Gap year
 

With so many posts on this topic, I will apologise now if this is already covered , but here goes. My wife finishes her Nursing degree next year, and then has a year to work for the health trust that sponsored her, I am just about hanging on to my sanity in order I stay in my job that supports her and our two boys (20 & 19), in 2015 we have decided that a gap year is going to happen, and by the look of the forum, people do start thinking about this quite a long time in advance.
We will finance it by selling the house, yes folks, there is no way I want the agro of tenants, I know of so many nightmare stories from friends, so its not worth it to me. I have worked in Africa and Asia, and we are both experienced tourers on the bike, although mainly europe, east and west.
The idea is not just rely on the set aside from the house sale, but to find work in the places we decide to stay in, so for instance, western europe, has anyone any experience of obtaining casual work, we are both mature, but fit, well, and have practical skills. I am considering taking a teaching English as a foreign language qualification.
We will camp and hostel wherever we can, and due to my wife being Slovakian, we intend to leave some clobber in Slovakia on one of our visits by car prior to going.
This may seem like a burning of bridges plan, but when we return we aim to start all over again anyway.
Any comments :welcome:

Not sure what you're asking there mate ???


It sounds like a great plan though. Just get out there and see what happens.

Yeah - why are you supporting 20 and 19 year olds?

I ask myself the same thing every day when I look at our two. :rofl:

Good point re supporting the boys!!! they are both still at college, but do earn their keep, i've managed to instil that ethic at least, they will both be in uni by the time we go, and like with my two older ones, will learn true survival.
as for the point of the message, I should have been more direct, it's mainly to do with work, has anyone on the forum any experience of this in he countries they have visited?

Working in Europe
 

Not sure for all countries but you will have to consider-
Surely if you intend to work in any country then you are going to need the following
1. A registered local home address(in the visiting country) To enable you to get a job and pay all local taxes
2. A job which you cannot get without a local home address
3. Some countries will require that you get a local work permit which you cannot get without Items 1 and 2 so catch 22 situation
4. You will have to make sure all your local taxes are fully paid before leaving that country.
5. You cannot get a local bank account without item 1 and no credit cards without item 2.
6: You will also have to pay local health insurance or arrange for private insurance in the UK

I live in CZ and some of my friends have been out of work for 12 months here as local companies find it cheaper and less hassle to employ locals who have all the language skills anyway, including TFL. So you might find it takes longer to get a job.
Renting accommodation can be a pain as sometimes the landlord will want references and deposits so be warned
Even though you are visiting EU countries there are still restrictions on how long you can stay and if you can work.

I would strongly recommend that you do your research into the countries you want to stay in to fully understand the restrictions and costs involved there are always some hidden details that will catch you out. Its one thing just to visit but totally different when living somewhere.

PS. If you sell your house then you will have to tell your bank, change your passport with new UK address, Change your driving licence address, change the bike insurance for extended stay outside of the UK, arrange health and life insurance.

Good luck:confused1:

Thanks for the realistic reply RoadTrekker, the totally burning the bridges option is one that I know is fraught with problems to overcome, as is employment, as I say, I have so many friends who for reasons various have rented out their houses, and come back to a variety of problems, even when the let has been entrusted to an agent!
At the moment, as you will have seen, we are a long way off, and all sorts of things can happen! we have another couple of years of traveling for 3-4 weeks at a time to get some more ideas regarding where, when, and how long for!
The fact is that it is going to happen somehow, but I do welcome ANY comments from forum members who have taken the plunge for similar reasons.
Thanks

Just an opinion
 

My gut feeling, based on travelling around Europe & working further afield, is that you may be able to find casual work in Europe which is seasonal; e.g. in the ski resorts for the winter and the seaside resorts and campsites for the summer season; but, you will need to have skills that are current and immediately useful to the particular activity.
Further afield it may be possible to work casually also, where ever there is a bouyant economy; as roadtrekker says, where there are current issues in an economy then work is far less likely to be on offer with the potential exception of a local "black" economy.
You might agree, from your work experience in Africa/Asia, that TEFL only pays well where there is a high standard of living, such as in Japan. Elsewhere, the locals get by with their own folks to teach them English.

This is a major employment disadvantage for the Brits who gave English to the world; we don't bother very much to learn another language (which one, or more?? French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Danish etc? -- The second most commonly spoken language in the UK now is Polish) while, every where else, English is taught in the schools.

Have discussed this further with my wife, and friends, and have taken on board the solid advice re passports, credit cards etc, and am looking at downsizing from a house to a flat (coastal property), pay off the mortgage, and still have funds, and somewhere that would be easier to rent out, and with neighbours around, possibly more secure.
I have read several posts regarding becoming stateless, thats not the idea, the idea is to start again in life with new goals, and broader horizons, luckily I now have someone who also shares that dream :clap:

There's no need to keep a flat or any property in your "home" country as long as you have a trusted friend (or one of your sons, etc.) whose address you can use; alternatively, there are mail forwarding services which provide you with a "permanent" address in your home country. Either of those is going to be a better option than using a flat address where you have a renter, anyway.

We've been expats for 18 years, and have never owned property and never plan to. We keep a couple of US credit cards (using a parent's address), a French credit card (using a mail forwarding company address) and a couple of Chinese credit cards (using our current "home" address). We have US, French and Chinese drivers' licenses (each with a different address), too. It's really not a big deal.

That's especially true since almost all credit cards allow for on-line or automatic payment, and nearly everything banking-, investment-, or retirement account-related can be done on-line. We pick up paper mailings related to our accounts only about once per year - all the rest we do by internet from wherever we are.

Your larger problem is going to be work permit issues - but you're already a huge step ahead with the right to work anywhere in the EU. Nurses are in high demand throughout much of the "developing" world, and there are fewer restrictions than you might expect on local certification requirements. If you have a teaching certificate, that will get you a fair way as well. While it is true that teaching English isn't very lucrative, there is quite a lot of demand in a number of countries (China being a good example), not just for children but also for adults/companies. Unfortunately, most of the schools/tutoring companies are going to want a reasonable time commitment (usually 1 year), so casual month-by-month is harder.

Is there any reason you have to limit yourself to just a year?

Anyway, just wanted to toss out another perspective, FWIW.:innocent:

travel4four, all info is considered, and I value that from those that have done, or are doing it, and certainly the use of a "trustworthy" address is worth a thought. I have time to plan. some people probably just go, and some may plan and plan, I intend to compile a ideas book during the waiting stage, as we are both planners (just can't help it!) and as in many other posts suggest, riding around with a few objectives is a bit pointless, although we don't want to be too rigid or time framed, we will not have a bottomless pit of funds, so we want to get as much from the year as possible.
Would I take longer? not sure, when I worked overseas I met people who never went back, certainly I can whole heartily relate to the re-adjustment tales, as life used to feel very hum drum when I returned, and even now, most of our friends are motorcycle travellers.
please keep the ideas flowing folks :thumbup1: