Boomers are Getting Schooled

As an educational travel blogger that works for a company that primarily offers internships to 20-some-odd year olds, you might think it’s weird that today I am going to be talking about Boomers or what basically amounts to my parent’s generation, 50 to 60 plus people that are nearing retirement or have already down shifted to a more relaxed lifestyle.  What purpose do Boomers have for an educational resource?  They are retired; they are done learning.  They are past their prime.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It is time they sat down, pulled up their walkers and stayed there just to be sure that they don’t break a hip stepping down off the sidewalk.

Now that I have offended every person over the age of 50 without enough of a sense of humour to know I’m kidding, let me set the record straight.  You are never too “old” to learn.  In fact, for the rest of this post I will not even use the “o” word because it does not describe this demographic accurately at all.  My father is 56 and still plays basketball three times a week, is currently doing his own basement renovation, jogs down along the shoreline with the dog every day, shovels his own driveway with an actual shovel and still finds time to beat me at chess when we get together for dinner.  He is the definition of a Boomer and he is thriving.  He might have a few grey hairs dispersed through what is left of his hair and a few more laugh lines but he is never opposed to learning something new.  As a teacher at the local high school for the past 30 years, he embraces learning and actually taught himself a new architectural computer program so that he could add it to the curriculum for students.  He learns new “tricks” all the time and I don’t foresee anything slowing him down any time soon. 

Retire ≠ End of Life

Not many people actually reach retirement age, quit their jobs and then plunk down on the couch until they die.  It is A) not practical and B) gets boring/dull/mind numbingly brainless extremely quickly.  You are going to go crazy if you transition from working 40 or more hours a week at work to having absolutely nothing to do other than cut your lawn with a pair of nail clippers.  It might seem relaxing for the first few days but eventually you are going to be pounding on your children’s doors begging them to let you babysit just so that you feel like you are contributing to society again.  Many folks don’t ever even completely retire just for that reason.  In fact, according to Stats Canada, 13% of retirees were going back to work in 1994.  And the trend is not declining.  By 2010, almost 22% of retired individuals were returning to work either full-time or part-time.  Some return to work for financial reasons but many return to work simply because they still have the ability to hold down a job and are unable to adapt to life in the passing lane so to speak.

Retirement does not have to be boring.  I have good news; you don’t have to go back to the workforce in order to feel fulfilled. 

Go back to school instead.

Ok, for those of you that stuck with me through the erroneous stereotypical rant back up at the beginning; hang in there just a bit longer for me to redeem myself on this comment as well because you are probably thinking I am just blowing hot air.  School is for young whippersnappers that wear their pants around their ankles and go out partying every Friday night.  I am not even going to bother to address that misconception at the moment since in some cases it is partially true and those students give me a bad image.  But consider that I am not talking about school in the formal sense.

School does not have to be a four walled institution with desks, blackboards, homework assignments and long cafeteria lines. 

School can mean a building full of teachers and students and jammed printers but it can also be your downtown community centre or book club or if you are really adventuresome, a monastery in Thailand where you spend the day finding balance and wisdom in community with other like-minded Zen individuals.

School is anywhere where you find learning.

If you are heading towards retirement, it is probably been something you have been looking forward to ever since you got out of high school.  There were so many things, namely work, that held you back from experiencing the world around you.  There are so many things that you have wanted to do.  Sure it would have been great to stay up to 3:00 am to watch the World Rugby Championship but you probably had work in the morning and could only catch the highlight reel.  It would have been fantastic to be able to drop everything to take advantage of last minute discounted plane tickets for an impromptu trip to Australia to visit with the kangaroos but you had that report to finalize.  And travelling anywhere when you have three teenagers still living at home is a nightmare unto itself. 

But you will soon be free and you will soon be bored.  So what are your options?

A)     Go back to work – This is possible but probably the least favourable option because you don’t work towards retirement your whole life just to jump back in.  That’s like being freed from quicksand and just turning around and stepping back in.

B)      Be bored – Again, this is not advisable but it will be relaxing.  You can sit back and relax into a vegetable as you cease developing your experiences and knowledge base.

