Officially informed work of my trip
I took the plunge a little ahead of schedule and officially let my boss know that I will be doing my trip starting on March 1. I did . My company needed to know whether I would be available to take on a new position that they wanted me to fill. My boss is now going to speak with HR to see if I can take a leave of absence for 12-14 months. I could take one for six months with no problem but if I am going to do this trip, I might as well go all in. Now I just have to wait and see what my company is going to do with me for the next three months. The most likely thing will be that I will go to Michigan for December and January. There is a two month project at our new Michigan plant that they need help with. I have worked with this compound before so I could be useful there. If I do go to Michigan, I should be able to save money as the company pays by bills when I go on an assignment.
On other news, I did decide to only buy plane tickets up through Hong Kong. The quote for this was $3900. I would have to buy the rest of my tickets as I go. The flight from Easter Island has me returning to Los Angeles before flying out again to Fiji. As this will be an exceedingly long flight, I may break it up and go visit my cousin in San Fransisco for a few days. I have only been to the airport and my view of the Golden Gate Bridge consisted of staring at it through a little window as it whooshed by at 550 mph.
Tags: Travel, Trip Preparation
cjun
November 7th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Backpacker,
Great news that you are taking the plunge. We are all going to need you to keep us posted on your daily exploits (plus providing tons of photos).
Please provide more details with your travels.
Sincerely,
Dogwood
November 7th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Good luck with the company! I’ll say a prayer or two!
Now, if you saw the Golden Gate from an airplane that took off from the Bay Area, it was doing considerably less than 550 mph. More like 230-280, depending on where you took off from, in what direction and so on …. 😀
And whatever you do with a mop, please don’t share with the rest of us! 🙂
November 7th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Maybe I meant meters per hour but I guess if that were the case we would be crashing. Also no one will have any idea what you are talking about with the mop.
November 14th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
Barry,
Oh how I empathize with you! It took me a long time to get up the nerve but in March of 2005 I told my boss I was quitting to take a trip around the world with a backpack. As a senior study director in a research company (and 39 years old), my boss thought I was kidding. Fast forward. My partner, Mike, and I are finished with our 374 day trip. We returned to our “home” (p.o. box and storage unit) in July 2006. We used Airtreks for our major flights but changed some of them along the way and we went to Easter Island (see our blog and look under the Chile category). When I called my boss in August 2006, she offered me a job on the phone and I took it. So now I’m back at my old research company again. Recently I gave a presentation at work about my trip around the world and Easter Island was in the Top 10 destinations. Don’t miss it! Send us an email with your itinerary and we’ll let you know where to stay (and where not to stay). I really envy you. If I could do it all over again I would – and secretly, I am hoping to leave my job again in about 10 years to travel the world a second time. You are about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. You will never regret it! Michele