Barrister in Buenos Aires

This post concerns what it takes to leave work behind, albeit for a short break

Regular readers will know of my grand escapes. Most years in the past ten, I leave the Bar behind to travel, and those who have made Google searches will know of my travel blogs here and here. You may also have found my Ageing Effortlessly blog in which I have written about ‘preparing for life after work’, which includes the value of foreign travel.

For many, travel is simply taking holidays of three, or at most four weeks. Yes – it is travel after a fashion, but its nature and duration do not allow for significant change in life and outlook. This actually constitutes a failure of living, in which we end up with unfulfilled aspirations that become impossibilities.

I am here in Buenos Aires, ostensibly to meet fellow lawyers, talk mediation and dance Argentine tango. It involves a sideways step from everyday realities of English legal practice into the shadows of another world. My break is of four months, giving time to review life, assess change and experiment with new experience and ideas.

Some readers have a problem with this – the “That may be alright for you, but it wouldn’t work for me” mentality. Their impediments to travel of this kind are usually stated as being:

• I have school fees to pay, pension to fund and a mortgage to support. I cannot afford to take such a break.
• My spouse/partner is a governor – I cannot take my children out of school out of term time, and anyway, what about their sats?
• I have elderly relatives. Who will look after them when I am away.
• The solicitors that instruct me will find someone else for their work.
• I cannot imagine what I would do with that all  time.
• What if I like it too much, then what?

Taking extended breaks does require a degree of preparation, especially financial planning; but not so much as you might think. These days it is possible to take pension and mortgage breaks. Some travellers choose to arrange a home exchange; others pack up their valuables and offer their home on a short let. With the right anticipation and notice, school fees can be avoided – after all, you will be educating your child/ren elsewhere.

Elderly relatives is a trickier emotional problem. Talk with them and ask them what they think about your proposed trip. Most older relatives report their main anxiety as not having someone to call on in the case of emergency. With careful management, this can efficiently be addressed. Sorting out your own trepidation and duty conscience is quite another – you will just have to sit down and give yourself a stern talking-to.

The fear of falling behind professionally is a psychological symptom of anxiousness, rather than a measure of any actual reality. If you are under-performing at work, you are likely to face this fate anyway; if you are competent in what you do, there is always an open professional door for those with experience.

“I get bored after a couple of weeks” is the worst comment a potential traveller can make. It says that you should give up the idea of travelling ever, and stay back to polish the car. Travelling creates interest, excitement, new horizons, offers new friendships and relationships. If you are bored by travel, you are simply doing it wrong.

‘What if I like it too much?…”. The honest answer is that you probably will. It may change your ideas about what you want from life – where you wish to live, how you wish to live, and even with whom you wish to live. Given just eighty or so years of life expecation, with a chunk already expended, what is the problem with a shake-up of lifestyle?

After all, travel creates choices, rather than restricts them. And yes, it creates challenges too, which is one of the very best reasons why we choose to do it.

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