Taking a sabbatical from work, a career break to travel or even an ‘adult gap year’, is one of the best things you can ever do for yourself, and can bring huge benefits to your life and career. However long you want to go for, or however you want to do it, this guide will help you through the process step by step.

There Is No ‘Perfect’ Way To Take Time Out To Travel

One of the biggest misconceptions about career breaks, sabbaticals and long term travel is the idea that there is only one correct way to do it. There isn’t.

For some people, taking time out to travel means quitting their job and backpacking around the world for a year. For others it might mean negotiating a sabbatical from work, travelling between careers, working remotely abroad for a while or simply building more meaningful travel into their life over time.

What matters is not whether your journey looks like somebody else’s version of freedom. What matters is creating a version of travel that feels realistic, sustainable and genuinely meaningful to you.

This guide will take you through everything you need to know about taking a career break. Because taking time out to travel should not feel like an impossible fantasy reserved for other people. It should feel like something you are genuinely capable of making happen.

What Is The Difference Between A Sabbatical, A Career Break And An Adult Gap Year?

This can be a little confusing as to a large extent they are used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences you should know about. A Sabbatical is a specific agreement with your employer to take time off, often unpaid, but with the security of being able to come back to that role at an agreed date.

A career break, even though you are still leaving to travel, often means you have left work completely to go and travel the world. There is no security of a job to return to but you aren’t beholden to any employer restrictions either, like returning on a set date.

An ‘adult gap year’ is quite simply just that. Taking a year out (or longer) to travel the world, the same as any other gap year but at a different stage in life than the stereotypical age range of young twenty somethings.

Why Is Taking A Career Break Becoming More Popular?

Because to put it quite simply, careers, or to be more accurate, our attitude to them, is changing too.

The idea of spending your entire life following one fixed career path is becoming far less common than it once was. People change jobs, industries and priorities far more frequently today, and many are rethinking what they actually want from their work and their lives.

Many long term backpackers and travellers will recognise the mindset among younger generations of questioning what loyalty you owe to an employer and the shifting priorities of putting career lower down the list of things to be concerned about. We’ve had that mindset since the hippy revolution in the sixties. But there has been a generational shift in recent years and now more and more people are demanding work life balance. They are pushing back against the grind mentality and laughing at the notion of workplace loyalty to industries that have never shown them any.

That shift has created more flexibility, but also more opportunity to pause, reassess and step outside the constant cycle of routine and obligation for a while, and a career break or sabbatical has become an increasing part of that process.

It is a chance to build a career and work as much as you need to, work is of course still essential. But it is also an opportunity to step back, gain perspective, learn new things, experience different cultures and reconnect with what genuinely matters to you, all while exploring more of the incredible world around you.

Employers Are Changing Too.

It is also important to note that as this generational mindset changes, employers are changing too. Smart employers are starting to understand that allowing employees to take travel sabbaticals or career breaks is as good for their business as it is to their employees. This may be limited to the larger organisations at the moment, such as the NHS, and smaller businesses are slow to catch up (usually they are also the same ones demanding everyone return to th office), but things are changing.

What Does Employment Law In The UK Say About Career Breaks?

There isn’t any specific law that covers either a sabbatical or a career break in the UK and as an employee you don’t have a statutory right to one. Any agreement you do make with an employer is essentially between you and them. What you do have however is a statutory right to request flexible working (usually after 26 weeks of service), under the ACAS Code of Practice on Flexible Working, and this means that employers have a duty to be fair and consistent. They can’t just offer it to one person and not another for example.

In reality what this means in practice is that employers should realistically have robust policies in place to accommodate taking a break, and you should familiarise yourself with them. if you don’t want to leave entirely, you can still negotiate a sabbatical with clear guidelines of when you will return, any pay or other benefits and the status of your employment contracts.

When Should You Take A Career Break?

The old adage of their never being a perfect time and you should just go is partly true, but there are some variables to consider as well that do complicate things just a tiny bit.

The first is contractual notice periods. Normally if you are just quitting to travel the world this doesn’t matter as much, you can give them as much notice as they were giving you to fire you. But if you want to play nice and come back to the same role when you return, or if you are asking for a sabbatical, in which case your company policy will state how much notice you need to give, then planning for at least six months notice is a good idea.

Although speaking from experience, seeing your bosses face when you give them zero notice and walk out there and then after they have denied your annual leave is an experience that will make you smile for many years afterward!

Giving a longer heads up to your workplace is also a good idea if you need to save up. Obviously taking a year out costs money and you should be looking to save up as soon as possible. The longer that will take will obviously impact when you can go.

How Much Will A Career Break Cost?

Obviously there are so many factors that will make this figure vary wildly, where you want to go, what you want to do, what level of comfort do you want to travel in? Obviously spending twelve months in Western Europe will cost significantly more than slow travel through south east Asia.

