Down-sizing and career breaks have become increasingly more common in the 30's and upwards age groups in recent years. I have spent much of the last thirteen years working in the financial markets in London and in the last five years have seen two colleagues permanently leave very senior positions, one to set up as a photographer and the other moved to Cornwall to work on boats. Quite a change from their city jobs but both felt it was the right thing to do for themselves and their families. For those who would like or need to do something less permanent, a career break could be an option. I did this in 2004 and my review is based on my own experience.

Objectives

If you work for a larger company then it is possible they will have a sabbatical scheme, whereby employees who have been with the company a certain length of time can apply for unpaid extended leave. My own company had such a scheme, open to employees with over five years service and granting up to 6 months leave if you and your manager can demonstrate how your work will be covered. The advantages to this are fairly obvious, you know where you will stand when you get home and have less financial worries. Six months after I took my career break, a friend working elsewhere decided to take the plunge and she did this as a sabbatical, which worked for her and her company.

Before taking the plunge and resigning however, I sought out advice from a number of people including colleagues, family, friends and recruitment consultants. In the case of the latter, I was particularly interested to obtain a number of opinions on how a break might be perceived on my CV, what the job market was like at that time and how they anticipated it to be on my scheduled return six months later. The answer was typically that a career break would neither damage nor enhance my CV, but that I was in the good position of being well established in my field and was not starting out. I also had it confirmed that the job market for accountants was better than it had been the few years previously and that my planned return at the beginning of the year could not be better. Obviously, were I to ask the same question in these credit cunching times, the answer could be very different.

A good and obvious starting point is the budget. I did not intend to work as I travelled so for me this boiled down to how much spare money do I have and how long can I make it last. A gap year student perhaps only needs to think about expenses during the trip, but it was not so straightforward for me as a homeowner and not living or wishing to live with parents at any point.

Based on the finances, my research and also my own preference, I decided to take at least six months off work and spend four of these travelling. With hindsight, I could have travelled a bit longer as I found a new job very quickly, but I did not know this would be the case and was anxious not to use up my entire savings in the process.

I found the following steps to be adequate in taking care of my property related issues. I made sure that I had a standing order set up to keep power connected but I terminated my phone line after checking that I could keep the same number when I wanted to get reconnected. I was already paying council tax and my maintenance charge (leasehold flat) by direct debit / standing order. I decided not to set the heating to come on at all whilst I was away as the flat has adjacent flats on all sides and never gets very cold so no risk of pipes freezing, I was also travelling September to December so not the coldest part of the year anyway.

Other direct debits set up for whilst I was travelling were with my credit card companies, to take full payment each month automatically as I planned to use my credit cards for much of the trip.

My travelling

Many people that decide to do a trip like this do little planning in advance beyond having a vague idea of what countries they wish to visit. This is not a bad approach, however I love planning trips and as I had six weeks in which to do it, I planned out my route quite carefully in advance and I had good ideas about what dates I would move on from country to country. I decided to start in Beijing, criss cross my way southwards through China, down to Hong Kong and then follow a circuit round South East Asia before my final stop in Thailand.

Many of my fellow travellers would not book any accommodation and instead look for it when they arrive. I had booked some accommodation before I left the UK, in particular my accommodation in China for when I first arrived. Generally though I would book accommodation via the internet a few days before I was due to arrive somewhere. My personal choice is to have a destination in mind when I arrive in a new location.

Coming home

In the first week of January, I started to call the recruitment agencies. I set up four meetings that week, dusted down the suit and eased myself back into the routine of heading into the city with the other suits. I was not flooded with potential suitable jobs, however I was told of two or three and in fact the one that I was told about during my very first recruitment agency meeting was the one I got, accepted and was at a higher level and salary than the job I had left. With the security of having this in the bag, I asked for a few weeks more off before starting and rejoined the workforce mid-February.

I did not take a gap year either between A levels and university or between university and work and so am probably biased towards the advantages of travelling later on. Nevertheless my personal view is that 18 is very young to be setting off on such an adventure and perhaps a few more years of life experience, in particular living away from parents might be a good idea first.

In some respects I think travelling as a 30-something was harder as it is less common and so not as easy to find like-minded companions. As I didn't want to stay in back-packer places I did not fall in, hang out and end up travelling around with a huge crowd of people, although if I had wanted to, the easy thing to do would have been to downgrade my accommodation a little! Instead my trip was about culture, history, local people and seeing places that I wanted to see. But I met various travellers along the way (including my now husband who I met at a bus stop in a village in Cambodia) and never felt lonely even when alone. I personally find I am more resourceful, confident and happier in my own company than I was in my 20's and this was a vital factor in my trip's success.