In Quebec, Canada, where we live, lots of organisations have a system where you can take a ‘sabbatical leave’ from work.
I decided to take this sabbatical leave and we are going on a year-long backpacking trip together.
My official sabbatical leave (which is unpaid) is from 1 October, but I have another two weeks of paid leave, which means we can leave in mid-September at earliest.
Sabbatical leave for a year of backpacking
In Quebec, Canada, where we live, lots of organisations have a system where you can take a ‘sabbatical leave’.
I have been working more than 18 years for the same non-government organization, and I finally decided to take a year off.
In fact, we had talked about my sabbatical leave for several years and it was not a good time to take during the outbreak of the Covid-19. Therefore, we were waiting for a better time to take it.
And then, finally I decided that it was time to take the sabbatical and that we should travel abroad for a year, as the Covid-related global restrictions have loosened step by step in most countries. The organisation that I am working for kindly agreed to me taking a year off.
When do we actually leave?
My sabbatical leave officially starts on 1 October, but in addition to that, I still have some paid leave that I haven’t taken yet this year.
So my last day of work will effectively be from noon of 14 September, which means that from the afternoon of 14 September, I will be free until 30 September 2023!
By the time I am editing this article now, we’ve already bought the plane tickets. We will leave from Montreal airport on the evening of 14 September.
Our house is in rural Quebec, but it’s only about an hour’s drive to the airport, so we have enough time to get to the airport during the afternoon of the 14th.
What’s the plan?
Now, you’re probably wondering what route we’re going to take on our trip.
The advantage of a year long trip is the freedom. So we don’t intend to make too many plans, but we do have a rough idea of where we would like to go.
First of all, we will go to the UK where my mother lives, and stay with her for a few days. After the UK, we are probably going to Turkey, a destination we both want to visit.
All our trip will be posted!
We have set up this blog as a place to keep a diary of our trip, including how the trip is going, as well as our planning and preparation.
I believe that the preparation and planning are also the fun part of the trip. So we will keep updating what is going on to share the joy of travelling with you!
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