PREPARATION

We know that realizing a career break takes a lot of planning. We'll provide the tools and resources to assist you in making your career break decisions - from Where to Go, to Letting Go, to actually Going! The Briefcase to Backpack community will cover destination ideas, how to leave your job and commitments behind and putting your 'regular life' on hold. During your preparation we'll help educate you on travel safety, packing tips, language barriers, booking flights, choosing insurance, as well as helping you through the struggles and anxieties of taking the 'big leap'.

Check out articles in the following categories:
Where to Go | What to Do | Let's Go | Letting Go

Recent Posts

ESL Certification: Teach Around The World

This week Alisha Robertson told us her tips on how to incorporate teaching ESL into your career break travels. She mentioned that she actually got certified to teach ESL while she was still living in America; but what does that certification entail and is it really necessary?

First of all, certification normally comes in a couple different forms – CELTA (Certificate for English Language Teaching to Adults) is the most known and recognized. It’s a certification offered by Cambridge University and known throughout the world. Most places require that you have a certificate in order to teach at an English Language school. Keep in mind that certification is not necessary for volunteering, however it does help your effectiveness!

CELTA certification is the same all over the world. It consists of 4 weeks of learning content. It can usually be done in an intensive one month of classes or in night classes over the course of a number of months. It’s not a cake walk – there are homework assignments and instructors are grading & constantly critiquing you.

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What to Do: Teach English As a Second Language (ESL)

There are many ways to travel. Teaching ESL within a local community and really connecting with the people and the culture through education taught Alisha Robertson more about her location and herself than any other experience. She shares with us what inspired her to teach ESL abroad and gives advice if you wish to pursue this path as well.

Teaching English abroad is one of the most amazing travel experiences. I always recommend taking this approach into consideration when someone is pondering the idea of long-term travel. Teaching ESL allows you to connect with the local community in a way that is much different than being just a traveler. You are also able to make money for your travels while giving back, and you truly get to experience life as a local.

For a year I had the opportunity to teach Business ESL in the northern part of Chile in the coastal city of Iquique and in the Middle of the Atacama Desert. During this time, I was able to meet some of the most amazing people, and build friendships with many who I still keep in touch with today – friends who I will always consider a part of my extended family.

When I decided to move away and told my friends, family, and co-workers the questions were endless. Where are you going? Isn’t that dangerous? How long will you stay? How did you find your position? Where will you live? and the list goes on and on. Now that I have returned, I find that the questions are still endless, and many are interested in how they too can sustain their travels through teaching abroad.

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What to Do: Career Break Secrets

Many career breakers go into their travels with the anticipation of encountering unique experiences – whether it’s picking up a new skill, volunteering, or just seeing inspiring parts of the world. And for Jeff Jung, he experienced all that and more.

Brave and crazy. That’s what people said about me when I told them I was leaving my corporate job, packing up, selling off my stuff, and heading out to travel the world. That was in 2006. Four years later, I don’t regret the decision one bit; here’s why.

• On my career break, I learned to speak Spanish fluently.
• I learned how to ski for the first time.
• I woke up to the sunrise and sipped wine while watching the sun set in the Galapagos Islands.
• I went sailing on a felucca for 3 days on the Nile in Egypt.

But most of all, I got my life back.

Jeff now wants to help inspire other career break dreamers through his site Career Break Secrets, which will offer fun, informative video travel guides and resources to places and activities you want to know more about for your often-dreamed-about career break, sabbatical, or adult gap year.

The first season will cover Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, Patagonia (both Argentina and Chile) and Colombia.

We’ll be covering three types of career break activities:

• Those where you can pick up a new skill. For example, cooking school in Spain and sailing school in New Zealand.
• Those where you can give back. For example, in South Africa, we feature volunteer programs at a AIDS/HIV orphanage and a monkey sanctuary.
• Those that give you an interesting way to see a country. For example, walking the famous Camino de Santiago in northern Spain and taking the TransScenic rail across New Zealand.

All video guides will be downloadable to your iTunes library and available to watch on your computer, iPod or TV. And they are portable, so you can take them with you during your travels without worrying about the extra weight like guide books.

I personally can’t wait for Jeff’s video guides to come out. I’m already planning my next break to Patagonia based on the previews I’ve seen!

Until they are released, check out some of the Career Break Secret Rough Cuts.

In addition to being founder of Career Break Secrets, Jeff Jung will be co-hosting the
Meet, Plan, Go! Austin event.

