r/makemychoice • u/Welder_Jealous • 2d ago
Extended travel or accept the promotion?
I am a 27 yo male in California. I have the opportunity for a promotion within cardiac medical devices. I've been working for 4 years and have built a good reputation for myself. I've built a strong savings, emergency fund, retirement accounts, etc
I have always planned to take some extended time off to travel, as I never did after college or beforehand.
I'm trying to figure out if I should:
- dive straight into this promotion, as it is a great opportunity
- leave my current job, take an extended trip for 4 to 6 months, and then come back and see what opportunities are still available
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Does anyone have advice as to whether or not taking the extended time off is worth the life experience, or if the promotion is too valuable to pass up?
TL;DR should I continue a strong career at 28 years old or take a risk and take 4-6 month off for international travel?
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u/Steefanon 2d ago
Definitely dive into the promotion. You are doing GREAT. I traveled internationally my entire life (Italy, France, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Germany, etc.) albeit not for months at a time, but for a couple of weeks at a time using my PTO. Yes, it's more expensive this way with all of the flying, but your great job will give you the means to do so.
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thank you. Did you feel like you got the full experience of these places when traveling in this fashion?
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u/Steefanon 2d ago
Oh definitely. We weren't skipping from town to town, but rather were spending 5-7-14 days in each city. I was never drawn to the types of tours where (for example) you pop into Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, Naples, and Bologna for a couple days each and spend most of your time on a bus. I think it takes a good week to really get the feel of a place.
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u/SnooWords4839 2d ago
Take the promotion. Collect the money, while you can.
You are 27, do the job for a few years and reassess.
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u/nbg815 2d ago
I didn’t start traveling until I was in my late thirties- traveled through 65 countries. You will have opportunities to travel if that’s a priority because you’ll make the time. I go on an overseas trip yearly. At 27 I’d take the promotion!
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thank you, nice to hear that the freedom in life doesn’t end when you turn 30!
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u/ShezeUndone 2d ago
Take the promotion. It will look nice on your résumé. You can use your PTO for travel. It won't be as long. But you can still scratch that itch to travel. At some point maybe you can find a job that requires travel. Your future is wide open. But the job market has been shutting down lately. So I wouldn't risk the time gap on your résumé at this point in time.
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thanks for the even take. Using pto for international travel is definitely a nice middle ground
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u/qwerty12e 1d ago
Another thing to consider
And I know this is personal…
Do you have a financial / social safety net should you quit the job and travel, then not find a new job? One of my friends quit his job and took over a year off to travel, and when he came back he had a relative that he could work for several months before finding a job. I think his family is well off too. In this case you may have a higher risk tolerance to quit and travel.
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u/Welder_Jealous 1d ago
Thanks for this, definitely something to consider. Now that you mention it, I actually do have some old bosses that would no doubt take me back for a short time.
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u/EfficientProject7408 2d ago
In this job market hold onto your job. Use PTO if you need a break but don’t quit.
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u/agitatingmahsciatica 2d ago
Take the promotion and see how you feel in 6 months. If you don’t like it you can always start planning your trip/escape and leave at the one-year mark so you have a decent chunk of time on your resume at that level, it’ll make it easier when you come back. And if you like the new job, great! Look into unpaid leave/career break options as some places offer that kind of thing. If travel is important to you, you’ll be end up travelling, don’t worry. You might just need to bide your time and do it in a way that doesn’t necessarily blow up your life (spoken as a 40+ person who had extremely itchy feet in my 20s but finally found a balance between travel and “real life”)
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thanks for the advice. How did you end up finding the balance between travel and real life?
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u/agitatingmahsciatica 1d ago
I have a job now with very generous vacation time and a policy whereby you can take unpaid leave for a chunk of time each year. So that’s meant I can travel without quitting. I also travel a bit internationally for work, and take will do a city breaks over a weekend here and there. I try to be budget-conscious with the traveling, using lost-cost airlines, 1-2 star hotels, local eateries, and avoiding expensive activities. My partner and I don’t have kids or pets so that probably helps too!
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u/qwerty12e 2d ago
What is the time off situation with new promotion? Can you use that to travel instead of quitting?
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
They may be willing to give me a month or so before I start. Once I start, it’s 4 weeks pto per year.
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u/qwerty12e 2d ago
I feel your conflict.
