HELLO
Those of you unfortunate enough to walk past shops, watch telly or own ears, may be forgiven for thinking we're 3 days away from the year's biggest holiday/stressfest, but in fact it is still NOVEMBER and this is our NOVEMBER newsletter, so there'll be no mention of the C-word today.
Instead, we've got a super round-up of freebies and discounts, inspiration, tips, competitions, new career breaks and other stuff to make your long-term travel plans a reality.
So get comfy and relax because the 10 minutes you'll spend reading this (longer if you're a slow reader) are guaranteed to make your life better.
FREE STUFF AND DISCOUNTS
Free guide to drinking in Singapore - well, you're not allowed to do much else so you might as well have a few bevvies! (Do people still say 'bevvies'?!)
Free guide to surviving the Inca Trail - loads of career breakers do this and it's good to be well prepared.
Are you gay? Going to Europe? You can get a free gay travel guide to Europe here. It's only cities though, apparently homosexuality hasn't reached the countryside yet.
Useful guide to making free international phone calls, and what to watch out for (recently updated).
New safety app for men and women - lets people know where you are and features a travelling mode so you can be tracked by your named contacts.
3 months of Spotify Premium for 99p - lots of music is useful for long-haul travel!
London to LA for £199 on Cyber Monday, plus other offers from Air New Zealand.
NEW AND UPDATED CAREER BREAKS
Find all our new and updated career breaks here - there's a new international development internship and we've updated a variety of other career breaks.
COMPETITIONS
Win £1,000 towards your next trip (ends today)
Win a set of luxury luggage and a 7-night stay in Phuket when you vote in the Wired Innovation in Travel Awards (worth £10,000)
ON THE BLOG
Top things to learn BEFORE you travel is pretty self-explanatory. It's not all courses though, it's just about knowing a few things that will make your trip easier and/or more fun.
10 myths you believe about volunteering abroad is essential reading if you want to do some volunteer work on your career break. It'll set right a few of those misconceptions!
If you're interesting, get in touch! We're always looking for people to interview, feature or write guest posts for us. If you want to be famous, we can include your picture and links to your blog/Facebook/Twitter/social media network of choice - but if you want to stay anonymous, that's fine too. We do feature anonymous posts from time to time.
PHOTO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF INSPIRATION
The Royal Society has run its first ever photo competition and you can see the winners and runners-up on the Telegraph site.
VIDEO CORNER
A travel video with a difference - it's all shot from above! It was made by a couple who travelled round Europe for 4 months - kudos to them for doing something unusual.
TIP OF THE MONTH
Sort your CV out now. You won't have time when you're getting ready for your trip, and you'll be too busy while you're on your career break to do it then. Having a decent, up-to-date CV ready to send out will save a lot of stress later on (and is a good back-up in case something unexpected happens).
**NEW FEATURE** - YOU TELL US
Last month's question was "What item can't you travel without?"
Amongst the predictable answers of "beer" and "clean pants", our favourite response was from someone identifying themselves only as "43Autone" who said "The tiny teddy my ex-girlfriend gave me. It reminds me that I'm better off without her."
Today's question is: Have you ever asked for a pay rise and if so, what happened?
To answer, email click this email link. Ta!
JOKE
Recreate your holiday by wandering into Greggs wearing swimming trunks, pointing at a sausage roll, shouting "TWO" and paying with a £50 note.
By @joshburt76
FINALLY
Next month will be our round-up of the year, so if there's anything you'd like us to include, let us know! We're looking for tips, photos, stories and new stuff (like apps or guides) that helps make career breaks better. Thanks!
Until next time,
Love,
The Career Break Site
xxx