PHOTO FRIDAY
Every Friday we'll feature a career break inspired photo. Want to see your photo here? Join our Facebook Fan Page and upload your career break photo onto our Wall. Add a brief description of the photo and we may choose to feature it here!

Recent Photos

Photo Friday: A Map for Saturday

This Photo Friday is a special video edition! Mike Tieso shared with us how “Travel Reawakens Your Passions” and what inspired him to travel was watching the documentary “A Map for Saturday: One Year Around the World”. So we wanted to offer you a glimpse of how moving it is. And we are thrilled to have the star, director and producer of the documentary, Brook Silva-Braga, join us on the panel of Meet, Plan, Go! in NYC this September.

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Photo Friday: Sinai Peninsula

This Photo Friday is from Sara Erdman who shared this beautiful photo of trekking through the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on our Facebook Fan Page. She said it was part of a fabulous three week break in Egypt, and we can see why it was! Thanks for sharing Sara!

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Photo Friday: Mt. Kilimanjaro

This Photo Friday is from Marie Elena Martinez who shared another Photo Friday with us from French Polynesia.

Marie also shared with us her trepidation of traveling to Africa, despite being an experienced traveler. And that is where this photo is taken – 12,598 feet above the clouds at Shira Camp – Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Day 2.  Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.  Shira Camp.
The one part of climbing Kilimanjaro that wasn’t excruciating was the view.  Being above the clouds insured the most glorious sunrises and sunsets.  Taking breakfast against this background kept me going…even at 12,500 feet!

For a full accounting of Marie’s seven days on Africa’s tallest mountain last month, check out The Kili Diaries on her travel blog Marie’s World. And stay up to date on her adventures and writing on her Facebook Fan Page.

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Photo Friday: Netherlands

Our eternal career breaker and co-founder of Briefcase to Backpack is at it again; she’s traveling.  Sherry Ott is spending her August in Europe house-sitting in Brussels.  However she first detoured through the Netherlands to do some photography and eat cheese!  This photo is from the UNESCO World Heritage site, Kinderdijk.  This small village is home to over 19 windmills built in 1740  still in operation today.  Don’t let the rainy weather intimidate your photography, this typical brooding Netherlands day provided a nice backdrop.  By using a wide angle lens and filling your frame with sky, it provides an even darker feeling to the photos.

Not only is Sherry the ‘other half’ of Briefcase to Backpack, she also can be found at Ottsworld.com where she blogs about her travel and life experiences, or at her photography site – Global Photography where you can view more of her photography.  If you want to meet Sherry in person and learn how she has traveled for 4 years since leaving her career in NYC, come meet her at Meet, Plan, Go! NYC and get started on planning your own career break!

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Photo Friday: Cuisine of Japan

This Photo Friday is from Keith Sutter of Green Around the Globe. While in Japan during their career break, Keith and his wife Amy enjoyed the delicacies of Japan – including Okonomiyaki.

“Okonomiyaki was just the beginning of our 15 days tasting and eating our way around Japan. Our journey was filled with culinary exploration and rewards at every turn. Using dollars as a metric for what we valued, when we look back at our budget for Japan it is clear that we voted for the amazing food. We exceeded our average daily budget for food of $45 by 80%, while still being slightly under budget for the country as a whole. We both have zero regrets about a single dollar we spent on all of the delicious food.”

This photo was taken with their favorite chef in Japan, who presented them with the Hiroshima style of Okonomiyaki. “That sign behind us is one the chef pulled out just for the photo. He was really excited for the picture.”

You can read more about Keith’s take on “The Great Okonomiyaki Debate: Hiroshima vs. Osaka Style” on his website, Green Around the Globe. You can also meet Keith & Amy Sutter at Meet, Plan, Go! in Philadelphia on September 14, 2010.

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Photo Friday: Rotorua, New Zealand

This Photo Friday is from Lee & Sachi LeFever of Common Craft. Lee recently discussed how long-term travel can strengthen a relationship.

