Career break travel

Can you 'just' travel on your career break?

I get asked this question a lot and I always say yes. Why? The main reason is that I 'just' travelled on my own career break! But also, I think that independent travel expands your horizons massively and can be a hugely fulfilling experience - perhaps even more so for the career breaker than for the average gapper.

When the gap year phenomenon first started, youngsters were encouraged to go out and explore the world. The idea was to face new challenges, solve unexpected problems, find out that it's not always about you, and develop some confidence before you go to university.

I've found that some career breakers are more in need of this experience than gappers. Younger people tend to be a bit more fearless and carefree, charging off into the jungle with not a care in the world and only one pair of spare knickers. Career breakers, by contrast, will plan their trip in detail, take many health and safety precautions, and (thankfully for me, because I was sharing a room with some of them), adhere to very high standards of hygiene.

The travel experience is a great way of getting people out of their comfort zone. Time and time again I hear career breakers saying that going travelling really developed their confidence and they feel better able to take on new challenges as a result of this. As well as making a difference in their personal lives, it makes an even bigger difference at work, leading to promotions and greater job satisfaction.

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Independent travel also gives the comfortable career breaker a new world view. I had rather taken things for granted before I travelled through some of the poorest parts of the world. I learnt how to communicate with a much wider range of people - a skill that has served me well in both my job and my move up north! I also learnt how to solve problems on my own - whether that was deflecting requests for bribes or chasing mice out of my backpack.

One absolute must for a career breaker who just wants to travel is that you need a purpose. You will get nothing out of your career break if you just loll about, refuse to learn a single word of a foreign language, and only hang out with other travellers. Some ideas:

• Take a photography course before you go and keep a photo journal (maybe with a view to selling your pictures when you get back)
• Write a diary or blog - it might start you on the road to travel journalism or writing your own book
• Make a mission to learn some of the language in each country
• If you have a particular hobby, document your experiences abroad which expand your knowledge of this. For example, if you like interior design, take photos of various places you visit and figure out how you could adapt things back home. If you are into food, document every odd item you eat, or go to cookery schools.
• Keep your eyes and mind open all the time. Go to museums, chat with the locals, ask questions and do stuff you wouldn't normally do. Join in with festivals and religious events too.

Ultimately, a career break spent travelling can give you useful life skills as well as an unforgettable experience - but you must put the effort in to get anything out of it. As G K Chesterton said, "Travel broadens the mind - but you must have the mind."

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