Favorite Blog: Go Backpacking

We recently highlighted David Lee’s career break, which he documented in his blog Go Backpacking. But Go Backpacking is more than just a journal of his adventures – it is a site that encourages and inspires people to independently travel abroad. And with three years of blogging and over 1,000 posts, David has a lot of great content and resources to do just that.

In addition to the 20-month archive of David’s 22-country round-the-world trip, the site offers tips for budget planning, interviews with fellow travelers, book reviews, how-to articles, and news from the online travel community. He has even expanded his site to include several contributors, adding a variety of voices and experiences.

One of the most popular posts is ”Cost of a Trip Around the World”, which is usually the first concern on potential travelers minds.  And by breaking down his daily expenses by country allows future backpackers to understand where their dollar can go farther.

Another popular post is “Final Thoughts – Annapurna Sanctuary Trek” in which David offers great tips based on his experiences to anyone planning a trek in Nepal.  I did the Annapurna Circuit in 2001 and definitely agree with many of his points – although I’d like to add one. Boiled water in a nalgene bottle makes a wonderful bedtime companion. Helps to keep you warm and stays warm throughout the chilly nights!

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David Lee – Realizing a Dream

David Lee’s path to a life of travel started with a job layoff. And after spending 20 months on the road, David is still keeping the travel spirit alive through GoBackpacking, MedellinLiving, and the upcoming Travel Blog Success (coming Feb. 1). He shares with us his career break experience, including some great preparation advice.

What made you decide to take a career break?
My first unofficial career break occurred after a layoff. I suddenly had the free time to reflect on how I’d lived in my early 20’s, and spent my money. I realized backpacking was not a part of those years, and committed to making my next job a means to travel around the world. Ultimately, I chose to save money to spend on experiences, rather than material wealth or a new home.

What was your travel experience like prior to your break?
Aside from family trips when I was younger, my first backpacking trip abroad was a Summer spent in Europe after college graduation. I started off with a few of my best friends, and when they went home after just a few weeks, I stuck around to explore on my own, developing a newfound sense of independence and self-reliance in the process.

The knowledge that I was about to do something amazing always trumped my fears.

What were some of the ways you prepared for this new experience? Were there any experiences from your corporate life that helped you in the preparation process?
As I’d been backpacking for a few months before, I knew how it worked to travel by way of hostels and guidebooks, so I didn’t have to prepare too much. In 2005 and 2006 I took short trips to Costa Rica and Belize to stay motivated for the bigger trip around the world which began in late 2007.

I used my experience with Microsoft Excel at work to create a few spreadsheets using Google Docs to track both my pre-trip “to-do” list and budget, along with my actual costs once I hit the road. By posting my plans online, I was able to ask for feedback on my budget and itinerary in the BootsnAll message boards.

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Life on the Road: House Sitting

Leigh Haugseth is a bona fide travel addict as well as a certified WellCoach (and co-founder of Vibrapreneur), so she understands the importance of keeping healthy both physically and mentally. She says “Part of being ‘well’, means having meaning in your life, reaching for your dreams, and taking risks. Traveling can help with this. It can transform your life. Often in ways you’d never expect.”

Leigh shares with us how house sitting can be a great option during your travels!

House sitting and home exchanges are becoming more and more popular these days and for good reason. They are a cheap way to explore a new destination, you have the creature comforts of a home, and you get to live someone else’s life for a while. What’s not to love?

Here’s how it works: You register on line at a reputable house sitting site (see list below), pay a small annual fee, and put up a profile. Select your preferred dates and countries and have weekly or daily assignments delivered to your in box. Simple! Some homeowners will ask that you pay utilities during your stay. Also, some house sits require your own transportation, although I’ve seen some that will allow you to use their car, bike or are near public transportation.

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In the News: Networking for Briefcase to Backpack

Since we launched the site last year, we have made many great connections through the power of social media (facebook, twitter, blogging). In fact, networking online has been our main source to finding great material and inspirational stories to share with you. After all, we do focus on the wonders of travel!

And even though we feel we have great ties with these virtual relationships, it is always wonderful to still network in person and to meet some of our virtual friends face-to-face. And that’s what we have been doing this week in San Francisco!

As Sherry Ott makes her way around the country visiting with friends and family since her return from Vietnam in November 2009, we decided to take advantage of her return to San Francisco (where she once lived) to network with many of our contacts. And the pay off will be passed on to you.

Part of our goal for this year is to connect more with career experts to bring you the best advice on transitioning careers during your break. We’ve already introduced you to The Sabbatical Coach, Clive Prout, and we will also be working with Tara Russell, who offers life/career coaching and long-term travel planning through her company Three Month Visa. What was supposed to be an introductory coffee meeting turned into a four-hour brainstorming session where we developed many great ideas for collaborating together. We are very excited about some of the ideas that were born and can’t wait to share them with you.