What to Do: Small Group Tours

Recently, Sherry Ott and I gave a presentation on the “Benefits of Small Group Tours for the Solo Traveler” at the GAP Adventure Concept Store in New York City. Both Sherry and I have incorporated small group tours into our various travels and for various reasons. Here are highlights from our presentation. Maybe you’ll be inspired to incorporate small group tours into your travels as well!

STEPPING STONE

• Good for the novice traveler
• Group leader to translate and answer questions
• Experience all the new things within the ‘safety’ of a group
• Used it as a ‘test run’ for extended travel

SAFETY

• Comfort level varies for different countries
• Unsure of safety as a woman traveling alone
• Language barriers also vary country to country
• Transportation issues

BREAK UP EXTENDED TRAVEL

• Variety – solo, travel with friends & group tours
• Travel is work!
• Nice break from booking transportation & lodging
• Offered a ‘vacation’ type experience
• Also offers a level of independence
• May provide future travel partners

CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

• Access to cultural activities you may not have on your own
• Experience life like the locals, including transportation and staying with families
• If you want to understand a country and it’s people, ride with them
• You aren’t on the outside looking in
• Times when you have to have a guide (ie, Galapagos)

NO TRAVEL PARTNERS

• Some experiences you don’t want to do on your own
• Even if you don’t have a travel partner doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the experience
• Make new friends
• Have cultural experiences within your own group

TIPS

• When booking, think about what you want to get out of the experience
• Comfort level/Age range
• If you are solo, try to arrange an airport transfer when possible
• While on trip, be patient with new cultures
• Also be patient with your group members

Some of the destinations we’ve used small group tours include
Peru | Galapagos Islands | Morocco | Brazil | Cambodia | Vietnam | Egypt

Recommended Tour Operator

Bring on Africa! (I Think…)

Sometimes even an experienced traveler doesn’t feel prepared. Marie Elena Martinez shares with us the nerves she is facing heading off to Africa for two months, despite having experienced a two-year career break before! As part of her trip, she will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro on behalf of Flying Kites.

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.

In 2005, a rising Associate Publicity Director within the matrix of the HarperCollins Publishers machine, I left my job. No disillusionment with cranky authors, no falling out with top brass, no desire to continue my upward climb to Director. I just…quit. When I look back, I can remember that my position’s sense of urgency, of growth and of learning, had fallen off. So, I decided to throw myself into a new challenge and give myself a new education: traveling the world. Solo.

Everyone thought I was crazy. “I mean, who does that?” wailed my sister. “Did you win the lottery?” questioned nosy neighbors. No, and no. I just needed a change. Which was odd. I had toiled at HarperCollins for nine solid years. I owned my New York City apartment. I dabbled with the same boy for half a decade. Change cramped my style. But it was time. I was on the cusp of 31, unattached, and unchallenged. So, I quit.

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Let’s Go: Round the World Tickets

Brian Peters of No Debt World Travel has shared with us how he transitioned from Briefcase to Backpack and also offered some great resources in his eBook “No Debt World Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Traveling the World”. He now shares with us the art of booking round-the-world tickets and how you can travel around the world for less than you thought.

One thing that stops people from traveling around the world is the PERCEIVED high price of airfare. Going to 5-10 different locations all on one ticket must be super expensive and only for rich folks who have the last name of Trump or Hilton.

Far from the truth.

A round the world ticket can cost LESS that $2500US. A year of Starbucks or cigarettes can pay for RTW air travel. Really. It all depends on the locations you pick and the times of the year you travel.

There are two options for purchasing a round the world ticket.

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Overcoming the 7 Obstacles to Traveling the World

You are probably reading Briefcase to Backpack because you have a dream; a dream to take a break and travel. Ahhh…but there is a battle going on; raging in your psyche dropping bombs and waving white flags.

The ‘good angel’ says

“Do it, take that job and shove it! See what the world has to offer. Other people do it, so why can’t you?”

The ‘devil’ says

“It’s too expensive, you have to be rich. What will my family say? It’s irresponsible!”

Anil Polat has taken the bombs that your devil drops and addresses them in his E-Book – Overcoming the Seven Major Obstacles to Traveling the World. Anil is someone who has done it; he worked in a traditional job for 6 years and then decided to shake up his life and combine his love for travel with his work. He has overcome these obstacles himself. Sure, everyone’s circumstances are different, but if you need a little push, then Overcoming the Seven Major Obstacles to Traveling the World may be the nudge you need.

