For most of the time I’ve been running Career Break Secrets, I’ve connected with you from afar, from the ether of the internet and social media. No matter where I am, the internet allows me to publish and stay in touch. I’m still amazed at how things have worked out so far.

• I’ve connected with people from all over the world, in all parts of the world.
• I’ve had the chance to work with some great travel companies.
• I’ve been invited to speak at a number of travel conferences in the US and Europe.
• I was asked to be part of the initial group of authors to launch a new travel publishing brand.
• And, most recently, I have a TV show on a new travel channel that’s going global.

All of the above has allowed me to live overseas wherever a decent internet connection exists.

Not bad for a guy who grew up in rural Texas.

BUT SOMETHING’S BEEN MISSING

It hasn’t all been rainbows, sunshine and ice cream. There have been many failures and disappointments along the way. I tend not to write about many of them because my transition to digital entrepreneur never seemed like something relevant for an audience interested in learning about how to take a career break from their jobs to go travel.

On balance I can’t complain. The short-term stumbles have not prevented me from moving forward on the vision I laid out for Career Break Secrets back in 2009. But, there’s still something missing.

For most of the time in building up Career Break Secrets, I’ve had to be behind the screen of a computer – writing, Facebooking, tweeting, editing, etc. While on the one hand I’ve met (even if only virtually) thousands of people from around the world – some at their planning stage, some during their traveling stage, and some who are career break veterans – I’ve felt isolated. Being a digital nomad has in some ways reinforced the isolation and lack of camaraderie that only comes with in-person, face-to-face interactions. On the one hand social media and blogging meets my social needs and allows me to have a positive impact on people’s lives – just what I always wanted to do. But, it’s also perversely made me a shut-in, making it harder to connect with the very people I want to inspire and help take a career break.

The motto of Career Break Secrets is, ¨because life is out there.¨ And, I feel like I’m not out there with the people I want to be meeting. Sooooo,

IT’S TIME TO CLOSE THE GAP, REENGAGE AND RECONNECT

Simply put: I’m returning to the US to perform at live events.

I’m getting away from my seat behind the computer and moving directly in front of people – Real. Flesh and Blood. People. I’m going out to meet people who want to take a career break – those that just want to find out more, those that want to do it and just need a bit of a nudge, those that are already planning and want to share their story with me. The online world is incredibly powerful in helping make connections. And I won’t back away from the online world. But, I’ll use it increasingly to facilitate in-person meetups. After all, there is still nothing like face-to-face interactions.

STEP ONE: THE ONE-MAN SHOW IN JANUARY

As the old saying goes, think global and act local. For me that means going back to my hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas in the Hill Country of the state. While it may seem like an unlikely place to start, but that town has turned into a cultural hub in the region with tons of festivals, plays and a great variety of restaurants. And, while I haven’t lived there since 1995, I feel the need to reconnect with the family, friends and community there in central Texas. Frankly, I wanted to start in a friendly environment.

Here’s a fun fact. The last time I was on a stage in central Texas, it was to perform in a summer production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. No shit.

QUICK SHOW SUMMARY

I’ll write more about the one-man show soon. But here’s what I can tell you.

• Name: Am I There Yet? Tall Tales and Life Lessons From a Global Journey
• Type of Show: It’s a one-man show in which I share how a guy from central Texas transformed into a world traveler. I’ll share my quirky stories about the crazy stuff that’s happened to me while traveling and lessons I’ve learned about travel and life along the way. No doubt my self-deprecating humor will make an appearance. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, we’ll bond. And then probably meet up at a local bar for a nice German beer.
• Time and Date: 2 nights only on January 17th and 18th, 2014, at 7:30PM
• Where: Fredericksburg Theater Company, Fredericksburg, Texas
• Tickets: Tickets are on sale via Eventbrite as of November 1 for $29.99. And, I’m offering a Christmas special for those that buy a ticket early. For $34.99 you get a ticket and an autographed copy of my book, The Career Break Traveler’s Handbook.
• Who Should Attend: Theater goers, travel aficionados, armchair travelers, groups of friends, my high schools friends who live in the area, my family, tourists going to Fredericksburg for the weekend.

Buy your ticket today at Eventbrite. And, don’t forget, it makes for a great gift for your friends and family. What else are you going to be doing in the dead of winter?

The Show That’s About to Go On is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Copyright FlashpackatForty.com

Today we have a great guest post from Craig and John, a couple of experienced career breakers currently traveling the world. Based on their personal experience, they’ve got some great tips for finding out if a career break is for you and how to get started. They have an eye to becoming nomadic and give you an insight into their lives and what they’re going through as they make that decision. It’s a post that balances their personal story with great advice for anyone thinking of taking a break. I’m really thrilled that Craig and John took the time to share it with all of you.

Inspired to Travel Long-Term

In 2008 we took a vacation to Bali. At this point in our lives, we had about three luxury holidays a year, many to exotic destinations in an attempt to satiate our yearnings to travel. However, this turned out to be our last of such trips.

