shg8e

We have a pretty unique situation - my husband plans on taking a paid sabbatical leave from his job, January through August 2012. We'd like to take the opportunity to travel during this time with our will-be 2-2.5 year old son. There are just way too many things to consider so my head is spinning and its making it hard for me to start thinking about this seriously. Here are my initial thoughts -

1. Finances. We do have a savings set aside for the sabbatical that we can dip into, whatever we decide to do. His continuing paycheck will need to pay the mortgage if we don't sell the house before January, or can't find a subletter. The fact that we don't really know how things will work out with our house makes it hard to figure out if a) we'll actually be away that entire time, looking for a long term rental in 1-3 cities, or b) if we'll use our home as our base, and travel away for 2 weeks each month to different locations. And obviously I'm not sure yet how finances fit in. Its a big piece of the puzzle that is missing. Would appreciate any initial thoughts you have after reading this.

2. Independent of finances above, logistically, is the back-and-forth 2 weeks on/off going to be easier or harder than being away entirely for so long? In terms of having our belongings accessible, travel etc...lots to consider.

3. Where to go....my husband will be concentrating on his own research which can be done in any urban area. I'll be with my son during the day, hopefully able to walk or take public transport during the day. I currently live in the far northeast so it would be nice to be travelling to milder weather. Doesn't have to be hot/warm, just milder. Is it reasonable to be able to find a furnished apartment for weeks or months?

4. Our dog. How feasible is it for him to come along with us? Anyone ever use those pet flights? I assume I'll be able to find some dog-friendly apartments. He's a small guy, a pug.

5. Resources - are there any websites/forums aside from this one that you recommend I look at to get a start on planning?

Obviously alot of this needs to be discussed between my husband and I, and we've started. Just thought I'd throw this out to the public to get some ideas. Thank you so much! It should be a fun 2012.

emalloy

Does your husband need an urban area because that is the focus of his study or just so he will have access to libraries, urban planners,free wifi, etc?

For warmer places Tucson AZ, Miami FL, Ft. Myers FL, San Diego CA, among a lot of others come to mind.

Will you drive to some of them or fly and rent a car when you get there? Will you count on public transportation in the city?

For rentals look at one of the sites like vrbo

Give a bit more info for helpful answers.

shg8e

Thanks for your reply, emalloy.

I guess I'm still figuring out the answers myself, but to address your questions -

Urban is his choice because of access to art, mainly. That's his field of study. Plus he grew up in a rural area so I think he wants a city experience now. We currently live in the 'burbs.

Public transport would be our goal once in the city. If the public system doesn't work well, we do own a car. I don't think we'd want to drive directly to the west coast, but if our travels were designed so that we stopped for a few weeks in a few different places while heading west or south, it may not be so bad.

emalloy

Santa Fe comes to mind for art. It is a "city" but in a much more laid back way than Boston or New York which while not too warm, do have lots of art. Santa Fe is great temperature wise in spring. LA also would be warmer and has some nice art too.

If you are used to the Boston or New York type public transportation, you will find that generally in the west, you don't get that with the possible exception of San Francisco. So you will have to figure in a rental car as well as airfare if you don't drive.

Best wishes on a great time.

mclaurie

Frankly, I think the issue with the dog and your child is bigger than that of finances or house sale/rental. I can't imagine packing and unpacking with a 2 yr old and a dog every 2 weeks and the idea of leaving the dog in a kennel half of every month sounds awful and inhumane. It also limits how far you can go. Yes, you can take your dog in the car or by plane if he's small enough, but what happens when you get to your destination? Is he an easy going dog that will be content to sit in a strange apartment alone while you go out exploring? Your options on apt. rentals will certainly be limited with a small child and dog. I hate to sound negative, but I don't think this is an ideal time for you to be traveling around from place to place. I think your best bet is to pick a location that you'd be happy with (are you limited to the US?) and settle there and content yourselves with the occasional side trip. If you agree with my thinking, your first priority should be getting the house sold OR rented and you can put it on the market for both at the same time and take whatever offer comes along.

There's a famous book called "Paris to the Moon" written by Adam Gopnick in which he describes moving to Paris with his wife and young son. You might find it interesting reading.

shg8e

Santa Fe does sound great, thanks for the suggestion!

McLaurie - I do agree with you, the more I think about it. Its why I posted my quandry on this forum - there are some big issues to consider and I just couldn't really wrap my head around my personal circumstances as well as the travel possibilities. You've made a very good point about selecting one location to stay in for the sake of the child and dog. Thanks for the book recommendation too.