To give you a rough idea, if you stick to a low budget, staying in cheap dorms, use public transport instead of taxis and avoid the fancy restaurants and nightlife, you can look to spend around £9000 – £11000 a year in backpacker destinations like se Asia, not including flights or pre travel expenses of course. If you want to make that budget a little more reasonable, give yourself a little comfort, the occasional private room, a few nice experiences and a bit of a safety net, look to budget around £11000 – £16000 for the full year. If you want luxury, or want to travel in more expensive destinations, you can easily double that, but the sky is the limit.

What About My House And Bills?

This is something that a lot of people just don’t account for, but it is one of the most important things to consider when you are planning to take a career break to travel. Your own personal circumstances will have a huge effect on how you plan, what you can do and even your finances.

Before you even think about setting off, have you considered the financial obligations you have to your voluntary National Insurance contributions if you are in the UK? If you are only going on shorter trips this generally won’t be an issue, but for a year or more? It may be something you want to look at.

If you own your home, renting it out can be a good way to keep paying that mortgage and have a little set aside each month for the council tax, any emergency repairs and so on, (the last thing you want is to get a call on a beach in Mexico to say your tenant has flooded the bathroom and the bill will destroy your travel savings!) Obviously getting a letting agent can help with the practicalities, but do eat into any profit.

One thing to be aware of if you do this is just make sure you read the most up to date rule changes for landlords and make sure you register for the Non Resident Landlord Scheme for tax purposes if you are travelling for more than 6 months, or any estate agent looking after the property for you will be required to deduct 20% of your rent.

If you rent on the other hand, then you may want to start thinking about when you give notice, where you will keep your belongings and where you will come back to when you return home.

All of this seems a little daunting now, I know, but trust me once you get used to it, it is the easiest thing in the world. The smartest travellers can even earn more money travelling than they can by staying at home! The combination of a significant drop in cost of living, a little rental profit and income from working online as you travel can make things a lot easier!

Taxes

We’ve already touched on National Insurance contributions, but it is worth mentioning again as it really is important and the rules change all the time. Long term travellers can’t pay the cheaper class 2 voluntary contributions for time spent abroad like they used to for example, and the amount of time you spend abroad can affect how you are classed for tax purposes.

Not even a full on gap year will let you escape taxes.

Storing Your Stuff

What to do with your things is often a bigger issue than people realise too. The first thing to do is have a good sort out and get rid of things you don’t want to keep. You may be surprised at just how much stuff you accumulate over the years! Selling some of it on eBay might help boost your travel funds a bit, and giving some to charity will help boost your karma, but more often than not relying on a good family network who won’t mind storing things in an attic or garage for a while is the best solution. The worst case scenario is putting it in storage, which is an easy fix, but costs can add up, so make sure you factor this into your budget if you need it.

You’ve Got Mail

If there is one think most people travelling long term forget it is this. Where will all your mail go when you are away? Obviously redirecting it to a family member is ideal (just ask first), or alternatively you can ask the Royal Mail to hold your mail at the delivery office (for trips less than 100 days), and will deliver everything at once when you return, or you can set up a PO Box and collect it all later or have it sent on to another address. There is even a virtual mailbox where Royal Mail will scan your post and email you PDFs. There is a small cost for each of these options, so just be aware.

Preparing To Return Home

U know you are away having the time of your life, you are probably wishing it wouldn’t end and want to savour every last minute. That’s understandable, and you are allowed to. But take just a little bit of time to organise some logistics for when you get back home and things will go a lot smoother when you do.

The specifics of this will be different for everyone, and a lot will depend on what you organised before you left too. Do you have a place to stay when you go back? Do you need to look for a new rental, or prepare to take back your own home from renters? All that takes time.

If you had a sabbatical arrangement in place you will need to email your employers and get that onboarding process started again. If you didn’t and you were just travelling you will need to start looking for new jobs. The good news is it isn’t as hard as it may seem, and your career break may be more of a benefit than you realise.

Time for a promotion? Or Even A New Career?

If you are looking for a new job when returning home after travel, then why settle?. This could be your chance to apply for that higher position you’ve been trying to get. Why not? You have the experience, and now you have shown you have the ability to travel the world independently too. Or maybe your travels have opened your eyes to new possibilities and interests and it’s time to try something completely different. The world is your oyster. 

Where Will You Go?

A career break or sabbatical is not just about leaving work for a while. It is about creating the freedom to experience more of the world on your own terms.

Now that the idea is starting to become something practical, the exciting part begins: deciding where your journey might take you.

Whether you are dreaming of backpacking through South East Asia, slow travelling across Europe, exploring South America or simply taking your first long term solo trip somewhere completely new, the world is far bigger and more accessible than you might think.