It’s time to let our imaginations run wild for awhile. I want you to imagine you’re debt free, and you have a great start to your retirement savings. You have enough money to cover your mortgage and all your living and “fun” expenses for a year.
What would you do?
Think about some childhood dreams of yours. What dreams have you developed as an adult? What skill do you want to learn? Where can you go to learn it? What fascinates you?
First, I’ll explain what I would do if I had the opportunity to take another Year Off. Then, I’ll invite you to dream up your own adventure.
If I could take another Year Off, I would…..
Hiking and backpacking and climbing are the activities that I love the most. So I want to center my next Year Off around those outdoor pursuits. I also want to get better at writing for my blog so I want to concentrate on improving those skills. And I love spending time with my wife, Alanna, so she would come along with me.
When would it begin?
January 1st, 2020. My last day of work would be December 31st, we would spend a week or so at home making last minute preparations for the year and saying see you later to friends and family.
Since it’s cold in the U.S., and I’m not the biggest fan of cold, I would book us a flight to somewhere warm.
Let’s say New Zealand and Australia, where it’s summer time! We honeymooned in New Zealand and we want more time there so that’s destination number one.
New Zealand and Australia, the first leg of our trip.
Flights are easiest into and out of Auckland, New Zealand from the U.S. so I would book round trip flights for us from Cincinnati to Auckland. Outbound flight would depart on January 7th and we would return March 31st. That gives us 12 weeks to explore those two countries.
In New Zealand, we would rent a camper van, much like we did for our honeymoon. Then we would spend the next 7 weeks cruising around both the north and south islands. We would hike several of the Great Walks of New Zealand, go bungee jumping in Queenstown again, and visit as many of the national parks as possible. Any down-time (which is essential when traveling long-term) would be spent practicing my writing and Alanna pursuing her other interests.
We would eventually end up back in Auckland (after visiting the sets of The Lord of the Rings, of course) and catch a one-way flight to Sydney, Australia. Once again, we would rent a camper van and spend 4 weeks cruising along the coast and into the outback. Alanna would want to adopt a baby kangaroo but I would have to say no.
After arriving back in Sydney, we would take the short flight to Fiji and spend a week scuba diving. Then fly back to Auckland for the return flight home!
The second leg of our Year Off, the PCT.
The Pacific Crest Trail, aka the PCT, is a walking path that travels from the border of Mexico, over 2600 miles north through California, Oregon, and Washington, to the border of Canada. It travels through the deserts of Southern California, the incredible Sierra Nevada Mountains, the beauty of Northern California and Oregon, past majestic Mt. Rainier, and into the rugged Cascade Mountain Range of Washington.
It takes around 5 months to complete.
Yep, we would hike for the next 5 months of our Year Off from Mexico to Canada.
After getting a taste of the PCT on the John Muir Trail during my first Year Off, I’ve made it a goal to hike the entire PCT from start to finish. Besides the fact that it’s a very difficult trail to complete, it’s even harder to find the time, but with a whole year away from work, problem solved. Time to go hiking.
We would start hiking around April 15th, and finish sometime in September.
The third leg of our Year Off? Europe!
Remember our hiking theme, so of course, we need to find some good hiking in Europe. Luckily, there’s plenty. Winter arrives early in the Alps of France, Switzerland, and Italy so we would make a bee-line there and hike some longer multi-day treks through the Alps. Once it’s too cold there, we could catch a short cheap flight to Spain (our favorite country in Europe) for a walk along the Camino de Santiago.
Any extra down time left? How about a week in Amsterdam, my favorite city in Europe, or southern Spain in Granada or Cordoba. Gotta work on those writing skills and what better place then in one of those cities!
The final leg…..South America!
Eventually we’d grow restless in Europe and take a one-way flight to Chile or Argentina. We’d arrive in mid-November, just when summer is heating up, and you guessed it, go hiking! There are some of the most beautiful hikes in the world there, so we’d have plenty of hiking to keep us occupied until it’s time to fly home for Christmas. That would leave us a week to get settled back into our condo before going back to work on January 1st.
Now, it’s your turn to dream up your Year Off.
Forget about your financial situation for now and imagine you have a leave of absence approved starting in 3 months, and you have plenty of money to last a whole year.
What do you want to do and what skills do you want to learn? What dreams do you want to pursue? Develop some sort of theme to your Year Off. It gives meaning to your time away.
If you want to travel, where do you want to go? And for how long?
It’s important to build in downtime so would you spend it at home? Think about everything you can accomplish around your house or with friends or family with so much free time.
Write out a travel itinerary highlighting where you want to go and for how long. And write out a list of things you want to accomplish while gone. Having a visual timeline will make your dream feel real and obtainable.