My six month holiday


The planning and preparation for this trip has been more than two years in the making. I signed up for a scheme where I work in April 2016. The deal is that I work for two years on a reduced salary of 80% with the pay off being six month leave while still receiving my wages.

It was on a plane returning from a trip to the USA back in late 2015 when the back to reality blues started to kick in. See I am single women with no children and I (still) don't know what I was doing with my life - I am having what I like to call an on going 'existential crisis.' It was then that I remember hearing from my colleague about this scheme she had signed up for. After talking to her again about it I knew it was the right decision for myself. I could travel for the six months and do some soul searching with the bonus of having a goal with something to look forward to for two years.

After talking with my colleague again when I got back I decided to sign up. My rough early plans included a road trip around the USA but the cost along with time to see other parts of the world I settled on voyage across the northern half of the US via train and plane. I'm then hitting all the major stops in Europe. My trip then expanded to include Israel a country that has been close to my heart for most of my life after being named at Mt Carmel in Haifa. Trying to figure out the way home Japan had always been on my list (their range of vending machines is out of this world). Russia came along because it is just so close to everything and another country with history that is fascinating.

I have now planned, booked and almost paid for my first three-and-a-half months of my trip with plans thought out for the rest of my time off. I am doing this as a solo traveler and a lot of people have said they are brave or could not do this themselves. However, as I say to them if I waited around for a life partner or even a friend I would never be able to visit and experience all amazing places on my list.

I'm sure I will be lonely for parts of the trip and I think this will be a good thing. I am going to be staying hostels where I'm sure to meet a lot of different people, more so then if I was only travelling with one person. I am also breaking my trip in two with visiting some relatives in the UK either side. I will have a lot of time to be social with them and have a break from what I'm sure will be traveler fatigue by then.

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