C)      Travel – Travelling is always a popular idea for the retired folks out there because it represents the freedom that they have lacked while tied down to a job with minimal vacation time.  It represents spontaneity and can be revitalizing, relaxing and full of adventure as you travel around with only your passport and a map you picked up at the airport to keep you on track.

D)     Learn something – This is also a popular plan for those who want to continue to stimulate their minds and boast about new skills.  You could take a pottery class or learn photography.  Perhaps you could also learn how to salsa like a pro or maybe you’ve always wanted to learn a new language.  You have the time so why not commit to something challenging, eye opening and perhaps a bit obscure just so your stories are a bit more worthwhile.

You caught me, options A and B were not really serious options.  But C and D definitely were but here is the catch...  There is actually a secret option. 

Option E. Travel and learn.

You’ve always wanted to visit Cuba but you’ve also always wanted to learn to dance.  Well, as you may have heard, Cuba is a hot spot for the mambo, salsa, and a wide assortment of fast stepping, hip swinging dances that are sure to add some bounce to your step and flare to your skirt.  Sign up for a few weeks worth of lessons that you can squeeze in among sightseeing adventures.  Or maybe you have always wanted to travel somewhere in Asia like Thailand but you are nervous because you don’t know the language and being one of those lost tourist sounds like a horrifying experience.  You’ll go after you’ve checked out a few audio books from the local library and taught yourself.  Guess what, there are people in Thailand that speak Thai and English and who are willing to teach you. Forget the audio books.  It is easier to pick up a language when you are immersed and forced to practice and use in everyday conversations anyways.

As for the educational travel opportunities that will make your friend’s eyes pop, consider learning how to train an elephant like a professional mahout over in Thailand or craft fine Kimonos like the skilled silk makers in Japan.  Bring back souvenirs of glass blown figurines that you personally made and prepare authentic sushi just like the master chefs so that everyone will begin drooling in unison.

The Government of Ontario even has resources set up to help people retire abroad completely if that interests them but I love Canada so I encourage you to come back every now and again from your travels.

What it comes down to is there is absolutely no reason why your retirement can’t be as rich and stimulating as your professional career full of challenges, learning and boundless opportunities for self improvement.  Broaden your horizons and become an international jet setting student.

For more education and travel opportunities, check out the websites below.  Also, please leave a comment regarding any “edutourism” opportunities you have experienced or would like to try.  Because chances are if you want to try it, so does someone else.

http://cubaplus.ca/Volume20/index.php

http://www.internationalcareerstudies.com

http://blog.smithsonianstudenttravel.com/

Gaps Years for Everyone - Part 2

My last blog post hopefully quelled some of your assumptions regarding who can take a gap year and what are some of the common motivators for mature professionals to make an adventure out of some extended time away from the office.  This second part will address the logistics of taking a gap year, how to go about it and the affects it may or may not have on your career, finances and professional development.  Because let’s face it, as much as we may all want to take a few months off and get out of this “rut” of a career we are in, there are certain obstacles, (your boss and those pesky bills that show up in the mail every month) that we are going to have to face first.

How It Will Affect My Career?

Many people worry that a gap year will affect their professional career advancement and goals.  Employers might not understand an employee disappearing for 6 to 12 months.  After all, if they didn’t want you around in the foreseeable future, they’ll just fire you and hire a replacement, right?  Younger generations tend not to be as worried about this as many assume they will have plenty of time to make up for the loss of momentum.  Plus, chances are they are not as committed to their entry level, minimum salary jobs at this point either.

If you are truly worried about marginalizing your career prospects by taking the time off, keep in mind that fast tracking your career should not be the main goal or focus of the program.  Taking a gap year is comparable to taking the scenic route through the countryside even though all the main roads for the first time in recorded history are not under construction.  The purpose of a gap year is to take a step back and examine the path currently being taken.  Time away should be self-fulfilling. 