On this holiday we met a couple who had spent many years travelling around the world. They had both left their jobs years ago and had lived in the UK, Germany, Turkey, India and travelled the world extensively. Dave & Debbie were about the same age as us, but they weren’t exhausted from working tirelessly earning money to secure what maybe a better future. They were fit and active, and most importantly very happy with their chosen lifestyle. We asked ourselves, whether this was something we could do.

After being inspired by our new friends, we started to follow many travel blogs, researching others who had made this giant leap from a career to become a long-term traveller.  What we discovered is that there aren’t that many people dismissing the virtues of taking a career-break or saying that their lives have been irreparably damaged from taking a few years off work.

On the contrary, the empirical evidence suggests that the majority of people who pursue their travel dreams benefit in many ways from starting such a journey. Always a bit sceptical, we needed to explore in detail the personal impact of making such a life changing decision.

Copyright FlashpackatForty.com

The Career-Break Quandary: To Travel or Not To Travel?

We asked ourselves all the questions that any person considering long term travel and leaving their job would. Questions such as, can we spend so much time together as a couple, what happens if a family member gets ill, what will we do after the trip, do we have enough savings etc?  I won’t go into the hours, days and years we spent discussing these questions and many others, but there are answers and solutions to all these quandaries.  Travel websites, like Career Break Secrets, provided us with the knowledge to know it was possible.

Our problem was as soon as we answered a question, another would arise; maybe we just didn’t want to travel on a long-term basis enough.  No, that wasn’t it, the more we learned the stronger our desire to travel became.  We knew if we didn’t take a career-break, we would only ever be able to see a small fraction of the world, at the mercy of our annual leave entitlement from work.  Even if we finished work in our 60’s (more likely to be 70’s with the constant changes in the age of retirement legislation) assuming we would live that long, there just wouldn’t be enough time.

We certainly weren’t running away from our lives, heck, we enjoyed them. We realised that we were frightened of our dream becoming a nightmare, and would be embarrassed to return after just a couple of months on the road, having missed our home comforts. We needed to try this out and see if we could hack it.

Copyright FlashpackatForty.com

Try Before You Buy

We’d never had the privilege of travelling on a long-term basis, prior to or immediately after graduating from university, as we are both from large working class families and our first priorities were to pay off our debts and progress with our chosen careers.

We had nearly always travelled independently, unless we were doing an all-inclusive holiday to somewhere like Mexico or Goa. So we were pretty good at making travel plans and visiting several destinations in one trip.  One thing we hadn’t done, for decades, was travel on a budget.  We appreciated that it wouldn’t be financially sustainable for us to travel the way we’d travelled in the past. Not that we’d been totally frivolous, but as we both worked very hard, our leisure time together was of great value and so we placed a premium in ensuring that our holidays went smoothly. So we both decided to take three weeks annual leave, and travel around Morocco to see if we could stick to a tight budget and hopefully our plans of travelling around the world wouldn’t be shattered.

Travelling in Morocco we stayed at hostels, and budget accommodation using public buses and trains to get around.   We ate where the locals ate or in budget restaurants, the food was amazing. One thing we did quickly realise is that we wouldn’t be staying in ‘dorms’ as we valued our space and privacy too much, to compromise on sharing accommodation. We managed to keep to a tight budget and thoroughly enjoyed touring around Morocco.  To our relief and surprise we didn’t miss the little luxuries of chocolates and rose petals on our pillow, or spending too much time in the hotel/resort sipping cocktails. In fact, we felt we’d experienced and learnt more than on many previous holidays combined.  This trip was our ‘eureka’ moment and fixed our conviction to take a career break.  After this we developed our ‘flashpacking’ travel philosophy, for our around the world trip.

Copyright FlashpackatForty.com

Making your travel dreams a reality

The first decision was when to depart and how to break the news. Once our employers had agreed to our exit (which wasn’t that easy) and suitable dates set, it’s explaining your decision to family and friends. We didn’t want people to think we were having some sort of mid-life crisis, well I don’t think we were, so we explained to people we were going flashpacking.

What’s flashpacking? Unless you’re a fully paid up member of the travel community you probably haven’t come across this term. If you haven’t, you can find out a bit more about flashpacking and us, in our travel blog.  The reason we chose this way of communicating our decision, was it allowed us to answer follow-up questions and explain in detail our reasons. Therefore, people were aware we weren’t running away to join a commune or on the hippie trail, not that there is anything wrong with either of these choices, just not something we’d choose to do. Once all the tears had been shed, everybody was really supportive.

We started to deconstruct our lives, well possessions really.  This takes a very long time, from selling everything, cars, properties, and placing in storage what you want to keep.  The amount of administration is onerous, from changing addresses and cancelling direct debits.

