I took 6 months sabbatical in 2012 after 15 years at work
2 Parents & 2 kids (8 & 4)
London -> Spain -> Morocco -> Egypt -> London
Schackleton approach to packing & Travel
2 bookbags for
All documents on air and ipad and virtual
all kids homeschooling material scanned
Tim Ferris approach to making it happen
asked my manager to pick the date in advance
Picked two aggressive goals for myself to keep busy
Made travel decisions as late as possible
Book two night hotel in a place if we liked it booked a 2 week apartment
Dont eat out much. Cook at home
Lessons for kids
How to negotiate
See how the other half lives
Character
Resiliency
Outline:
Pre-sabbatical
How I managed to get six months off
What we packed: How did we pack two book bags for 4 people for 6 months? First thing we did was get really big book bags! (INSERT MODELS AND SIZES HERE) Then we took out everything we thought we needed for 6 months, one pile for each person. Then, we halved each pile. When you are looking at two book bags and four piles of stuff, you know you need to keep reducing because there's no way it's all going to fit. We had a firm rule: If it doesn't fit in the book bags, it's not coming. This made it easy to prioritize. Do I really want to spend 6 months with a shirt I don't really LOVE? Or something that looks good but isn't really comfortable? We picked items that could be switched up into a bunch of different outfits. Solids reigned supreme. Items we could layer also had an advantage since they could adapt to different climates. Fabrics that wash easily and don't wrinkle were preferred. We ended up with about 6 items of clothing each after a few cycles of reducing. We knew we would have to get to a washer or wash by hand in bathroom sinks frequently, but for us the advantages and ease of travel that comes with little luggage far outweighed the annoyance of washing. No matter what you pack, you will most probably not go two weeks without washing something. Plus, we knew we would be staying in apartments as much as possible so we would never be to far from a washing machine. As far as shoes, we wore sneakers on our feet and we packed a pair of crocs for each kid. Packing in a deep book bag for four people is organizationally annoying. I worked around this with the help of ziplock bags. One book bag was for the kids, the other was for the adults. Everything was grouped and ziplock bagged with pajamas and immediate essentials at the top.
Go paperless for homeschooling: As part of our desire to remain flexible, we always purchase any books or curriculums as PDFs or MP3s when possible. This meant that our homeschooling library was primed for adventure. There were a few texts and workbooks that we would need while away that were not available online. I simply scanned everything in preparation for our trip. Although it took prep time, it was very effective. Traveling the way we did meant that we didn't have room to carry tons of workbooks and texts. The countries we were planning to visit also wouldn't have such things for sale. By scanning everything beforehand we were able to progress with their studies regardless of where the wind took us.
How we booked travel
Starting on the goals ahead of time
Budgeting
Picking the destination
During
How we picked where we were staying
Getting sick: Build up of stress and exhaustion, 6 cities in 6 days, planes, trains, ferries, and busses, very little sleep all caught up with Areeg once we settled in Fez. We arrived in Fez, settled in, got oriented, had a nice tagine for dinner, retired for the night and Areeg woke up by 6 AM throwing up.
The art to talking to strangers
Budget
Buying stuff that we can carry
Flexibility (Going to Chefchaouin)
Working on the goals: Goals evolved based on opportunities in different environments.
Tutors
How the homeschooling worked in practice: Kindle meant Yusuf had a steady supply of books to read even when we were in non English speaking countries. Notebook: each study day notes. Got into a weekly routine of study days and off days. Earned off day rewards through work day efforts.
The plans never work out
Learning to trust people. The pothead that saved yusuf. Strangers guiding us up the falls and man following me in morocco
The more sanitized the country the less the adventure
Crazy Stories
Stranded in a desert road in Egypt
Deathly ill in Fez
After
What was the impact on the kids
Did i get any impact at work
What will I do differently on the next mini retirement