However that is not to say that a gap year cannot have professional benefits.  Depending on the itinerary and your resilience to succumbing to the idea of spending an entire year laying on a beach somewhere in Australia (the 3 feet of snow outside my window makes that idea difficult to resist), time away can be used to equip one’s self with new experiences and skills that complement a formal education and workplace experience.  Internships are a popular gap year activity and if you land the right internship position, it can definitely add some “wow” factor to your resume and provide you with a host of international networking opportunities that you never would have encountered.

Checklist

Before you decide to take a break, here are the things you may need to negotiate with your employer because chances are your employer is reluctant to give you your vacation days let alone a few months off.  You need to be prepared to make some sacrifices and not all employers are going to react the same way to the idea of you taking an extended leave.

·         What will my employment rights be while on the break?

·         Will my job be guaranteed upon my return?

·         How much responsibility will I have in putting replacement mechanisms in place?

·         Can I do some work experience while on break?

·         Can I take part in training courses or undertake assignments?

·         What contact can I have with my employer in order to keep in touch with changes at work?

·         When do I need to return to work?

·         What other benefits can I keep (e.g. health, club memberships)?

Before approaching your employer, however, you need to think about a few things in order to establish your value.  If you are relatively new at your workplace, it is going to be more difficult to sway opinion in your favour than if you have been at the same company for over a decade and have proven yourself a valuable asset to the team.  Basically, you need to figure out what your employer thinks you are worth and how much they are willing to concede in order to keep you happy, productive and with the firm.  Here are a few points that you should consider:

·         Your real value to your employer, i.e., how much has your employer invested in your recruitment, training and development?

·         The skills shortages in your profession or area of work

·         Your employer’s future developments and planned growth

·         What costs will your employer incur in replacing your skills, experience and knowledge?

·         The value of your requested employment break to improving employee relations, recruitment, and retention and public image

Financial Implications

People don’t like to talk about the dirty “m-word” but “money” is the single most difficult obstacle that people face when deciding to take a gap year and I am talking corn maze in the middle of a Saskatchewan corn field difficult obstacle kind of thing.  You are going to need a plan before heading in and it have better be a good one or else you it’s going to be over before you even get started.

Usually taking a gap year implies that one will not be drawing their typical salary.  Chances are there will still be bills to pay during this year off such as a mortgage, rent, insurance, utilities, etc.  Combine with the cost of actually travelling abroad and looking for accommodations in your destination, it can be daunting. 

Consider the following options that can be used to save money prior to departure and while completing your gap year:

·         Cancel all unnecessary services such as gym memberships and magazine subscriptions in order to save and suspend cable, phone and internet while travelling

·         Consider selling a valuable asset such as an antique or painting that has little sentimental value

·         If travelling abroad, rent your house out or sublet your apartment to perhaps another international gap year traveller for the extent of your travels

·         Ask friends, family and associated organizations for sponsorship funds or host a raffle

·         Find a program that will allow you to work while travelling abroad in exchange for a monthly stipend of spending money or perhaps an internship opportunity that will provide you with accommodations and a meal plan over the course of your stay

·         Homestays are a good way to reduce the cost of living abroad; it involves living with a family in your desired destination often in exchange for rent or perhaps childcare assistance

Accommodations

Housing is perhaps the biggest expense you will encounter while travelling.  It usually accounts for the largest portion of your income and without your typical salary, continuing to pay your mortgage or rent is often difficult.  Add to that the fact that you will also need to pay for housing wherever in the world you end up.  There are cost saving measures available however because you are not the first person to attempt a gap year and there are thousands of others out there offering to help circumvent the accommodation issue so you can still participate and not be stressed financially.

Renting Your Property Out – Assuming that you own a house, you could rent it out either independently or through a rental agency as it will provide you with a way to continue to pay your mortgage and bills while travelling.

House Swapping – Swapping houses and even your car with an individual or couple in the city you wish to visit has the benefit of paying your mortgage, not having to leave your property empty, and sets you in a neighbourhood versus in the middle of tourist country.  Many people who are uncomfortable with straight up renting their house out are more comfortable with this option because they know that just as they must trust their swap partner to care for their house, so must the swap partner trust them to care for their home.

