Case study – Ruth

Ruth Wigmore is 30. She was Head of Faculty of Performing and Creative Arts and PE in a Secondary School, and used her teaching skills to do voluntary work in Central America.

"I'd reached my career goal, and my personal circumstances meant I had the opportunity to take a break. I set aside 3 months each for Africa, South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Central America and South America. I did one month's voluntary teaching in Honduras.

I had some savings, and I used the money from the sale of my house to fund the trip, which I did alone. A longing for to see some fabulous sites made it easy to leave, and a big smile made it easy to get around. I was surprised by how much I liked my own company! I was a bit lonely when I was driving around New Zealand, and when I got ill in Thailand, but it wasn't that bad.

My favourite bits were Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I couldn't put into words what I saw and felt at those two places and the photos don't do the sites justice.

I don't know yet what I'm going to do when I get back – I might retrain, go back to being a music teacher, or I might go overseas again and do some more voluntary work.

My career break tip is: think about what you want from the trip. I wanted to see loads so I went to lots of different countries. Some people prefer to just stick in one or two countries and really get to know the place."