Welcome to Taking a Career Break with Katrina McGee, the show for high achievers who are feeling burned out or unfulfilled.
Hi there, I'm Katrina, your career break and sabbatical coach and author of the best-selling Taking a Career Break for Dummies.
And I'm James Hammond, your podcast host and producer. Are you ready to take a life-changing break that leads to a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life?You're in the right place.
I'm going to break down my proven framework that's helped nearly 100 clients achieve transformative breaks.Are you ready to change your life?Let's go!
Hello and welcome to episode three, deciding what to do on your career break.And there are some travel tips in this one too.This episode was actually recorded at 30 minutes in length.So we've halved it.So this first half is episode three.
So what you're gonna do on your break and travel.And the second half will be episode four.I'll be more about your budget and how to plan for that on your career break.Let's get stuck in.And that is page 105 to 106 and 107 in your book.
Katrina, how are you doing?
James, I'm good.How are you today, buddy?
Yeah, not bad.Do you want to hear a stat?
I would love to hear a stat.Is it a fun stat?I want to hear a fun stat.
It's a podcast stat.We've made episode three, and I believe 10% of podcasts only make it to episode three.
Look at us.James, we're exceptional.
I know.What a stat.What an achievement so far.
What an achievement.We're awesome.
And I feel like this episode, as a little celebration, is quite a deep dive episode in terms of some important subjects in this one.
So following on from episode two, today we're gonna discuss money, budgeting, what you can do on your break and stuff like that.
So my first question is, is it fair to say that with social media and influence of influencers, that we are just told to take a career break and not actually worry about the consequences?And what I mean by that is,
You must've seen those things on Instagram, like, oh, just go travel, just do it.Don't question it or don't worry about the money.But it's like, how can you not worry about the money when you don't have any?So that's my first question.
Okay, so my real answer is I think there is potentially a generational gap.So I think that I do see this, but it tends to skew a lot younger.
What I see with my clients who tend to be mid-career is that they might run across this, but they immediately dismiss it.And in fact, their problem is feeling like
matter how much information they have, how great a plan it is that they can't afford to take one because at that point, right, you're invested in your career, you might have some debt that you're still paying off, you might have a home, you know what I mean?
Like there are a lot of strings attached to you.And so yes, you're right.I think that message does appear on social media.I think that
the people that fall into that trap are probably younger people that have less sort of weighing on them responsibility wise, especially financially.
But I see what I see with the mid career people, you know, like mid 30s and beyond, is oh my gosh, like I have all of this, I could never quit even with a plan like so it's really
It's sort of that understanding like, yes, you want to think about it for the younger crew, like think about it, budget for it, have a plan so that you don't end up paying for this for five years.Right.
But on the other side of things, understanding that there actually is a way to do it for the people that feel like I could never just take a break.Yes, you can.Right.And that's what this is.This is about.That's what this podcast is about.
That's what the book is about.And that's what this episode is about.
I think the second part of that is if you're at the mid 30s upwards there that demographic sometimes a lot of people can do it and I mean by I mean financially right I think if you're younger and you're coming out of university for example and you got like if you're from us you got the college debt or
or it's not very much money, that advice can seem a bit annoying to you.It's like, well, I can't just go and do it.
But imagine if you're our age and you've just been working for 15, 20 years, you probably should, I imagine, if you're sensible, have some sort of savings where that's potentially possible.And maybe that is the right message for those guys.
Like, oh, just go and do it, because they can do it.
Yeah, absolutely.Yeah.Yes.I mean, I had a plan, and I'm so grateful for the plan.
I did take another break that was more spontaneous, but because I had planned and lived a whole entire 20-month break and reshaped my relationship with money, I was so prepared, right?
I was still, even though it was unplanned mentally, I had all the tools I needed to know exactly what to do, and I had the money already in an account to be able to pay for it.
But I think especially if it's your first break, you know, having an understanding just to set yourself up for success, right?You just want to achieve success.It doesn't matter what success is.
It's personal, but you just want to make sure that you're going to hit the mark and that you're going to feel good about that investment when it's over.
Okay.And for the break today, before we get into the finance portion, how do you decide what you'll do in your break?
Yeah, well, you need to figure that out, obviously, to get an estimate.So you want to think about, you know, if you have the book and you've done your purpose statement and themes, your themes are going to really anchor you.
And I encourage you to read it in Chapter 4.Your themes are going to anchor you into what are the three to four pillars focus areas of this break, what does success mean, right?
Once you know that, you can think about what are the activities and the experiences I can have that will help me achieve these themes, that will help me achieve this purpose.
So in reflecting on what you need and what you want to experience, think about your personal goals, right?Is this about increasing your health, getting your health back?Is this about having a bunch of exploration and adventure?Is it about
you know, recovering and then trying something new, or starting a business, right?So thinking about the purpose and the themes and the activities and what success means to you, you can create a list, right?
What are some of these items I want to do, especially the high ticket items, you want to definitely include those.
And if you have a really long list, right, if you have like 20 things or more on your list, let's say, it can be helpful to prioritize them.So I tell my clients to think about it in three tiers.
You can do it however you want, however it helps you to prioritize.But tier one, I think of must have.If my break doesn't have this, it's not the kind of break I want.Tier two is man, this is important.It's not critical, but it's important.
Tier three is, that's nice to have.It would be nice if I did that, but it's not critical to achieving my themes or my purpose statement.So I can take it or leave it.
And sometimes you get to do those things, but it's not prioritizing those things over the tier one or the tier two.
So once you have your list, once you have a sense of that, at least general prioritization, you want to think about how much are these things going to cost, right? Now, you're going to have to layer in some stuff.
You're going to have to create a buffer, right?For sure, you're going to need a buffer.Well, I think we're going to talk about that later on.But that's not the only number, but that is the critical starting point.
