Posts Tagged ‘Chicago’

Photo Friday: It’s Time to Meet, Plan, Go!
Friday, October 19th, 2012

A packed house in Chicago listens to a panel of career break veterans and travel experts share their stories and advice about taking a career break or sabbatical to travel.

The Chicago event, on Tuesday, October 16, was one of 10 events across North America designed to provide people with the inspiration, information and resources they need to make their travel dreams a reality.

Didn’t make it to a Meet, Plan, Go! event? No worries!

Jump start your planning with our online Career Break Basic Training course and community, and sign up for our newsletter to get the latest career break news and to find out about upcoming local meetups in a city near you!

Photo Friday: South Walton County, Florida
Friday, October 12th, 2012

Today’s Photo Friday captures the shoreline at Ed Walline Beach in South Walton County, Florida, courtesy of Meet, Plan, Go! Chicago speaker Lisa Dworkin.

Lisa is a self-proclaimed beach addict who founded The Best Beach, which offers illuminating and honest information about beaches around the world. Follow Lisa on Facebook or Twitter or meet her in person at Meet, Plan, Go! Chicago October 16th!

Join us on October 16, 2012 for our nationwide Meet, Plan, Go! events:

Austin | Boston | Chicago | Minneapolis | New York City

San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | South Florida | Toronto

MPG 2012 Chicago Host: Lisa Lubin
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

All of our local Meet, Plan, Go! hosts have inspiring stories of their own career break travels. In the months leading up to our National Event on October 16, we will introduce them to you so you can see why they are part of our team.

Meet Our 2012 Chicago Host: Lisa Lubin

I’m going to go travel around the world for a year.’ That’s the line I told my friends and colleagues back in 2006 after the idea to take a career break sort of snuck up on me and implanted itself in my brain.

And now six years later, well, in some ways I am still on my break, depending on the definition.

On a Path…

I’d worked in broadcast television for thirteen years and had a very defined life and career before my long term travels. I was on a path. To what? I am not sure. But I was on the all-American path paved by generations before me. University. Career. Home ownership. I was the picture of ‘success:’  I owned a car. I owned a condo. I had a cat (now that screams success!).  I was in a long term, serious relationship. Heck, I even had a 401K. Well, I still do actually. Just because I chucked it all, doesn’t mean I turned into an irresponsible ne’er do well after all.

Veering Off

And then the planets aligned, well, at least inside my head really, and I saw an escape and a way and a new path. So I swerved. I got off the fast highway-to-nowhere and slowed it all down.  I just did it. The decision may seem big in retrospect, but at the time, I just took one thing at a time.  I traveled to far off places. I met amazing people. I tried new foods. And I really took time to smell it all – the figurative roses, the pungent odors in hot trams of Istanbul, and the fresh sea air in Wales.

At the same time expected and unexpected, and planned and unplanned, my life has morphed into something it wasn’t before. And I am not just talking about the three years I actually was traveling consecutively, (yeah, one year became three), I’m talking about what my life has become now.

What is Work?

I never went back to a full time job, well not at least full time as defined for working for another employer.  And I’m not sure I ever feel like I am working full time, since now I am working for myself, so it feels so much different.

Some days I work very hard and never put this damn laptop down until well past midnight and I’m falling asleep on it.  Other days, I meet a friend for lunch or dinner or both or I’m traveling and I don’t get much laptop time in. It’s flexible and I’m free to do whatever I want. Of course with that comes the insecurity of when the next paycheck will come and how much longer I can sustain this new life.

But for now, I am so free, so happy that I wouldn’t change a thing.

Lisa Lubin is a three-time Emmy® Award winning television writer, producer/director, photographer, and video consultant. After more than a decade in broadcast television she decided to take a sabbatical of sorts which turned into nearly 3 years traveling and working her way around the world. She documents her (mis)adventures on her blog, LLworldtour.com, with photographs and articles from the road/train/rickshaw/camel. Her writing and photography has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Smithsonian, Encyclopedia Britannica, and American Way Magazine. She also runs LLmedia, a video consulting business. Lisa loves cheese and kittens, but not together.

Join us on October 16, 2012 for our nationwide Meet, Plan, Go! events:

Austin | Boston | Chicago | Minneapolis | New York City

San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | South Florida | Toronto

Meet, Plan, Go! 2012 Hosts
Monday, July 30th, 2012

Two weeks ago, we revealed which cities Meet, Plan, Go! is coming to in 2012. Now, we are excited to announce our fabulous hosts! We have many returning hosts and several new hosts. You’ll be able to get to know them more over the next two months, but here is a sneak peek at who they are. And be sure to check out their websites to see why they are excited to be hosting Meet, Plan, Go! this year.

