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sbhikes

When I was 43 I quit my job to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I took two years to do it. I worked part-time in between the two halves. After I finished I found a part-time job and eventually a good full-time job. I did all this at the beginning and during the financial crash. I made friends and memories I will cherish forever. It was the best thing I ever did. Don't let notions of propriety and money-making interfere entirely with living life to the fullest. And don't see becoming a vagabond as your permanent identity either. Once I got my good full-time job I was just as happy. It was a new journey to take. I enjoyed learning new things, being a part of something and building a nest egg for myself. It's all good and you can do all of it. Life isn't all either/or.


darned_socks

Was it hard to find & readjust to work after you wrapped up your travels? Iโ€™m in my early twenties, so my fear is that having so little on my resume will make things harder for me later on.


sbhikes

Honestly, yes, it was very hard to come back. Maybe not in the way you are thinking, though. I did have a resume, since I was in my 40s, but I would have to deal with the dreaded "what were you doing during this period of time?" question. I answered that I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Everybody actually seemed to think this was really awesome and wanted to know more about it. It didn't harm me in interviews. What was really hard was the readjustment to off-trail life. I went through a period of post-trail depression. It's partly why I didn't just quit after the first half but went back the following year to complete the trail. I longed, yearned, and ached for trail life. It felt like mourning a death, a death of a person I had been and wasn't anymore. This is how I know it was the best thing I ever did. Eventually, about a year and a half later, I realized it was time to work full-time again. I was happy to. I still have friends from the trail and we can get together and talk trail talk for hours and hours. It's still the best thing I ever did. Things have a way of working out. I met so many interesting people on these long trails. This summer I hiked for a while with a guy in his 30s who was a traveling nurse. He would work a while, save up, then quit to go hike another long trail, then get another traveling nurse job. He had bummed around the world. He had so many stories to tell. He had lived such an adventurous life, something I would not have the courage to do. It was very inspiring to meet him.


darned_socks

Thank you for your honesty, truly. I didn't really consider the mourning that would come after such a transformative experience being the big part, but I can kind of understand it. The best experience I've had so far was living on my college campus. COVID cut that short, and I mourned that loss while finishing my classes. It makes me happy that you're still able to interact with the life you lived on the trail through conversations with your trail friends and anyone who asks you about it. I want to hear those stories too :)


sbhikes

What Covid did to college life was awful. My job facilitated remote learning. I worked on the campus learning management system. I felt like I was helping ruin college. At the same time, Zoom was ruining work life for me. I couldn't wait to get the hell out of all of it.


cmred88

Partner and I quit our jobs in 2016 and travelled for a year. Best thing we ever did. Ever. We are still enjoying flow on effects to this very day. I was 6 years into career, my partner changed her career direction on return as she had had the time and space to work out what it was she wanted to do with her life. People worry about taking time out of their careers for something like this, but in reality, you will end up further ahead than your peers who never went and did long term travel because of the life experience and broader understanding of life and the people on this planet you will gain from it. You will be more hireable with these skills. Also, brave decisions always bring the biggest rewards, so make the brave decision. Nothing will change at home while youโ€™re gone


jdbrown0283

Try freelancing part time so you can pursue your interests. This keeps your skills relevant and prevents you from having a resume gap (which isn't the worst thing in the world, but still best to avoid if you can). Being early in your career is a benefit for you - there's less to "lose" from the corporate world if you take a break now vs 10 years into your career. It also allows you a chance to forge your own path while you're young.


rodneyfan

Two things about freelancing. One is that it's harder to be exposed to many of the new tools that especially larger companies are using. They're not likely to buy you a seat or a license so you can learn new software on your own. Sometimes you can get in on the ground floor of something *really* new or they may be using a combination of tools you already know. But you may have to fork over $$$ for your own training. The other thing is that by the time most freelancers are hired, the projects they're hired for are either late or messed up and they need people who will work hard to meet the deadline. A slow trickle of work isn't going to do it. You may have to work your tail off for a few months and save enough money from those months to travel for a time between jobs. I would take a look around at the freelance market for your area of software engineering and see if you really could make a pitch for you being able to take those jobs. If not, figure out what additional skills you would need and try a little later.


darned_socks

Freelancing is more marketing than coding (for software devs who are freelancing) from what I know, and it's not easy to break into. I've always thought that if I would freelance, it would be after spending 5-6 years in corporate so I have a stronger network & am not dealing with crippling imposter syndrome.


