This Travel Style Offers a Profound Way to Reconnect with the World (That Your Vacation Days Can't Touch)

A large grid of photos featuring different aspects of travel, including temples and pagodas, mountains and nature, unique art and statues, animals like llamas and cranes, and scenes from various cultures. A text overlay reads "Sabbaticals"

While shorter trips are wonderful, there’s a unique category of travel that allows for more in-depth and profound experiences: sabbaticals. These are trips involving a longer paid or unpaid leave from work (at least a month), offering the perfect opportunity to explore the world in a way that goes far beyond a typical vacation.

Time to Explore Far-Flung Regions

A sabbatical provides the invaluable gift of time, allowing for time to get to and immerse yourself in distant regions that might otherwise be out of reach or only experienced superficially. The sheer travel time to far-flung destinations (sometimes over 24 hours to places like Australia or New Zealand) means that standard vacation limits make deep exploration challenging. This is where a sabbatical shines.

Our six-week South American sabbatical exemplifies this advantage. We started in Peru, continued with two weeks in Patagonia, and concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This Latin American sabbatical afforded us enough time to eat our way through Peru and see bucket list sites like the iconic Machu Picchu. Our itinerary also included an extensive journey through Patagonia: from Bariloche and El Calafate in Argentina to Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas in Chile.

Such an involved trip would have been impossible with the 2-3 weeks of vacation that Americans typically get. It would even have been a stretch to do using the 5 weeks of vacation time that I get in Europe. Taking an unpaid sabbatical was the way to go here.

Similarly, our six-week work break in Asia allowed for an expansive exploration of the continent. We delved into China, visiting Hangzhou, Pingyao, Xi’an (home of the Terracotta Army), and Beijing.

Our time in Southeast Asia included diverse experiences in Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An for a bicycle tour, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City to explore Vietnam War sites), and Cambodia (Phnom Penh with its tragic history and Siem Reap for the enigmatic Angkor Wat temples). This breadth of travel experiences highlights how a sabbatical enables a deeper dive into distinct cultures and landscapes at a more leisurely pace.

A scenic shot of the Great Wall of China, winding its way up a steep, lush green mountain. Watchtowers are visible along the stone wall, a magnificent sight for a travel sabbatical.

A wide, high-angle view of the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Peru. Terraced green fields and stone ruins are visible, with a mountain peak rising behind them. A llama walks in the grassy foreground.

A wide, scenic shot of Piha Beach in New Zealand. A large, rocky outcrop known as Lion Rock stands in the middle of the sea. The beach has dark sand and waves are crashing in the distance. People with surfboards are in the water.

Time-off Between Jobs

I also consider time-off between jobs to be a type of sabbatical. I recall how free I felt when I took a month off to travel after I quit my job in the chemical industry but before I started my new job in Tech. All the stress and responsibilities of my old job melted away and the new responsibilities were a thing for future Dr. J to worry about.

We used this precious gift of time to spend a week in Australia and three weeks exploring the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

Don’t underestimate the power of a sabbatical to re-energize your soul.

See Where a Sabbatical Can Take You

Explore the places that I visited while on sabbatical from my “day job”. I hope these posts inspire you to negotiate your own extended leave from work to travel the world!