It’s all pretty straightforward but don’t underestimate the amount time this takes, so start work on this as soon as you set a travel date.  The whole process is very cathartic, and you begin to appreciate how much junk you’ve accumulated, and after over 20 years of living together you’d be surprised at just how much two people can own. We certainly won’t be purchasing any tourist souvenirs whilst on this trip!  The hardest thing for us, was emptying our vast bookshelves, this proved quite an emotive process. To make this a little easier, we got an e-version of those publications available.  However, being old romantics our books held memories more than just the words printed on the pages.

Copyright FlashpackatForty.com

Life on the Road 

We started our around the world journey in Melbourne, Australia and are currently in India.  It was a bit scary spending our first month in Australia, as the Australian dollar was at an all time high and we completely smashed our budget. Although, we easily managed to recover these costs in cheaper destinations such as Vietnam and Cambodia.  We especially enjoyed our travels around Cambodia, Japan and New Zealand.  We absolutely fell in love with South Korea and would highly recommend people place this country on their travel itinerary.

We plan to travel to every continent on this trip and are looking forward to touring the USA in 2013.

We’ve not really experienced any problems whilst on the road. We do find ourselves replacing travel gear and gadgets now and again, as they really do get a hammering being used almost daily.

The experience has been exhilarating and we both feel more relaxed and healthier than we did working long-hours at home.

Copyright FlashpackatForty.com

What does the future hold?

We’re enjoying ourselves so much, that we can’t see this journey ending anytime soon. If we reach a point when we do become a little travel weary, we’ll look at teaching or voluntary work in a foreign country. We’ve been amazed by the stories we’ve heard, whilst on the road, at just how viable long-term travel is, whatever your budget or finances.  An example of one story, told to us by a Spanish couple we met in their mid-thirties, which has allowed them to travel for the last 10 years.

They take temporary jobs, preferably working in different countries to fund a minimum of 6 months travel every year. We met them diving in Gili Air, Indonesia, just before they were departing for Denmark to plant Christmas Trees. They have no savings or property, and most importantly no worries.  They are one of the happiest couples we’ve ever met and have no plans to stop travelling.

Finally, I mentioned earlier about our friends, Debbie & Dave, who inspired us to travel. Debbie contacted us by Skype, when we were in Thailand recently, and informed us that Dave had been rushed into a Turkish hospital and was in a critical condition after suffering massive heart failure. Dave hadn’t been to a doctor in over 20 years and was in excellent health. Dave is now in the UK awaiting major heart surgery, and will hopefully make a full recovery, and no doubts, they’ll be back on the road again soon. For us, after our initial shock, it reaffirmed our decision to follow in their footsteps pursuing our travel dreams as you just never know what the future holds.

What we do know is, we are completely smitten with our chosen travel lifestyle. We don’t have any regrets, but if we had to have one it would be that we didn’t start our career break sooner.  When the money starts to run out, we’ll look at a career that can incorporate our desire to travel and experience new destinations around the world.

About the Authors

Flashpackers, Craig & John, embarked on their around the world trip in December 2011. The couple of forty-somethings, agonised for three years before eventually making the decision to travel on a long term basis. Here they describe why they found the idea of taking a career break difficult, and how life on the road is for them now. The travel bloggers write about their around world trip and the destinations they travel to at  FlashpackAtForty.com/

Taking A Career Break Isn’t Easy is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Copyright LandingStanding.com

This is a guest post submitted by Tony from LandingStanding.com. You may remember that I recently featured him and his wife, Meg, in a Who’s Out There Now interview. This post has been delayed for a while and I’m glad I can finally publish it. One of the top activities for career breakers is volunteering and giving back. For the past few years, WWOOFing (Weekend Workers on Organic Farms) has become increasingly popular. Tony and Meg recently spent time on a farm in Italy and agreed to write about their experience and tell you how you can get involved. Thanks to Tony for writing this post. Happy farming!

A machete in my right hand, a thick glove on my left, and bloody scratches covering my arms. Thick foliage blocked most of the Italian sun, but I was still dripping in sweat. It was my my first day at the agriturismo site, Barbialla Nuova, and I was loving life.

Just one year before (back in the US), my days were spent either in meetings, on the phone, or pounding away at the keyboard writing up credit reviews so that my commercial banking customers could get financing. It is amazing how far I’ve come as I travel around the world… and I’m not just talking about miles.

Copyright LandingStanding.com

When taking a career break, there is always that freaky blend of apprehension and excitement that preludes doing anything uncertain or unknown. There are many reasons why you might make the decision to travel, but for me, my reasons were finally clarified 6 months into our trip. As I whacked away at insanely sharp thorn vines on an Italian truffle hunting trail, I realized that I took my career break and traveled around the world so that I could:

• Experience more.
• Experience something different.
• Experience life.

As tired as my shoulders felt, as bloody as my arms got, and as hot as I became, I had never appreciated work or life more. This was why I quit my job to travel.

The best part about working at this agriturismo site? I only had to work at various jobs around the farm for 4-6 hours per day and I had 2 days off per week. Oh, and even better? On some days, part of my 4-6 hours of work consisted of me helping host a giant lunch for people staying at the farm’s villas… where I got to eat and drink right alongside the guests.

