Bangkok (Pathumwan Princess is a great hotel), Phuket, Pattaya (Walking Street makes Bangkok look like minor leagues), Boracay, Hong Kong (similar vibe to NYC), Macau, Bali (Nusa Dua & Ubud areas; skip Kuta), Ho Chi Minh (take river boat to see the Cu chi Tunnels), Singapore (1-2 days to experience the quality of life)...so many other great places to visit in Europe and Asia, as well as Africa and South America.
There is always a risk taking any time off from work (especially a year) could cause issues coming back but in this case I think you would have a great experience, story, and learnings to convey to any future employer. You may also find one place upon your travels where you meet someone who might have an interest in the work you do for their company and may want to relocate to and decide to live for a while. Never know. Perhaps write a book about your travels and experiences...It's a once in a lifetime event and better to do it in your 30's while single. If I had that much saved at that time in my life it would be a no-brainer, especially given what I know now after living abroad over 10 years.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
Just like Charleston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, Waco, Ferguson, Philly, NYC...
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
So its fear of political upheaval?? And its crazy to travel outside the US? Didn't realize what risk takers many of us are. Seems like a strange way to live but as you said to each his own.
The US itself is very diverse and offers much to see, so its not crazy to explore here before moving on.. but the world is a pretty big place, I'd hate to let fear drive me towards St Maarten and Toronto for all my travel. That seems really boring.
I'm going to Toronto tonight. Should be the trip of a lifetime!!
Hopefully no Quebec separatist movement catches steam in the 36 hours I'm there!!
Hopefully no Quebec separatist movement catches steam in the 36 hours I'm there!!
Godspeed.
I have a Zurich trip after the 4th and my wife is headed to Paris the same week. I am looking into our respective companies' R&R policies and exploring if we can receive some form of danger pay reimbursement during those trips
I would do it. My wife and I took 3 months off while she was transitioning to a new role and I hated my job. Granted, it was a little easier as she had a job and I took my time and found...well, at least I did find something relatively quickly, but we spent 3 months, mostly in Europe. 2 weeks in Spain, France, Italy, 1 week in Croatia and Turkey, and 1 week with Munich, Vienna and Budapest.
We stayed at AirBNB's the entire way and my wife likes to go to markets and stuff, so we saved a lot of money by not eating at restaurants for every meal, though we still ate our fair share of great food. I also used up my hotel points for 5 nights and stayed with friends for another 10-15 days. (Turkey and France). I would strongly recommend getting a travel credit card with no foreign transaction feeds and open up a Schwab account as there are no ATM fees. The amount of money we put on that card probably let us pay for $500 worth of travel on points as well.
We spent just under 20k for the 3 months, though around 25% of that was from the one week we spent in Croatia as we did the Yacht Week. That was worth every penny. One other thing we did was pay for a lot of our train travel in advance, which saved us closer to 70% on all of our train tickets.
We're already planning the next time (and likely last time for a while) we can do this before having kid(s)
We stayed at AirBNB's the entire way and my wife likes to go to markets and stuff, so we saved a lot of money by not eating at restaurants for every meal, though we still ate our fair share of great food. I also used up my hotel points for 5 nights and stayed with friends for another 10-15 days. (Turkey and France). I would strongly recommend getting a travel credit card with no foreign transaction feeds and open up a Schwab account as there are no ATM fees. The amount of money we put on that card probably let us pay for $500 worth of travel on points as well.
We spent just under 20k for the 3 months, though around 25% of that was from the one week we spent in Croatia as we did the Yacht Week. That was worth every penny. One other thing we did was pay for a lot of our train travel in advance, which saved us closer to 70% on all of our train tickets.
We're already planning the next time (and likely last time for a while) we can do this before having kid(s)
Etown, how old are you? I was in Hvar when yacht week rolled through last year. Was wild.
MWG,
We did this in summer of 2013. I was 30 at the time and my wife (fiance at the time) was 29.
