BootsnAll Travel Community

Fellow travelers,
How much were you making when you Quit/Give up (on your own term, not being laid-off or thinking that's a dead-end job) your job before setting out for your first (or 2nd, 3rd….) long trip? The background to answer this poll is preferred based on:

1. You are quite happy/satisfied with your current jobs/relationships (that you are not trying to run away or escape from where you are);
2. You are not that cynical about how the corporations work in today’s society (Of course we all hope the world can work better and more fair).

Welcome to share what you were doing (position) then and what were you thinking at that time.


Note: question is modified. the previous poll result is (by 2007-2-12):
3 votes, 11%: Less than USD 20,000
10 votes,37%:Between USD 20,000 to 50,000
6 votes, 22%:Between USD 50,000 to 80,000
2 votes, 7%:Between USD 80,000 to 100,000
3 votes, 11%:Between USD 100,000 to 120,000
3 votes, 11%:More than USD 120,000

Question:
How much were you making (annual wage, in USD) when you Quit/Give Up (Not being Laid-off) your job before setting out for your First RTW trip?

Choices:
Less than USD 20,000
Between USD 20,000 to 50,000
Between USD 50,000 to 80,000
Between USD 80,000 to 100,000
Between USD 100,000 to 120,000
More than USD 120,000

 

I will be giving up about 39,000 when I quit in august. It's my first "real" job--doing mostly employee communication for a large corporation. I'll be at 2 years in June.

I currently work as a legal secretary (well, until next week anyway), and am on $45,000 (AUS).

I'll be leaving to travel and work in China for less than $12,000 a year.

When my husband and I quit to go RTW he was in the 80,000-100,000 range and I was in the 50,000-80,000 range. (The advantages to being in your 30s when you go RTW)

YES it was totally worth it, even if we never made that much money ever again. AND despite what everyone said, we were both offered our jobs back. I declined, my husband went back and was given a slight pay dip and he lost some vacation time the following year.

If you can do it, the return on your investment is priceless!

oh yeah, I worked in Children's
Publishing and the hubby works in IT.

I'm secretly hoping they will outsource his job and ask him to move to India...

wow, I feel so broke compared to all of you

It's my first job out of college and I've been there for 5 years at the moment I'm making $40,000. When I quit in April I'll also be giving up 4 weeks vacation/year, 2 weeks off at Christmas, 12 sick days, 3 personal days, and all of the bank holidays for the first 2/3 of the year, and not to mention the flexibility to work at home when needed or to go t doctor's appt. during the day.

I've always had "throw away" jobs that I was never really afraid of quitting.
For about 5 years now I've been working seasonally in a Nat'l Park. Which is a great way to save/make money.
I've always said that one could show up in Yosemite nothing but a toothbrush and within a day or two you would be employed, housed, clothed and even fed.
My boyfriend rolled in there once after one of our trips with $40 dollars in his pocket and we were traveling again within a year.
We haven't taken a year off yet, but we live in a beautiful spot (where it's not really about the job, but what you do on the weekend) that affords us to travel for about 3 to 6 months a year.

oh yeah, We've done everything from Employee Recreation to Ski fitting to Zamboni Driving and various and sundry retail jobs

I have 2 major "give up job" scenarios under the belt.

First was when I was working for a day cruise company - something along the lines of Gato Feo's "throw-away" jobs. Not too much to learn, work with fun people but a "go-nowhere-job". I earned something short of USD30,000pa and this is in the mid 90's.

Second was on a small cruise ship (surprise surprise) with basically the same specs. I will admit though - working on the cruise ship made it very easy to save money. That one was a bit over USD25,000pa in the late 90's, but I paid virtually nil for food and accomodation for the 18 months I was there.

gato, that is so cool. I wish I had the wisdom to live like that when I was younger.

We may make more $ out here but you lose part of your soul doing it. Trust me, there are a LOT of soulless people living in big soulless houses around here.

That never even struck me as 'giving up'. I made up to 90k US$ - and never thought about the money. Now I live in Oz and make about half - which sucks. But no money in the world can buy anything that is more rewarding that the experiences I made through travelling. When time comes, I'll just say good-bye again...and that's it.

When I take off next year I will be leaving behind about $25,000 in headaches. I do not consider it giving up anything. Every time I have left a job to go vagabonding I have enjoyed myself more had less worries(even when in some so called hot spots) and definately dreaded coming back to the ol' work will make you happy attitude of corporate America. Give up let's just say good riddance.

I was on about 28 grand when I quit. I also sold the house, everything in the house and everything that wouldn´t fit in the house.... except the motorbike - couldn´t sell that..... and the guitars. Well, a boy has to have his toys!!!!

elv

It's not so much the job, as everything else. I mean, assuming you can get a comparable job again after the trip, what's the big deal.

The trouble we ran into is that we ended up giving up a lot more than we bargained for. My girlfriend sold her condo so we could both go travelling together. This was obviously not what would normally be called a smart financial move, but it was right for us at the time. Unfortunately, while we were gone, the housing market exploded, and low end housing prices are about $100k higher than they were when we left.

Oops. Had we known that was going to happen, we would have figured out another way.

Oh well, that's life. We're moving forward, and no regrets. We had a once in a lifetime experience, one few people can relate to, and that will undoubtedly shape the rest of our lives. It just means more years of paying a mortgage.

