It’s here!
This week is the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes work. My book, The Career Break Traveler’s Handbook, is finally here. Since I started my trip back in 2007, I had dreams of writing my own travel book. Then when I started Career Break Secrets, I had dreams of writing my own book. And all along the way, my aunt kept encouraging me to write a book. But, the management of the site and working to get The Career Break Travel Show (coming soon!) launched precluded me spending any time on trying to figure out the publishing world.
The Power of the Network
Late last year Janice Waugh, author of The Solo Traveler’s Handbook, told me that she wanted to expand her book into a series. As you can see from the review of the Solo Traveler’s Handbook (1st edition), I was a fan. She offered me the chance to be a part of the first wave of travel style books under her label, Full Flight Press, and I accepted without hesitation. At the same time, the other authors came on board: Jodi Ettenberg to focus on food travel, Sarah & Terry Lee to focus on luxury travel and Shannon O’Donnell to focus on volunteer travel. Janice took the opportunity to produce the 2nd edition of her book on solo travel. It’s always great to work with smart people who are experts in their field. The Traveler’s Handbooks series was born.
Why a Career Break Book?
Frankly, I wanted to have a resource that made it easy for anyone with a dream of a career break to get started quickly. There’s a lot of information out there about taking a career break and blogs filled with stories and adventures of people who are out there doing it right now. That’s great for amplifying the amount of information that’s available for the people planning their trip right now. But, it also adds to the time you need to comb through it all to find what they need. And, you still have to piece together your own plan.
My goal was to take the information and put it together in a way that helps you get going and get planning. Not only that, I want you to be able to have a process to follow so you don’t forget any important details.
Finally, there are so many people that I’ve met during and after my career break who have stories worth telling. I try to cover as many as I can on the site. And, the book has many more. Some are stories I’ve told on the site already while others I haven’t. I could have included so many more and I felt bad that I couldn’t include more. I tried to focus on one aspect of their story to help illustrate the various themes of the book. Having those stories also highlights that there are a lot more people than known taking breaks, they come all walks of life and do it for a variety of reasons.
What’s Inside
- The book is only about 110 pages. So, you can get through it quickly
- There are over 20 photos from around that world that I took that will hopefully fuel your wanderlust
- 13 stories from current and former career breakers
- 4 sections covering the career break lifecycle
- Deciding puts the career break in perspective of your overall life and career, explains why it’s not selfish to take a break, highlights the scientific benefits of taking a break and ends with a pep talk
- Peace of Mind Planning takes you step by step on how to prepare so you can fully relax once you leave knowing you are ready for anything that comes your way. I cover what you need to do before you quit, how to come out of the career break closet, the art of career break budgeting, planning where to go, dealing with your health, packing and tech tips and more
- Making the Most of Your Trip gives you ideas for how to maximize the time you have whether you have have one month or one year. I start by highlighting the 3 types of activities that career breakers do, how to adjust to a ¨free¨ life, how to deal with loneliness, how to stay safe physically, digitally and protect your belongings, my list of budget stretchers and discuss whether you should work or not
- Re-entry helps you get going again once you’re back from adjusting to life back home, how to restart your networking and how to position your career break to prospective employers
- Resource lists (over a dozen) that cover the following:
- accommodation
- career break and related books for further reading
- career break TV and films
- other career break resources
- budgeting and money management
- connecting with locals and other travelers
- finding great dining experiences
- flights
- health and health insurance resources
- re-entry resources
- registering your trip
- free blogging and communication options
- volunteering resources
- naturally a list of the other books in the series
And finally, you can check out the Table of Contents and read a sample chapter.
Reviews of the Career Break Traveler’s Handboook
I’m trying to capture the reviews as they come out. Here are the latest of what I’ve seen so far.
“I found the taking of sabbaticals the single most successful strategy in helping me to look at my work as a calling, rather than just as a job. Jeff Jung tells you how to go about it.”
Stefan Sagmeister
Grammy Award winning Art Director and Graphic Designer
Author and TED Speaker
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“Jeff Jung helps us realize that Career Breaks are important aspects of our work lives. As a 5-time career changer, talent and career take time to play, study, explore and really live. We are so much more productive, imaginative and interesting when we do these things, and that leads to innovation and a competitive advantage for our careers and the organizations we work for. Taking a Career Break is a “must-do” and this book is a “must-read.”
Ginny Clarke
CEO of Talent Optimization Partners, LLC
Author of Career Mapping: Charting Your Course in the New World of Work
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“This book covers everything. From how to quit your job to how to pack your bags, it’s all in there. If you’re ready to turn that secret travel dream you’ve been ignoring all these years into reality, this is your starting point.”
Dan Clements
Author of Escape 101
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“Perhaps you have been dreaming about taking a career break. After reading the career break travelers handbook, you will move from dream to action. With inspiring stories, practical advice and an overall can-do, should-do, will-do spirit, this book will have you asking yourself why you’ve waited so long. Even if your career break is not possible today, you will get step by step strategies to ensure your career will not slip away without one.”
Julie Bauke
CEO, The Bauke Group
Author of Stop Peeing on Your Shoes: Avoiding the 7 Mistakes That Screw Up Your Job Search
Where to Buy The Career Break Traveler’s Handbook
The book is in both paperback and electronic versions. It is currently rolling out around the world. Here are the places where you can buy them
- US
- UK
- Waterstones (paperback)
- W.H. Smith (paperback and Kobo)
- Amazon.co.uk (paperback
and Kindle
)
- iBook Store Coming Soon!
- Copia
- Hammicks Legal
- The Book Depository (paperback)
- Eddington Hook
- Canada
- Australia
- Croatia
- Estonia
- India
- Japan
- Italy
- Latvia
- New Zealand Coming Soon!
- Norway
- Romania
- Sweden
- Wholesalers
- Baker & Taylor Coming Soon!
- Alibris (UK)
- Gardner’s (UK)
- Lehmann’s (Germany)
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Tags: career break advice, career break travel, travel advice
