HELLO
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, we spend too much on food and drink, and buy a load of tat.
Seriously, we hope you're looking forward to the festive season, and aren't stressing too much. If you are, read our mildly amusing article 10 reasons not to buy Christmas presents.
And now, on with the career break stuff.
WIN A TABLET WORTH £429!
Wanderlust are holding their annual travel awards, and we'd love it if you could rate us - in the 'Travel website' category, and for site founder Rachel Morgan-Trimmer for 'Unsung Travel Hero' (she really does spend a lot of time on the phone helping people like you!). You don't have to answer every question and you can win a shiny tablet for doing the survey. Thank you very much. We'll let you know if we win. :)
http://wanderlusttravelawards.co.uk/
KEEPING IN TOUCH
Travel stories, work news, competitions and the odd inspirational quote or joke. You don't have to sign up to read any of these (although you can if you want to).
Career Break Daily - our online newspaper updated every day.
Career Break Twylah page - our tweets, organised by category.
Career Break Twitter feed - updated all day, every day!
Career Break Facebook page - A couple of posts a day, usually.
PHOTO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF INSPIRATION
World's most remote places - captured on Google streetview.
ON THE BLOG
Quite a lot this month, so here are some highlights:
Career break - what is the first step?
Why pay to volunteer overseas?
Who to have sex with on your career break (actually a serious post about health and staying within the law)
There are also posts on travelling, volunteering, taking classes and more. Click here to see all the blog posts from this month.
You can subscribe to updates from the blog if you want. Our RSS feed is here (it tells you how to sign up via email too).
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
"How does it work?" Someone phoned our office with this exact question. This was the first of many questions about career breaks, but we were chuffed that this person was taking the time to think it through, plan it carefully, and explore all the options.
Do you want to ask us something? info@thecareerbreaksite.com (ALWAYS confidential) or find us on Twitter or Facebook.
CAREER BREAK, TRAVEL AND WORK NEWS ROUND-UP
You can now fly directly to Vietnam from the UK - previously you had to go via Thailand then overland it. Vietnam Airlines will be flying from Gatwick from December.
Backpacking story of the month comes from our friends at Hostelworld, whose survey found that rating is the most important factor when booking a hostel. This beat both 'price' and 'location'. Having stayed in some pretty skeevy hostels, we can see why!
Super-useful article from the Telegraph on what to do if your airline or tour operator goes bust. Read it now, because it has advice on checking things before you book.
For those of you who fancy working overseas, here are 10 job vacancies abroad from the Guardian.
Finally, today is strike day which you'll already know unless you live under a stone. Here is some useful advice from the Telegraph (including advice for travellers).
JOKE
A man and a woman who have never met before find themselves sharing a sleeper carriage on a train. They each go to sleep in their own bunk.
During the night, the woman says, "Excuse me, could you pass me another blanket? I'm a bit cold."
The man winks and replies, "I've got a better idea. Let's pretend we are married."
"Oooh, OK," giggles the woman.
"Good," he replies. "Get your own damn blanket."
FINALLY
Send us an email and let us know if there's anything you want or need on the site - we're giving it an overhaul and there's still just enough time to get your opinions heard!
Until next time, thanks for reading, and we'll see you again sometime around Christmas, depending on how much mulled wine we've had.
The Career Break Site
xxx