Case study – Tony and Erika

Tony and Erika Kluge spent 2 years saving up for their career break. Tony was a retail manager and Erika worked as a Heritage Development Officer in Nottingham before they went travelling.

"We wanted a break after 8 years of working, plus a chance to figure out where we wanted to live and what we wanted to do with our future. We're 30 and 31 and thought that this might be the only time we could take a career break.

We both left our jobs. Erika's company offered to hold her job, but she declined as we're relocating to Swansea when we come back. As well as our savings, we cut back on a lot of things, and we had a bit of rental income from our houses. This meant we had enough money to travel around the world, through the USA , Pacific Islands , Australasia and Asia , but we still had to budget carefully. In places like the USA , this meant we got treated as second-class citizens some of the time.

What surprised us the most is that we're getting tired of travelling. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to do some work to feel like I've earned the beer at the end of the day! We've also been amazed at how hard people work in other parts of the world. Some societies consider food as the only necessity, and it makes you realise how materialistic we are.

Even so, we've had too many good experiences to mention – especially experiencing different cultures and making some great friends. Giving up both jobs, moving house, etc was scary and testing, but we have no regrets – these memories will stay with us forever. Just do it!"