Traveling the world is not a luxury for most people – it’s a choice. You can overcome each and every obstacle you face and travel with good planning and by making some choices you’ll find hard to make.

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Career Breaks that Give Back

Carolyn Lane is the founder of the non-profit organization Dog Meets World and she’s changing people’s lives one picture at a time. Armed with tools, a little stuffed dog and a portable printer, her Phodographers travel around the world providing kids and parents photos of themselves. A rare treat in these people’s lives.

We typically talk about career breaks as pausing your career to travel and volunteer and participate in activities that interest you. Carolyn is not the typical career breaker, but she has taken these three important elements of a traditional career break and put them together in a groundbreaking idea to make the world a better place. She left her stable career behind to pursue creating a volunteer opportunity around travel.

I had the opportunity to speak with Carolyn about her efforts to bring photography to all corners of the world.

You decided to take a very unusual career break in order to travel and give back. Can you tell us what you did prior to your career break? My eclectic career has spanned from being a research scientist to most recently the Director of Discovery Montessori School.

How did you decide to take the career break leap and pursue your goal?
I returned after 12 years to again head the nonprofit Montessori school which I had co-founded in 1990 and guide it through a growth period. I indicated to the board that I would not be the next long term director but would prepare the school for the future, so I already had an inkling of wanting to do/create something else as part of my life’s work. So after 3 years as the head administrator I resigned to make space to create what would become the Dog Meets World project, which at the time was just a collection of loose ideas.

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Married with Luggage: Saving Money to Change Their Lives

It’s easy to think that to travel the world you need to spend a lot of money. And the thought of being able to save enough money can seem daunting. But if you really want to realize your dream, you will find ways to make it happen.

That’s what Betsy & Warren Talbot, of Married with Luggage, have done. In two years they have managed to save $100,000 towards their dream travels, enough to live on the road for three years! But it didn’t come easy. Before saving, they recognized the need to get out of the debt they were in. They made radical changes to their lifestyle, including moving across the country, and found creative ways to still have an active social life without breaking the bank.

They share many of the ways they managed to get out of debt AND save in their free eBook, “How we saved enough money to change our lives (and how you can, too!)”

Among the chapters include:
How We Saved Half Our Income in One Year | Creating a Lifestyle to Support Our Dream | Selling Our Possessions | Determine How Much Money You Need | Find out Where Your Money is Going | How to Have Fun on a Tight Budget | Making Money off Your Junk | and Online Tools for Managing Your Money

Betsy shares with us why they decided to take a career break, some more insight on how they saved money, and their plans during and after their travels.

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Health Insurance for American Travelers

There are many fun steps in preparing for your career break travels, and planning for health insurance issues is not one of them. However, it is probably the most important issue you should pay attention to, especially for Americans.

Keith and Amy Sutter have successfully made the transition from briefcase to backpack. They are currently traveling the world while documenting efforts in environmental sustainability on their blog, Green Around The Globe. They share with us how Americans must navigate a complex process to get health insurance while traveling around the globe.

Second only to our salaries, health insurance was the most valuable component of our employer-provided compensation before we made the leap from briefcase to backpack. Walking away from the relative simplicity of employer-provided health benefits was fraught with forms, confusion and seemingly endless options. Tempting as it was, throwing our hands up and foregoing health coverage was not an option. Going without health insurance seemed riskier than riding a motorbike through downtown Hanoi at rush hour blindfolded, not something either of us want to do. By detailing our experiences throughout the process of obtaining health insurance coverage for our career break we hope to share what we learned and make the process a bit easier for you.

Private health insurance in the United States is a quagmire of benefit statements and long medical history applications. We quickly found this out when we began researching our options. As this was the first time we would not have employer or university-provided group health benefits, we had to start from scratch. We quickly discovered the world of travel insurance.

TRAVEL INSURANCE
There are many reputable travel insurance companies out there that offer great coverage while traveling abroad. As an American, however, you must keep in mind that most of these plans will not cover you within the United States and many of these plans are not recognized as “creditable.” “Creditable coverage” is defined quite broadly and includes nearly all U.S. group and individual health plans. But despite the broad definition nearly all travel insurance is NOT deemed creditable coverage. One notable exception is HTH Worldwide’s Global Citizen, which is underwritten by A-rated insurance companies licensed by each State’s department of insurance as admitted carriers. The trick here is that depending on what state you live in you may need to go through underwriting in order to obtain coverage.

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