So moving on in that light, I'd be interested to hear if anyone has suggestions about places where we can rent an apartment, can accomodate lots of dogwalking and child-going activities, won't break the bank, good weather, good art scene....asking too much?

tomfuller

Agree with emalloy-At least 2 weeks in Santa Fe with a concentration on the Georgia O'Keefe museum and research center.
Do Santa Fe in the winter and early spring before it might get hot. Albuquerque is not too far away for a day trip.
During the summer, you have a free public bus zone in Seattle.
I consider the public library in Seattle to be a work of art.
Be sure to ride a "real" cablecar in San Francisco-not one with rubber tires.
At least once, rent a motorhome for a few days. I see many large motorhomes towing cars here in Oregon.
Look for a sub-letter among your husband's co-workers or your friends. The house should not sit empty during winter.

shg8e

Thanks, TomFuller, for the suggestions. Santa Fe is most appealing right now - we can drive southwest, stop in Columbus OH, St. Louis and OK city to visit/stay with friends on our way there. Then we can settle in for a while and take some day trips per emalloy's suggestion.

I suppose we should get working on prepping the house for sale/sublet and getting it on the market. Not going to have the final sabbatical paperwork approved until May.

If the house is still ours, come January, without subletters, we'd have our friends come by regularly to make sure everything is ok.

POlson

My top suggestions for art, cities (looking west, I'll let the east coasters address their coast) and public transit would be Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle. If you drop public transit as a requirement, I would be tempted to throw in Santa Fe and an exploration of the southwest and Los Angeles (several terrific art museums - Getty, LACMA, MOMA, Huntington Gardens and Library with research facilities for your husband and lots of fun activities for you and your child).

I like the idea of at least two weeks in each of several cities and might suggest increasing to 3-4 weeks so you can really savor the experience, maybe even rent a car for a few day trips. If you don't sell or sublet, you might consider one of those house exchange programs where you trade houses.

I would also schedule based on weather - for example, go west for 6 -10 weeks in winter: first to LA for 3 weeks in January/February (rent car and consider a few days of play in San Diego for Legoland, Sea World, SD Zoo), drive or fly from LA to Vegas for a few days with a side-trip to the Grand Canyon (you might be surprised by the amount of art at the fancy hotels like Bellagio, you and the little one can play in the hotel pool) then fly to Santa Fe for 2 weeks in February (rent car) (from here you could go home for a week or two or head directly to San Francisco), San Francisco for 4 weeks in March (rent car to include trip to Yosemite, Carmel/Monterey), fly home and check-in on the house, then 2 weeks in Boston in April and 4 weeks in Washington DC in April/May, back home again for a week, then off to Chicago for 3 weeks in late May, home again, then head back west again to PNW - Seattle for 3 weeks in mid-June/July, near end of stay rent car, see some of the surrounding area of PNW (maybe take a tour of the Peninsula or vacation on one of the Islands) and then head to Victoria and on to Vancouver BC in July for a few weeks.

How exciting!

gail

Logistically and financially I would take the car. With a kid and assorted stuff required to keep him safe and happy, plus the dog, I would do a lengthy car road trip with lengthy stops along the way. I would rent out the house while you were gone and just leave.

This works for a number of reasons. The car has to be insured and/or unregistered for the duration of the trip if you do not take it. But even if it is off the road, you need to carry some insurance on it which is more expensive than you would think. And you may wish to rely on public transportation while in various cities, you will still need some sort of vehicle on occasion - even if it is taxi to shop, visit places off public transportation. Cost of this adds up. Logistically, hauling suitcases and trying to limit what you bring for a family of 3 to the contents of these over 3 seasons in various parts of the country would be a difficult task. And packing/unpacking every 2 weeks sounds overwhelming to me. And having the car as a base of familiarity might work well for your son as well.

The dog - I think he should be fine with this. Have never owned a pug but I think they are rather car-travel accepting. Not too big, not big barkers, not requiring miles of exercise/day. I picture you son and the dog snuggled up in the back seat of the car.

Housing - I would look at VRBO website and also consider contacting schools, churches, community organizations in places you will land to see if they have any mid-term rental properties. For example, you might find a faculty house to sublet during a winter term (January) at some school. Depending on what sort of organization your husband is taking a sabbatical from, there might be some profesisonal organization or newsletter into which you can post a request. Even lower-end hotels may cut you a deal for a stay of a few weeks.

