Hi

Thinking of taking a 3 month Sabbatical in 2018 just before eldest starts school. This seems the only time realistically before we get stuck into school timetable restrictions.

We are thinking of Canada as we have been before and almost emigrated there and love the place.

So how much does did it cost you? Could you get a deal renting? How about transport some people have brought not rented. What money saving tips do you have? Cost will be main restrictor as I imagine it is for most of the these plans!

Work commitment is not a problem either…

DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!!!

Took a 6 month sabbatical in August 2014. Like you it was the last chance before our daughter went to school and a few other things fell into place to make it happen.

My wife is Australian so we spent the time travelling all over Oz, catching up with friends and family but also doing lots of stuff for ourselves.

Honestly it was an incredible experience, especially being able to spend so much time with your young family, the memories will live with me forever.

Was it expensive? Heck yes but worth every penny and you have to ask yourself, when will you ever get the chance to do something like this again? We rented our flat out as a short term let through an agent which basically paid for itself so that helped. We stayed a variety of places and often we had the most fun in the most basic of places just because the locations and people were so good. We also got some great deals on longer term car rentals by building a relationship with a local agent of a national chain and kept going back to them for a new deal wherever we were in the country.

Oh and best of all I took my MTB with me and got to ride some amazing (and very dusty) trails all over the country.

Cheers warns,

Take the bike! My thought process hadn’t got that far yet! Now its definitely on. Did you get somewhere on a short term tenancy agreement rather than a holiday let?

What did you do for transport? Car hire or buy a cheap thing then sell it afterwards?

Oh yeah how were your little ones with the upheaval of moving?

Mine are going abroad and staying away from home for the 1st time this summer. Will be interesting…

Take the bike! My thought process hadn’t got that far yet!

Priories!

I’ve just updated my original post with details about the car situation. We thought about buying one but given we were able to travel whenever we liked we made the most of the cheapest internal flight deals we could get and some of the distances were too great to drive really.

I can honestly say my daughter didn’t really bat an eyelid at the upheaval. She just got on with it, had a ball, slept in a different bed in a different place nearly every other week. We didn’t make a big deal out of it and neither did she.

Just started a 3 month one just now in between contracts but I’m already wondering if I should have used it for travelling. Anyway so far I’ve been over and done the hebredian way. I’m off to Majorca for 10 days next week,back for 2 days then doing LEJOG. That takes me to mid May so need to plan some more bike trips around sportives and GT7. The worst part is rest days which are inevitable but I’ll feel I could have been working getting paid to rest!

Done them for last 2 years. We bought a Motorhome and tour Scotland (mainly as dad in care home with alzheimers there), done Lower w coast and islands and upper w coast and islands, Orkney and Shetland to go. This year Scotland for 6? Weeks and we might try somewhere a bit more exotic (with better weather and no bleeding midges) for variety

Yep, last summer.

My wife and I took the summer off an went to Whistler, we were fortunate enough to both be able to take 3 months off work and get on with it.

It was an amazing experience, and really refreshing after the best part of 20 years of working. The down side is it does change your priorities somewhat when looking to the future.

It was an amazing experience, and really refreshing after the best part of 20 years of working. The down side is it does change your priorities somewhat when looking to the future.

I’d totally agree with that Hob Nob but you could also say that’s a positive too, (that’s possibly what you meant?!)

Not quite sure I’d call them sabbaticals but I’ve done a few trips over 3 months. Fantastic thing to do. In terms of money its a lot easier if you go somewhere cheap. I was living in Egypt for about a fiver a day but it was pretty basic conditions. Australia was way more, we cut a few costs by wild camping for a fair bit but some things are just expensive out there. Had some nice long trips in Thailand and South Africa too. Both really interesting, easy to get around and reasonably priced. My dad took it a step further and regularly took year long trips with his partner (not with us, this was in later life). They’d rent their house out in the UK which covered costs and gave them a budget to work to.

Took 4 months off with my (now) wife a few years ago. We had a family thing in India, and a wedding in NZ to go to a few months apart and it worked out a lot cheaper to get a 10-leg round the world ticket than two returns. I got unpaid time off work, she was contracting and about to finish a contract.

