I couldn’t be happier that the career break movement is finally getting legs.

But I’m also acutely aware that many people who used to be racing toward retirement are finding themselves stuck in an increasingly tangled web.

New research shows that small business owners—often called the future of America—are planning to put off retirement in shockingly large numbers.

On one hand, this might suggest that they are feeling more connected to and rewarded by their work–with less need to escape it.

More likely the statistics reflect the sticky economic predicament that so many people now find themselves in–with depleted savings accounts and escalating costs for healthcare.

Here are some highlights from the recent Gallup survey:

• 47% of small business owners plan to never retire until forced to do so for health reasons—up from 4 in 10 in 2005 and 2007
  
• 41% plan to cut back on work but stay involved with their business when they retire.
  
• 10% plan to stop working in their business altogether, a drop from nearly twice that level in 2005.

These are sad facts, perhaps, but they support the case for taking some breaks along the way. We’re all likely to be living (and laboring) longer than the generations that preceded us.  Career breaks are one way to ensure that life doesn’t become all work and no play.

How do you know when an idea or movement is taking off? One measure might be a big, meaty article in the New York Times.  Or, better yet, the Sunday Times!  

That’s precisely what will happen for the Career Break cause on Sunday, October 17, when this piece, Making the Dream Trip a Reality, hits the stands in the NYT Travel section.

In it, author Susan Stellin writes:  

It’s a dream anyone with a passport fantasizes about once in a while: ditching everything to travel the world for a year, or at least long enough to forget about office life.”

The article goes on to discuss the possibilities and pitfalls, and quotes several members of our MeetPlanGo tribe.  It’s available online now, if you’re curious (or not a NYT subscriber) and has already amassed dozens of comments, from the encouraging…

…do it, Do It, DO IT! We saved for years, planned for months, and have never been happier. We feel younger, healthier and more in love with life than we could have imagined. Hey, you only live once, right?”

to the downright skeptical and cynical…

Nice idea, but there’s no way I would quit my job at 51 and take the risk of long-term unemployment when I return. Likewise with selling my apartment. This just doesn’t mesh with responsible retirement planning unless, of course, you have the ingenious idea to operate seminars on traveling the world that people will pay you for.”

I left my own long comment, of course, espousing my “seize the breakaway” philosophy, which I’ve been living for the last 20 years…  

Considering yourself blessed may be the first step to breaking away. Another is to watch for the right timing, as one comment noted.

Lose your job? It happens, so why not be ready and use that break. Had a good business year or got a bonus? Trust the fates and ride away on that windfall. Planning a family but want to run wild before offspring tie you down? Go!

Visit friends and family overseas. Caretake in the Caribbean. Home-school while island-hopping. Housesit in Oslo while that family is on holiday. Frankly, there are countless ways to run away–and kind souls eager to help you.”

Harboring your own wanderlust or getaway dream?  I invite you to check out the article.  Pass it around.  And post a comment of your own.  If you’re a seeker (or a believer), help us make this kind of work-life flexibility and freedom mainstream–or at least a more visible and valid lifestyle choice.

Finally, I’d like to shout out a special congrats to my new friend and compatriot Sherry Ott (and her partners at Briefcase to Backpack) for scoring this nice piece of press–and galvanizing a movement whose time has finally come.

Full speed ahead!

Speaking of career breaks and work/life hacking, here’s a true story about the Woychicks, a Minneapolis family that’s a shining example of the sabbatical mindset.  This intrepid family is embarking on a one-year (or longer) adventure—and new way of life.  I’ve been pleased to meet (dad) Dan via some meetups and speaking gigs and through our intersecting professions.  Now it’s their turn to BreakAway.  Quick—meet them before they take flight! 

• What inspired you to leap beyond dreaming and actually make a sabbatical happen?

Life is short. This point was tragically brought into focus when my parents were killed in a crosswalk by an impaired motorist as they walked home from church on August 19, 2009. In 2010, we said goodbye to our two good dogs, Buster and Ray. And, before they lose interest, we want our boys to discover the joy of learning and trying new things. We had often talked about a sabbatical year, and the time felt right to make a change.

• How do you define and describe what you’re doing—year off?  Sabbatical?  Career break?  What do you tell the people in your life and how do they respond? 

Rebecca is taking a year off from her job. Our boys are taking a year off from school. And I plan to continue working wherever the family happens to be – working less often when we’re traveling.

Everyone who hears about it is very interested and excited about it. Common responses include:

That’s great! Good for you guys! I’d love to do that! You’re going to have a great time!”

