starrsville

Another post started me wondering - how many of you have had the time and/or money to take a 3 month vacation? If so, how did you manage it?

GoTravel

Patrick? You are being paged.

placeu2

Looking to talk with some teachers I would imagine.

Patrick

Since retiring (early, please note), I've taken 3, 4, and 5 month vacations, every year for the past 11 years. I manage it very well, thank you.

I travel more cheaply than when I was working and splurging on nicer hotels, etc., but figure it's still a lot less than owning a summer or vacation home which a lot of my friends have.

With the internet, there's not much you can't do away from home. We did sell our home after the first trip and moved into a condo townhouse -- so much easier. And we have a good friend, who reviews our mail and can write checks on our accounts if the need arises, but we pretty much manage everything from the road, and have had most things switched to automatic pay, etc.

Most of those trips have been to Europe for the summer or a big part of it, although in 2001 it was a five month driving trip from Florida, to New York, Maine, across Canada, Alaska, California, then across the center of the US and back home -- 16,496 miles in total.

crazymina

I did mine when I turned 30, but I had to quit my job to do it. I am pretty good at saving, and don't spend much money aside from the necessities. So I took about 9 months off, and spent 4 of it in Europe. It was just something I felt I needed to do.

I hope to do it every few years. Probably in between jobs is the best time. Housing in California is so high, I can't afford a home right now, so that means no mortgage. Therefore I take advantage of that sad fact to travel. I just negotiated a month off this summer with my boss, and most of it will be unpaid. Guess that is easier to do when there isn't much to pay for, and traveling is worth every dime and all the "sacrifice."

rb_travelerxATyahoo

Took a 2 month vacation, 2 years in a row.

In 1990 I did a "fund-raiser" type bicycle ride from LA to Boston. My employer had agreed to allow me time off as an enticement to come to work for him (from a competitor). I postponed it twice ("too busy for anyone to take vacations") but finally realized that I'd be postponing it forever if I didn't take it.

What a great experience, and I still get goose-bumps when someone asks about it.

You can imagine the work environment with the "too busy for anyone to take vacations" mentality. The next year, I did the same ride again, as an unpaid ride leader. I told my boss that I would be doing it and if they thought it necessary to fire me, so be it. I returned to my still-waiting job for another 1.5 years before leaving for good.

The first year, I had so much vacation and comp-time balance I never used it all for the 2 months. The second year, I moonlighted as a hotel-night auditor to bank some cash during the 3 mo prior to the ride. I live simply, drive an old car, usually bus to work when I can, carry a lunch, and live by the rule "less is more" and it helps.

LoveItaly

Never a 3 month, but more then once we took a 2 month vacation to Italy. We had our own business and never could have done that except for exceptional employees. And we sure tried to make sure that they knew how appreciated they were. I guess we succeded with that because I they are still in touch with me.

Jacqueline1212

We're both retired so I suppose you could say we take long vacations. We're at our Naples condo in the spring and fall, then we spend 4-6 weeks renting a condo in CO in the winter and ski most days, we spend a few days a week at our condo in VT mostly in the winter skiing but also in summer and fall. Other than that, we go to different places for a few weeks at various times like ME, the Carolinas, am planning a trip to NOLA, also a longer one to the northwest. We get our mail forwarded if we're in one place long enough. Other than that, I just call for balances and send the checks. (Am thinking about getting a laptop and using that.) One of our sons checks the house and will call about any mail he thinks we should know about that can't be forwarded. Sometimes, I double or triple pay my utilities ahead of time. Financially, we worked hard and have some real estate investments that provide income and, as Patrick said, we don't stay in expensive hotels anymore, actually preferring modest condos for extended stays that I get on vrbo or similar. and we usually eat in. After a health scare, we decided that now was the time and what were we waiting for so off we go! We are very blessed.

dfrostnh

We did a two month vacation one summer. One month south and one month north. Spent a week back home to catch up on things like bills. We had an inexpensive house sitter who watched the pets and mowed the lawn. We had the time because there wasn't any work that summer and we used the 'rainy day' fund self-employed people should have. We bought a used camper which was later sold at a profit. We figured our only real expense was the campground fees since we had to eat anyways. We did a few things that cost money but things like beachcombing are free.

Kate_W

I managed to do a 10-week vacation a few years ago, between the time my posting in London finished and the time I had to start back at my old job in Canada. I had saved "splurge" money in advance for the year in London, and hadn't spent as much as I thought; also I had accumulated 2 weeks' holiday in my Canadian job (that rolled over) and 1 week in my British job. I was also lucky to have an acquaintance who needed a house-sitting gig in Canada and was willing to pay a little for it, so it subsidized about 50% of my mortgage payment.

I spent 5 weeks studying French in Grenoble, another 2 weeks studying Spanish in Spain, and used the rest of the time to visit friends in Europe.

I'm now planning for another 3-6 month "sabbatical" in the next few years.

starrsville

I'm jealous. I try to fit in as many short trips as possible during the year but can't forsee really long vacations until retirement.

pdxgirl

My DH and I went on a 3-month trip in 2000. We both had to quit our jobs to do it. We went to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Italy.