In 2012, I was laid off from my staff job at a magazine. It wasn’t unexpected — the magazine had recently gotten a new editor-in-chief who was expected to clean house — but what was surprising was how relieved I felt.
By age 30, I’d climbed the ladder at three magazines, all while moonlighting as a ghostwriter for a popular teen book series. I was exhausted.
So instead of immediately looking for a new gig, I traveled, spending a year zigzagging my way around the country and Europe. I’d occasionally take on a freelance assignment, but my primary goal was to get in touch with myself.
But while I loved the freedom to explore, I felt guilty about taking a break when most of my friends were climbing the corporate ladder. So I found myself lying about my age, pretending to be a college student to the other people in line for a latte at a Savannah coffee shop and telling backpackers at an Edinburgh hostel I’d just turned 24.
It turns out my lying was unnecessary.
“The majority of our audience are adults ages 28 to 48,” says Sherry Ott, founder of meetplango.com, a resource for career breakers that includes online classes for people interested in a so-called grown-up gap year. “Our main demographic is single women who want to take a break before they get married and start a family.”
The gap year has always had a place in UK and Australian culture, but it’s just beginning to make headway here. And millennials are a key driver of the trend. A 2013 study by the Boston Consulting Group found that individuals ages 18 to 34 report a 23 percent greater desire to travel abroad than other generations.
But getting away is difficult in the US, where most workers only take an average of 10 out of their 14 allotted vacation days, according to a 2013 expedia.com survey. And for New York millennials in particular, who combat high rents and brutal hours, many find that getting out of town is an increasingly enticing option.
Jacqueline Nochisaki, 32, made the decision to leave her corporate communications job and travel to Italy for a few months with her Hell’s Kitchen roommate, Alexondra Purnomo, 31.
“We found that traveling and living abroad was actually less expensive than what we would have been spending in New York,” Nochisaki explains.
Nochisaki came back in April 2013, while Purnomo, a former teacher in the South Bronx, ended up saying arrivederci to Manhattan. Her heritage made it possible to secure Italian citizenship. Now that she’s living in Rome, “I have no plans for re-entry. I work as an au pair, which pays for rent, and I have enough left over to travel. It’s perfect for now.”
Purnomo’s decision to take a flexible job is emblematic of why so many millennials feel comfortable taking time off from work. According to a 2013 study conducted by Buzz Marketing Group, nearly 25 percent of millennials “aren’t sure yet” what they want to do with their lives. Furthermore, 27 percent of millennials consider themselves at least partly self-employed.
But career experts warn would-be travelers to expect potential employers’ eyebrows to raise when they see resume gaps. “Never use the phrase ‘burn out’ when you explain why you left,” says career coach Roy Cohen. “Instead, show that you’ve spent your time enhancing your skill set. Your boss wants to see that now that you’ve seen the world, you’re ready to get to work.”
Still, although a blanket sabbatical policy is still a rarity, many New York City globe-trotters have found that HR will handle the sabbatical request on a case-by-case basis.
Julie Zukof, 31, was granted an open-ended sabbatical from her advertising agency job, which continued paying her health insurance while she traveled around South America.
“I loved my job, but I felt so burned out,” she recalls. “I was always pushing myself. I was working, I went to grad school, I trained for triathlons. It was all fun, but every time I left the Upper West Side for a few days, I felt the itch to leave for longer.”
Zukof eventually formed her own business — and she credits her experience: “Traveling partly gave me the confidence to go out on my own,” she says.
As for me, I’m not sure I’ll ever end up back behind a desk: I’ve learned to freelance on the go, filing stories from wherever I might be. The next great opportunity used to mean a resume polish and a meeting with HR. Now, it’s a cheap plane ticket and last-minute hostel reservations. For now, I’ll take it.