HELLO
Welcome to the September newsletter - guaranteed free from rain and boredom. We're too knackered from packing for our impending office move to write any more introduction, so why don't you just kick back and enjoy our usual round-up of news, advice, and inspiration?
There's a pleb quiz and a photobombing stingray too!
ARE YOU A PLEB?
Take the 'Are you a pleb?' quiz to find out!
PHOTO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF INSPIRATION
Panoramic picture of the centre of PyongYang (warning - this picture is massive so don't click the link if you're on a mobile or a slow connection). Somewhere a bit different for your travels!
ON THE BLOG
Rather embarrassingly, we've done naff all this month and let other people write our blog for us!
There's a men-only post on how to dress for a job interview - it was written by someone who's doing marketing for House of Fraser men's shoes, but he has actually taken a career break and come back to a job, so he knows what he's talking about!
Career Break Site approved organisation Altitude Futures wrote a useful post for us on life as a ski instructor. Tells you about all the kind of stuff you can expect when training to work as a snowsports professional.
You may know that we're partners in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's 'Know Before You Go' campaign which is aimed at keeping people like you safe while you travel. It also means they send us useful stuff once in a while, like this free travel guide and app - we put all the links in a blog post, to make it easy for you to download the flavour of your choice.
We're looking for very interesting people to interview for our blog - you can be a career breaker, someone in the industry, or simply at the planning stages of your career break. Email info@thecareerbreaksite.com and convince us you've got a tale to tell!
TIP OF THE MONTH
Today's tip comes from our Head of Web Development, who has a habit of travelling in odd places. She says:
"When going to a country with a different alphabet, make sure you learn the characters for 'Ladies' and 'Gents' so you don't go into the wrong toilet."
If you have a tip for us, email info@thecareerbreaksite.com - we will credit you unless you want to stay anonymous.
CAREER BREAK, TRAVEL AND WORK NEWS ROUND-UP
A survey finds that parents are spending £995 million on their kids' gap years. This article in the Daily Mail says that the average contribution is £763 and that 20,000 gappers are expected to go this year (no, the sums don't add up, so I think we can take that with a handful of salt).
Horrid plane crash in Nepal - it was carrying British trekkers amongst other people. The cause is not yet known, but a bird strike has been suggested, and the FCO has raised concerns about Nepalese airlines.
Air Asia has copied Malaysian Airlines and introduced child-free zones on its planes. What do you think about this? Would you like to sit in a sprog-free zone, or do you think families shouldn't be segregated? We've always taken the 'stuff earphones in and turn up the tunes' approach to noisy people on public transport!
You will soon be able to travel by bus from Birmingham to Kashmir for just £130! The 4,000-mile journey has been described as 'thrilling' - probably because it goes through some pretty dodgy parts of the world.
And if you're in New Mexico and are sick of mediocre balloon events, you're in luck as Albuquerque is hosting the world's premier balloon event next month. Hurrah!
JOKE
I called my boss this morning and said, "I'm not coming in today."
"What excuse have you got?" he asked, "It had better be a good one."
"Yes," I replied, "It's raining heavily and my umbrella has got a big hole in the top."
"You can't use that!" he screamed.
"Exactly, that's why I'm not coming in."
FINALLY
Have a look at our career break Twylah page - it rounds up all the interesting stuff we share and organises it all prettily. At the moment, a picture of a photobombing stingray is at the top - so go and have a look if you need a chuckle!
Until next month, try to stay dry and we'll see you near Halloween.
Love,
The Career Break Site
xxx