MeetPlanGo happens in 13 cities tomorrow night, and more than 1,400 dreamers and schemers will gather…  thanks to an unfathomable amount of vision and effort by founders Tara Russell, Sherry Ott, and Michaela Potter.  We can’t thank them enough—and that “we” includes any of you who harbor the dream of a big trip or a career break someday.

See the light? 

MPG is all about making travel and sabbatical dreams come true.  And helping employers see the value.  And letting society know that this is a valid and virtuous path.  In fact, for some of us, this convergence feels like a watershed event.  A shiny light on a gnarly tide.  A moment we’ve been waiting for.  

In this land of bootstraps and cubicles, could enough of us finally be discovering–and demanding–freedom of time??

So lonely on the surfboard…

A wise and wildly successful friend recently said,

Kirk, it’s like you’ve been paddling away on your little surfboard for years—just waiting for the wave to come in.  Well, watch out.  I think I see a huge one on the horizon.”  

Surf’s up—and what an inspirational bunch of surfers are showing up for the ride. 

Cowabunga! 

Like most cities, we are now “sold out” for our Meetup in Minneapolis.  The room will be full of passionate people with great stories, bubbly energy, and stubborn hope.  I aim to Preach, yes, but mostly to Listen, and Learn.

My heartfelt gratitude again goes out to my wonderful panelists—Ross Levin and Leif Pettersen—and to the spirited souls behind MeetPlanGo. 

With any luck, this wave will just keep rollin’.

Career Break Secrets, a site by one of the most creative and committed guys in our emerging movement, just posted a revealing peek at those of us who actually do crazy things like breaking away now and then for some serious travel.

In his post, entitled “The Many Faces of Long-term and Career Break Travel,” Jeff Jung introduces the various hosts of the 13 upcoming Meet Plan Go events and ponders what attributes we might share.  His assessment?

Long-term travel is a very specific yet amorphous niche. What I want to convey to you is that the long-term traveler is not one type of person but a diverse group of people all passionate about the potential that long-term travel has to enrich one’s life in a way that no other activity can. That’s not to say that this type of travel is appealing to everyone. But for us, the experiences that we’ve had traveling are part of what defines us.”  

Jeff then goes on to briefly introduce the hosts—what led them to become immersed and obsessed not only with their travel goals, but also helping others realize their dreams–and groups us into a few niches.

You’ll meet “The Enablers” who assist employers and their workers with sabbatical programs.  There’s a “Back to Work Breaker” who travels, then returns to career life.  “20-somethings” who already have stories to tell.  And you’ll meet the “Soloists,” “Duos,”  “Family Breakers” and more.

Before the online world connected us, we may not have had much more than wanderlust in common.  Now, we share a virtual stage–and a desire to reveal the sweet if amorphous secrets (and benefits) of breaking away. 

• As for yours truly?  Jeff places me in the “Multiple Breakers” category.   I’ll wear the badge with pride! 

Meanwhile, back in reality, today is the first day of school.  I’ve taken on another college teaching gig.  And the fall air and routine has arrived with all the grace of a falling oak branch. 

Multiple breaker?  That sounds good about now—I’d like to earn that badge again—but there’s work to be done.  That includes hosting the MeetPlanGo event that has brought this faraway bunch together. 

Please join us and some fellow escape artists next Tuesday!

Thanks to a burst of online buzz, our Tuesday, 9-14 meetup has moved to bigger quarters.  We’re now at a HONEY of a place, in Minneapolis by Nye’s.  Time is still 7 – 9.  We’ve also added a truly great guest panelist, Ross Levin, one of the best financial planners ever, author, and brain behind the “Spend Your Life Wisely” column. 

We’re so pleased to have Ross join us.  Of course, he will answer questions and offer guidance about money—which is ALWAYS the #1 reason people don’t take BreakAways.  But even better, he also has many wise things to say about making your work for you (versus vice versa).  And reaching goals and dreams.  To wit:

Most of us already have the objects that we really need. Years from now, we will be talking about the family trips, not the living room couch. Be it a camping trip or a vacation to Europe, it is the experiences that stay with us.”

Check out this columm, for example.  He so gets it!  He’s also a great speaker, and jolly guy.

