September 14, 2011 at 12:33 am
Matt Miller (#4) (9/13/2011)
IceDread (9/13/2011)
Jeff Moden (9/13/2011)
I have to ask... where do students get the money to travel from Australia to Europe, spend a couple of weeks doing whatever they want, and then travel back to Australia?Steve mentioned even longer time periods, no idea how they can manage that.
When I was a student however, I worked extra on the side and did shorter travels of 7-14 days.
I did something similar, way back in the day right before college, in the dark ages (the 80s). I earned it the old fashioned way - I worked for a few months toward the end of high-school, and saved up about 800$, then spent the summer going across europe. Yes - I used a lot of those guides about "europe on 5$ a day" things, but mostly so that I could splurge when I wanted to.
Planning ahead - it's not as hard as you might think.
Nice! I definitional agree with planing ahead. Thou 800$ is not what it used to be, would be a lot more today, must have been an interesting trip. On the subject of cash, my father took the driving license in usa when he was studding there for only 1$(!) as a student long ago, around the 70s I think.
September 14, 2011 at 10:39 am
I took a year off at the age of 37 and spent 9 months traveling overseas. NZ, Austrailia, SE Asia, and Africa. I stayed mostly in backpackers, and managed to do so with a budget of about $25-30 a day. That allowed me some splurges such as bungee jumping and a couple of nicer hotels here and there. Airfare added another $3,000 or so to my total.
At the time, I worked as a programmer/analyst for a major University, working on multi-valued databases. (UniData, anyone?) When I returned I wasn't sure I wanted to go back into I.T. and tried my hand at another job for six months before deciding that databases really were my thing. Now I work for a private company as a SQL Server DBA. Quitting my previous job and deciding to take the leap has put me in a much better spot 5 years later.
Most of the interviews I had looked favorably on my "sabbatical." It gave me a depth of experience and perspective that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. And traveling in places such as Africa teach you patience. When that job fails in the middle of the night, or that code isn't delivered as promised, I'm less likely to freak out about it. 🙂
Coincidentally, a friend of mine posted this article last week titled "Why a Travel Break Can Be the Best Career Move You’ll Ever Make":
The ariticle is also promoting a series of nationwide meet-ups next month to talk about this very thing:
http://meetplango.com/national-event/
I reccomend extended travel overseas for anyone, whether it is a sabbatical, or a "working" vacation. I travelled with my laptop and was never without internet access for more than a day or two. I could have just as easily been writing t-SQl scripts than posting on my travel blog.
September 14, 2011 at 6:42 pm
tmagney (9/14/2011)
Coincidentally, a friend of mine posted this article last week titled "Why a Travel Break Can Be the Best Career Move You’ll Ever Make":
Excellent article.
I left after 2 and a half years contracting with no holidays in a systems accounting job. Came back 6 months later and found a job with the system vendor, and have loved this IT career ever since. The change in employer was a huge leap forward too.
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