If you do it smart and do it like you live abroad as opposed to being a tourist abroad, you can do it for cheap. While being spontaneous sounds great, the fact that our stuff was planned out saved us a ton of money. We knew where we were going to be and for how long. If you don't want to do that, just be prepared to spend some additional money. My wife is very Type A so she wanted it planned out. We didn't leave until May but I quit my job in late March and spent my time planning.
We also spent most of our time in cheaper countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Turkey) as opposed to the more expensive countries, (France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, the Scandinavian countries)
And Croatia is pretty awesome even without Yacht Week, which, at 30, may have been just a bit too old for. But it was still amazing. We spent an awesome day on Vis island. Hvar was also crazy. I, personally, wouldn't do it again unless it was with my close friends (or I was single), but so glad that I did do it.
We did this in summer of 2013. I was 30 at the time and my wife (fiance at the time) was 29.
If you do it smart and do it like you live abroad as opposed to being a tourist abroad, you can do it for cheap. While being spontaneous sounds great, the fact that our stuff was planned out saved us a ton of money. We knew where we were going to be and for how long. If you don't want to do that, just be prepared to spend some additional money. My wife is very Type A so she wanted it planned out. We didn't leave until May but I quit my job in late March and spent my time planning.
We also spent most of our time in cheaper countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Turkey) as opposed to the more expensive countries, (France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, the Scandinavian countries)
And Croatia is pretty awesome even without Yacht Week, which, at 30, may have been just a bit too old for. But it was still amazing. We spent an awesome day on Vis island. Hvar was also crazy. I, personally, wouldn't do it again unless it was with my close friends (or I was single), but so glad that I did do it.
Groups of 6-12 people ages 18-35 rent yachts. Population of the cabin must be at least 50% women. Then they just island hop for a week depending on location.
I was in Hvar last year, and they set it up just like a spring break. Cheesy drink specials and shit. But i met someone from literally every continent.
I was in Hvar last year, and they set it up just like a spring break. Cheesy drink specials and shit. But i met someone from literally every continent.
Train travel in Europe is so much fun. It's a chance to meet the locals and really have a good time.Whenever I traveled in Europe, I always got a Eurail Pass. When I wanted to move on from a place, I just went to the railroad station and checked the departure board and picked the next place to go. Never made reservations for a place to stay in advance but always stayed at Pensiones most all of which were clean and comfortable. Traveling by train in South America is also a great experience. Some really spectacular sights especially in the Andes.
Great topic. Life is too short to trade it for money. In my opinion, traveling the world is a temporary fix. You need a long-term plan for what will make you happy. Your savings gives you the opportunity to make real changes in your life. I wouldn't blow it on a long vacation only to return to high-paid misery.
You have enough saved to change careers to something you find more fulfilling. You have a good head start financially if it turns out to be a lower paying career. You may even want to move to a place with a lower cost of living so you don't have to endure a brutal job to pay your bills.
If you don't have a wife and kids yet, you probably will eventually. Kids grow fast and you don't want to trade your chance to be a dad for money. My advice is to make quality of life decisions without considerations of status or prestige. This board tends to emphasize the latter.
These are just general suggestions based on some of my experiences. I don't mean to sound like I think I am some kind of guru. I have always been prone to boredom and restlessness. I have young kids and a wife and neither of us works more than 40 hours a week. We live in a modest house, have a very modest vacation property and maybe $400k saved for retirement (I'm 5 or 6 years older than you) but almost no cash except on Fridays (we waste too much money). We make a reasonable living but nothing extraordinary. On the other hand, we both like our jobs and are happy to go in the morning. I could double my income working in a different field but I'm not willing to trade my time or happiness. We have nothing fancy to brag about but,overall, I am satisfied. It's worth thinking about a long-term goals and to start enjoying the ride.
As far as travel, it's a great idea but there is plenty of time for that.