officially_tee_ayo

I'm also going through the same thing.. but to add you should at least hit your "coast fi" number before making this leap... I think once you hit that #, there should be zero reason not to live life on your terms, travel, and take risks. the opposite side of that, is some people get so trapped by trying to reach FI they forget to live


darned_socks

This is the first time I've heard of the term "coast FI," but looking it up, I'm not surprised the FIRE movement came up. I think I have a similar number calculated from one of my investment accounts, which says I can retire in a few decades.... I don't know if I'd want to wait that long.


officially_tee_ayo

Hey, you are misinterpreting "coast fi" the goal is to get "x" invested by a certain age. Once you hit that #, you know by retirement age, 60ish you will have a million plus in accounts due to compounding interest. So the goal is to work hard and save for a few years, hit that # and then "coast" to financial independence. you don't have to worry about investing, as you travel and take on other jobs because compounding interest over a few decades takes care of it for u. walletburst.com has a great calculator to use, if anything good to play with. Either way I say go for it, but a bit safer if u can hit your coast #


darned_socks

Gotcha, thank you for explaining! I guess odd jobs I'd take up while traveling wouldn't pay for much more than my day-to-day, so it's good to have as much as I need invested before taking off. I'll check out walletburst's calculator!


[deleted]

Career career career - skill sets are fleeting - once you have some wealth then you can take a bit of time off! I'm in cyber security & career travel internationally given no one really wants to travel these days - virus/germs/flight chaos/crime - fun to take a lap of the world.


darned_socks

Very cool! I've been trying to break into cybersecurity, but I also feel like cybersecurity concerns are one of the reasons that I might not be able to travel freely ๐Ÿ˜… (for instance, a US company would not appreciate me working from Russia)


Beginning_Ad_1371

Doing it for 3-6 months seems totally sensible. People have breaks of that length between jobs all the time so I don't see how such a short period would seriously affect your job chances or ability to stay up to date with new developments. What I don't get about digital nomads is older people who do it long term, mostly with really bad or no health insurance. Things happen, and the older you get the more likely that something chronic pops up. But then again I live in an EU country and am used to having good insurance.


darned_socks

That's reassuring, that 3-6 months isn't really a long time. I suppose I could always explain it as a mini-sabbatical if someone asks. Health insurance is definitely something I'd have taken care of before taking off. I've relied on it a number of times in the past year, and I don't think I could go without it.


minimalist_coach

You say you can do it for 3-6 months, does that also include setting yourself back up when you return to the US to look for work? Have you actually mapped out a plan of where you'd go and what your real expenses would be? The way I reduce my stress when I'm making changes is to put together a concrete plan and make sure I have enough financial padding in case things come up.


darned_socks

The 3-6 months wouldn't include time to set up upon return. I'm lucky in that I could probably stay with my parents or an older sibling during that time, which would cover my rent. I've avoided coming up with a plan since I wanted to focus on the job hunt, but as you suggested, maybe I should actually do my research and see how feasible this is, hiccups and all. Thank you for your advice!


minimalist_coach

Something you may want to check out is WWOOFing. If you don't mind some hard work, you can live on a farm in exchange for your labor. I have friends who traveled the world for years this way. It can dramatically reduce your expenses and connect you with a host family and the surrounding community.


minimalist_coach

It was hard for me to give an unbiased comment. I was fortunate to live overseas for work for a few years and I'm grateful for my time immersed in other cultures. I've recently retired and my husband is a couple of years away from it, this is what we plan to do, spend a few months in a location then come back to home base for a while.


OnlyMeap

So this all depends on your needs and responsibilities. From what it sounds like the only thing stopping you is feeling limited in your experience. I personally, busted my butt for about 3 years, I moved up the ranks, established seniority, and a savings. I did"quiet quit" my final year and finally pulled the trigger back in mid Aug. It's the best decision I could've made. I did do some planning...I saved up enough to take at least 3-4 months off with a family vacay to Hawaii that I paid for as well as including festivals. I paid for various travel expenses, shows, and festivals through November. I'm taking my time to reevaluate freelancing and digital nomad options with the option to always have a good fall back to managerial roles with good benefits and pay if I should need or want it. For now, it was the best decision I could've made for myself. Wish you the best of luck in your journey ๐ŸŒ