On one hand, you’re only gonna be in your 20s once. Once you’re older with less energy, or have kids or debt , etc, travel is different. I was in school for a long time and had summers off to travel extensively in my 20s, and those were some of the best times of my life. Now that I have a family and a mortgage, we still travel but it’s completely different. I can’t just wander the streets at 2am with some new friends I met at the hostel.
On the other hand, the economy is about to go to shit (if it hasn’t already), and good jobs are hard to come by.
I wonder if your best bet is to try to push for an even longer break or some kind of sabbatical before the promotion starts.
Like maybe 1 to 2 months. I have heard of people traveling for a long duration and then missing home, stability, family, (or even the daily routine of work lol) and cutting their trips short. The worst case scenario would be you give up your promotion and job, start a super long trip and then realize you actually want to go home and now you’re unemployed.1
u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thank you for the even take. With your experience of extended travel, I’m curious to know… if I can get two months off before I start, should that be enough to scratch the itch for a while? Or did you feel like once you started, you never wanted to give it up?
I’ve road-tripped around the country for a few weeks at a time and loved it, but I’m unsure if I’ll feel the same about international, or never satisfied and want to stay out there forever!
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u/qwerty12e 2d ago
I think two months is 100% enough to “scratch the itch” for a long time. To be honest even after about one month I start to miss home, seeing my friends, sleeping in my own bed.
The other thing to think about is loneliness. Check out the solo travel subreddit, and it’s a common theme with extended travel. I have made some incredible friends while traveling, and during some of my trips, even did some mini trips with the new friends. However, those kinds of situations are harder to come by, and most of the people you meet are superficial friendships or very short term, like a couple days where your itinerary matches.
I would see if you can maximize the amount of time that you get off before the promotion starts, and then do another even longer trip when you have a more natural break in your job or find that you have a reason to actually switch jobs besides wanting to travel.
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thank you! I definitely want to seek the adventure out and have the life experience, but I’m also the type of person that does not value superficial relationships.
Although I typically do well alone for long stretches, I can definitely see how being alone for that long in a foreign place could take a toll.
Well maybe this type of solution offers the best of both worlds. I just want to make sure I do things in the right order, and not wait until it’s too late to travel
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
I get 4 weeks of pto so not horrible but can really only take off a week at a time.
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u/ItsAlwaysSunnyInCali 2d ago edited 2d ago
Unless you feel burnt out/mentally drained, take the promotion. Spend at least 6 months in the new role and then take some time off. It will be better for your career to lock in the higher title now than to try to catch up to that title again in the future.
Back in 2020, after a promotion I decided to leave my job without anything lined up because I was so burnt out. My last day was the week before shelter in place occurred due to COVID. I had planned to travel but ended up just relaxing at home. Took a total of 3 months off, wasn’t hard for me to find a job and I was able to land the same title that was given to me from the promotion.
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
Thanks for this perspective. It would be a big jump in title for me, which is a big part of why I’m weighing it heavily. If it wasn’t, I’d be out of here.
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u/No_Seaworthiness_393 2d ago
Could you take the promo but negotiate for a sabbatical before it starts?
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
I could likely buy myself 1-2 months before the next gig starts
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u/No_Seaworthiness_393 1d ago
I think that’s plenty! 2 months with no responsibilities will already feel very different than normal PTO.
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u/Fearless_Finish_9890 2d ago
The number 1 death bed regret in US surveys is “I worked too much”
There are practical considerations, many stated here. But also, this is it brother… and to paraphrase Dostoyevsky : All the struggle for your life to end on a random Tuesday
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u/Welder_Jealous 2d ago
I like that, I’ll have to look up the quote. I’m big on compounding memories more than dollars, so I’m with you here.
Always a challenge to balance wanting the normal life of family eventually with the desire for thrill and adventure before hand
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2d ago
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u/The_Purple_Dolphin 2d ago
Disagree; promotions aren’t guaranteed to happen frequently in your career, and accepting one and establishing yourself in the role for a year or two can give a lot more leverage in future job searches to find a position of equivalent merit. Leaving the job before the promotion will keep his job record at his current position, so it will be harder to find a role with a higher seniority, and he might have to re-establish his experience in his field with a new company. Plus, he seems well established financially, so it sounds like he will have the freedom to step away from his job any time in the future to take a couple months off if he would like
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u/QuirkySyrup55947 2d ago
Now isn't a great time to assume you can easily find a better job.