You have enough saved to change careers to something you find more fulfilling. You have a good head start financially if it turns out to be a lower paying career. You may even want to move to a place with a lower cost of living so you don't have to endure a brutal job to pay your bills.
If you don't have a wife and kids yet, you probably will eventually. Kids grow fast and you don't want to trade your chance to be a dad for money. My advice is to make quality of life decisions without considerations of status or prestige. This board tends to emphasize the latter.
These are just general suggestions based on some of my experiences. I don't mean to sound like I think I am some kind of guru. I have always been prone to boredom and restlessness. I have young kids and a wife and neither of us works more than 40 hours a week. We live in a modest house, have a very modest vacation property and maybe $400k saved for retirement (I'm 5 or 6 years older than you) but almost no cash except on Fridays (we waste too much money). We make a reasonable living but nothing extraordinary. On the other hand, we both like our jobs and are happy to go in the morning. I could double my income working in a different field but I'm not willing to trade my time or happiness. We have nothing fancy to brag about but,overall, I am satisfied. It's worth thinking about a long-term goals and to start enjoying the ride.
As far as travel, it's a great idea but there is plenty of time for that.
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Phil - I agree with you 100%. My wife and I have worked hard, but not at the expense of our kids. I was offered a job right before my first son was born that basically would have given me unbelievable financial freedom. The downside was at least 3 hours of commuting daily coupled with an average 10 hour work day. You do the math. I turned it down and worked for a small start up company close to home with flexible hours. I got to coach both of my kids in baseball, basketball & soccer. I went on as many scout campouts as possible and rarely missed any of their events.
Long story short, we have lived rather frugally and have completely paid for one Villanova tuition and are in the process of paying for a second one. We have socked away a very nice amount for retirement. We have traveled a fair amount and our luxury items are VU basketball and football tickets. I remember coaching baseball and trying to scrounge up a father or two during the week to help coach 1st or 3rd base. Most weekday evenings I had moms coaching since dad was still at work at 7:00 pm. I would not have changed my experience and lack of a huge paycheck for the time spent with the family. It sounds like you and your wife are on the right track. You won't regret it. It's all about priorities.
Long story short, we have lived rather frugally and have completely paid for one Villanova tuition and are in the process of paying for a second one. We have socked away a very nice amount for retirement. We have traveled a fair amount and our luxury items are VU basketball and football tickets. I remember coaching baseball and trying to scrounge up a father or two during the week to help coach 1st or 3rd base. Most weekday evenings I had moms coaching since dad was still at work at 7:00 pm. I would not have changed my experience and lack of a huge paycheck for the time spent with the family. It sounds like you and your wife are on the right track. You won't regret it. It's all about priorities.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
Goods points above. A trip or a job doesn't make you happy. It's a deeper personal philosophic decision.
This is a great thread, if there was a message board of CoDB people instead of CoP, it would be much more interesting. CoP'ers just never leave their 20 mile radius.
"Give me Avalon over Bali any day of the week, thank you very much. They dont even have Zeppolis." - every CoPer ever.
If true you will have plenty of time to travel in your 40's or 50's. Look around the floor and make note of how little gray hair you see.
First off, you think im fuccking lying? To what, impress some strangers on the internet??
Second, the whole point of the thread is finding fulfillment outside of finances.
Third, its not that everyone retires in their 40s. Its that they get burnt out because the job is emotionally taxing.
And lastly, the future for Wall Street aint bright, my man.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
I can tell youre baiting me. I will get into it tomorrow. Dont have time now.
Sorry that I struck a nerve. This board is a bastion of sarcastic quips. With regards to Wall Street, been there, done that during much better times. Have a nice trip and find a second career.
As of now, I think ive got a plan.
I will raise my hand to be let go after we get our bonus in December. Ive lined up some private capital in addition to my own to launch a venture when i return.
This is a solid plan as it allows Benchwarmers input over the next 6 months to help develop the itinerary!
Is there one area of the world you're most interested in visiting? (for me it was Africa)