Hope to see you on September 14th.  Details are here!

Last Saturday I chatted on the radio with travel guru Rudy Maxa. The conversation went so well that he invited me back for more.

I’ll be on the air again THIS Sunday, August 29, around 4:10 CST.  The show takes place on CBS’ KFWB News Talk 980 in Los Angeles (and supposedly streams on the web).

Rudy says we’ll have about 7 minutes to tell tales and talk story about travels, sabbaticals and career breaks.

I’m also hoping to give listeners a heads up about the September 14 MeetPlanGo event. As you may or may not know, I’m hosting the Minneapolis MeetUp.

Find us!  Join us!

BREAKING NEWS!  

Legendary travel guru Rudy Maxa (of public TV and radio fame) has invited me to join him to talk sabbaticals and career breaks on his nationally syndicated radio shows this weekend. 

If you’re where his wires cross, please tune in!  

“Rudy Maxa’s World with Christopher Elliott” is a two-hour travel talk, interview and call-in show that’s broadcast every Saturday morning from 9 to 11 CST. To ask Rudy or Chris (or me!) a travel question or make a comment, call 800-387-8025.

• I expect my slot on the Saturday morning show will be at about 10:10 a.m CST.
• You can also listen to a rebroadcast of the show on Sirius/XM Radio at 9 pm Saturday night on Channel 152.  
• Sunday I’ll be participating in Rudy’s hour-long, call-in show on CBS’ KFWB News Talk 980 in Los Angeles from 4-5 p.m. CST.

In addition to answering listeners’ questions, Rudy delivers the latest take on travel news, his “Deal of the Week,” and interviews with travel personalities (like me, I guess!)  For live, real-time streaming of the show visit KFWB.com.

I’m looking forward to getting on the air to spread the good word, especially in anticipation of the upcoming MeetPlanGo Minneapolis MeetUp on September 14.  

Thanks, Rudy! 

We are NOT alone!  And the proof will hit the fan next month when travelers, career breakers, dreamers and schemers gather in umpteen cities across the U.S. to celebrate the movement and talk up ways to get a break. 

It’s called MeetPlanGo.  The savvy travelers behind BriefcaseToBackpack had the brainchild and are doing the legwork.  And we can’t thank them enough! 

In Minneapolis, yours truly will host a FREE two-hour meet-up in one of the most suave private rooms around—at Chiang Mai Thai restaurant in Uptown.  The good people there will offer us tempting food and drink specials.  And we’ll sip, nibble and discuss what it really takes to leave work and ordinary life behind to travel for a while.  There will even be sponsors and free stuff!  

• Get the deets here!

If our tribe grows to more than 40, we’ll move to an equally cool, but decidedly larger space.

More soon!  But for now, check your cal, save the date, and go to EventBrite and register to join us if you can!

Maybe it’s the stupid economy.  Perhaps the 20-somethings are stirring up the hype—since they’re still idealistic (and largely underemployed).  Could be the sad but true fact that folks don’t take their vacations.  Or maybe work just keeps meaning less while sucking more energy and time.  

Sabbaticals are OUT; Career Breaks are IN  

Whatever the reason(s), the big buzzword of late for the BreakAway crowed  is “career break.”  I like it.  The “career” thing sounds so responsible, job-centric and American.  Suddenly a Sabbatical is NOT just a lazy, hazy escape from reality. 

After all, most of us are not professors or preachers with God-given, endowed Sabbatical rights, right?  And those professions are just so tweedy, stilted and last-millenium anyway…

No matter what your profession or POV, this recent Huffington Post story suggests that a Career Break may look great on your resume.  Impress your next boss.  Show that you’ve got initiative and guts.  Prove that you’re a worldly rock star, if only on your lonely planet.  Author/blogger Patty Hodapp encouragingly writes:

Getting out from behind your desk and into the world will not only give you invaluable life experience (and probably several stories to share with coworkers around your next office water cooler) but also it’ll make you a more hirable and more desirable addition to any office. Guaranteed.”

Worry not; after conquering the big old world, you can always come home to a bigger cubicle.

Or is it that dreams won’t die?   