Cost - you should be able to do this for not much more than the costs involved in double housing. (your current mortgage plus housing costs on the road). You still have to eat no matter where you are. And another argument for just taking off and staying away the 7 months - travelling back and forth every 2 weeks is going to get quite expensive.

nytraveler

I think your dog is the major concern. Six months is a long time in the life of a dog and you wouldn;t want to be away from it for so long - unless you have trustworthy family nearby where the dog could stay and you could return for visits. While you can certainly travel with a dog finding a short-term sublet that will let you have a dog - and would be suitable for an animal - may not be easy - esp if you are talking about an urban area. (It's very common for apartments not to allow dogs at all - or to allow them only if they are small - 10/12 pounds or less - esp in urban areas.)

The second major issue if your current home. Assuming you aren;t living way below your mean short-term sublets of a 1 or perhaps even 2 bedroom apartment will not be cheap in urban areas - likely much more than you wold receive on a sublet unless you are already in a major metro area. I would do some heavy duty investigating now on the rental situation in your current home - and try to get an idea of how much more it will cost to sublets in the areas you might think about heading to.

You can check VRBO - but don;t know how many of them are sufficiently urban - to get some idea of sublet costs in various cities. Just be prepared that short-term sublets can be way more expensive than primary rentals.

jubilada

maybe a home swap? I don't think of Santa Fe as affordable ( though it is wonderful!) but a home swap might be workable.

capxxx

What about spring semester in city A, summer at home (with trips) and fall semester in city B?

Assuming you live an an academic town you'll find it easiest to rent to a sublettor for a semester at a time. And that gives you some flexibility to try and sell over the summer, if the sale doesn't work out before January.

Your rental costs will be lowest-per-day if you go for a longer time (as a general rule). And I think you're more likely to find pet-friendly accomodations for the longer term (in my experience, anyway).

Be aware that a sabbatical trip is considered a ``necessary to advance in your profession'' and since hubby is not reimbursed for this trip by his employer, substantial tax deductions are possible: his portion of your rent, the cost of travelling to/from an office, a per diem for food expenses, cost of traveling to /from the city, etc. Hubby will have to keep a daily ``travel diary'' to document all these expenses. And if you stay away for more than a year it isn't considered a business trip. Definitely talk to a tax expert before you go.

If I were looking for a sabbatical rental (or wanting to advertise one) I would use craigslist.

capxxx

Sorry, missed the point about finishing in August. Still, I think spring semsester + summer would be easier than a month at a time.

Ackislander

Seconding everything Gail says.

If said where you are leaving from, I missed it. But if your husband is interested in art and you are driving south by southwest, I would recommend the museums in Buffalo, Cleveland (no brainer), Detroit, Toledo, Columbus (depending on his period), Cincinnati, Kansas City, and especially Fort Worth, which has three fabulous museums in a three block area, each in fabulous buildings. Then it is a mere hop-skip-and jump to Santa Fe. Even OKC had a lovely downtown museum with a limited but strong collection and good transient exhibits.

I used to change jobs so often I never got a sabbatical until late in my career. I always negotiated it away for rank, tenure, and money.

shg8e

Your thoughtfulness is overwhelming, everybody. I hardly imagined that so many of you would take the time from your day to respond. This has been so very helpful to us - a jumping point for lots of discussion. Thank you!

Gretchen

Are you willing to sell your house because you won't be returning to the place you are leaving?
I would think your husband needs to have his research in mind and choose the place for the best resource.
Yes, Santa Fe has an art scene. So does almost ANY urban area, and some quite small ones also. and many in warm climes.
What kind of "art research" is he planning?
Paris to the Moon is a wonderful book. He was being paid a full salary to live in Paris for two years. Who wouldn't love it!!
If you interrupt your car insurance you may have a really ugly awakening when you go back to get it again--it happened to a friend of mine--thousands and thousands of dollars in spite of a good record, etc. REALLY strange.
My husband was drafted and we rented our house for the two years. If your area is in good shape for house sales in this economy you are lucky. What will you do when you return?
It would really be interesting to know what type of research.

nancy1652

I would definitely encourage you to look into a house swap.
There are a lot of sites to choose from, and some specialize in sabbatical housings. I have used Craigslist for many swaps, but there are plenty of others. The swap can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months or more. It may also give you new ideas about where to spend your time.

Myer

I'll reply from a different perspective.

Last year I went on three trips. One with my wife, one with a friend and one with my daughter. My wife couldn't understand why I would plan three trips that close together. I left on the next trip exactly one month after returning from the previous trip.

I planned based on the chances of having the best weather and longest days in each place.

It appears you will have somewhat less time between trips than I did but I was glad to repack washed clothing. Also, getting my final plans nailed down was what I did in the weeks before each trip.

ElendilPickle

I love Santa Fe, but Albuquerque is more affordable and has more activities your young child will enjoy. Santa Fe is an hour north, so it's an easy trip.

Lee Ann