Leaving Your Property Empty – If renting or swapping are not options you are thrilled about, you could leave your property empty.  This will be expensive but you can cut the cost by cancelling or suspending all unnecessary services and get a friend to check in every so often, collect mail and tend to the exterior (mow lawn, shovel snow, etc) to give the impression that the house is not vacant.

Staying in Private Homes – A homestay situation is possible if you do not apply for a swap situation but are willing to consider living with another family abroad which is often cheaper than other rental options.  Staying with a family also has the benefits of allowing you to better connect with the local culture and learn the language if applicable as you will be faced with daily family interactions.

Combining Travel & Work

If finances are still an issue for you at this point, another option would be to combine your gap year with a working abroad program.  This type of situation would definitely add to your resume though if you make arrangements with your current employer to remain with their company, you might have to check in to see what rights you have to work for someone else at the same time. 

Working abroad while you travel is a popular choice among mature professionals.  And why not?  If you are a journalist in Canada, why can’t you travel and continue working as a journalist in Cuba?  By setting up a temporary home and work situation abroad, you will be able to make new friends, learn another language, and experience the true culture and how other people live much more thoroughly than any average tourist.  And as mentioned above, working abroad while travelling also allows one to supplement the cost of travelling and bridge the financial leap that is often taken with a gap year.  And finally, it can look great on a resume as it shows initiative and international awareness which is much easier to justify to employers than a six month vacation.  Working provides the added benefit of being able to pick up the local language with greater ease.  I know after six years of French class I am still hopeless when it comes to carrying on a basic conversation but after three weeks working at a summer camp in Quebec, my friend was just about fluent.

Be prepared to overcome certain hurdles when working abroad as it will undoubtedly require gaining specific visas and permissions from foreign ministries specifically in the United States and Australia.  Teaching English is always a popular choice and in many countries it requires no additional education or certification to become an ESL instructor.  In fact, Thailand is offering paid teaching positions to English speaking travellers; covering travel expenses, providing housing, meals and other necessities. Cuba allows you to teach English with unpaid internships as well, while still benefitting from all the other perks of working abroad.

Tourism jobs are also a good idea as the travel and tourism industry employs over 78 million people and English is often a sought after skill.

When it comes right down to it, yes, it is going to be a challenge to sort out all the details and make arrangements for your gap year and it is going to potentially affect your career and pocket book.  But those cons don’t outweigh the pros of what you will receive through taking some time to get perspective on your life or even rejuvenate your routine.  And when the alternative might be suffering from burnout, going crazy, pulling out your hair and dreading your cubical (which is essentially the same thing as a padded cell but with fewer pillows), it might be worth it.  The other option is quitting your current job but I personally think that travelling the world sounds more fun than revamping my resume.

Gaps Years for Everyone - Part 1

Gap years are not just for students.  Now before mature professionals and active boomers begin to scoff at this idea, call me crazy and have flashbacks to the Bill Cosby comedy series “Kids Say the Darndest Things”, hear me out.  You obviously have some preconceived false notions of what a gap year is and who can participate.  Therefore, I am going to try to break it down and explain away some of the stereotypes you may already have before the studio audience starts laughing at me.

What Is a Gap Year?

A gap year can be defined as any change in the regular pattern of your working life spanning from a couple of months to a year or longer, as long as it is greater in length than a regular holiday.  A gap year can last six weeks or longer and gives the participant a chance to be freed from professional obligations.  In academia, a gap year is also known as a sabbatical where teachers refresh their knowledge, conduct original research or join an exchange program.

Going abroad is not even essential to a gap year as the term simply means taking a leave of absence from your typical routine to pursue another goal, dream, interests or family orientated activities.  You therefore could theoretically use your gap year to do volunteer work in Ethiopia to save the starving children or you could take a road trip to see just how many Tim Horton’s you can hit up between here and Nunavut.  The choice is up to you and your options (please don’t take the road trip) are wide open.

Who Can Take a Gap Year?

When it comes to taking a gap year, age does not matter.  Seriously.  Gaps years are typically associated with college or university students but anyone from a 19 year old college freshman to your 70 year old grandmother can take a gap year.  You can go by yourself or you can take your family if that is a feasible (or rather desirable) option.

