Since we're old and stuff, it can make it harder to really travel. So I think I'm going to try (in 1-2 years) traveling for a month or two between jobs. I'm hoping to ask my boss for an unpaid 1-2 months off, but I doubt that will go over very well. So the plan is to just travel a bit in between jobs.

Anyone done anything similar? How do people travel after college (and not just 1-2 vacations?)

5/7/2007 1:48:31 PM

I haven't done anything like this yet, but we have an option of taking a sabbatical. Basically unpaid leave for an indefinite amount of time. I haven't really looked into it much, but I know of a few folks who have done it.

I did take a month off in the weeks surrounding my wedding, but I had saved up a ton of PTO.

5/7/2007 1:55:33 PM

i waited to start work a few months after i graduated. i was able to travel around europe, and travel all around the southeast to see friends and family before moving away from them.

it was definately a good decision.

5/7/2007 2:06:00 PM

i wish i would have done ^ instead of taking a huge drinking bender for the 3 months i had off before i started working.

5/7/2007 2:08:36 PM

You could always just save up your vacation for those two years if they let you roll it over.

5/7/2007 2:24:43 PM

a lot of places dont allow roll over until after a certain amount of service

5/8/2007 8:49:14 AM

I went to work 1 week after I graduated simply because I had no money to travel. I did take 2 weeks in Hawaii for a honeymoon, but now it's hard to imagine trips longer than a week at a time.

I'd love to just hop in a rental car for 3 weeks and do a cross-country road trip. Maybe I'll win the lottery one day.

5/8/2007 1:32:31 PM

i went to Eastern Europe for 3 weeks after college with my at-the-time girlfriend, her sister, and my brother (she was Slovakian) - hit Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, and Italy.

i traveled enough in my 5 years in the Navy (close to 20 countries), I didn't feel the urge to go on a travel bender when I got out and went to grad school. I did take two 3-week trips in grad school...one to India the other to Argentina and Brazil. I now plan on taking one to two weeks a year to visit other countries.

however, some of my friends did these benders before or after grad school and loved it. each of them did about 6 months around the world spending about $10-15k each. Their biggest piece of advice was check entry requirements for countries and talk to consulates abroad about entry visa's on the road. It seemed easier for them to get into more difficult places coming from different countries instead of direct from the US.

5/8/2007 1:44:33 PM

yeah, use or loose sucks

5/8/2007 9:09:38 PM

Like others here, I didn't have the money to go after graduation.

But in a year or so I will have enough saved.

I'm thinking England for 2 weeks, Scotland around a week, Ireland around a week, and other places if I have enough time.

5/9/2007 3:35:16 PM

^ that will both rock your face off and murder your bank account at the same time

have a freaking blast though

I'm hesitant to go back to England / Wales now that the pound/dollar rate is so awful. After the CC company tacks on 3% for buying in a foreign currency, it's well over 2 dollars per pound. The Euro isn't quite as bad, though, so Ireland would work out.

My dream vacation is Aussie land, but it's like 30 hours to fly there, so you better stay 3 weeks to ensure you actually have enough time to check things out. Oh, and flights are like $1.8k apiece.

[Edited on May 9, 2007 at 4:02 PM. Reason : .]

5/9/2007 4:01:10 PM

i've gotten lucky and have been to some pretty neat places (including Aussieland) because of work. while i was in Sydney I got to see my cousin who i hadnt seen since 1986--that was pretty awesome too.

i'm glad that's the case because work made me cancel a visit to Croatia last year, and as we speak, is making me cancel my trip to the Greek islands (can't go because i have to be in Scotland for a week and in RTP immediately after for meetings). in both cases, my friends were/are all "WTF mate?". i told them to have an Ouzo on my behalf.

right before i started b-school i spent a week in Holland and a month in India. i came back a different person. directly after finishing b-school and before starting work full time, i spent a month in Spain an Portugal. both trips were awesome, and were made possible largely due to the transition periods in my career.

other than a tentative bachelor party in Amsterdam, odds are my next major recreational trip abroad will be with a broad that i may be in a serious relationship with. while it will be nice with a lady, nothing will measure up to the debauchery undertaken with the boys.

the Spain-Portugal memories were unreal. everything from jumping off of cliffs into what is the border of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, stumbling around double fisting entire bottles of unimagineably good wine, coming real close to bwning a flamenco dancer (or so i fool myself into believing), almost getting mobbed for cheering for the bull when he flipped the matador, finding a bottle of authentic absinthe, the other backpackers we met... i don't know what it is about me and girls from Wisconnsin and Illinois... i could go on and on.

5/9/2007 6:02:16 PM

thankfully i got to travel when i was a kid (20+ countries). im sure itd be more fun now especially since i could choose where to go and get into more adult spots and whatnot, but i cant complain.

5/10/2007 9:24:59 AM

I went to China for two weeks two summers ago, and I'm going to Belize for three weeks starting on Wednesday. Since I'm a teacher I am fortunate enough to have that free time to do these things, and I always manage to travel on the cheap.

6/11/2007 2:03:44 PM