What do people do about work commitments when they are planning any extended trip? Do they all have jobs they can go back to / work in any country - or are people just selling up and making a massive life change / starting again? I so desperately want to do this, but there are niggles in the back of my mind about any consequences (financial etc) ...

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Stevie A.

I suppose it depends on what you want to do, if you want to return to your current country/job, then see if your employer will grant Leave Of Abscence, mine had agreed to 3 months unpaid leave, some will give more.

Finances are down to what you can afford, we have been saving for a couple of years and have equity in our house to cover us i needed.

If you are going on a really really really long trip, then either rent out your house or sell it and use the money for your trip.

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http://www.ytc1.co.uk

Hi There Stevie

Obviously I can only talk about what we are doing....but here goes

Me and the wife are 1 year into saving up for 3 years to do a trip of a lifetime, and also change our lifestyle altogether.

At the end of the 3 years we will have saved up enough money to travel overland in a Land Rover to Australia for one year. And a little bit for when we get there. Once we get there we are going to look for work for a couple of years and then try and continue onto South America. We may not take this option, depending on the circumstances. We are both fully prepared to quit our jobs forever, but we are in the lucky position that both our companies have branches in Sydney, so when we do quit we are going to try and get a 'transfer' to these braches. Maybe that will work maybe it won't.

If it doesn't then we will look for other oppotunities out there. I work in IT and the wife in television/engineering.

We are going to rent our houses (her old one and our current one) whilst we are gone, moving the mortgages to interest only. We currently do this for one house, and have it fully managed by a letting company, which is expensive but worth it, as they do a great job. Currently the rent pays the mortgage and the fees and thats about it. But hopefully, if our luck plays out, in the future we may get a small return also.

Our long term plan is to leave our office bound jobs behind us, but currenty they are a handy tool to get money.

One thing to point out is before we developed the plan, we were just your average people turning up to work each day, not really thinking about the future. Now we both feel we have purpose, and it has actually made working more bearable as there is a reason to it. Not bearable enough to want to do it forever though !!

Hope this gives you some food for thought

Cheers

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Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

Stevie, The niggles will always be there, but so will a job.
If you are really worried take the longest leave your employer will give and start with that.
My plans have been to work and save for five years then quit, rent the house and go.
It is much easier the second time...
Cheers

Hi Cameron ! You talk about the "second time" Have you already done a big trip - what did you do with your work / what do you do. A lot of people who've replied seem to have transferable skills, or work for companies with offices worldwide. Although I finished University OK, I ended up working with the police, and have worries about working again if I pack this in (I am 40 just now) - I hate it with a passion anyhow. What do you think?
Cheers, Stevie

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Stevie A.

Hey Stevie, if you really do hate it with a passion my advice would be to do it whatever! The one life you have should not be spent doing somehting you hate surely?

As a policeman I would guess there are plenty of transferable skills, even if not in the safe job.

I may have transferable skills, but the long term plan is to get out of my business and do something I like. Or at least something that I find rewarding.

Perhaps spend the next few months reading some blogs, either attached to the HUBB or from elsewhere. You soon realise there are plenty of people in your position who are out there doing it. All it took was that brave decision at some point. But that seems to be the hardest step, once you do that its easy.

Obviously I haven't actually left yet, so perhaps its all hot air? I won't know for another two years, but I've never felt so positive, so enthusiastic as I do now. And that's purely because I made that decision.

Good luck and use the force!

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Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

Stevie

I'm suspecting that when you say you "work with the police" you are not a police officer but in an admin role of some sort? If that is so look around the office and ask yourself who is the newest starter? Where did they come from? Who was last to leave (not retire)? Where did they go? Do you hear from leavers and do they regret leaving or are they glad? (If I'm wrong and you are a police officer (1) I apologise, and (2) you have a very transferrable skill.)

You will then see that there is staff turnover in any job as people change companies/ areas or even careers.

When you get back from your trip you will still have the experience you have today plus the personal growth that comes from the trip, so if your current employer won't have you back, someone else will. I've found very little age discrimination (at 47) and it's a big enough world that there will always be another employer. If you hate the job as you say, you may want to change direction anyway, and you will be able to.

Plan:

Younger daughter leaves school
Short motorcycle ride: Nordcap, St Petersburg, South to Greece, north through Italy and home. Back to work.

It won't be fast as we'll take time to see where we visit and to smell the flowers

Everybody who I talk to from HU says exactly the same advice as you've got Stevie, Go Now!!! (but not yet -see below)

I'm hitting 60 this year and have had a BIG life change that shook me to the core. All the years of planning, all the training, all the scrimping and saving for that armchair, pipe and slippers, gone in a few weeks courtesy of Big C. Now, alone, I look around and see that tomorrow sometimes never comes. I took chances, changed jobs many times and careers 4 times to better myself and get more enjoyment from my job, in the end it is ashes in my mouth, but it did rock and roll sometimes.. My eldest brother on the other hand had one job for 35years, now sits in with his pipe and slippers watching mindless quiz games on tv and says, 'I wish I had had interesting jobs like you? FFS he thinks my boring life was exciting!!!!!!!!!

