After a decade without a real break, I took a four-month travel sabbatical through Europe. Here’s how solo travel helped me reset, grow, and return to work stronger.
In 2018 I left my job for four months to travel solo through Europe, and it changed me in ways I never expected. In this post, I will go into what led up to the trip and my biggest lessons from taking time away from work to travel solo.
Why I decided to take a sabbatical
There is a lot that led to that. I worked for over 10 years without more than one two-week vacation that entire time (mistake). I didn’t even take a week off when l changed jobs in the past (big mistake). I went through a bad breakup and dove into studying for the ARE’s (Architect Registration Exams). I survived the construction of my first large multi-family housing project and I was deep into plan check on a multi-family housing project with a historic aspect to it in Berkeley. I was burnt out and desperate for a break. I was prepared to leave my job to take a break, I needed it that badly.
I dreamt of taking a long trip for years (and I mean at least two months, more than is typically allowed in the United States). I thought an opportunity would come up organically. There would be a recession, I would get let go, I would get married and decide to take a long break with my partner, something would happen to create a break. But it never did, and I needed the break, so I had to create it for myself.
What about my job?
I told my employer I wanted to take a long trip, at least two months. I expected to be told that I would need to leave my job and hope there was one available for me when I returned. Instead, I was not taken seriously and was told I just needed to take a two-week vacation. I mentioned this long trip three times before they realized I meant it. To my surprise, they wanted to work with me and negotiate the terms of this trip. I agreed to schedule the trip around project schedules (delaying my trip by almost a year!) and they agreed to let me take four months off and have a job when I returned.
A year delay is a really long time when you need a break that badly, but just knowing that I could keep my job gave me more mental stability and eased my financial worries. The last time I searched for a job I looked for six months, and taking a long trip plus six months of unemployment when I returned was not something I was financially prepared for.
I want to acknowledge that being allowed to take a four-month break from work is not typical in the United States. If you have an employer that has a sabbatical policy, take advantage of it!
Finally Leaving and my biggest lessons
I left in April of 2018 with everything I planned to carry for four months in a backpack and a rough itinerary of where I wanted to go. I will include the itinerary from this trip at the end, but I want to talk about the value this opportunity created when I returned and what I learned from it.
1. Gratitude towards my employer
I was so grateful to my employer for giving me this gift of stability that I stayed with that company for another six years after returning. If they hadn’t “let” me go, I would have taken the trip anyway, I would have quit to go.
2. How to Calm Down
My dad told me that I seemed calmer overall after my trip. I learned that things don’t always go as planned, there are delays, cancellations, weather issues, and people change their minds. I learned to roll with the obstacles that life throws at us.
3. Confidence
Not that I wasn’t confident before, but there is a different kind of confidence that comes from solo female travel. From having to make ALL of the decisions every day for yourself, having to navigate different cities, countries, languages, cultures, public transportation, hostels… It gave me a different kind of confidence that I could figure everything out by myself, if I needed to.
4. You don’t have to plan everything, and sometimes it is better that way
It is okay to not plan everything. In the past I tried to plan out trips completely, but it is impossible to do for a four-month journey. Sometimes the magic happens when you let it, when it isn’t scheduled.
5. How to relax on vacation
I realize this sounds silly, but I am such an active person, it is hard for me to slow down and just experience a trip. I fill my time with constant movement, sightseeing, I don’t want to miss anything. After three weeks of constant moving through Portugal and Andalusia, I had a single unplanned day in Granda. Yes, I am serious. I went out the night before with people I met at the hostel I was staying at and found I could finally relax and have a drink with my new friends, because I didn’t have to wake up early for something I scheduled. Magically, I had plans for a hike the next day with one of them, we kept in touch and I met up with one later in Malaga and another in Helsinki. Learning to relax allowed the magic to happen.
6. I learned what I like to do when I travel
This also sounds silly, but by giving myself more time, I was able to try different accommodation types, tours, exploring alone, long walks, unplanned days, museums, kayaking, everything I wanted! Since I was solo, there was no one else giving input about what to do, I could make all the decisions myself. I learned what I truly liked and how I like to travel in a way that I hadn’t when I travelled with others.
7. How to let go of work
It took me three weeks to stop thinking about work and stop checking my email. Seriously, even knowing that I was going to be gone for four months, it took me that long. I’m not sure if this meant I just really needed a break or if Americans don’t take long enough vacations (probably both). The work got done, people figured it out, they managed without me. It was fine, I could let go.
Return to Work
All of these helped me when I returned to work. I got the break I needed, I was calmer and more confident. I took more vacations, and the kind of vacations I wanted, not just going on someone else’s trip they planned or a weekend at a friend’s wedding. Many of the trips I took after this I originally booked solo or was just talking about it as if I was going solo, and to my surprise, friends wanted to come with me! I started travelling more. I thought I didn’t travel much before because I didn’t have someone to go with, but by having the confidence to go alone, I often had a travel buddy. I was a better employee, a better leader. I was happy and grateful.
Any downside to the sabbatical?
I should mention more things I gave up (other than just the year delay), because there were professional sacrifices that were not obvious up front. I eventually was promoted, but it was delayed by over a year from when I was initially told it would come. In the year leading up to my trip, my responsibilities were reduced, in preparation for me to leave on their terms. Did this lead to delays in other promotions? Perhaps, there is no way of knowing. Even if I knew I would have to make those sacrifices before I left, I would still have taken the sabbatical. The only thing I regret is not taking more vacations and breaks earlier in my career. The lessons I learned from the time abroad made it all more than worth the sacrifices.
Where did I go?
In case you were wondering about the itinerary from that four-month trip, here are the places I stayed (not including day trips outside these cities, just the cities I slept in)
Porto Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
Tavira, Portugal
Seville, Spain
Granada, Spain
Malaga, Spain
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dublin, Ireland
Galway, Ireland
Belfast, Ireland
Glasgow, Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
London, England
Paris, France
Copenhagen, Denmark
Bergen, Norway
Gudvangen, Norway
Oslo, Norway
Stockholm, Sweden
Tallin, Estonia
Helsinki, Finland
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Korcula, Croatia
Bol, Croatia
Hvar, Croatia
Split, Croatia
Florence, Italy
Orvieto, Italy
Rome, Italy
(Plus a few days on the Lost Coast of California before going back to work)
If you have ever taken an extended trip (or want to) let me know where you went or if there are questions you have about how to plan a long trip. I am always thinking of new posts to write and would love to know what would be helpful to you.
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