In that it was discussed how you needed to trust your partner. And it seems that Lee did in this case.

“As we were getting a quick safety training session for the whitewater rafting, Paula, one of our guides,  asked if I had been whitewater rafting before.  Unlike Sachi, I had not.  Paula whispered to me with a devious look in her eye ‘don’t worry we’ll pop your cherry gently.’  I suppose it was gently considering the part of the Kaituna that we did was a class 5 rapid and at 21 feet, has the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. Gently indeed.”

During their year-long travels, experiencing Kaituna River Rafting in Rotorua, New Zealand was certainly a lesson in trusting your partner .

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Photo Friday: Ostriches in Namibia

This Photo Friday is another video edition! We’ve been highlighting Career Break Secrets this week and their upcoming video travel guides, useful for your career break travel planning. So we couldn’t resist sharing one of their Rough Cuts. I don’t think any description is necessary, though I chose this one because it makes me smile. Hope it does the same for you!

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Photo Friday: Mongolia Rally

This is a special video edition of Photo Friday. Earlier this week we discussed the impact of “Being Present” – actual in-person networking in this ever-expanding digital world. It was our experience at the recent Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) conference that inspired Sherry Ott to write that post. It was also that conference that made us realize how impactful our Meet, Plan, Go! events will be for those in attendance.

The power of in-person inspiration is powerful, but in-person gatherings can also hatch epic plans. It was at the end of TBEX where our very own Sherry Ott and Dave Bouskill & Debra Corbeil of The Planet D began plotting their participation in the 2011 Mongolia Rally – something they have both wanted to do separately. You never know what can happen when you put your dreams out there!

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Photo Friday: Nepal Mandala

This Photo Friday is a mandala created from a photo I took in Nepal during my career break in 2001. (You can read more about how travel fuels my creativity in Reflecting Through Mandalas.)

I found myself in Nepal the month following September 11. With my flight originally scheduled for that day, instead of heading to Asia, I spent the month rearranging visas, sleeping on my couch (I had sublet my apartment), and volunteering with the Salvation Army at a recovery center in NYC.

A month later I left the chaos of the city for the pristine mountains of Nepal, where our only traffic jams involved goats and the only human interaction we had was with the people of the Himalaya.

I couldn’t have been in a more completely different environment, spending four weeks hiking the Annapurna Circuit. With every twist in the trail and turn of the corner I saw new views that took my breath away – from the green rice paddies of the lowlands to the barren desert-like terrain of the highlands, with the pristine white mountaintops of the Himalaya greeting us along the way.

The photo that inspired my very first Mandala was taken during the final part of our trek. Having spent the first two-thirds of the hike slowly ascending the trail so as to avoid altitude sickness, our descent was much faster and hurried – we barely had time to look up and enjoy the scenery in front of us. On this particular day it began to rain and hail for a short period of time.

As we took refuge under some trees, I was able to pause and admire the view in front of me. Looking out through the bright pink blossoms of the cherry trees that protected us I could see a varied spectrum of green in the rice paddies, whose colors took on a glistening affect because of the rain. It was such a beautiful moment during an otherwise uncomfortable period.

And in a way that summed up what my experience in Nepal meant to me – an incredibly beautiful experience during a time in which there was much turmoil and pain back at home. Nepal was my peaceful reprieve from the devastating events of September 11.

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Photo Friday: Moorea, French Polynesia

This Photo Friday was submitted by Marie Elena Martinez who just this week shared with us the trepidation she faced as she set off for Africa – Bring on Africa! (I Think…).

In that post she shared her fears of spending the next two months in Africa, including climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, even though she spent two-plus years on the road during her career break.

“I’ve done this already. Multiple times. And yet, the mixed feelings always come. Kenya, Tanzania, and Kilimanjaro loom large in my future, but I’m torn on leaving a very settled New York existence for the pleasures and perils of a travel-break.”

This photo was taken in Moorea, French Polynesia during Marie Elena’s first career break. Here’s hoping she has some incredible photos to share after Africa!

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