Travel

Travelling is something that almost everyone does on a career break.

Whether you combine it with work, volunteering, a course or TEFL, or just travel for its own sake, your career break is not complete without exploring some far-flung destinations.

Here are some of the kinds of travel you can do on a career break. Many of them overlap.

Career break travel - flights, tickets and passes

• Round-the-world travel - often abbreviated to RTW. You buy one ticket and you can plan your route around the world. It's much cheaper than buying separate tickets but there are restrictions.
• Open-jaw tickets - this ticket means you fly into one place, but fly home from a different one. A double open-jaw ticket is also available, where both your outward and return destination are different.
• Continent pass - as the name suggests, this ticket lets you take flights all across a single continent. As with the RTW ticket, restrictions apply, but they are cheaper than buying tickets separately.

Career break travel - overland

• Interrailing - a long-time favourite of the gap year traveller, interraililng lets you travel all over Europe by train. You can also get passes for a single country in Europe.
• Overland tours - travel around a country, or even from country to country, on an organised trip - usually a bus.
• Backpacking - another favourite of the backpacker and career breaker. Travel where you want and organise your own transport and hostels.
• Overland transport - getting from one place to another on land and by sea instead of by air. You can even travel from the UK to Australia this way!

Career break travel - adventure travel, off-the-beaten-track and small group tours

• Adventure travel means any kind of travel you do that doesn't involve fancy hotels, all-inclusive breaks or places where people are guaranteed to speak English.
• Off-the-beaten-track travel - offered by lots of career break and gap year travel companies, off-the-beaten-track means you'll be on an organised trip (usually on a bus) but you won't be going to touristy places. You will often stay with host families and could even camp out under the stars!
• Small group tours - ideal if you're a solo traveller looking to make friends and travel in safety with a leader who knows the area well.

How to choose your career break travel

Most people use more than one way of getting around, so don't think you have to pick something and stick with it! For example, on a round-the-world trip, you might fly into somewhere, backpack overland to another location, maybe do an adventure tour, then fly out from somewhere else.

When choosing and organising your career break travel, bear the following in mind:

• Your budget - usually the most important factor for any career breaker. It's not just about how much money you have, it's about spending it wisely and getting the most for your money. You might also want to spend more for speed, convenience, or simply to feel safe.
• How much time you have - flying is the quickest way of getting around, followed usually by train, bus then boat.
• Who you're travelling with - solo travellers might find organised travel or small group tours helpful in providing a ready-made busload of friends!
• Your safety - travelling with others, particularly on an organised tour, is generally safer, particularly if you're going somewhere you don't know, or that is not used to tourists.
• What you like to see - if you want to see the highlights and famous places of a country, your plans are going to be different than if you want to travel slowly and discover unusual, out-of-the-way places for yourself.
• How much you want to get to know a country. Some travellers are happy just passing through, others prefer to take their time to get to know and understand a place and its people.
• Flexibility - if you think (or know) your plans might change after you set off, some flexibility is key on your plans.

How much does career break travel cost?

That's the beauty of career break travel - it can be as cheap or expensive as you like. As a general rule, the cheaper you go, the longer and less comfy your journey is likely to be (it can also be one of the best ways to see a place sometimes though).

Cheaper options include getting the RTW and other special airline tickets mentioned above, instead of getting separate ones. The same goes for interrailing - it's cheaper buying one pass than individual tickets.

Staying in hostels, guest houses or with host families is cheaper than hotels, obviously, and camping is cheaper still.

Many career breakers mix it up and do different kinds of travel and stay in different places, so costs can fluctuate a lot.

The average cost for a career break works out to around £1,500 to £2,000 a month, but that includes absolutely everything, even flights. Don't forget as well, that you're not paying for costs at home while you travel.

Got itchy feet yet? See a list of all our organisations who can help you travel here.