How much money do I think it's going to take to do the trip or have the experience I want to have?
When I calculated mine, I think mine was around 20K for just the experience before adding in the other things that we're going to talk about in a minute.
Right, okay, yeah, makes sense.I think we've both got experience in this.Me, more from a travel side.So my next question, you mentioned prioritizing and organizing there.Also, where does travel come into this?
Because there's a couple of people here who are probably thinking they just wanna take a break, maybe re-skill, up-skill, maybe change careers, and that's just it.But there'll be a lot of people thinking, oh, do you know what?
I need to go away for two or three months.So I guess traveling and the budget of that comes into it. And I think you break it down a bit to slow travel and fast travel, which I like because that's one of the lessons I learned last year.
So talk to us a bit about that.
Yeah, there's a big difference in what that financial implication is going to be depending on the speed at which you're traveling through different places.So slow travel is cheaper.
It is generally way more affordable because you're getting a better price on your accommodations, right?So you are renting someplace for a month instead of paying for it by the night.
Think about paying for hotels or Airbnbs where it's like $150 or $100 even a night. After 30 days, that's a lot of money versus finding a place to stay for, you know, $800 or $500 depending on where you're traveling.
So, number one, right, accommodations.Number two, food.If you're traveling very quickly, you're probably not always going to have a kitchen.For me, having food allergies and being on a budget, kitchen is critical.
So even in the US, I tend to stay at hotels.When I'm staying for more than two nights, I tend to look for hotels that have a kitchen.My favorite is Hyatt House because I'm a Hyatt globalist, so I love to pour back into my points and miles system.
But it doesn't really matter.The point is that you can have free breakfast and it's healthy.You can store snacks that need to be refrigerated. you can put your leftover somewhere and then reheat them whenever you want to eat them.
So in many ways, you can cook your own dinner.So in many ways, it saves money on food and it also allows you to eat a lot healthier.
I would say the one exception to this is if you're traveling in a country where food is just incredibly affordable and very fresh.So when I was in Vietnam, I actually found that it was cheaper to eat out because sometimes the groceries
were more expensive than like the $1.50 or the $2 for the soup.So that was the exception.
But typically, in most places you'll travel, you know, being able to have slow travel and being able to like buy groceries and just pay for things, you know, in a different way is really helpful.And also when it comes to your activities,
Example, I'm in Athens.I'm having a great time.I'm there for like 10 days.So it's not this like high pressure.Two days I'm in, I'm out.I've got to see, you know, the Acropolis and everything that ancient Greece ever had to offer.
And it turned out that one of the days when I was there was free museum day where every like archaeological site, museum, whatever was open and it was free.And this was like October.So it was like low season or shoulder season.
So it wasn't even super crowded.So I saved like 80 euro.I remember, I think the Acropolis alone was like 25 or 30 euro, but I saved so much money because now that I'm there for 10 days, I can choose what day I go.
It's not like I have two days to pick from and I've planned everything out and it has to be on Thursday.It's like, oh, next week, it's free?Okay, I'll just change my plans and I'll do it next week because I'm going to be here for 10 days.So
Just thinking about that when you're thinking about your budget, if you find that your estimate is too high, or you need ways to save money, you know, there's a whole energy and like, you know, physical aspect to slow travel versus fast travel, but just purely from a money standpoint, incorporating periods of time where you have a home base can be very cost effective, even if you're taking day trips to the other places that you want to see or an overnight trip, it can still be
way more cost-effective to have this home base, to travel slowly, to take a regional train for 10 euro instead of the fast train for 100 euro, the bullet train.
There's just so many ways that you can have a little less convenience but a lot more money because you have the time and you have the space to really just do things like locals would do.
Yeah that's key right and I think you have a great example in the book about if you had six months for example you might have like a month somewhere yeah you're at home for a month you know they're sort of broken down they're different costs aren't they because like you say if you're traveling to Thailand and Vietnam for a month the food's gonna be super cheap to go and eat right so that's a budget you'd budget for but if you're gonna spend a month traveling Canada for example like you're here
you're gonna need some serious cash every week.So I think you do need to break those down.If you know them, I guess the difficulty would be if you never traveled before, how do you know really how much these things cost?
But I think the general rule of thumb I go with is that Western country, yeah, it's gonna be fairly expensive.
And there's broken down countries in that of like the notorious expensive ones like Canada, Australia, and then the sort of Middle Europe ones that are very expensive and then Western Europe, not too bad.And then there's the cheap countries.
A bit of research is handy there, I think.
And there are planners.Off the top of my head, I don't remember the exact website, but there are planners and cost estimators online that will give you an estimate as an anchor point.
I know for myself, one of my favorite ways to estimate when I was taking my break was to look at Airbnb at the specific season that I wanted to go because
accommodations can range so wildly depending on if it's a holiday, if there's a special event or a festival, or if it's low season, high season.
And so to get a more accurate estimate, I would look around that same time period just to scope out and say, okay, it's looking like the average is about $100 a night or it's $400 a night.
I either need a hostel or I need to change my timeline to not be there when this big festival or this big event is happening.
Yeah, I think budget my trip is a website that I use.
Okay, yeah, which has, I think it's like backpacker basic, medium and luxury style to give you an idea of each country in the world, how much you'd be expecting the cost for accommodation and food and stuff like that.
Thanks for tuning in to Taking a Career Break with Katrina McGee today.If you'd like to rate and subscribe to the episode, please do on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.And also, any rating really helps the podcast.It's free.
So if you listen and you like the episode or the podcast in general, give us a five-star review.We really appreciate it.
And finally, if you're looking to get in touch with any questions you might have on the first three episodes or the trailer, send us a note via email and we'll get back to you with anything that we can share.Thank you.
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