If you long for a career break—or break of any kind—what is that tipping point that makes you finally GO?  And what about where?  My friends at Meet, Plan, Go! have been asking all hosts to answer that question; my story runs today.

• Deciding where to go

In my family’s case, we felt like we were nearly there.  After all, we’d done the hard work—made the decision, set the budget, and begun navigating most of the 555 obstacles.  But there was one problem:  We didn’t know where to go.  For months, we debated.  A good problem to have, yes!  Fun?  Not so much.

• Yet another strange twist…

The strange source of inspiration that finally ended the conundrum turned out to be a long-lost, faded, travel article in a forgotten file—that I literally stumbled on while purging piles in my office. That’s strange; I still think so.

But in yet another strange twist of alignment, the person who co-runs MPG and posted my story, Michaela Potter, was responsible for stuffing the envelope…while an intern at a PR firm…that was hired to promote Grenada tourism…which reached the journalist…who took the bait, booked the trip, and wrote the story.

Grenada was pushing hard to revive its tourism after the infamous invasion during the Reagan administration.

That was in 1996—about 13 years before I found the article and ended up in Grenada.  Today, Michaela and I made that bizarre, but remarkable, connection.  I’m still gripping my forehead.

• Ripples across the water

In a way, these stories of travel and BreakAways continue long after the plane brings you home again.  There are memories, yes, but also connections yet to be made.

Michaela and I made another today.  My thanks to her, Sherry Ott, and the all good people advocating career breaks because we BELIEVE!