AUSTIN
Shelley Seale and Keith Hajovksy (new hosts)
ShelleySeale.com | Travel Sherpa Keith
Twitter: @shelleyseale | @SherpaKeith
Facebook: How to Travel For Free | Travel Sherpa Keith

Shelley has been traveling for 25 years and Keith has hit over 40 countries in his travels. Together, they wrote a book about traveling as close to free as possible and continue to center their lives on travel. Shelley is a professional writer who does about 50% travel writing, while Keith works as the director of a startup nonprofit organization and runs a tour company.

BOSTON
Lillie Marshall (returning host)
Around the World L | Teaching Traveling
Twitter:@WorldLillie
Facebook:Around the World L | Teaching Traveling

After taking a year-long leave of absence to travel the world in 2009, Lillie returned to her teaching career with renewed energy and focus. Now, she is launching a movement to inspire and assist more teachers to travel, and more travelers to teach, thus transforming the educational experience of our world.

CHICAGO
Lisa Lubin (returning host)
LL World Tour
Twitter:@llworldtour
Facebook:LL World Tour

After working in broadcast television for more than a decade, Lisa took a career break which turned into nearly 3 years traveling and working her way around the world. A three-time Emmy® Award winning television writer, producer/director, photographer and video consultant, Lisa’s writing and photography has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Smithsonian, Encyclopedia Brittanica and American Way Magazine.

MINNEAPOLIS
Katie Aune (new host)
Katie Going Global
Twitter: @katieaune
Facebook: Katie Going Global

A former attorney, Katie left a job in fundraising and event planning last August to travel and volunteer in all 15 countries of the former Soviet Union. She will return home in September after a 13-month career break that included running a marathon in Estonia, teaching English in Russia and Tajikistan, volunteering with the national tourism board of Armenia, living with local families in Azerbaijan, and trying her best to speak Russian on a daily basis

NEW YORK CITY
Sherry Ott (former host and co-founder)
OttsWorld
Twitter: @ottsworld
Facebook: Ottsworld Travel and Life Experiences

Sherry is a Co-Founder of Meet Plan Go! and is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger and photographer.  Her travels include hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, traveling the globe house-sitting, volunteering in India and Nepal, driving 10,000 miles from London to Mongolia for the Mongol Rally and, most recently, walking 550 miles across Spain on the Camino de Santiago.

SAN DIEGO
Elaine Masters (new city and new host)
Trip Wellness
Twitter: @tripwellness
Facebook: Elaine Masters Travel Wellness

Elaine is a travel writer, international scuba diver, award-winning author of Drivetime Yoga and a Yoga teacher. Her podcast, The Gathering Road, airs on the WRN and she has been mentioned in Women’s Day Magazine, San Diego Living and the Huffington Post. One of her favorite memories is teaching Flytime Yoga at 30,000 feet on a flight to Fiji!

SAN FRANCISCO
Kristin Zibell (new host)
Take Your Big Trip
Twitter: @takeyourbigtrip
Facebook: Take Your Big Trip

In 2008, Kristin left marriage and corporate life to spend 2 years traveling to India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Volunteering, touring, trekking, photographing and blogging along the way, she used her past professional experience to pay for her adventures by consulting between trips. She settled in San Francisco in 2010 and writes a blog to inspire others to live their travel dreams.

SEATTLE
Lori Stone (new host)
The Joy Guild
Twitter: @thejoyguild
Facebook: Art Camp for Big Kids

After 20 years in the corporate, nonprofit and technology sectors, Lori began a research sabbatical and career break this year. She is taking time off from contract management work to explore the world around her by leading creative art retreats, traveling, writing, learning, continuing outreach as a cancer survivor-turned-advocate, building communities and – most importantly – having fun.

SOUTH FLORIDA
Jillian & Danny Tobias (new hosts)
I Should Log Off
Twitter: @ishouldlogoff
Facebook: I Should Log Off

Jillian and Danny traveled around the world for 21 months, traversing famous overland routes like Capetown to Cairo and the old silk road. Experts in budgeting and financing your dream, they have been featured by finance and business writers from The New York Times, Sun-Sentinel, and US News & World Report. In 2011, the couple started Doughhound, a budgeting website to help others achieve their financial goals.

TORONTO
Janice Waugh (returning host)
Solo Traveler Blog
Twitter:@solotraveler
Facebook:Solo Travel Society

Janice has enjoyed many forms of travel at different times of life…20-something travel, family travel, and career break travel. As publisher of Solo Traveler, author of The Solo Traveler’s Handbook and moderator of the Solo Travel Society on Facebook, she aims to inspire others to discover the world as they discover themselves.She has spoken at The Smithsonian on solo travel and has been quoted in many media outlets including CNN, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, LA Times and USA Today.

Join us on October 16, 2012 for our nationwide Meet, Plan, Go! events:

Austin | Boston | Chicago | Minneapolis | New York City

San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | South Florida | Toronto

To be the first notified when tickets go on sale this fall, sign up for our newsletter.

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