We were living in a houseshare so just gave notice on one of our rooms and piled our stuff up in the other. No hassles with house insurance (as the place was still occupied) which can get funny if you’re out of the country for >30 days. We got our first place together when we got back.

It felt like it cost a lot (cheap Asia travel balanced by expensive Aus/NZ/USA) I imagine it all gets a lot more expensive in somewhere like Canada when you’ve got kids in tow too. Buying, registering and insuring a car as a non-resident can be tricky and/or expensive. Would you want to stay in one place for long enough to bother renting a place to live?

Sabbaticals = extremely good idea.

Sabbaticals in Canada = even better idea.

EDIT: Where in Canada?

I took six months in 2010, and went travelling around the world. Just do it: do you think that when you’re in your dotage, you’re going to look back on your life and think “if only I’d stayed at home”?

One ? I have got away with at least three in this life – depends what you count. I am lucky enough to be in a field where contracting is common, as is permie-ing. Getting a bit old to take 3 months off and ride my bike around France now !

Yes and for longer than 3 months. If you can make the money work and have reasonable security of employment onnreturn IMHO its a no-brainer.

Did 7 months travelling round Oz with the ex. Worked well as we borrowed a car took bikes and the first Oz mtb mag had a supplement of the best places to ride in Oz.. We toured a lot of them. She got well paid work I got next to nothing… Cost wise popped the mortgage on interest only, put money in the bank and dug in…

yea 2 kids, mortgage and would want a fixed base. so big costs! when we went to Canada last time we did a 3 week tour of Alberta and BC. this time we would probably try and stay somewhere in the Rockies or Okanagan region. the short overnight stops to other places like Whistler, Jasper, Banff etc

most breaks seem to be couples, fewer people have done them with kids. I guess because life is more ‘settled’ costs are the key issue I working through now to know how much I need to save; but want some encouragement from success stories!

anyone lived in Canada and can advise on true living costs, food being the main one. When I went just ate out ALL the time. by the time I got on the plane home I must have put on about 3 stone!

Took 3 months off work last year to go biking around Argentina.

Properly life enhancing experience.

Do it!

I’ve gone ‘backpacking’ in the past,once for 9 months,another time for 3 months.
Now I’m in my mid fifties I’m planning on doing a bucket list sabbatical next year,getting things done before I’m to old.
I spoke to our union reps about it a couple of months ago, putting things into place.In the past I just packed in my job & got another when I returned to the UK.
The first time I did it (1988) I was an electrician & when I left,most of my workmates thought I was mad but one of them had been a fitter on a ship & his parting words were ‘it’s the best thing you’ll ever do’,all these years later I can say it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
The second time I went, I was trucking & wanted a change so I went for 3 months & got another job when I got back over here.
This time I plan on staying where I’m working so I’m taking a sabbatical.The house is paid for so it’s a no brainer.I don’t want to get to the end of my days & have a lot of regrets about unfulfilled ambitions.

You could have a look at AirBnB and pick a location(s) you might want to stay then look at somewhere that would suit the 4 of you for a month, (self catering) and see what the cost is?

I took a sabbatical a few years ago, had transferred nearer home with job & due to office politics was not getting the new training i expected so went travelling. Rented my flat out for a year so mortgage was being covered & i timed travelling to come back & do a ski season in 3 Valleys, however I was single & went on my own , had mate in Alps already there when I did my ski season. Had an amazing time…
I ended up not going back to the job I left.

start my sabbatical from a real job in 10 days! 3 months road guiding in the french alps then 5 months touring round Auz/NZ/SEA. thought after nearly not being able to ride my bike properly again due to accident last summer i’d hit it big time this year!

Rub it in why don’t you – before I transferred back to the UK i had an extra 8 week sabbatical after 5 years service in my contract, UK contract doesn’t have that *sobs*
MOst I took as 10 weeks in 2010, it was amazing.

yea been looking at rental prices on longtermlettings.com and they are comparable to UK (except a much bigger place with nicer views!) Airbnb was going to be the next port of call.

car hire looks to be as expensive as house hire! 😯
so thinking of taking some cash out and buying a car over there, running it then selling at the end, cant be more surely!

part of me hopes that we will fall in love with the place all over again and then the misses will be wanting to move out there. Nearly did the last time we went all set then her family started dropping like flies so she didn’t want to go. which was fair enough and life has moved on somewhat since then!