2022 was “the year” we were taking long service leave, pulling the kids out of school and travelling round Europe like a bunch of soap-dodging hippies. I can take 3 months @ full pay and 6 months @ half. This has been on the cards for years. Son turns 11 next year and we wanted to do this before high school. Daughter is 7.

So Covid made us change our minds and now we’re doing a month or so in UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany and maybe Spain.

Discussed with work who said “ooh…. very short staffed, no international recruiting at the moment, jobs blah blah blah”. Suggested I could take 3 months. I contacted the big boss, as advised by my line manager. 3 weeks ago, zero response, not even an acknowledgement.

So short story – psych nurse in community and approved MH progessional (I get to section people and take them to hospital for assessment by psychiatrist). Very stressful. Last couple of years, stress made me have a meltdown and I’ve never really bounced back. I asked to go down to 4 days a week but was rejected as there was “no-one to cover me”. My colleague in the same role, different office has worked last 3 years at %75 salary and is now on a year off at 75% salary. He was 4 days a week. It would have been a simple transition.

Nevertheless, I cracked on. I had my vax’s. But I’m over it now. Done.

So in a nutshell, I go on LS leave. Or I quit. I tried to explain this in a non-threatening / ultimatum way. But that’s where I’m at.

Am I mad? Should I section myself. What do people think about the plan for 6 months in Europe. I know it’s pretty cack now but we’re planning on April next year so (fingers crossed) winter flu and covid settles as it warms up??

Wife has already booked the flights to UK. We leave Aus on 31st March.

Naive? Desperate? Wanting to see family we’ve not seen for nearly 3 years – true!

I’m firmly in the life’s too short camp and you should grab any opportunity for adventure. Also too short to be in a job that impacts on your health.

I’ve quit jobs and gone traveling, had a fantastic time. No regrets. Not had any issues getting back into work afterwards, this was a few years ago though. Sounds like your job is in demand. Getting paid time off would be preferable if possible but it does sound like you need a break.

Obviously covid is a bit of a fly in the ointment. Still very big in Europe. Depending on how you travel, where you stay and if you are flexible it should be possible to do something

If the industry is short staffed getting va job in a year should be no problems. Or are there other barriers?

the basic idea great.  coming from the antipodes to europe now?  verging on daft due to covid and restrictions it causes

Netherlands is heading for lockdown again. UK is a covid mess.

Not crazy or stupid. Agree life is too short. My partner and I had planned a year out for 2021 travelling France, Spain, Portugal and possibly Morocco in a motorhome with our dog. Plan was brought forward a year due to partner being made redundant. We moved out of our house (tenants moved in) a few weeks before the 1st lockdown.

Thought it was all going to fall apart for awhile but after the best ever lockdown living with my dad in a tiny village in Oxfordshire we set off for France in July and headed South as the winter progressed. Didn’t make Morroco but overwintered in Sagres. There were a few compromises such as avoiding busier places and sticking to more outdoor adventures. After heading back to the UK for Spring and summer we’ve come back for more adventures and and have been in Spain the last 3 weeks, staying till March. Apart from masks indoors everything feels completely normal and I can only imagine things will be even better by next year.

I still can’t get over how many amazing places there are out there. Spain is just stunning. Mountains galore, beaches, national parks, so many historical sites. It seems there is a roman, Greek or Moorish ruin round every corner! It can be challenging /tiring at times travelling but it will be a life long memory for the kids and you.

Not stupid at all, If you mean across the summer of 2022 then I would just go for it, we only get one go around. And if so short staffed then worst case a job will be there once you have quit and done the trip.

coming from the antipodes to europe now?

Not now. April next year. I wouldn’t come now as you’re heading into winter and it looks…iffy at the moment. Plus, I’d miss my 40c summer here! (Although Sunday’s 35c ride around the salt flats with zero shade was not one of my better rides!).

I’m pretty much done with nursing. The stress of managing >90 odd acute early episode psychosis clients across a team of 4 is literally damage limitation every day. It’s impossible to switch off and I often lie there at night thinking XYZ needs doing tomorrow, ABC needs follow up, got 2 police jobs on, meetings I just want to sleep! Increased stress plays havoc with my blood sugar control and have set up increased basal rates while I’m at work to try to combat this. I feel like a job shouldn’t make you feel this way, or make your life worse!