Yes, it was as dynamite as it sounds.

So how did I end up working for 2 weeks on an agriturismo site in Tuscany?

Copyright LandingStanding.com

WWOOFing

My wife and I spent almost 2 years planning our around the world career break. Much of that time was spent researching and dreaming about all of the different ways we could experience our travel.

We have rented apartments, slept in hostels, lined up house-sitting gigs, camped, stayed with friends, taken overnight buses, but had never tried WWOOFing. Luckily, a friend of my mine had secured herself and her boyfriend a great 5 month job as assistants on a lovely agriturismo in Tuscany. She let us know that the farm was looking for WWOOFers to come help for a couple of weeks and we knew we had finally found our WWOOFing opportunity.

WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms and is an organization that links organics farms with volunteers. The farms list what type of work they need, the hours required per week, and what they will provide the volunteers. In return, volunteers typically get a free place to sleep and often get free food as well. At the agroturismo site, we received full payment for any groceries we bought in addition to a private bedroom and bathroom in a quiet tuscan villa. Not too shabby.

Copyright LandingStanding.com

Who Should Try WWOOFing?

WWOOFing really is not for everyone.

You need to be open to performing physical labor, actually working during your travels, and getting dirty. But you are thinking about taking a career break, right? Why else would you be reading this? So scratch that. Let me amend my statement. WWOOFing is for everyone who wants to try something different and is looking to experience life while on their career break.

If you’re considering a career break, then you’re probably exactly the type of person who would enjoy WWOOFing. There are jobs posted for people of all abilities.

How To Sign Up

Anyone can access the list of available opportunities and it is a great way to see what you might like to try. But if you want to actually inquire about a job, you need to sign up for that country’s specific WWOOFing list.

It costs $25 to sign up and you have to sign up by country, so plan on where you want to apply before you start paying for a ton of lists. But the list does provide you with the contact info you need to contact the farms, so it’s a must.

There are a lot of amazing opportunities on these lists, so give them a try!

Copyright LandingStanding.com

Would We WWOOF Again?

Definitely.

We see WWOOFing as a great way to save money while we travel (especially in more expensive places like Europe), but we also like having time to just work on our own projects, which WWOOFing does not always allow (we were always too tired at the end of each work day).

This means we would not do back-to-back WWOOFing gigs. We loved our experience on the farm and had an amazing time getting to know everyone who worked there, but it was actual work for us.

Bottom-line: WWOOFing is a great way to save money while you travel and get an incredibly rich life experience. We maintained truffle trails, picked wild cherries, played with truffle dogs, took care of chickens, and worked our butts off. If any of that sounds interesting to you, then you are perfect for WWOOFing.

Your Turn: Is anyone considering WWOOFing? Has anyone tried and had a different experience from ours? We’d love to hear so please share!

About the Author: About Tony – Tony Rulli is the co-founder of LandingStanding.com and has been traveling around the world with his lovely wife, Meg, for the past year. They are passionate about food, travel, and all things ridiculous. They are always eager to meet new people and you can say hi on Twitter or Facebook.

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WWOOFing It on Your Career Break is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

The authors, Betsy and Warren, in front of an exploding volcano in Ecuador. Copyright MarriedwithLuggage.com

I’ve known Betsy and Warren for a while. They are the kind of people that once you meet them, you feel like you’ve known them your whole life. They have a passion for life that even amongst the traveler community is notable and infectious.

They’ve been blogging about their travels and their perspective on life for a while now on Married With Luggage. But, as time has gone one, they’ve focused less on travel advice to more lifestyle advice to help people either achieve their potential or at least realize a key goal they have in life. They’ve helped me directly. For a speech I gave earlier this year in Italy, they gave me invaluable advice that helped turn it from from just OK to a real barn burner.

Late last year, they published Dream. Save. Do. A No-Nonsense, Step-by-Step Blueprint for Amassing the Cash You Need to Live Your Dream. That’s quite a mouthful. And, it’s quite a brand promise. Anyone who’s been reading their site knows that they excel at no-nonsense advice. It’s raw, it’s honest, and knowing them like I do, I hear Betsy and Warren talking to me when I read their writing. What you see is what you get.

Why this book is worth your attention

• It’s action oriented. The book isn’t about rehashing tired cliches like spend less, save more. While this is true, Betsy and Warren remind us that, ¨It takes more than this basic knowledge to set yourself on a path to amassing the kind of cash that can change your life.¨ Dream. Save. Do. Is more than a cute title, it’s the structure of the book.
• The stories. It’s easy to give advice. But, Betsy and Warren pepper the book with real experiences from their life that grounds the advice they give and the lessons they’ve learned. They’re personal and raw like the health issues from young members of their family, from opening talking about their marriage, and previous divorces. You get a real sense of where they are coming from and what has shaped their lives.
• The checklists. Tied directly to the action orientation of the book, Betsy and Warren give you real tools, real exercises from turning your dream into reality, including how to dream in a way that leads to action. This is not an exercise in simply daydreaming.

