The Blog of Chris Stott

After getting married in September 2009, my wife and I took a year to travel the world. It was an amazing time and though it cost us a year off work and a lot of money, I do not regret it for a minute. What I would regret however would be if we had not done it.

Too often I hear people say that they would have loved to do what we did, but they don’t have the time, money or have too many commitments to do it. Sure there are a lot of people who have commitments like kids, and sure it does cost a lot of money. The bottom line is that the exprience that you will have is worth so much more that the money you will spend. Plenty of people do it with children every year, and don’t get me started on why it doesn’t matter for your career.

No Time Like The Present

The fact is that there is never a right time to do something like this. The stars will never all be aligned in the right place for you to go. The only time that is good is now. Don’t let this dream slip away. Don’t live in regret.

You Won’t Get If You Don’t Ask

Worried about your job? Let’s assume that you are a valuable employee of a reasonable size company. It may well surprise you that they will give you the time off. You need to demonstrate your worth to the company and you also need to ask. If you don’t ask you will not get. Many people are too scared to even ask. You can, if you like, just drop it casually in to conversation with your boss, or if you are a bit more manipulative you can make it know in certain circles that you are just thinking about it. Gossip such as this spreads fast in the modern workplace.

Might As Well Quit

If it comes down to it, you may well need to quit. Realise this: nothing to do with your job cannot be picked up again at a later date. If you let your job stand in your way of getting what you want in life you will end up hating it even more. Certainly you will regret not taking action to stop it controlling your life.

How you need to prepare yourself, financially’ and emotionally for a year off.

I’m by no means suggesting that you need to walk in to your office and quit without preparing a little bit first. You need to get you finances in order and do a little bit of pre-planning. Start to lighten the load by selling things you don’t need. For example I had an expensive car. I sold that and bought a real banger that cost a fraction of what my flash car cost. It funded us for most of our trip. What do you own that you don’t really need?

The hard (but fun) part – picking where you what to go. Tips for simplifying.

There may well be somewhere that you have always wanted to visit. Otherwise you might be looking for inspiration. When you have the whole world to discover, it can become a little bit overwhelming deciding where you want to do. My tip – pick as few places as possible and spend 2-3 months or more in each. Immerse yourself in the culture and understand what it is like to live and breathe a different air.

If you take one thing away from this post, please let it be this. Do not live life in regret. If you want to do this you must find a way. You owe it to your future self.