I'm going to be giving up a fairly well-paying teaching job in Japan to teach in Thailand next year. I actually love giving up things and starting over. My way of living has made me realize how insignificant material things are. Oh, I love things a smuch as the next person--and I love having a place to put all of the souvenirs from my travels--but I love giving away my things even more. I chose ESL as a career path so I could live this way. People do try to scare me:what about your 401K OR Roth IRA, they ask. Well, they have a point so I started saving as much as I can for my retirement. But i will never let anyone scare me into being a part of the souless corporate world. I CHOOSE not to, and I love that I can make that choice. God bless the child.

Hi all, I am the one who generate the poll/post.

My husband and I are going on a RTW trip around April. We are both in our early 30s (turning 32 this year), currently he is making about 90k and I am about 80k/year. I am wondering how much people are willing to give up in money wise is actually based on:

1. You are quite happy/satisfied with your current jobs/relationships (that you are not trying to run away or escape from where you are);
2. You are not cynical about how the corporations work in today’s society (Of course we all hope the world can work better and more fair).

For what I have seen on other forums, many people leave for a long sabbatical time because they are not fulfilled/happy with their current situation. I do wonder myself about the decision of going for a long trip at this time since everything is going great at the moment.

I do like the saying: “ You can get jobs anytime, but this traveling experience is a Once in a Life Time thing,” But what kind of jobs/pay are those that you can get anytime and being satisfied? Is that saying a justification of a hidden regret (if there is any)?

How do people cope their regrets (if there is any) of giving up what they had before they leave?
Who doesn’t want to get a better pay for the next move if they have rested and wandered enough?

I guess we all have a strong romantic gene, that’s why we choose to just quit our jobs and go travel (It is like dumping your spouse and running to your lover!!). But I want to be honest with myself, that I may feel regret in a way that I am leaving my job/pay when I am on a strong moment to earn more and getting more responsibility (which I really like more responsibility and pay). But what my (future) boss will feel about me quitting my job just for traveling? I think they prefer their lovers to be romantic but not their employees

What are your thoughts?

Hi -

First off, just wanted to say I would have answered this quite differently 1.5-2 years ago, but I'm in a different place now than I was 2 yrs ago. And also to preface...I'm not trying to push my agenda on anyone else...because everyone is motivated by different things. But you were wondering about thoughts, which I have plenty of. ;-)

Two years ago I both hated my job, and was cynical about the corporate world. Not coincidentally, I had a strong desire to escape, and that's why bna became my haven. It was one of the few things keeping me going for a little while...so I totally understand that urge, I just don't really have it anymore.

Regarding the job thing. Had I quit a few years ago, like I really wanted to, and had I not put myself through mental crap sticking out a couple of years of being unhappy and working through my feelings about all of it, I would have likely traveled, and likely had a good time. But obviously I didn't do that, and that would be because it's not ME. If it had been me, I would have done it. ;-) But I stuck it out working, because in the back of my mind I knew that, yes, there would always be a job to come back to, BUT I sure as heck didn't want another entry-level job, like the one I would be leaving. Because, truthfully, that's what I would have to come back to. Once I got beyond the entry level at work (which took me a long time *because* I was so cynical about all of it, so thus I had no motivation to try to get something better), I have been so happy. And I am SO happy I stuck it out -- had I not stuck it out, I'm almost positive it would have been a longterm regret - maybe not a shorterm one, but a longterm one. I now realize I am incredibly lucky compared to most people in the U.S., and truthfully I don't want to leave this company or move, *because* I have such good vacation time...almost to Europe standards. So I count my blessings now.

At this point, unless I get laid off, I don't plan on ever leaving if I can help it and if I can remain happy with my job, because it wouldn't be worth it, coming back and maybe having to take a job that only gives me 2 weeks off a year, or something. So for me it's not the money (I make considerably less than 80-90k!), it's my time off/benefits, that is like gold to me. Almost everyone working in the U.S. does not have this perk that I have, so I'm not gonna throw it away. Ironically I'm now at a level where I probably could leave, and come back to something similar, but now I truly don't want to. I'm determined to have it all - happy work, and happy travels. :-)

I also don't have a really strong vagabond urge to begin with...so I'm not having to fight that off as much as others might. I've just become very...practical (I suppose)....and it's a fact of life that I have to make a living, and that's never gonna go away, so I'm trying to make the most of my life, given that fact of life. If that makes sense. ;-) Another person could argue it another way though, and say that he's making the most of his life, by quitting and travelling...and that's an equally valid choice. Something similar came up in another thread, and to echo that, some choices are more geared towards the shortterm, others longterm, and I think BOTH choices involve unappealing sacrifices -- it's just which one ranks higher for you as an individual.

i quit my job at the tv station making not that much money to travel through europe and israel for 2 months...not quite RTW but still felt good to get out and travel...

I think you probably need to sit down and think about what you are going to regret more. Regretting the fact that traveling may set you back in your career and salary path. Or regretting the fact that you could have gone RTW and never did.

Odds are, if you have worked in a field long enough to have an established skill set (sounds like you do) traveling won't set your career path back to far. Maybe a couple of years. And, in time it will all be forgotten by any prospective employers. And, the ones that can't forget about it, you probably don't want to be working for anyway. Some bosses actually realize that if you can manage your time and resources to pull off an extended period of travel, you'll also be able to manage theirs.

I have taken off twice now for extended travel. The biggest hit on me financially was time spent not working. My actual salary has never decreased.

Wow.

Cool thread, never thought about this before...