Careers are critical, don’t get me wrong.  I intend to take mine (or should I say all 55 of them) very seriously any day (or year) now.  That motivation surge will strike, like lightning.  I can’t wait. 

Meantime, methinks that this “Career Break” movement may be plopping the horse before the cart.  I mean, do we really crave a professional pause or six months in Spain?  Are we infatuated with vocation or is our heart simply calling for vacation? 

But I get it.  Career Break.  You can fix it later.  I’ll even start using the new lingo, and have eagerly agreed to host a Career Break seminar in September. 

But forgive me if, from time to time, I pick up my guitar and play Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It,” followed by Lenny Kravitz’s “Fly Away.”

Work will wait, my friends.  In fact, it never goes away.  But you can!

26% of Americans say they find happiness and fulfillment in their job.

11% feel their job is mostly a drain on their energy and happiness.

60% feel their job primarily serves to provide income so they can enjoy other aspects of their lives. 

Well, well, well.  All is not so well with America’s work force.  Seems like only about ¼ of us actually “like” our jobs.  That’s sad. 

Yet maybe the 60% who work to live (you might say)—rather than live to work—are onto something, if:

• They manage to maximize time and energy devoted to “other aspects” of their lives.
• They don’t give up completely, and still believe in better outcomes and career dreams.
• They avoid letting the work-for-pay-only attitude depress the rest of their outlook.
• They shun too many long days and weeks, and take their vacations.

This mindset about work can “work” if it enables us to embrace other priorities—sabbaticals, family time, community involvement, relationships and me-time–that make us more whole and complete people.  In fact, I believe we’ll ultimately contribute far more to the world if we are able to disengage from our jobs enough to engage in life in this way.  What do you think?

SOURCE:  Healthy Cos. International

Here in the USA, there seem to be increasingly few things we can all agree on.  But there is still the sanctity of a several significant holidays:  New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and the 4^th of July.  I’m a sucker for all three celebrations, if only because we seem to collectively  embrace them—and most hard-working folks get a day or four off. 

In other words, you won’t hear me complaining about busy lakes or crowded parks today.  I’d rather jump in and hang on. 

The 4^th remains particularly meaningful, since between the bar-b-ques, beerfests and fireworks, we still manage to observe the greatest gift of them all:  Freedom itself. 

What skill, courage and daring our forebears somehow mustered up!  Indeed, that’s what it takes to break away from most anything, be it ennui, an oppresive job, or England. 

So I raise my one-pound, red-white-and-blue PBR to our founders, enslaved folks everywhere, and the good people of America on this day of freedom. 

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”  

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Doc Abbott was the eccentric proprietor of a picturesque promontory on Lake Superior—now owned by several generations of my (wife’s) relatives and called, simply, “The Point.” 

His HOUSE RULES, which hang prominently in his original log residence, offer an enlightening view on how to be a good guest and tread lightly in your travels…

HOUSE RULES

1. GUESTS WILL PLEASE NOT SHAKE HANDS UPON ARRIVAL OR DEPARTURE. 
2. PLEASE DO NOT MENTION IT HAS BEEN A LONG DRIVE, WE REALIZE THAT MORE THAN YOU DO.
3. B.Y.O.C.  (BRING YOUR OWN CIGARS AND CIGARETTS.)
4. GUESTS WILL KINDLY MAKE THEMSELVES AT HOME, AND NOT BOTHER THE MANAGEMENT FOR ENTERTAINMENT.  WE HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER. 
5. PLEASE DON’T SAY YOU ENJOYED YOUR VISIT.  IF YOU DID, COME AGAIN.
6. AFTER DEPARTING, DO NOT SAY TO YOUR FELLOW GUEST, “WHAT A STRANGE PLACE.”  HE IS THINKING THE SAME THING.

Doc sold the property to the family in 1955, with the agreement that he could remain in residence for as long as he lived.  Less than 6 months later, Doc’s beloved canine companion, Duffy, was hit and killed by a car during a supply trip to Grand Marais.  Later that day, Doc took his own life, here on The Point.  RIP. 

Some insist that the ghost of Doc Abbott still lurks around The Point—and appears in dreams, strange noises and inexplicable occurrences.  I cannot personally validate these claims.