Check this vision of mine for the not to distant future.
At last a good nights sleep in a decent neighborhood, boy if your friends could have seen some of the sights you've witnessed these last few months on your trip around the world. Some people still don't speak English for God sake, despite the Microsoft money being poured in! Well your mobile phone/tv/translator took care of those few aboriginols who refuse to learn Western Speak.(c) microsoft. Still the Ford/BMW Electrobike purred along without a hitch. The solar panels and odd municipal recharge kept her going all the way. Suzie, your Garmin Guide, never set a foot wrong, every direction was just perfect, and those Exxon Lodges seemed to have been sited as if they knew the range of the bike along the Google South American Touring Trail. The views of the Andies, breathtaking, and because you timed the trip so right, only a few thousand other moto tourists around you each day. Now, when your boss asks you the scariest part of your trip, he'll be amazed at your ability to handle emergencies, the way that download of your passport wouldn't load in Thailand would be enough to scare the shyt out of anyone.........

Go soon before you get dragged under by mediocrity - but not just yet - let me have some of the world to myself first.

And remember, the man who gives you a job is not thinking of you, he's using you and thinking of himself, so what you gonna look at, the grindstone or the mountains?

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Happy Trails

Stagbeetle

It is not the Journey nor yet the Destination, that is the Prize; it is the people you meet on the way.

Blog on http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/fairless/

I always intended to retire early... but a car crash wrecked my knee and bumpstarted the process.
so we downsized and moved to france.. without any pension. the first two years here were some of the happiest for a long while. sadly I got rear ended by a lorry load of pigs and it wrecked the same knee but differently.
Neverthe less i would hate to have to go back to work. I can tell you now, the only thing stopping you from doing what you want is you. actually makingthe first move is the hard bit. Looking back through my life, the few regrets I have are things I did not do, not things I did. When you come to cash in your chips, only your memories have any value.

I am curious on other's opinions on this topic. I am new to this board, but it seems like a great community.


Essentially, my plan is to work enough to save enough so that I do not have to do this job any more and can travel, etc. I know that is what several of you guys do as well.

My question to each of you is this: how long would you work to save money? For that reason, it is always tempting to say to myself: "Work one more year and save another bunch of cash. Each year you work gets you another 3 or 4 years off in the future." But when do you say that it is enough.

I should also add that I am young (in my 30s) and have a wife and kids (school age). That means I am not taking off for two years straight on a RTW right now anyway. I could, though, take a few months. But how long do you put off your dreams?

1 option I see in your circumstance is for your company to grow. Take on a couple of junior partners that can keep things going while you take travel breaks.

Just a thought.

Rick

That is a thought I have had, but, unfortunately, it isn't practical. Junior partners start taking off with your clients if you are not around.

Stagbeetle said
--------" Check this vision of mine for the not to distant future.
At last a good nights sleep in a decent neighborhood, boy if your friends could have seen some of the sights you've witnessed these last few months on your trip around the world. Some people still don't speak English for God sake, despite the Microsoft money being poured in! Well your mobile phone/tv/translator took care of those few aboriginols who refuse to learn Western Speak.(c) microsoft. Still the Ford/BMW Electrobike purred along without a hitch. The solar panels and odd municipal recharge kept her going all the way. Suzie, your Garmin Guide, never set a foot wrong, every direction was just perfect, and those Exxon Lodges seemed to have been sited as if they knew the range of the bike along the Google South American Touring Trail. The views of the Andies, breathtaking, and because you timed the trip so right, only a few thousand other moto tourists around you each day. Now, when your boss asks you the scariest part of your trip, he'll be amazed at your ability to handle emergencies, the way that download of your passport wouldn't load in Thailand would be enough to scare the shyt out of anyone.........------"

I like it mate , too funny .
It sounds a bit like some of the ride reports on ADVrider !
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ps -- What page in the Touratech brochure do I find the pipe and slippers mount ? - and do you favour the NorthFace slippers or the special lightweight slippers from Mountain Equipment Coop ? Do you prefer aromatic tobacco for dual sport riding or old shag ?
Will my knitted cardigan be ok without the "zip in" fleece liner on colder nights in the Andes ?Are Goretex underpants all they are cracked up to be ?
All these questions need to be answered .

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Over a year ago there was a excellent thread devoted to ways to earn a living while on the road. I'd volunteer to look for it, but I've been in Costa Rica for a year, and am leaving to head to South America in two weeks and don't really have the time to look.

And on that note, I'd decided I wasn't going to head south until I'd saved $4000-$5000. Well, six months later I don't have nearly that amount. In fact, if I said how much I did have, most would be shocked. But at some point you say, The hell with it, I'll just go!!!!! I'm a writer/photographer and PLAN for the fact that with some ideas I have, the money will come. Way too risky for some, but it's always worked before. :-)

Once your away from home, it all seems soooo much more doable!
Lorraine

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Rallying for A Wild Life — THE FILM!
http://igg.me/at/AWildLife

www.LorraineChittock.com
www.facebook.com/lorraine.chittock

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

If you are good at what you do, when you get back you'll be better. May have lost a few yards to start with, but just think of those photos on your office wall and the anecdotes you can pitch in with

Wife + kids makes it harder, buy her a 4x4 and get them to drive back-up, I dunno.......

Or just wait, fingers crossed until you are older.

Me, I'm getting away, really away, for the first time this year, aged 60, and I'm not coming back until I've been all the way around, damn it.

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Happy Trails

Stagbeetle

It is not the Journey nor yet the Destination, that is the Prize; it is the people you meet on the way.

Blog on http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/fairless/