Due to the poor response from management I’ve involved the union for support. My employer has my leave form and cannot say “we’re short staffed” as a reason to deny my leave. They have 4 months to work it out. And I’m taking it anyway. I might feel differently when we get back, but also very open to retraining and been looking into horticulture based qualifications and more “outdoorsy physical work”

Appreciate all the replies thus far 🙂

Life is too short.

Only this weekend mrs_oab and I revisited something similar for us. We near no mortgage, no kids at home, 50 and increasing chronic condition for mrs_oab. We’re planning (maybe crazily) a gap year, perhaps a change of job and a self build.

The only difficulty with this year I would say is the covid situation globally. That does need thought.

I also think my kids would love the experience of different countries, foods, sights and cultures etc. Even the teachers think our kids will really enjoy it. My boy is going to get the Academic Achievement award AGAIN this year. He’s got it every year bar one when he buddied up with one of the “naughty” kids.

I’m gonna love it too.

The next issue is getting a friend / family to “rent” our house for >6 months. Wife thinks AirBNB is the better option but it makes no sense to have randoms every 2 weeks, cleaners, gardeners, maintenance / tradies. Anyone fancy a stint in Aus. 3 bedroom house 2 bedrooms available (one bedroom will be locked with stuff in storage). Obvs bills/utils internet and breakages to cover but 5 mins from beaches in lovely Western Australia! Lots of local wineries, water sports (the sea-based kind, not… you know). Worth asking eh?

Surely a house sitting or swap website can answer that? Do you need the income, or could you do it for free?

Come to the UK; denizens of STW could give you a list of people to section.
That means you could continue professional practice and see your family and provide a public service!

Excellent point. It’s meant to be a break though. Plus, I have enough family members I could section. Family comes first 🤣

Do it while you can.

Assuming any professional registration doesn’t lapse, you’ll walk back into a job when you get back.

Just tell work you need to do this for you and your family. Either they allow it, as a sabbatical or whatever, or you resign and go do it.

I would find it very difficult to make the decision to quit if you had to but I’ve never been in your position in a job.
Saying that, it might be a big decision but I can pretty much guarantee that the first week in Europe you will be thinking “I’m so glad I did this” so many times.

I can’t imagine you’ll have an issue getting another job in your field when you get back.

Not now. April next year

same applies for me.  By april there is a fair chance europe will still be a plague pit

I do so sympathize with the burnout.  there are things you can do to stop the thinking about work at home – are you a bit too close to it all and cannot see the wood for the trees?  “physician heal thyself”  But i reached the same point basically – my resilience, empathy and temper had all declined badly.  I managed to make it to 60 but I could not carry on.  sometimes the only answer is to leave

By april there is a fair chance europe will still be a plague pit

Yes, I can see that. We’ve had a May Day trip to France cancelled twice now, and rebooked for next April/May. I reckon its only a 50/50 chance of happening next year.
Amsterdam for a day in December is cancelled now, as was the trip last weekend for the De Panne beach race in Belgium.
We were hoping for 2 weeks beginning of May next year to get to Sicily, things have got to improve an awful lot for that to happen, and, at the moment, it is getting far worse all over Europe. The UK is doing pretty well by comparison.

TJ that’s a big factor for me. The fact I’m putting in more to their recovery than they do. I used to be very resilient. Took stress on the chin. Seen and been in done horrific situations. Now I’m snappy and there’s no love there. A job like this does take its toll.

IME you’ve chosen just the right age for the kids. We did out first long trip with junior at 7 and he loved it. The last was he was a joy to be with was 11. After that it became progressively more complicated.

Do it while you can! Life is short and freedoms can be taken at a drop of a hat (certainly at the moment).

The kids will love that too guaranteed….it will be fondly etched in their memory for years to come!

Would love to do something similar. My ‘dream’ is to train as a ski instructor and have a year or two in the mountains and see what happens….need to do it whilst i still have knees!!

After putting in an official leave request and having zero response or acknowledgement from the “big” boss (even though I’ve seen him numerous times, he’s not even said “oh, got your email we’ll have a chat about it”) I had a meeting with my line manager yesterday and told her the flight to UK is booked and this is happening. Also said that I’m more than likely going to resign. Had my fill of mental health and it’s impacting mine now so changes need to happen.

Obvs she was shocked. If the leave isn’t formally agreed then I’ll hand my notice in. If it is agreed then I’ll take the leave, have the 6 months to think about the job (which, in reality I’m unlikely to feel like I’ll get my mojo back) and look at options when I get back. Line manager says she will support me whatever I want to do. She’s really a lovely boss.

