Sabbatical Time

Every have one of the benefits that make you want to shout to the world? Well, I am about to take one of those benefits that my employer offers for the fourth time, a sabbatical. What is a sabbatical you ask? It is 8 weeks off every 7 years of employment. That is 8 weeks off – paid! This is used to recharge your battery from 7 years of hard work. Some folks use it for continuing their education, relaxing, traveling or whatever. My favorites are hanging with the family and traveling.

Below is an idea of my sabbatical adventures (and the planned one):

• #1 was a complete learning experience. I was young, with a young family and we just moved from Arizona to Oregon. So, we did some family vacations to Disneyland, Arizona and around Oregon. I spent most of my time reducing my golf handicap.
• #2 – learning from the first one, I put some cash away this time. Our family trips were more all over the place. We did Florida (all of the hot spots), spent a week on the beautiful Oregon coast (attempting to locate a place of our own), vacation in Mexico and the family spent time together in Vegas (hockey camp and some gambling).
• #3 – now that was a sabbatical! Son graduated high school and we took him on a Caribbean cruise with a buddy of his. After 3 days home – the wife and I went on a 2 week Mediterranean cruise (our first time in Europe). Another couple of days home and off to Vegas and other parts of Nevada. I again spent time trying to improve my golf handicap.
• #4 (this one) – well, nothing as full as #3, but still pretty good. Wife and I are heading to London for 3 days, then we board a Scandinavia And Russia Cruise. Again, all places that we have not gone to. The rest of the time are small couple of day times to visit with family and friends. I will have some time to spend redesigning and redoing the backyard! I will not be spending time reducing my golf handicap, not that it is in single digits, just too hot in the summer in Arizona.

For this sabbatical, I am planning on documenting my travels! So, for those that follow my posts, you will be seeing some new material and a new category called travels. I hope to share my experiences on my two plus weeks in Europe. If you have been to these places already – please share you experiences – so, I can tailor my short time on shore.

I really enjoy this benefit called a sabbatical. It is something that when I explain it to others, they just can not believe that you can walk away from your job for 8 weeks and get paid. Some new folks with the company, would rather that they get an extra week of vacation per year. I say – no thanks. Taking significant time off to completely recharge your battery is needed. The added benefit is that I have been able to visit places that I could only dream about. I look forward to putting 8 to 12 new stops on my world map.

As stated in my previous post – I have worked for my employer 28 years. In this day and age, that is almost never heard of. That sabbatical benefit probably has helped me the most to make it this far. I have had significant breaks in that 28 years. Plus looking forward to your next one is pretty exciting to. Will there be a #5? Probably not, better yet, no. 7 years will make it 35 for me.