• This is a family journey, obviously.  Tell us about the steps you went through to make this happen, and if home schooling is part of the picture.

Rebecca and I have been married for 11 years. We have two bright and imaginative boys, Lucas (9 years old) and Eli (7 years old). I’ve been self-employed as a graphic designer for 20+ years. Rebecca is an experienced elementary school teacher.

We’re both inveterate list-makers and planners. We have saved and inherited money, and share a vision for how we want to live as a family and as individuals.

Rebecca quit her job at a parochial elementary school. They have hired a long-term substitute for the year and would welcome her back (no promises, though).

Home schooling is definitely part of the picture, and another big motivator for embarking on this adventure. Both our boys test in the highly gifted range (top half of the top one percent). They liked their school, but it was increasingly difficult for the school – any school – to meet their needs. We liked the idea of home schooling better than any of our other options.

• What have been (and will be!) the toughest obstacles—and how are you getting around them?

We feel both excited and scared, but well-suited, to challenge ourselves. While we’ve had far more good fortune than most, some of that comes from a willingness to take calculated risks:

What’s the worst thing that could happen? What are the potential benefits?

Everyone thinks money is the biggest obstacle, but frankly, I’m more concerned about the changes for Rebecca than I am for the kids (or our bank account). The boys may miss some of the day-to-day contact with friends, but they’ll be fine. Rebecca loses contact with work colleagues, and adds the role of teacher to her already established role as mother. I’ll try to help with curriculum ideas and teaching as I’m able, but it’s much less of a change for me.

• Most important:  What are you and your family planning to do with the time; what are the goals and dreams, missions and visions?

We’ll be traveling more often and for longer periods of time. To start the school year, we’ll be in the Pacific Northwest – Seattle, the San Juan Islands, Olympic National Park, and the Northern Cascade Mountains. In Spring 2011, we’re planning a 2–3 month trip to Europe. Likely destinations include France, Italy, and Spain. In between, we expect more trips to our cabin near Hayward, Wisconsin.

Our goals for the year include:
–      Giving more time to things that are important – family, rest, exercise, food.
–      We want our boys to discover the joy of learning and trying new things.
–      Rebecca would like to spend more time doing photography.

–      I’d like to spend more time writing.

We often enjoy time at our cabin because it’s simpler. Less to do. Less stress. We’d like to find more ways to make that the rule rather than the exception. By stripping away conventional ideas about how one is supposed to do things, I’m hoping we find that this way of living is not only healthier and preferable, but sustainable.

What an inspirational story—full of adventure and dreams, but practical thoughtfulness too—and it’s only beginning.  We’d love to check in later and hear how home schooling, road working, and Euro dining, is going (even if it makes us green jello).  Have fun and godspeed!  

It’s hard to believe.  A week-plus has already gone by since I hosted the Minneapolis contingent of Meet Plan Go, the national meetup for career breaks.  As I sit and reflect, I’m stunned by the way days disappear, by how much time an event like this can suck up, and by the passionate attention the audience granted to my panelists and me. 

About 80 escape artists showed up to network and share stories, but mostly to listen.  While I had expected a happy-hour vibe, folks were pretty darn serious—though certainly stirred.  The travel fervor was palpable.  And all three panelists were touched by the sincerity—and range—of questions.

Now it’s “jobs, jobs, jobs”

Times have changed.  In past workshops, the dominant questions (and answers) were about money, money, money.  Now, it’s jobs, job, jobs.  This downturn has chipped away at people’s saving accounts and confidence.  Wanderlust lives on, but fear of coming home to no work makes for a tight leash. 

As one woman exclaimed:

Of course I long to go away for six months.  But come home and begin again? I’m 55!  Who’s hiring me?” 

A money man who’s got it and gets it

I’m honored to have shared the stage with Ross Levin—whose book “Spend Your Life Wisely” just hit Amazon last week.  Ross tells happy tales of his own months away, from the simple college-student phase through the raising his twin daughters (now seniors in high school). 

By anyone’s standards, Ross has earned super-success.  But he’s enjoyed it too, while never losing sight of what matters.

As he explained in his introduction—which also appears on page 1 of his new book:

In working with hundreds of people over the years, there has been very little relationship between owning stuff and happiness.” 

Indeed, while jobs and money played their appropriate role in the Meet Plan Go conversations, we three wise panelists had to admit that we manage to travel most when least employed—and that the uber-trekkers we know are typically not rich or career-driven. 

