Need a little inspiration

My hubby and I are getting ready for another RTW. We were off the longterm travel road for 5.5 years now ( we did 13 month trip in 2005/2006) and as many of you know, once you have a travel bug it's impossible to get rid of it. So we've been saving, dreaming and working away the last 5 years only taking two 5 week adventures just get get ready for another 18-24 months off.

Here's what I need a little inspiration/encouragement with: my work. I found my passion in professional life and I am a bit scared to leave a good carreer behind. I know, I can get back to it, I am just worried about the economy and leaving what I work so hard for.

I know it's silly especially since we've done it all already and worked hard to get back to where we'll be able to take another trip...I just need happy stories on how you made it back to work life after coming back to really be happy about taking this amazing journey again!

Can you request Leave Without Pay? No harm in asking!
(That's what my hubby did....he took twelve months, and then when we were six month into the trip, wrote back home and asked to extend it to 15! So long as he promised to return, they were happy to let him travel for longer....as for me, my job is homeschooling eight kids so I took my work with me!)

I don't think it's silly at all, as leaving a professional life you're happy with is scary.

My story: earlier this year I was Cleveland based and dead set to leave after I had my M.S. (I was set to leave after undergrad but ended up back at my institution), loved my field but couldn't live in that city anymore/ the research didn't excite me. So ok, graduate and throw the applications in the mail for a PhD program to start in the fall, hopefully in Europe, and go traveling until it works out!

Two interviews happened pretty quick, but by the time I heard neither panned out it was into April. For PhD programs in my field this is NOT GOOD! I'm pretty much convinced it won't work out but I don't know what I'll do afterwards if it doesn't, but I'm in Beijing at the time so am going to spend an afternoon emailing and following up with various programs. But before I do I look for some touristy thing to do and it's incidentally recommended to me by the guesthouse owner to check out a Tibetan temple with a giant wooden Buddha inside it who will grant you one wish that will come true- trick is you then have to return to Beijing later in life to say thanks. I am not religious but by this point asking a giant Buddha to go someplace I'd be happy doesn't seem all that far-fetched an idea, so I do it before settling down to my emails.

Yeah, that afternoon I learned that I was shortlisted, interview went perfectly and within the month I was accepted to the University of Amsterdam to do research on a topic I'm genuinely excited about (and my adviser is the sort who likes to brag how he did a Skype interview with me in Kathmandu, so we get along fine). I couldn't imagine it working out better, though I do have to return sometime to Beijing to say thanks to the giant Buddha!

Obviously quitting your job at any time, much less in the middle of a recession, is risky. But you've done this before, and you know how it works.

When my wife and I left for our RTW trip in October 2008, the sh*t was just hitting the fan, and we both hoped it would be getting better by the time we returned in October of 09. Obviously that wasn't the case, and we both had issues finding jobs (me as a high school teacher and her as an attorney). I'm not going to lie, it wasn't always easy that first year or so back, but with some hard work and determination, and with the skills and confidence we got because of our trip, we are both in much better positions now. I am now working full time here at BootsnAll, and my wife has moved in house with a company, working regular hours (home by 4:30 every day--a far cry from her time in a law firm). We both couldn't be happier, and I don't think either of us would have had the guts to go for what we really wanted if it wasn't for our experiences on our RTW trip.

I would definitely just be honest with your current employer and see if there's any way to take an unpaid leave of absence. Explain how much you love working there, then sell it in a way that's going to be beneficial to them upon your return.

Thanks for your replies - I work for myself, so going away means losing my clients. But then again, I did not have a good break for over a year and I feel although I love my job I am getting drained.

Seems like I have more days to go (less than half a year!!!). Maybe time to start planning