As I was copping some grief from the Director of HR about my blog and the business and leadership component of what I write about. I understand his perspective, I was undertaking a business course and was writing about business based issues related to my workplace and he was concerned about negative exposure.

He made a comment about some of my trips as I sometimes write about those, I try to write about a wide variety of subjects. Most of my trips I wrote about on my blog were the most recent trips and Mark got me thinking, why don’t I write more about past trips? My memory is still good, I admit, I don’t remember every day of a trip as those trips went for three to six months at a time. Back then, a two week trip was just a short break from work before getting back into it.

A three to six month trip meant resigning from my job, paying my bills in advance so it wouldn’t leave me without funds on the trip. Upon returning, this involved paying any outstanding bills and then saving for the next trip. I owned property and had a household to run and pay for; electricity, water and telecommunications tend to reduce during that period but there are still base charges. Local government rates, insurance and other outgoings were fixed so they never reduced despite the property being empty.

I would work when I was away, but that would generally cover the cost of travel, that wouldn’t pay bills at home or generate savings let alone add to my superannuation. Working also meant filling your day in, immersing yourself in the local culture and giving yourself some purpose. As I get closer to retirement, I will do exactly the same again.