I suspect the vast majority of people who are at this moment planning a summer trip around Europe are young people fresh out of college or graduate school. However, I know there are a few people that have a few years work experience under their belt who are trying to escape the workaday routine for a precious extended travel experience.
I know because I did this myself. In my mid-twenties, I was working a good corporate job in the US and attending law school at night. As time passed, the thought of "Is there more to life than this?" grew to a deafening volume in my head. So I started to plan a Europe trip, and the mere thought of it happening in the future really kept me going at times.
By age 28, I finished law school, quit my job, and was on a plane to Europe two days later for a 5-month adventure in Europe.
It was the best decision I have ever made. The decision has not been without significant (and, to some people, unjustifiable) sacrifices, but I will never regret taking this chance to live, to experience, to learn, to grow.
This article from the Chicago Tribune addresses the subject of working adults who want to escape from it all, for at least a little while, and take a long trip around Europe. It has some excellent points.
Quitting a job to travel may seem scary, and in today's job/economic environment, it really is. But life is to be lived, and there are ways to minimize disruption to a job or career, so I really like this article because it stands for the point that, yes it is possible to drop out for awhile to take that trip and, yes other people are doing it as well.
The last sentence is very insightful and one I can readily endorse from experience:
...there's no doubt we appreciated it far more as grown-ups than we would have as college kids.
So true. If anybody in this situation wants my advice on how to pull this off, feel free to ask.
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