Your dream may not be to travel. No worries. This book is for anyone who has a dream and just needs a little push, a little realism and a lot of support to help you get there. I definitely recommend that you buy this book.

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Getting Off the Dime: A Review of Dream. Save. Do. is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

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 2^nd 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
___________________________________________________________________________________
“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
___________________________________________________________________________________
“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
___________________________________________________________________________________
“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
  • Amazon.com (paperback and Kindle)
  • BarnesandNoble.com (paperback. Nook Coming Soon)
  • Sony Coming Soon!
  • Kobo
  • iBook Store Coming Soon!
  • Copia
• 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
  • Amazon.ca (paperback and Kindle)
  • iBook Store Coming Soon!
  • Kobo
  • Copia
• Australia
  • BetterRead
• Croatia
  • Superbookshop
• Estonia
  • Kristosomus
• India
  • BookAdda
• Japan
  • Amazon
  • Junkudo
• Italy
  • Bol
  • IBS
• Latvia
  • Kristosomus
• New Zealand Coming Soon!
• Norway
  • Bokklubben
  • Studia
• Romania
  • Books Express
• Sweden
  • Bokus
• Wholesalers
  • Baker & Taylor Coming Soon!
  • Alibris (UK) 
  • Gardner’s (UK)
  • Lehmann’s (Germany)

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Book ‘Em Jeffo is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Photo courtesy of ShelleySeale.com

This year will be my first year not hosting Meet Plan Go in Austin. It was a tough decision to make because I really love this event. In the past two years, I got the chance to meet so many great people getting ready for their own trip. But, my schedule just didn’t allow for it to happen. Luckily, we found a great pair to take the reins and from what I’ve seen, it’s going to be a fantastic night. Shelley and Keith are globe trotters who have first-hand experience taking a career break. They have great stories so I asked them to provide us with a guest post so you could get to know them better. To Shelley and Keith I saw, Knock ’em Dead! I know you’ll do great as hosts. And, for anyone thinking about taking a break, please check out this year’s Meet Plan Go event.

How Career Breakers Are Made

It’s literally the ticket to the whole world…but only 30% of Americans have a passport. A passport is about so much more than travel; and travel is about so much more than sightseeing and vacationing. It’s about witnessing different ways of life than your own, experiencing different cultures and ways of thinking, meeting and interacting with people who have a completely different lifestyle than your own.

It’s about their traditions, beliefs, loves, foods, hardships, dances, songs, history, geography, and passions. It’s about life itself – and there is far, far more to life and the world than what any of us see in our own backyards, in the little corner of this planet that we are born into.

Neither of us came from families that traveled much while we were growing up; family road trips were the most of it. When we each finally started traveling as young adults — decades before we knew each other — worlds were opened up that we had previously only dreamed about.

Photo courtesy of ShelleySeale.com

Keith’s story: A serial career breaker

I never really had the opportunity to travel while growing up, but even as early as in my middle school years I knew that I wanted to eventually get out and see the world. Then, burnt out on school after finishing my sophomore year in college, I decided that I was going to do whatever it took to backpack around Europe with my best friend. That decision ended up being one of the most important and best decisions of my life.

To save the money I needed for the trip I worked a ridiculous number of hours of hard labor at a box factory of all places and took any other odd jobs that I could find that summer. When September came around my friend and I flew standby to Brussels with the vaguest of plans, our precious travelers checks (no ATM cards back then!), a copy of Let’s Go Europe, and a sense of excitement that I cannot possibly put into words. Before that time I had never been more than 400 miles away from where I was born, and here I was about to backpack around Europe!

That three and a half month trip changed my life forever. The sense of wonder and excitement that I got from exploring different countries and cultures on my own never left me, and I knew without a doubt that travel would always be a big part of my life. Likewise, learning how to adapt to the unexpected while on the road made me much more confident in myself and prepared me for taking other worthwhile risks in life. And last but not least, getting outside of my ‘normal’ life and comfort zone to mix with people with such different lives and belief systems has enabled me to see our complex world in a much more open and understanding way.

Upon returning home from that auspicious trip back in 1985 I eagerly finished school, and I have been a regular career breaker ever since. Sprinkled all throughout my various stints in Corporate America and even after practicing law for a short while I have taken multiple extended trips abroad. From backpacking throughout different regions of the world, including a two year hiatus in Southeast and South Asia, to studying Spanish in Guatemala, to teaching English in Japan, to doing bits of volunteer work, I have taken breaks from work to recharge my batteries and to regain perspective.

And after my last job in Corporate America three and half years ago I decided to intertwine my livelihood even more closely with my love of travel. I simplified my life to give me the time and space to explore different opportunities, and I ended up starting a travel consulting business that has spread into travel photography as well. With my partner Shelley Seale, I co-wrote the book How To Travel For Free (or pretty Damn Near It!), and I likewise became the Director of Overseas Projects for a non-profit organization. Doing these things hasn’t always been easy, but it has certainly been well worth it.

