Doug Kington spent roughly two years on a career break. He started his adventure in Quito, Ecuador, and travelled by truck through South America. He quickly followed this trip by spending 3 weeks in Borneo followed by 3 months travelling through South East Asia. Doug returned to the UK, however, the travel bug had well and truly taken over and with an Australian trip pending he is already looking for his next adventure.
Doug’s words of wisdom “The world is there to be enjoyed and also looked after. You get one life so make the most of it. You work to live, not live to work”
Ann Sullivan (39) was working for an insurance company, Gloucester, UK, in 2005. Whilst on a Leadership Development Programme she realised she didn’t want to be a leader and that there was more to life than work and career so Ann decided to go travelling. Three months later, after having travelled through South East Asia and India, she further realised that there was so much more in the world to see. Ann did return to work, however, immediately began planning her next 8-month career break which she took in 2008 and travelled through Central and South America and Cuba.
Ann’s words of wisdom “Meet up with your travel friends soon after returning to keep the memories alive and you motivated at work”.
Gary Davies lives in Somerset, England, and has taken quite a few career breaks in the last few years. After his first break one he said he got ‘hooked’. Being of the adventurous kind, Gary has done quite a bit of exploring by foot, motorbike and bicycle all through South East Asia. He’s visited waterfalls, temples, lakes, a tiger sanctuary, attended Muay Thai boxing matches, been elephant trekking, rock climbing, quad-biking, boat trips/snorkeling. Debbie Norman (52) dreamed of sailing on the Queen Mary her entire life. So, after spending 35 years working in banking took 6 months off and cruised from San Francisco to Sydney then took another cruise from Miami, via the Caribbean through the Panama Canal, Mexico and Hawaii. Debbie's husband, Mark, then joined her and they visited Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, San Fransisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Miami. Debbie returned to work after her break, however, realised that her aspirations laid elsewhere and eventually started her own business in Vintage clothing.
Debbie’s words of wisdom “Travel really does broaden your horizons! However, it is addictive and can be quite unsettling”.
Simone Schneider from Germany, took a 3-month career break in 2009. As a lover of nature and travelling, Simone jetted to Australia and visited Cairns then travelled down the east coast to Sydney then onto Blue Mountains. Afterwards she flew to New Zealand, did some island hopping in Fiji before stopping in Hong Kong and Macau on the way back to Germany.
Simone’s words of wisdom ‘I recommend a career break to everyone. To see something new and get to know people - this opens your mind. Furthermore, all your memories help you when you back in your daily life to relax’.