Life is travel; travel is Leif 

Leif (pronounced “Life”) Pettersen rounded out our panel, and our guests couldn’t get enough of him.  No surprise there:  Leif is not only that rare person who makes a living as a travel writer—including for Lonely Planet—but he got there the old-fashioned way.  Which is to say:  

He sold his house, his car, and all his things—and bought a one-way ticket across the pond.  For four and one-half years, he moved through 40 countries.  40!  And by the time he came back home to Minneapolis, he was again gainfully employed as a writer and blogger, and ready to settle down again.  Well, sorta. 

Folks were fascinated by his resume, stories, and wit.  In a roomful of journey fans, he’s a real rock star.  When asked about the difficulties of language barriers, Leif can reflect:

It’s just not a big deal.  You learn the words and phrases need to know as you go, and you can always communicate with sign language, smiles, and pictures.”

The after-party

Naturally, the two hours went too fast, just like a good vacation.  Though the night officially ended at 9, some of us hung out, sipped, and nibbled til nearly midnight.  In those hours, I realized, yet again, we are not alone—as people’s passport memories (and futures) poured out…

• The out-of-towners.  The first three enthusiasts to arrive not only came early, but from far away—as in Des Moines, Ames, and Green Bay. 
• The bright newbie.  One woman, just out of college and bursting with excitement, flies off to Thailand for her first big trip in December. 
• The Brazilian.  One happy camper reminisced about his three months in Brazil—where the poor but joyful lifestyle had him playing foosball daily in the streets. 
• The disaster reliever.  Another gentleman sees the U.S. by working for FEMA, staying in an RV, and then hanging on afterward in a nearby, fun place. 
• The Yogi.  An energetic 68-year-old woman could school us all; she lives here for half the year, and then moves to Mexico to teach yoga during the winter. 

To be continued…

These people are my heroes, our tribe, and the reason I keep tapping away on this topic and tap-dancing away on BreakAways when the spirit allows and moves me. 

My heartfelt thanks to these new friends, to Ross and Leif, and to the three high-energy women—Sherry, Michaela, and Tara—who made Meet Plan Go happen. 

Until we meet again, happy sails…

MeetPlanGo happens in 13 cities tomorrow night, and more than 1,400 dreamers and schemers will gather…  thanks to an unfathomable amount of vision and effort by founders Tara Russell, Sherry Ott, and Michaela Potter.  We can’t thank them enough—and that “we” includes any of you who harbor the dream of a big trip or a career break someday.

See the light? 

MPG is all about making travel and sabbatical dreams come true.  And helping employers see the value.  And letting society know that this is a valid and virtuous path.  In fact, for some of us, this convergence feels like a watershed event.  A shiny light on a gnarly tide.  A moment we’ve been waiting for.  

In this land of bootstraps and cubicles, could enough of us finally be discovering–and demanding–freedom of time??

So lonely on the surfboard…

A wise and wildly successful friend recently said,

Kirk, it’s like you’ve been paddling away on your little surfboard for years—just waiting for the wave to come in.  Well, watch out.  I think I see a huge one on the horizon.”  

Surf’s up—and what an inspirational bunch of surfers are showing up for the ride. 

Cowabunga! 

Like most cities, we are now “sold out” for our Meetup in Minneapolis.  The room will be full of passionate people with great stories, bubbly energy, and stubborn hope.  I aim to Preach, yes, but mostly to Listen, and Learn.

My heartfelt gratitude again goes out to my wonderful panelists—Ross Levin and Leif Pettersen—and to the spirited souls behind MeetPlanGo. 

With any luck, this wave will just keep rollin’.

Career Break Secrets, a site by one of the most creative and committed guys in our emerging movement, just posted a revealing peek at those of us who actually do crazy things like breaking away now and then for some serious travel.

In his post, entitled “The Many Faces of Long-term and Career Break Travel,” Jeff Jung introduces the various hosts of the 13 upcoming Meet Plan Go events and ponders what attributes we might share.  His assessment?

Long-term travel is a very specific yet amorphous niche. What I want to convey to you is that the long-term traveler is not one type of person but a diverse group of people all passionate about the potential that long-term travel has to enrich one’s life in a way that no other activity can. That’s not to say that this type of travel is appealing to everyone. But for us, the experiences that we’ve had traveling are part of what defines us.”  

Jeff then goes on to briefly introduce the hosts—what led them to become immersed and obsessed not only with their travel goals, but also helping others realize their dreams–and groups us into a few niches.

