It takes a while to come to terms with the idea of quitting your job to travel. What follows is what we’ve learned from our own experiences with job hunting post-travel. There is a lot to consider when returning from travel, but these are all of our tips and tricks for how to come home from a year of living and traveling abroad.

Before you leave

If you love your job, don’t underestimate how much your job loves you back. You might want to check out the best ways to quit your current job to leave things on good terms. How you end things at your current job may dictate what opportunities you can come back to.

Just because you’re wanting to get out, doesn’t mean that you don’t want to come back. You might have scored the career of your dreams, but also have a passion for travel. In that case, check out the opportunity of taking a sabbatical. We explain more about the art of taking a sabbatical in our How to Quit Your Job and Travel blog.

Leave and Never Look Back

This isn’t as unreasonable as it seems. We met many people abroad who left on one way tickets with a dream in their hearts and have no intent of going back to their prior life anytime soon.

Let’s stop here and differentiate what this looks like though.

success in working remotely

If you are pursuing this option, the primary goal is not travel; it’s to become independent of the typical career lifestyle. If you really want to leave the country indefinitely, your focus will first be on creating financial independence.

It’s actually not as scary as it sounds- many people do this. We just hadn’t met them yet because they aren’t hanging out in Wisconsin. They’re hanging out in Chiang Mai, Canggu, or wherever the hell they want. That’s the beauty of it.

How to accomplish working abroad

How have they accomplished this? Many different ways. Many people are working as freelancers, participating in micro transaction “gigs”, have learned new skills abroad, or are just simply working in their normal job role for companies abroad. There are also many ways to work abroad such as woofing or under 30yr/old work visas for countries like Australia and New Zealand.

For more info on creating financial independence, check out our YouTube playlist.

Use your Time abroad to Change Careers upon Return

If you’ve been on a single career path for a few years, extended travel abroad might be one of the few moments where you really have the time and clarity to focus on changing careers. You’ll have the free time to plan exactly what your new career path will look like, the time to network (even remotely) with contacts back home, and the time to interview to line up the best possible positioning for yourself when you come home.

talk up your travel

In my personal experience, potential employers that I interviewed with were intensely interested in my year abroad. I was able to speak on goal setting, drive to succeed, and my newfound passion for my changing career path. Despite what you might think, a gap of employment for a year of travel is not going to make you unhirable. Instead, you will listen to countless stories in interviews of people wishing they had done the same thing.

make your business your own

Allison took the last few months on our trip and built her own HR Consulting business and had clients around the country. She was able to not only to work for herself, but from anywhere she wanted to. Building your own business is something that's hard to do when you're working for someone else. Maybe your trip is also about building something yourself. If this is something you’re interested in, stay tuned to see how to begin with our free Amazon FBA course or check out the video below.

Let’s talk reentry

Location

When we acknowledged the fact that it was time to start our reentry plan, we knew that we’d need to be in the right spot to pull it off. Sure, one could always travel back home and look for jobs there, however, if you plan ahead, then you can stay abroad while you job hunt for less money than sitting at home.

For example, we chose to go to Bali for a month as our last place to visit before returning home. We would be able to stay and live for cheap (especially booking accommodation for a month at a time). We would have access to reliable power and internet through a Co-Working space located close to our rental apartment as well. Added bonus? We got to be in Bali! One month quickly turned into two at a minimal added cost. Additionally, when “work” was done at the end of the day, there would still be plenty of island to explore and waves to catch.

Tools

If you’re looking for any sort of professional job while abroad, you’re going to need access to a computer. Luckily, even if you don’t bring a laptop with, it’s easy enough to find an internet cafe where you can use a PC for cheap. One thing you’ll likely want taken care of before you leave home, though, is having a copy of your updated resume and references on Google Drive.

Money

We love ourselves some personal finance. Boring Excel spreadsheets, tedious budgeting apps, retirement planning, and conscious spending are passions of ours which is how we made the trip possible. Check out more on that HERE.

One fundamental of any personal finance guru is that you always keep a liquid nest egg that can sustain your living costs for six months. This “6 Month Emergency Fund” should be ON TOP OF the money you’ve saved for your trip. Of course, if you’re a student or you have an awesome mom and dad you plan on living with upon your return, your emergency fund need not be for 6 months. If you’re a grown ass adult planning on leaving for extended travel, you should already have a 6-month fund- it shouldn’t be something you have to save for on top of the trip money (if not -- start now - change your lifestyle because you are spending too much of your take-home pay!)

Costs Upon Returning Home

First off, think of the obvious- return flight, transportation, food, etc. Do a daily budget for your home country just like you're doing for your trip. Multiply by the length of time until you anticipate to be working again. Now here are a few costs that aren’t as obvious:

Vehicle Insurance

Expect a small hike on cost if you haven’t had insurance in a year.

Health Insurance and the penalty of not having health insurance

(Thanks Obama) your travel health insurance is only valid out of the country, so even though we weren't in the country and had health insurance, we still had to pay a penalty for every month without it.

Interview Costs

Gas, clothing, haircut. After a work hiatus, you’ll want to be fresh and back to feeling professional for interviews.

Moving Cost

If your job is in a new location, you may need to pay for moving expenses in addition to having deposit and first month's rent for a new apartment.

Plan ahead

Hope some of that information helps ease your fears about leaving your current job and pursuing your dream. Before we left, know that we shared all the same fears and anxiety as you. Just remember, time passes in days, not all at once.

You’ve got this!

If you feel like your account is looking a little too close to zero you can always just come home early. Not everything goes as planned, but if you manage well and allow for flexible planning, you’ll not only have a great trip, but something great to come back to as well!