Ask HN: Thinking about a year off from work to travel. Am I making a mistake?

Check out, solid overview on it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1717824

Two types of regrets you will have in your life: things you did and things you didn't do.

Which regrets do you prefer?

I think that, regardless of where you go, going somewhere new or somewhere where you don't know many people for a semi-long/long amount of time is extremely helpful. You learn a lot about yourself, your motivations, your priorities.

Some of your worries I wouldn't worry about so much -- if you want to keep some of your things, you can put them in storage or give them to a friend you trust, if you know someone with some spare room. Ditto for the place, if you want to keep it you could most likely sublease it to a friend or someone else for the amount of time you'll be gone and get it back when you return. I wouldn't worry about future career prospects; when you're interviewed, of course you'll be asked about it, but you can spin it in many positive ways. One year of salary loss is probably the only important issue in your third paragraph, so I would be careful and conservative with your calculations. And the feeling that you're doing it because you can rather than being truly excited about it is a real one, and is maybe partly due to the length of time you're considering, but it is something you really should consider if you are planning to have a family (especially with kids) in the future.

If you're worried about the length of time (although you didn't mention this directly in your post, it was one of the reservations I had and a feeling that crept into me as I started a 6 month journey traveling to a few different countries) you could most likely feasibly travel for 2-3 months to somewhere new, while keeping your apartment. Then if you want to travel for longer, you can figure out what to do from there.

On a more philosophical note: don't live to work, work to live. Your career is not in jeopardy for traveling for a period of time, the only thing that you're going to be missing out on is an income during that time. Your career will be there when you get back, and so will your friends, family -- plus you'll have a lot of interesting stories to tell.

Sorry to be the wet blanket, but I actually don't think it is necessarily a no-brainer as others have said. If you do it, do it with purpose. Traveling will not fix your problems. It won't help you progress your career. It won't even necessarily expand your mind or help you learn new things.

It will, however, with near 100% certainty reduce your bank account balance, and will potentially put you in a jam down the line unless you have something to show for it at the end.

I spent a year traveling in South America in 2010. I was aimless. It was one of the best experiences of my life. However, if I'm really being honest with myself, it cost me a career trajectory that probably would have meant retirement type money by now.

I depleted my savings, my knowledge became obsolete surprisingly quickly, and it was a slog to get back into the groove when I got back. I can't say I regret it, but I definitely would have done it differently in retrospect.

I would recommend you sublease your place (or not) and take a month or two break. That's a long time to travel. You could go sit on a Greek island and contemplate a lot while the sun restores you. Then you can decide whether you really want to give up your place and keep traveling.