You’ll meet “The Enablers” who assist employers and their workers with sabbatical programs.  There’s a “Back to Work Breaker” who travels, then returns to career life.  “20-somethings” who already have stories to tell.  And you’ll meet the “Soloists,” “Duos,”  “Family Breakers” and more.

Before the online world connected us, we may not have had much more than wanderlust in common.  Now, we share a virtual stage–and a desire to reveal the sweet if amorphous secrets (and benefits) of breaking away. 

• As for yours truly?  Jeff places me in the “Multiple Breakers” category.   I’ll wear the badge with pride! 

Meanwhile, back in reality, today is the first day of school.  I’ve taken on another college teaching gig.  And the fall air and routine has arrived with all the grace of a falling oak branch. 

Multiple breaker?  That sounds good about now—I’d like to earn that badge again—but there’s work to be done.  That includes hosting the MeetPlanGo event that has brought this faraway bunch together. 

Please join us and some fellow escape artists next Tuesday!

Thanks to a burst of online buzz, our Tuesday, 9-14 meetup has moved to bigger quarters.  We’re now at a HONEY of a place, in Minneapolis by Nye’s.  Time is still 7 – 9.  We’ve also added a truly great guest panelist, Ross Levin, one of the best financial planners ever, author, and brain behind the “Spend Your Life Wisely” column. 

We’re so pleased to have Ross join us.  Of course, he will answer questions and offer guidance about money—which is ALWAYS the #1 reason people don’t take BreakAways.  But even better, he also has many wise things to say about making your work for you (versus vice versa).  And reaching goals and dreams.  To wit:

Most of us already have the objects that we really need. Years from now, we will be talking about the family trips, not the living room couch. Be it a camping trip or a vacation to Europe, it is the experiences that stay with us.”

Check out this columm, for example.  He so gets it!  He’s also a great speaker, and jolly guy.

Hope to see you on September 14th.  Details are here!

Last Saturday I chatted on the radio with travel guru Rudy Maxa. The conversation went so well that he invited me back for more.

I’ll be on the air again THIS Sunday, August 29, around 4:10 CST.  The show takes place on CBS’ KFWB News Talk 980 in Los Angeles (and supposedly streams on the web).

Rudy says we’ll have about 7 minutes to tell tales and talk story about travels, sabbaticals and career breaks.

I’m also hoping to give listeners a heads up about the September 14 MeetPlanGo event. As you may or may not know, I’m hosting the Minneapolis MeetUp.

Find us!  Join us!

BREAKING NEWS!  

Legendary travel guru Rudy Maxa (of public TV and radio fame) has invited me to join him to talk sabbaticals and career breaks on his nationally syndicated radio shows this weekend. 

If you’re where his wires cross, please tune in!  

“Rudy Maxa’s World with Christopher Elliott” is a two-hour travel talk, interview and call-in show that’s broadcast every Saturday morning from 9 to 11 CST. To ask Rudy or Chris (or me!) a travel question or make a comment, call 800-387-8025.

• I expect my slot on the Saturday morning show will be at about 10:10 a.m CST.
• You can also listen to a rebroadcast of the show on Sirius/XM Radio at 9 pm Saturday night on Channel 152.  
• Sunday I’ll be participating in Rudy’s hour-long, call-in show on CBS’ KFWB News Talk 980 in Los Angeles from 4-5 p.m. CST.

In addition to answering listeners’ questions, Rudy delivers the latest take on travel news, his “Deal of the Week,” and interviews with travel personalities (like me, I guess!)  For live, real-time streaming of the show visit KFWB.com.

I’m looking forward to getting on the air to spread the good word, especially in anticipation of the upcoming MeetPlanGo Minneapolis MeetUp on September 14.  

Thanks, Rudy! 

We are NOT alone!  And the proof will hit the fan next month when travelers, career breakers, dreamers and schemers gather in umpteen cities across the U.S. to celebrate the movement and talk up ways to get a break. 

It’s called MeetPlanGo.  The savvy travelers behind BriefcaseToBackpack had the brainchild and are doing the legwork.  And we can’t thank them enough! 

In Minneapolis, yours truly will host a FREE two-hour meet-up in one of the most suave private rooms around—at Chiang Mai Thai restaurant in Uptown.  The good people there will offer us tempting food and drink specials.  And we’ll sip, nibble and discuss what it really takes to leave work and ordinary life behind to travel for a while.  There will even be sponsors and free stuff!  

• Get the deets here!

If our tribe grows to more than 40, we’ll move to an equally cool, but decidedly larger space.

More soon!  But for now, check your cal, save the date, and go to EventBrite and register to join us if you can!