Because travel has changed my life for the better in so many ways, I a firm believer that everyone should take an extended trip at least once in their lives. I can honestly say that I’ve never heard anyone who has done it say that they regretted it later, and at the same time I have heard plenty of people say that they HAVE regretted not taking the time to do it. So if you have been thinking about hitting the road, you really just need to make up your mind and take the plunge!

Keith’s website is Travel Sherpa Keith and you can follow him as @SherpaKeith on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of ShelleySeale.com

Shelley’s story: A passport to a new lifestyle

I got my first passport in my senior year of high school, in 1984. Up til that time I had only been to places in Texas and a few surrounding states (New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana) and to Mexico (you didn’t need a passport back then). My high school’s Spanish teacher, Doctora Rodriguez, was organizing a month-long European trip – and that is what I wanted for my high school graduation present. With all my heart and soul, desperately. Many other people would have perhaps thought that was $2,000 that could have bought a car, something longer lasting.

But the truth is that it is the car, or any other thing that could have been purchased with that money, which would have been gone long ago. Now, more than 25 years later, I still have fond memories of my first glimpses of London, the Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa (you could actually climb it then!). I remember looking down from my hotel window in Rome, after Italy had just won a huge soccer match, to see the complete gridlock party in the streets. That trip fueled a lifelong love of travel – and the curiosity and desire for learning that came with it.

Over the next 15 years I didn’t travel extensively, internationally. I started a career (my previous career in real estate), got married, had a child. I traveled here and there, but it wasn’t until I took my daughter to France when she was 10 years old that my next phase of life — that of a global wanderer — really began. Within the next few years I began to transition out of real estate, which was a career that sort of chose me and that I wasn’t passionate about, and into a full-time writing career.

I also began to transition my writing around travel writing. I still write about a lot of other topics in addition to travel, such as food, lifestyle, nonprofits, health and wellness — but part of my crafting of a new work life including crafting of a new whole life. See, I came to realize that we shouldn’t have to compartmentalize our lives. Work shouldn’t be some separate thing that you do for 1/3 of your life just to pay the bills. I wanted to create a life that reflected my passions, values, interests and beliefs — and that certainly included travel.

You don’t have to be a writer to do this. There are plenty of ways that people find to earn money on the road or to support a traveling lifestyle. I have several friends who come home and work and earn money (which they save) for months or years at a time, then hit the globe for months or years at a time on that money. Others work their way around the world doing bartending, odd jobs, child care, English language teaching, working on farms, etc. Still others start businesses that can be done online or become consultants who can work virtually from any location.

In today’s world, with the Internet and mobile phones as well as the new workplace norm of more freelancing, entrepreneurship and virtual offices, it’s much easier to make a living, and a life, while traveling. I encourage anyone to follow their dreams in this regard. Yes, it takes time and patience and a lot of hard (but mostly just consistent) work to make it happen. But if it’s really what you want, I promise you — if I can do it, so can just about anyone else!

Shelley’s website is ShelleySeale.com and you can follow her as @shelleyseale on Twitter.

Meet Plan Go is a nationwide movement focused on career breaks and long-term travel. The Austin event, one of 10 cities in North America hosting the events, will be held on October 16 at Abel’s on the Lake. Tickets are limited to 120 and selling fast. Get yours today. 

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How Career Breakers Are Made is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

It's the end of the career break road. Time to go back. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

You haven’t even left and now I’m asking you to think and plan for reentry? Yup. In some ways, this is the easiest part of the budget. Similar to any budget, the formula is simply:

Average daily spend X Days before earning a salary = Re-Entry Budget

See! Easy peasy!

I know, I know. That’s not the whole story, is it? There’s a lot that will go into figuring out how much your spend will be. To be conservative, you could use the same number you calculated from your current daily spend in estimating your travel budget. Essentially, whatever you spend today, plan for that.

That only leaves one tiny little detail. How much time will you be looking for a job before you are drawing a salary again? I can’t tell  you how much time to budget for. But, I can give you some factors to think about as you set your budget. I would love to know how long reentry takes on average. As soon as I know, I will let you know. But, in the meantime, setting this part of the budget is more art than science.

Factors For Setting Your Re-Entry Career Break Budget 

• Do you have a job waiting for you? Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who works for an understanding, progressive company
• What are the general economic conditions? Hard to tell, right? Especially ever since 2008-2009.
• Start up living costs needed. Do you have any extraordinary costs that you need to incur to get started again?
• Moving expenses. Are you returning to the same city/town or are you going to be starting fresh somewhere else? For most people, you are naturally going back to the same city. But, if the career break comes during a transition period of your life, you may be heading somewhere new to start fresh. Plan accordingly.
• Changing your career or same career? Generally speaking, I would tell you that if you are going to be staying in the same career or profession, your search time for a new job will be less. Why? All of your contacts, expertise, know-how is in that industry. If you are looking to change careers, you should plan for it to take a bit longer. How much? No idea. But, you are restarting without a support structure and industry colleagues to help guide your way. This might be shortened if you used part of your career break to build some skills or knowledge in this new area. Either way, it will impact your search time.