So now the countdown is on. Flight to UK is 31st March with a couple of days stopover in Dubai just, well why not? 4 weeks in UK, Holland, France, Germany, Italy, maybe Croatia.

Nice one…. this all sounds very positive!

With the work discussions, I would just position it as “I am going on vacation on [X date]. Its up to you whether I will return to work on [Y date] – I have submitted my long service leave request accordingly. If I don’t hear from you by [Z date] you will have left me no choice to tender my resignation accordingly”.

Then it’s just up to them how they do it – the only thing they have to decide is whether they want you to return.

The only thing is whether the LS leave payout you are entitled to is less than the value of the leave you will receive if you stayed (ie: I’m not sure if you get paid out the additional 6 months at half)?

Only just saw this thread.

Bit late now, but I’ll be looking to do the same thing in a few years time.

We’ve met or know heaps of families who take their kids out of school to do this kind of thing. Brilliant for the kids. I have an incredibly good memory of my formative years (at about 19 years old it all falls apart). It’s particularly good from the age of 7-8 up. I think from that age through to 14 is brilliant for kids. Younger than that and i suspect they wouldn’t remember enough.

I would try your hardest to not resign if possible. Never burn bridges unless you’re certain you can build new ones. Twice in the past i’ve offered resignation due to moving overseas / interstate and the employer has found alternatives. Your LSL is in your contract surely, so they don’t have much choice.

Fingers crossed for you that the mess is less messy by then. I’m hearing Aug/Sep could be nasty in Australia… but we can’t rely on projections given all the false starts here.

Jealous!

A girl I knew used to work in a care home and told me that the residents all had stories of things they wished they’d done but never got around to it and now obviously it was too late and how they sort of regretted it.

Go For It. Life is too short and its a long time dead.

Downstairs tenants lad got sectioned ar 0130 today. Screaming sessions + violence. I can see why you need a break. Your bosses are shit at their jobs though. There are these things called contracts and meetings and arbitration and informal chats.
If they are understaffed it’s their problem. The emphasises should be on “ok we camt do 6mths, would 4 months be ok.
We would love to have you back.
We can maybe do 1 month each year for the following 3 years if ypu return to work”

It’s not something that would appeal to me to do but if it’s what you and your family want then def go for it, doesn’t sound like you’ll have an issue getting a job after (if you are forced to quit – hopefully your bosses will see sense and compromise once it’s clear you’re going through with your plans). Not sure I’d want to go to Europe in April though (especially not UK first) if you like hot weather.

As for Covid, I think Omicron’s showing us we need to find a way to live with variants and waves without lockdowns and travel bans each time a nasty one surfaces. So hopefully by then even if mask wearing and 3-6 monthly boosters is the norm I’d hope the chances of lockdown/travel restrictions would be slim.

Lsl at half pay is written into our industrial agreement. Specifically says they can’t deny it because of staffing issues. I’ve already checked with the union. They said you’ve given practically 4 months written notice.

My boss is hoping I’ll come back refreshed and wanting to come back. I can’t make that decision yet but I really am over nursing at this point. Last 2 years has been fvcking mental. Imagine trying to section someone wearing PPE on a dark night with cops, then taking them to ED for assessment. It’s traumatic at the best of times. 100x worse when they’re meth’d up and floridly psychotic. Anyways, it was the path I chose and now a change of direction is needed.

Really appreciate the positive vibes here though.

Sooooo

Three months in!

Done, UAE (Ok 2 days in Dubs)

UK (Cornwall, Glasto (not when festival was on!) Midlands, South Wales, London, Brighton.
Done 2 weeks in Barcelona, then 10 days in Ibiza. Barcelona was full on VERY warm and the kids not liking all the walking (10km + a day). Ibiza, by contrast was chilled AF as we went to an all inclusive in West Ibiza but a few towns away from San An. TBF I much prefer Ibiza town and we were totally the opposite side but pool, kids club, free bar and relax!

We flew into Paris last Monday and staying in an AirBNB in Villejuif about 10 mins from the centre.

Weather has been utterly ace.
No-one has had Covid yet. Or if we have, it’s been super mild and not noticeable – we’ve had little colds and bits of allergies but nothing out of the ordinary.

The kids **** HATE doing school work and we are not patient enough to be teachers. No way. Trying to get my 7 year old to “take away 10. Just 10. Not add. Take away! Stop guessing!! Argh!”. And my 10 year old just feigns tiredness, yawns, falls off his chair. It’s not easy at all. But hey, can’t all be rainbows and cupcakes eh?

