Meet, Plan, Go! Take a career break!

If you read this blog and have ever thought “I wish I could travel as much as Kelly does” … YOU CAN!

Long term travel is a more realistic goal than you might think and a career break can actually be beneficial to your career. Having just returned from my second year long career break (I forgot to tell you I am back!), I can personally attest to the life changing and rewarding experience long term travel offers to those who dare to escape their cubicle to find freedom on the open road.

But don’t just take my word for it, be inspired by all of the people out there that have or are currently “living the dream!” making career breaks their reality.

Meet, Plan, Go! is an online and in person resource for general inspiration and information for aspiring career break travelers. Meet, Plan, Go! is hosting events in 17 cities nationwide today (October 18, 2011) to encourage and teach others how traveling the world can be beneficial to your career.

Buy a ticket and attend Meet, Plan, Go! …

• You will MEET like-minded, supportive people in person and online.
• Get tools and tips to PLAN your career break travels.
• Find inspiration to GO by hearing other career breaker’s stories.

I am excited to be volunteering at the San Francisco event where I can help an organization that is also passionate about inspiring others to experience more this beautiful world by trading in your *briefcase for a backpack (or a suitcase … but there is something so liberating about carrying your whole world on your back!).

“We envision a world where the term ‘career break’ is a part of your overall career strategy”

Let’s face it, a 2-week vacation is just not enough! Life is too short, the world is too big, and careers are too exhausting! We need to take a longer break to relax & recharge but also to really have a chance to appreciate a different culture and cultivate unique experiences. American culture expects us to work hard now and play much later … when sadly we may be too old to enjoy it.

I remember climbing New Zealand’s Franz Joseph Glacier during my first career break in 2008. While I was digging the steel blades of my boots into the compressed snow climbing higher, squeezing my body through narrow chilly crevasses, and shuffling sideways down vertical walls of ice, a helicopter was flying above. Packed inside, peering down through foggy windows were many elderly individuals on a “Heli Hike”. I felt confident in that moment that I was doing exactly what I was suppose to be doing to the contrary of what society or my mother might argue. I know “future me” will one day thank me for taking risks for adventure when I was young and fit!

Like the founders of Meet, Plan, Go! I want to continue to challenge the way it’s always been done and offer support and encouragement to others to follow your dreams wherever in the world they may take you!

Sure a career break sounds great to everyone in theory but you still may feel as if a long term travel is a pipe dream due to the natural fears and uncertainties that come to mind. In her article Career Break Travel Myths, Meet, Plan, Go! cofounder Sherry Ott addresses the many fears and myths surrounding the concept of leaving your job to go travel including: worrying about gaps in resumes, not having enough money, and wondering what do do with all your stuff. If anyone is qualified to be a career break mythbuster it is Sherry! Author of Ottsworld – Travel and Life experiences of a Corporate America Runaway, Sherry traded in her briefcase for a backpack five years ago and is still “living the dream” and motivating others to take career breaks.

If you are looking for inspiration and ‘how-to’ advice regarding career break planning and travel, then be sure not to miss this amazing event!  And if you can’t make the event be sure to check out the inspiring stories and helpful information on the Meet, Plan, Go! website. The cost to attend the event is only $15 …

Sherry Ott is founder of Briefcase to Backpack which inspired the creation of Meet, Plan, Go!