Basically, if you drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic each day to put up with a supervisor that belittles your efforts, shoves you in a small cubical, docks your pay when you take an extra 30 seconds for lunch, forces you to work overtime on the weekend causing you to miss little Timmy’s little league game and you need a break longer than the 5 vacations days you had to sell your soul to get, you qualify ... as do all other professionals that don’t find their work lives quite as depressing and just think it would be neat to try something different.

Triggers & Motives

There are many reasons why people decide to take a year off ranging from the desire to seek personal development to the fact that they just need a change in pace.

Burnout – You are bored, really bored and probably feel exhausted more often than not despite the 10 hours of sleep you got plus that nap you took sometime during the day in your office chair.  This feeling of burnout is rooted in how you feel about your current job/lifestyle/routine. 

Excess & Affluence – Maybe you actually love your job and look forward to getting up each morning to spend the day with your co-workers but something inside you is feeling inspired to make change on a larger scale than being the only one in the entire office that can convince the copier to actually copy things instead of eating them for breakfast.  You are satisfied with work but you also imagine how you could contribute towards the greater good in the midst of a crisis with the excess of resources you have at your disposal. 

Sensory Overload – You work in a large, thriving metropolitan centre; picture New York and Sex in the City, but unlike Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda (don’t judge me, I actually had to Google their character names), you desire to seek a simpler, less burdened period of time away from the “fast track”.  To spend even one month away from the smog, the billboards, the media and the pressure would be a relief.

Depression &Trauma – Many people that feel depressed and worn down by their jobs decide to take a gap year which is along the same lines of feeling burned out though depression can be a bit more intense and should definitely be addressed. Similarly those that have experienced a recent traumatic event (i.e., natural disaster, death of a family member) can find themselves reassessing what is important in life and decide to take a gap year in order to fulfill some life-long goal or to gain some much needed perspective.

The Danger Age – Research suggests that at the age of 30, many people are looking to find more purpose in their lives beyond their nine to five jobs or perhaps even just feel like they need to take the chance while they still have it prior to parenthood if that is somewhere they feel their lives will eventually take them.  (Personally I prefer the idea of being an aunt to being a mother because at the end of the day I get to give the kids back, but that is a completely different topic).  Now whether that age is actually 30 is debatable but in essence it is the point of your life when you begin to feel like you are running out of time to be young, adventuresome, and maybe a tad privileged.    

Property Ladder Pressures – If you own a house chances are that is where your money is tied up and taking an unpaid leave of absence from work is not possible.  Full time earners often feel pressured to buy property rather than continuing to rent a.k.a the black hole of doom that sucks away all your hard earned money with nothing in return, and therefore feel that this is their last chance to do something exciting before becoming a responsible homeowner with a ... wait for it ... *gasp* mortgage.

Freedom from Responsibilities – The last child goes off to university or finally moves out and suddenly people feel a lot more freedom to travel and be more ambitious in their adventures.  You no longer are responsible for making sure Junior has clean clothes and six meals a day.  You get to start thinking about yourself again for once and it can be extremely liberating.  At this point, you are probably feeling a bit more financially secure as your kids are grown up and paying their own bills meaning extra funds for your retirement savings or that new ATV speedboat hammock for the cottage.

Turning Fifty – When nearing 50, people begin to panic that they are reaching retirement age and desire to try something that will shake off the metaphorical dust and prolong the fact that they are getting “old”.  For those that fall into this category, you are not “old”, you just have a few more grey hairs than you did a couple years ago and are still perfectly capable of being active and exciting.

Retirement – With so much extra time, many retirees prefer to stay active as long as they can and choose to accomplish this through a wide range of experiences including gap year programs.  Remember when I said that even your 70 year old grandmother could participate?  Well I wasn’t lying.  She can and she’s probably been retired already for 20 some odd years.  If she can do it, so can you because chances are it will be much more satisfying than a mundane vacation somewhere down south in Florida where surrounded by uninspired retirees on the beach, you are going to feel older than you actually are.

What are some of the reasons why you might want to or have chosen to take a gap year?  Do your reasons line up with any of the options posted above?