We’re doing all the touristy stuff in Paris so off and on the Metro, went to Champs Elysees on Sunday when the road was closed to traffic. Booked to go up the tower. Getting the kids to go to the local supermarket to get “bits” and practice French and bringing back warm and “pas trop cuite” and they get to eat the quignon on the way home (the crusty end bit).

We’re here until the 14th then moving up to Netherlands for a month where we’ll meet the grandparents who’ll take the kids for a week in Valkenberg then go over to Duinrell. Me and the misso are spending some time in Maastrict then meeting the gramps and kids in Duinrell park – my wife used to go there as a kid on family hols so will be nostalgic and hopefully fun for the kids.

Will try and update when we’ve been in Netherlands for a while. 😀

Oh… work….. Ha. Not even on my radar.

“The misso” you’ve been hanging out with Sam Hill too much 🤣

Sounds like a great adventure! If the kids don’t fully appreciate it now I bet they will when they look back on it later.

Actually Sam doesn’t live too far from me tbh!

Yeah I’m acutely aware that the kids don’t really get some of the sites and places. But taking them to the Sagrada Familia or Guell Park (Gaudi park) or just through the Gothic areas of Barcelona their little minds are blown. In amongst the “my legs hurt, can we get ice cream, how much further”. They miss their mates and they actually miss school but I’m confident they’ll look back and think this was epic.

3 months to go!

Sounds fantastic and good on you for doing it.

Crazy? Stupid? Great?

FTFY 🙂

Good to hear. I am just over a year since throwing over a high paid job and (apart from the lack of money) have never been happier. Life really is too short sometimes

Wee snapshot….

Netherlands done.

Got train from Gare du Nord thru Belgium to Limburg

Realised on train we (me) had left my Camelbak bag in the friggin’ Airbnb in Paris. Which had…. All my tech. Meds. Every power cable and power brick. All four passports. Yikes. Messaged hosts. Bag found 2 days later and they sent it to us in Netherlands via.. Bog standard French post!

So we spent a few weeks in Valkenburg, Maastricht. The Hague. Rotterdam and Duinrell.

Train from Rotterdam to Berlin and ten days there. Really liked Berlin. Its grimy and swish all in one. As a bit of a techno fan I was happy here. Would have liked to spend more time. Super hot though.

Flight from Berlin to Burgas and currently in “Sunny Beach” Bulgaria. All inclusive hotel and pools. Super touristy and full of Slovakian, Moldovan, Romanian. Totally different experience here. Zero manners. Zero friendliness. Fake bags, fake clothes, flick knives and stun guns. Tourist tax (double price). Kids love the pools and the slides etc but it’s just mind numbing groundhog day it’s not my cuppa tea at all. Visited Nessebar which is the old town. Bulgarian Mafia – it’s a poor country but there’s AMG Mercs everywhere. Ho hum. Off to Vlas this arvo – another town further up the coast. Can’t imagine its going to be vastly different from where we are.

On Tues we fly from Burgas to Sofia for an over night there then fly to Rome.

This means we’re in our final 3 weeks of this 6 month holiday. Kinda depressing. None of us can quite believe it.

None of us have had covid yet! Imagine that. 6 months in Europe and nothing. Probably get it on the flight home haha.

Sounds amazing, what a brilliant adventure! Very jealous…

Just makes me wanna do more travelling though.

Before kids we spent a while in Vietnam and Thailand. With kids we’ve done Singapore and Malaysia. Would love to go back to Vietnam but also thinking Canada. YOLO eh? The world is our lobster.

Best get looking at that lottery when we get home!

Also 6 months with wife and kids we’ve been so chilled. A few niggles here and there but no full on arguments. Bless her.

Also…… Bar a 4 seater “bike” in Netherlands, I’ve not ridden a bike in 6 months!

Seems to be a helluva lot of flying to places quite close to where you were a month or two before?

No not really.

Flew to Spain and to France.

Train from France to Holland.

Train from Holland to Germany.

Flight from Germany to Bulgaria.

Flight to Rome.

Unfortunate that more rail wasn’t practical as it meant 3 / 4 changes and very brief stops. With 2 small kids and a fair bit of luggage it’s not really practical. But I get your point. (assuming your point is something about carbon emissions? 4 diesel trains vs 1 flight kinda thing)