This is my plan too.<p>I read "C With Assembly Language" by Steven Holzner as a kid... he wrote that he works 6 months and travels for the other 6. It has been my dream since. It should work out this year.<p>If you are planning, reading "The Four Hour Work Week" might help.
I went to Africa after burning out at my first startup (which spectacularly imploded 9 months later). I recommend travel, but taking time off is not necessarily a panacea. In particular, be realistic about how much money you have and will spend. Otherwise, when you come back you have to scramble to find a job, which isn't an optimal position. In retrospect, the time could have been better spent figuring out a startup of my own.
i'm actually going to be doing just that. my employer (10-20 employees) was nice enough to grant my request to let me telecommute from brazil for a few months.<p>how's that for relaxed management?<p>i could not agree with this article more. people need to loosen up and go see the world much more than they currently do. farecast is a great place to buy plane tickets and couchsurfing is a great place to find a roof.<p>go out and enjoy yourself!
I've been putting off buying a house or making any big commitments like that for precisely this reason. Doin' the startup thing right now, but there's no reason why that can't happen from wherever I happen to be too. Working on a plan to free myself geographically sometime in '09!
This is my plan precisely. It'll be Ghana for me. A surprising amount of the third world has a decent internet connection these days. If you can get that plus a decent hotel room for a few hundred bucks a month, why not give it a shot?
I went to Thailand when I was 23 (I'm 27 now). Stayed at the Khao San Road, traveled a lot. It's a great place to get away from it all. Cheap too, and I earn Mexico wages.
I leave Canada for Australia in a few weeks. Though not the 3rd world it's a new base of operations which will allow us to easily travel around Asia. Though I plan to work the odd consulting gig to help pay for it mostly we'll be living as cheap as possible and moving as often as possible for the next year or 2.
Spend more money right when your income is in highest jeopardy? Most of us wish.<p>I'd suggest just going in the summer while you're still employed and office activity has slowed anyway. My plan, anyway.
This is a great article and timely because my friend just asked me yesterday if I'd like to go to Thailand with her this Christmas! But I'm going to Nigeria so I guess this article is spot on.