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Let’s Go With No Debt World Travel

If you’ve decided to take a career break or sabbatical, you’ve already faced a big hurdle. And if you are new to long-term and round-the-world travel, trip planning can seem incredibly daunting, especially if you have other things to take care of like leaving your job, leasing your place, packing up your life, and even preparing for your return. (I know – you haven’t even left yet.)

There is a plethora of information on the web for RTW travel, but Brian Peters has made it easier by putting many great resources in one place with “No Debt World Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Traveling the World”.

Brian is a fellow Briefcase to Backpacker and transitioned from working a white-collar 9-5 job to traveling the world. As he says in his e-book “Admittedly I was not such a big travel fan, even up to a few years ago. I was busy living life, mainly working and playing my part in Corporate America. Travel was for people who had money, or had the free time. I had none of these…or so I thought.”

Brian finally set off on his travels after he was laid off from his job, and a lot of what he learned in preparing and during his six months of travel he shares in this e-book.

Some of the areas he covers includes:

• Deciding Where to Go
• Cash and Credit Cards
• Method of Transportation
• Travel Insurance
• Passports and Visas
• Your Health
• Your Safety
• Hostels
• Food
• Travel Tech
• Language

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Favorite Website: TED Talks – Ideas Worth Spreading

In his recent guest post, Sabbaticals and the Pursuit of Happiness, Clive Prout makes reference to a video presentation on TED Talks given by Dr. Martin Seligman.

If you don’t know what TED Talks is, you should! TED is a small nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It started out as a conference bringing people together from the worlds of Technology, Entertainment, and Design (thus, the TED). During the annual conference, attendees get to hear riveting talks (18 minutes in length) by more than 50 remarkable people.

The site TED Talks grew out of the idea to give everyone on-demand access to these most inspiring voices.

The TED content has expanded to include talks on business, science, culture, arts, and global issues. Dr. Seligman’s talk is found in the Culture section under “What Makes Us Happy”. Another notable talk in this category is by Stefan Sagmeister titled “The Power of Time Off”.

Sagmeister is a notable designer based in NYC and is also known for shutting down his shop every seven years for a year sabbatical. That’s one idea we know is worth spreading! His reasoning is that we spend the first 25 years of our lives learning, the next 40 years working, and the final 15 in retirement. He wanted to intersperse some of the retirement years within the working years.

He also recognized the value of time off to rejuvenate and refresh his creative outlook. After his first sabbatical, he found that:

• His job became his calling again
• Over the long term it was financially successful
• And everything his shop designed in the seven years following the first sabbatical was originated in that year.

We highly recommend you take the 18 minutes to listen to this fascinating talk. And thank you for helping us spread the idea on career breaks and sabbaticals!

In the News: Roll out the Red Carpet for the Bloggies

Now that the holidays are over we are moving onto our next season – Awards Season! We have the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Oscars, and of course The 2010 Bloggies. What are the Bloggies you ask? They are publicly chosen awards given to weblog writers across 30 categories.

As we have a difficult time categorizing ourselves (we’re more than just a travel site, not just a career site) we found a perfect category for us in the Bloggies: The “Best-Kept Secret” weblog! After all, most Americans don’t even know the term career break yet, but they should.

So in a bit of self-promotion in helping to spread the word on Briefcase to Backpack, we ask that you nominate us. And given that you have to nominate at least three weblogs, we’ll help you out with some other suggestions.

Our nominees are:

• Best-Kept Secret Weblog – Briefcase to Backpack http://briefcasetobackpack.com
• Best Latin American Weblog – Medellin Living http://medellinliving.com
• Best Travel Weblog – OttsWorld http://ottsworld.com
• Best Group Weblog – Lost Girls World http://lostgirlsworld.blogspot.com
• Best New Weblog – Amy’s Real Life http://amysreallife.wordpress.com

Nominations close January 12, 2010.

Tell us who you would recommend! We haven’t placed our votes yet!

Sabbaticals and the Pursuit of Happiness

Career breaks and sabbaticals are a great opportunity to quiet your mind and help you connect with what it is that will make you truly happy. Clive Prout uses the insights he gained from his own sabbatical to help others find their path to happiness. He shares with us what led him on the path to becoming The Sabbatical Coach and how you could benefit from using one.

One of the things that drew me to immigrate to the USA is a phrase in the Declaration of Independence.

I grew up in England, which holds its citizens as “subjects” of the monarch, with no written constitution to guarantee their rights. The idea that the purpose of government was to secure for its citizens “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” was revolutionary. It seemed a wonderful basis on which to create a country and a new life for myself.

I moved to Menlo Park in the heart of Silicon Valley in the mid 1990s. The computer industry was in full bloom and the Internet was starting to explode. Netscape’s offices opened a couple of blocks from where I worked in Mountain View. Central to my choice to be here was the unquestioned assumption that the pursuit of happiness lay through the pursuit of wealth. I would become rich and happy – or so I thought.

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