Reality Check Needed

[JD]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Usually the people who are against these big once-in-a-life-time travel decisions, are ones who have never done it. Those who have moved across the world, or taken some massive trip...very few people seem to ever regret them. In fact, it often times, defines their life or their next career move.

With me, you'd be wrong, and right. I'm sort of against the idea, and I have done it. But my argument is to find a way to do both. And for the 2nd part of your paragraph, absolutely, it does.

Originally Posted by Muta

This is the golden post right here.

For you, maybe. It's one of those things that's pretty personal and it's not fair to paint with one broad stroke, such as how we paint all Canucks fans as bad people.

[nik-]

To me, it sounds like you can get the best of both worlds here if you wait a little bit. You have 4 weeks of vacation which is 2 pretty good vacations a year. I'd take the training, continue working and go on those 2 a year. If after a couple years, it's not satisfying the itch, go travel. Except now with even better training under your belt and a little more money stashed away.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by worth

What I am doing now is the career path I want, and I enjoy working here. If I were to leave and then look for another job in a year, I would be looking for the same type of thing.

I'm all in favor of hitting the road if you're not happy with what you're doing, but in your situation, I really think I'd stick with it and try to take full advantage of your vacation time.

[killer_carlson]

I'm so glad I travelled before jumping into my career.

Once you get married and start hatching kids, you can park the "travel" concept for a couple of decades. You will still "vacation" for weeks at a time, but if you are the type of person who draws a distinction between travelling and vacationing, then you can forget planning some travel.

My vote is to take the year to travel. I suspect you will be better at your job or a future job once you have that new found perspective.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I'm so glad I travelled before jumping into my career.

Once you get married and start hatching kids, you can park the "travel" concept for a couple of decades. You will still "vacation" for weeks at a time, but if you are the type of person who draws a distinction between travelling and vacationing, then you can forget planning some travel.

My vote is to take the year to travel. I suspect you will be better at your job or a future job once you have that new found perspective.

Without the travel bug, we never would have had the snotboy story.

Worth, we need more of these kinds of stories! Get out there!!

[GP_Matt]

I took 8 months to backpack around during University and definitely do not regret it.

I noticed that in Australia though we mostly dealt with other backpackers. A lot of the people working in hospitality on the traditional backpack route were backpackers themselves. We had work permits for Australia but never ended up getting jobs there partly for this reason. A lot of the people working there were making terrible money and really only enough to live the backpacker lifestyle with less alcohol and responsibilities. We turned an 8 month Australia trip into a 3 month trip with 5 months traveling SE Asia and Europe and definitely enjoyed the later portion more than the former.

[undercoverbrother]

[worth]

I have absolutely no fataing idea what I want out of this trip. All I can keep thinking of is if I don't go now, when looking back on my life, I will regret it. If I go and it was a mistake and I end up regretting it, I can live with that because at least I tried it.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by worth

I have absolutely no fataing idea what I want out of this trip. All I can keep thinking of is if I don't go now, when looking back on my life, I will regret it. If I go and it was a mistake and I end up regretting it, I can live with that because at least I tried it.

I think your have made your choice but you just need to convince yourself that you have

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by worth

I have absolutely no fataing idea what I want out of this trip. All I can keep thinking of is if I don't go now, when looking back on my life, I will regret it. If I go and it was a mistake and I end up regretting it, I can live with that because at least I tried it.

That....

Originally Posted by surferguy

I think your have made your choice but you just need to convince yourself that you have

Take the trip, jobs are a dime a dozen. If you are honest they will understand, if they don't no loss.

Perhaps you should discuss a sabbatical (might have been mentioned already). Although that being said they might wonder why at 30 you already need a rest from work.........

Good luck what ever you do, remember Regret is a useless emotion.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by worth

I have absolutely no fataing idea what I want out of this trip. All I can keep thinking of is if I don't go now, when looking back on my life, I will regret it. If I go and it was a mistake and I end up regretting it, I can live with that because at least I tried it.

Do it, man. I did it at 27 and f'd off for about 15 months. Best thing I ever did. I really doubt you'll regret it, but I'm sure you will really regret not doing it.

[OutOfTheCube]

Opposed to what people might say, good jobs where you have established a very strong rapport where they are targeting you for a leadership position AREN'T a dime a dozen. You could come back and never be in a similar position, let alone right away.

[Temporary_User]

Why don't you give yourself a hard deadline to quit by and do this?
I could see quitting and doing this now appealing, but could it also be that since you are now 30 you are sort of going through a quarter life crisis of "did I waste my fun 20s?"
I think I would take this career opportunity and see if through until you are 33 or 34 and then go travel. How big of a career opportunity is this, once in a lifetime? You would have this on your resume then showing 2 years which is somewhat respectable and this will help you get a better job when you return.
While you may think you will be too old to travel, you aren't or won't be and travel will always be there.

[getbak]

You mention that it's formerly a small company that was recently purchased by a much larger company.

They may be giving you autonomy now, but I've never seen a takeover like that not end up with the smaller company being assimilated into the culture of the parent company, especially if the parent company is 1000 times the size.

So, keep in mind that if you do stay, you're making a long-term commitment to the parent company and the culture of that company, especially if you end up on a management track within the parent company.

[worth]

My deadline to decide is this friday. If I accept the company's offer of going to Rice, then I won't be able to travel for months on end for a few years. Basically I am committing to the company like getback has said.

If I decline the offer to go to Rice, then I am essentially saying I want to go and travel. I wouldn't decline and then stay at the company, there is no real point to that to me.

The lease on my apartment is up at the end of March. In the back of my mind I had envisioned putting my stuff into storage and then leaving at the beginning of April.

And yeah, I think I have already made my mind up as you say surferguy. It's just putting that into action which is the hard part. Especially when things are good.

[Muta]

worth, you're always gonna wonder. Sometimes you just gotta up and do it. Your background gives you the best possible chances to pick up where you left off when you get back. It's not like you're a gas pump attendant with no prospects.

[Hack&Lube]

I was fortunate to have been able to be able to travel Europe as part of University and never regretted it and it was also a boon to get that itch scratched and out of the way. I have other itches to scratch now before they become old-age regrets.

The way I see it though, you have 4 weeks vacation. Ask for another 4 weeks of unpaid leave or ask your company for an official sabbatical. If they really value you, I think you might stand a good chance at getting that time off to see the world. You can do a hell of a lot in only 1-2 months if you find the right opportunity/program/itinerary.

[Mr.Coffee]

couple questions I have and maybe you addressed them and I missed them but:

a) are you in the energy sector?

b) are you an engineer?

If the answer to a is yes... then if you're an engineer, the answer to this is travel. If you're anything else, there's probably a higher risk on the job front. Just my 2 cents.

[worth]

Yes, i'm in Energy, not an Engineer, a PM with a PMP.

[Jonrox]

Keep in mind a lot of the people telling you to take the trip did their traveling when they were younger than you and a lot less established. It's easy for them to say take the trip because they weren't risking much by doing it so early.

You said yourself "things are good". There's a lot of people that can't say the same and it's a huge risk to potentially throw away the goodness and come back to the unknown. For sure, the trip may be life-altering but are you prepared in case the life you come back to isn't as good as when you left it? The grass is always greener isn't it?

I know people that take amazing, life-altering 1-week trips all over the world with organizations like Habitat for Humanity. There are ways to have life expanding experiences without having to risk your future. You just need to open your mind to the opportunities.

Although, not being from Calgary it's very interesting to see the confidence (bordering on arrogance) about the ability to find amazing, stable careers so easily. I guess Toronto really isn't the centre of the universe, it seems that title now goes to Calgary.