Anyone re-entered and have any thoughts or care to share your experience? Let me know in the comments below.

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Career Break Budgeting Part 4: Reentry Budget is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Where will your travel take you? Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Travel the world for $30 a day, $50 a day, $20 a day. It’s so hard to know how much you really need until you get out there. But, that’s little consolation while you’re still at home, at work, trying to make sure you have enough put aside.

My goal in this post isn’t to tell you how much you need. For all I know, you ¨need¨ a 4-star hotel every night and you will refuse to take a local bus. So, I will attempt to give you a laundry list of the things you might spend money on while you travel. Also, don’t forget that I wrote a review about Budget Your Trip and their budgeting tool can give you some real traveler data. Also, my friends Warren and Betsy from Married With Luggage have been tracking and reporting on what they’ve actually spent from their worldwide travels. Also soon I’ll be reviewing the new e-book, Dream. Save. Do.

In creating this part of your budget, you need two expense categories: the first captures on-the-road expenses and the second captures your at-home expenses. At home expenses? Yup! Are you keeping your house/apartment? Are you going to be storing your stuff while you’re away? While your goal should be to minimize your financial responsibilities back home, you will likely still have a few. So, plan and budget accordingly.

Factors Influencing Your Career Break Travel Budget

As you try to figure out how much to budget per day while you’re on the road, here are a few factors to take into consideration.

• How much of a budget traveler are you, really? Everyone is on a budget when they travel. And, most people I’ve met think they are a budget traveler. But, there’s budget travel and then there’s real budget travel. For some, staying at a 2 start hotel is what they are willing to do while others are going to couchsurf the whole way. Whatever kind of traveler you are, be honest and budget accordingly.
• How much financial responsibility at home can you leave behind? Your goal is to minimize as much of your responsibility back home as possible. It will minimize your worry and what you have to budget for. Don’t leave a lot of financial obligations behind.
• Your dining habits: You’ll no doubt be eating out while you’re traveling. It’s unavoidable and one of the great pleasures of travel. But, if you can cook a few meals for yourself, you’ll save on the road.
• What type of accommodation will you be using? As a good friend of mine who had taken a career break told me before I left, ¨Jeff, sometimes you’re going to want a hotel.¨ But, for the vast majority of the time, will you be in a hostel, renting an apartment, couchsurfing, camping?
• Once you get on the road, how will you get from place to place? Will you tend to rely on overland transportation or flying? Tip: the more overland transport you can take, the cheaper it will be. The biggest problem here is that bus and train prices can be harder to research ahead of time than flights. A couple of tips about foreign airlines
• Not all foreign airlines have pricing structures that cause the price to go up closer to the departure date. You can sometimes still get a good deal at the last minute.
• Beware budget airlines. The cheapest ticket isn’t always the cheapest flight if there are a lot of ancillary fees. I flew RyanAir once. It cost me a fortune when it was all said and done.
• What kind of bank fees will you incur? Have you selected a bank that will minimize your ATM fees? What about foreign transaction fees? These will add up over time. So, choose wisely.
• How will you plan to get around in the cities and towns you’re in? Maximizing the use of local transportation and minimizing taxi use will stretch your budget. And, walking, when possible, costs nothing.

Travel Budget While You’re Traveling

Here is your tickler list of budget items that you should be thinking about. What did I leave out?

One-the-Road Budget Items

• Accommodation
• Meals
• Tips
• Tours
• In-country/cross-country transport
• Daily transport
• Medicine, Dr visits
• Internet cafes
• SIM cards: Phone and/or internet
• Visa fees (yes some countries still charge)
• Baggage fees
• ATM fees
• Money exchange fees
• Credit card foreign transaction fees
• Books, magazines, newspapers
• Gifts
• Market Shopping
• Splurges
• Travel guides
• Music, movies
• Replacement clothes
• Emergency finds
• Monthly banking fees
• Health Insurance – if not already accounted for in your Pre-Takeoff Budget.

Back At-Home Travel Budget Items

• Storage
• Mortgage
• Insurance: home, car
• Debt, loans
• Utilities
• Credit card and other banking fees

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Career Break Budgeting Part 3: Travel Budget is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Back in 2000, I took a trip with a friend who had been invited up to Avon, Colorado to see a new project by Sheraton. Set at the base of Beaver Creek, Avon is a simple town. Of course, it’s hard to compete when your neighbors are Vail and Beaver Creek. Actually, Beaver Creek and Avon are really one town with a big security gate dividing the two. Long story short, she didn’t buy into the property, I did. I moved to Texas a few years later and continued my journey up making a big road trip from Texas to Colorado.

