How to Plan a Sabbatical in 4 Phases

Taking a sabbatical is an amazing, exciting adventure, but all the planning can get overwhelming. How will you know you have enough money? Will traveling now wreck your career? What do you do about laundry or your phone plan or health insurance? Or, or, or, or or… There’s SO much to think about. Some folks will say you can just hop on a plane and figure things out as you go. I’m way too Type A for that and I truly believe that planning your sabbatical doesn’t ruin the vibe of long-term travel – really, it frees you from stress and mistakes. The good news is you don’t have to figure out everything at once. I use my own year-long sabbatical experience to help other travelers break the process down into manageable steps… or in this case, four basic phases. Here’s how to plan a sabbatical that will feed your neverending wanderlust, reconnect you with yourself, and literally change your life!

Phase 1: Define Your Goals

Not all sabbaticals look the same. (I’ve got three examples right here and they’re still the tip of the iceberg!) As you start planning, ask yourself: What do I want to get out of this experience? You might consider:

• Traveling as much as possible and checking off that CVS-receipt-length bucket list you have.
• Immersing yourself in another culture by traveling more slowly since you’ll have more time than just a vacation.
• Gaining new skills like learning a language, getting a dive certification, or taking cooking classes abroad.
• Volunteering or working abroad by teaching English, WWOOFing on organic farms, or picking up temp jobs on a working holiday visa.

Getting crystal clear on your goals will give you a strong guiding light that can help you stay motivated during the more difficult phases of saving money and planning the boring parts of your trip.

Phase 2: Set a Realistic Budget

Sabbaticals aren’t six-figure affairs, but you also can’t just take off with zero dollars and no plan. Even if you intend to work while traveling for some income, you will need some amount of savings to get started.

Start with what you can afford to save and let that guide how long you travel. Maybe you’ve been dreaming of a gap year… but it doesn’t actually have to be an entire year! Many of my clients and Round-the-World Roadmap students take 3 or 4 month career breaks and have amazing experiences.

Remember, your budget will need to cover:

• Big costs like flights and travel insurance.
• Daily expenses in each destination, including food, a place to stay, local transport, and activities.
• Unexpected spending… because things will come up.

If you have no idea where to start, a good guideline is to budget at least $1,500 per month in lower cost regions (like Southeast Asia or Latin America) and $2,500+ per month in more expensive places (like Europe or the U.S.).

One absolute must-do before you go any further: set a departure date! If you don’t have a deadline, you will always be able to find excuses why now isn’t the “right time” for your sabbatical.

Phase 3: Map Out an Itinerary

You don’t need to figure out every single day of your sabbatical in advance, but c’mon – planning an itinerary is the fun part! Let your budget guide how long you have to travel, use those must-have experiences from phase one to set up the skeleton of your trip, and then browse Pinterest/Insta/TikTok to your heart’s content for extra inspo.

Just don’t forget about details like visa requirements or how long it takes to get from place to place.

One of my favorite tools for this phase is Rome2Rio! It’s a free transportation search engine and even though the time and cost estimates for buses and trains aren’t always 100% accurate, it’s still a good baseline AND an amazing visualizer for your route.

Read more: How I used Rome2Rio to plan my own gap year itinerary.

Phase 4: Handle the Logistics

Before you board that one-way flight, you’ll need to tackle some admin tasks. These can take time, so don’t leave them until the last minute! I recommend taking about 6 months to prepare for your transformative time off. It is possible to move more quickly, but a 6 month runway will allow you to focus on just one thing each week until you’re in your final month of prep. Here are some of the things you’ll need to attend to:

• Passports & visas—Make sure your passport is valid for at least six months after your planned return and that you have enough blank pages for visas.
• Health & safety—Some vaccines require multiple doses spread out over months, so talk to a doctor early in your planning to discuss your health care needs. Don’t skimp on travel insurance! It should be the first major purchase you make.
• Housing & work commitments—If you’re renting, check when your lease ends. If you’re employed, give notice or see if a leave of absence is an option.
• Banking & finances—Set up travel-friendly bank accounts and credit cards with no foreign transaction fees. Don’t forget to tell them when and where you’ll be traveling!
• Packing—I’m a huge believer in sticking to just one carry-on backpack, but I know this can be an adjustment. I promise you’ll still look cute in your photos! Do some test runs of your packing list well before your trip so you can adjust.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it covers many of the major categories you need to consider. Other items that might populate your sabbatical to-do list are communicating with family about your plans or selling things you won’t need while traveling.

Need More Help Planning Your Sabbatical?

There’s a lot of ground to cover, but you don’t have to do it alone. In my program Round-the-World Roadmap, I walk you through each phase and every last step of how to plan a sabbatical—budgeting, itineraries, logistics, and all the little details that make long-term travel way less stress. This isn’t just an information repository of crap you could Google. It’s chock full of custom tools and systems I used for my own year off and for other solo female travelers’ adventures!

👉 Join the waitlist here! You’ll be the first to know when enrollment opens.