For years I really got great use out of my timeshare property. Every August during the week before Labor Day, I took off to enjoy the mountains, do a bit of hiking, and just relax. I’ve always been a big mountain fan whether they be the Rockies, the Andes in Bariloche or traveling to Torres Del Paine in Patagonia, twice. I loved that time period at the end of summer. The weather was great, there weren’t too many tourists around. I felt like I had the whole place to myself (almost). But, there was just enough activity to keep things interesting, unlike my no-season trip to the area last October.

But, then my career break came and I wasn’t really sure what to do. Do I keep it? Do I sell it? Do I use my exchange company to access some great resorts around the world? Since then, I’ve discovered a number of options. And, depending on what fits your circumstance, you have options. So, here you go.

Options to Manage Your Timeshare on Your Career Break

1. Sell. If you really just want out, don’t want to deal with your annual dues, how to pay them, etc, you always have the option to sell.
2. Use the exchange services. In Colombia, my mom came to visit. So, I took the opportunity to fly to San Andres to spend a week hanging out. I also made plans to use a banked week in Hurghada, Egypt. We changed our plans and went on a felucca ride up the Nile. So, I lost a bit of money (and my banked week) as a result. But, I don’t regret. If your timeshare is affiliated with RCI or II, there are lots of places around the world you can check out. Keep in mind that local demand and vacation times may restrict your ability to find a place. So, you don’t have to sell your timeshare and you can still benefit from the ownership while you’re traveling.
3. Rent your week. Timeshare rental has become more and more popular over the past few years allowing the owner to recoup their maintenance fees and still keep the property for future years. I’m actually trying to figure right now if I’m going to do it this year.

By the way, if you want to buy a timeshare, check out my place in Colorado.

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This post was made possible by Sell My Timeshare Now. It’s also the service I’m using to try to sell my own timeshare. As always, opinions are my own.

Options for Your Timeshare On Your Career Break is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

How Much Do You Really Need? Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

As you’re planning your career break, you’re probably focused on how much your going to spend once you’re on the road. Well, a good way to minimize your on-the-road spend is to maximize this part of the budget. It’s not practical or desirable to buy everything now that you ¨might¨ need. After all, if you’re like me and had never backpacked before, you kind of need to get out there to see how you really will be traveling to know what you really need.

Having said that, there are a number of things that you should go ahead and buy now while you still have a job and are still drawing a salary. And, this is the time to be thinking about some of your other needs on the road like getting the right credit cards and bank accounts. Don’t forget to check out my post about the 5 most important things to do before you quit. And, there is also a good resource I recommend for helping you negotiate your career break if you want to return to your same employer.

Factors in Determining Part 1 of Your Career Break Budget

As you start creating this part of your career break budget, there are three factors you need to consider in determining how much you will need.

1. Time between quitting your job and leaving. Some people leave mere weeks after they quit. Others want a little more time. Whatever your timeframe, it’s best to set your daily budget high. Said another way, for budgeting and savings purposes, assume you need as much to live as you did while you still had a job. If you can economize a bit during this period, then you’ll have a nice windfall for your trip or for your reentry period.
2. How much gear do you need for your trip? Do you already have a backpack? Do you already have the basic gear? Or are you starting from scratch? The more you’ve traveled before, in theory, the less you need to spend. Then again, you may be tempted to replace some of your gear, just because.
3. How much spending can you stuff into this phase? Some of the items on the checklists in this phase and the next phase are interchangeable depending on your preferences. For example, are you buying a full RTW ticket or is your goal to get to your first destination and take it from there? The more you stuff into this phase means the less you need for your on-the-road travel budget. But, you may find that approach unnecessary preferring to take a wait-and-see attitude to see if you really need everything on your list.

Budget Categories For Your Pre-Takeoff Budget

This is a starter list to help you get organized. What you spend and how much you need all depends on your circumstances. My goal here is to get you started and get the brainstorming juices going.

• Clothing: pants, wool socks, hiking boots, flip flops, things you can layer. Side note: think breathable and quick drying fabrics as much as possible
• Gear: backpack, headlamp, travel towel, water bottle, sports watch (I actually stopped wearing a watch while traveling, but I know a lot of people that liked to have one still)
• Electronics: laptop/netbook, iPod, unlocked cell phone, ereader/tablet
• Travel stuff: Tickets, hostel membership,  tours, Visa fees, guides, airport lounge memberships, big trip/tour you want to plan around
• Health items: Shots, doctor and dental visits, glasses, contacts, COBRA (for US residents), travel health insurance,small first aid kit,/supplies, medicines
• Finances: Setting up/updating your will, trust, credit cards, debit cards
• Entertainment: Books, music, TV and movies
• Home: Mortgage/rent, utilities, insurance, food, etc

If I missed something, or you have questions, let me know in the comments below.

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Career Break Budgeting Part 2: Pre-Take Off Budget is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures