Travel Interview:
Jeff Jung of Career Break Secrets
Of all the hundreds of travel bloggers I know, the person who’s carved out the most interesting career for himself through his travels and blogging is American Jeff Jung of Career Break Secrets. You see, Jeff somehow managed to create and host his own TV Show, Career Break Secrets! How awesome is that?!
I recently managed to catch up with Jeff to interview him about his TV show as well as his own world travels, his career break, his new book and his expertise about other career break travelers. Let’s find out what Jeff has to say:
Q1: You mentioned on Career Break Secrets that you started traveling internationally at the tender age of 16, via a study abroad program to Australia. That’s a great start to world travels!
How much international traveling did you do between that and your more recent big career break in 2007?
I followed up the Australia trip with a year abroad after high school to South Africa. After that everything stopped while I was in college. But, once I finished my formal education in my late 20s, I had the time (and money) again to start exploring the world. I made many trips back to South Africa, but also hit France, Argentina and Mexico. I also had the chance to cover a large part of the US.
Q2: Obviously people take career breaks to travel for various reasons. What specifically prompted you to take a career break?
It all came to a head one night on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. I was out with friends sipping margaritas and eating Spanish food. I had not been myself for a while and I couldn’t quite figure out how to get out of my funk.
My friends had been seeing me like this for a while and asked me a simple question, ¨Jeff, what is it going to take to make you happy?¨ I couldn’t answer the question. And, it stayed with me all weekend. As I kept thinking about it, I finally realized that I wanted to stop climbing the corporate ladder and start traveling to see the world.
That night, that question on the Riverwalk was my catalytic moment and I’ve found that most, if not all, career breakers have one prompting them finally to take action toward their career break.
Jeff road tripping in Patagonia – Chile
Q3: When you left, did you fully intend to return? (And if so, how long did you intend to be gone?) Or did you suspect / hope you might do something entirely different afterward?
I planned for a long trip – my trip was just under two years, significantly longer than the average career break of 3-6 months. I decided that I wasn’t going to worry about reentry issues while traveling. I wanted to enjoy my time off and knew there was plenty of time to worry about reentry when I returned. Having said that, I took some steps to ease the re-entry like updating my resume and portfolio. I knew I’d never remember all the details of my career after a couple of years.
Q4: Why / when / how did you decide to not return to corporate life in the USA? Was it a specific travel incident? A slowly emerging idea? A realization about the purpose and/or quality of life? Or?
Well, I met someone in Colombia and stayed.
Jeff Jung – Career Break Secrets – Patagonia – Chile
Q5: Why did you choose to take your career break to South America?
I had always wanted to learn to speak Spanish fluently. I found a language institute that had centers in Buenos Aires, Santiago and Quito. So, I was able to combine my studies with travel. By the end, I accomplished my goal and now, several years later, I do a lot of contract work translating here in Bogotá.
Q6: Afterward, you settled in Bogota, Colombia. Why Bogota?
Once I knew I would be in Colombia, the best option for me was Bogotá. As the seat of government and the business capital of the country, there are many more opportunities here for an expat than other cities in Colombia.
Medellin is popular too with many expats and I would love to live there. But, I wouldn’t have the same breadth of opportunities that I have here.
Jeff Jung – Career Break Secrets –
Q7: How the heck did you create your very own TV show and get that launched?
I’m not even sure myself! I sort of fell into it. When I started Career Break Secrets, I knew that it would be hard to support myself blogging alone. I needed something else to monetize and earn a living.
I read an article in the New York Times about people making money with video on the web. That started my interest in getting into video. Along the way, an old business acquaintance saw what I was doing. Randomly, she introduced me to the people at the channel. I sent in an episode, they liked it and before I knew it, they offered to make me an anchor show on the new channel.
It just goes to show you that you need to nurture your network and keep in touch.
Q8: Who are the majority of your readers / followers / fans on Career Break Secrets? For instance, do they tend to be in a particular age group / single or married / with or without kids / from particular careers more than others? Or is there a whole range of different types of people interested in career breaks?
We get people of all age ranges. But, I would say that the majority are in their late 20s and 30s. We get a large number of singles (most of them women) and couples (mostly without kids).
Jeff Jung – Career Break Secrets – Goreme – Turkey
Q9: Is there a particular style/type of travel that career break-ers tend to prefer in terms of standard of accommodation, destinations, activities and so on? Or do they have many different styles of travel?
Because the length of the trip is at least one month and averages 3-6 months, career breakers are on a budget. Depending on the person, that can mean bare-bones accommodation (couchsurfing every night) to a private hostel room to an apartment rental. It rarely includes daily hotel rooms (although a career break is a good time to cash in those points you’ve been saving for an occasional splurge).
Also, career breakers indulge in street food and cook for themselves to economize. And overland travel is very popular as buses and trains are often much cheaper than flights.
The thing that really sets career breakers apart is that they want to make their time count. They have a goal or two they want to accomplish and build their trip around these.
In my case, learning Spanish and learning to ski were integral to my time on my break. Generally speaking, career breakers focus on three types of activities to accomplish their goal(s): learn something new, see the world in a cool way and volunteer.
Jeff Jung – Career Break Secrets – Guinness – Scotland
Q10: Do most career break-ers you know of tend to return to their careers/former lives, making their world trip a one-shot-deal? Or do many decide to ditch their former lives to continue traveling and/or do something entirely different, like you did?
About 70% of career breakers return to their lives and go back to their careers. For them, the time away was a career break in the purest definition of the term. They had a career, left it for a bit and then returned to it.
The other 30% of us, go off to do something different afterward.
Jeff Jung – Career Break Secrets – Villa de Leyva – Colombia
Q11: You’ve written a great guidebook for career breakers entitled The Career Break Traveler’s Handbook.
On your website you already give a lot of free tips, suggestions and advice on taking a career break to travel. So could you please tell us what’s covered in more depth in your guidebook. i.e.What will readers find in your book that’s not on your site?
The biggest difference between the book and the site is that the book lays out a holistic process for planning your big trip.
Yes, a lot of the information is on the site. But in a book I was able to organize it along the career break process: Deciding, Planning, Traveling and Re-entry. In that context, I was able to go deeper on various topics than I could in any single blog post.
For example, I go into much more detail about the budgeting aspects: how to set a budget and tips for staying on it while you’re on the road. I also include many more stories of other career breakers and their stories are in context with whatever theme I’m discussing at that point of the book.
Q12. I’m currently writing a series of travel tips entitled How To Afford Long-Term World Travel.
What’s your perspective on affording world travels? Any tips, suggestions, advice, or experience you’d like to share?
Before my career break I never stayed in a hostel. I had a very warped and negative impression of what it meant to stay in a hostel.
On my first break from my studies in Argentina, I took an extended road trip with some friends to Northwest Argentina. They were all experienced hostel veterans so I went with the flow.
My perspective forever changed. Not only did I learn how much money there was to be saved, but I learned all the benefits of staying in hostels: socializing and meeting new people, kitchen for cooking, free wifi and the possibility of private rooms at many if you need some alone time.
Q12: Would you ever want to return to the USA to live? Why or why not?
I would have no qualms about moving back to the US. Many expats are proud that they left and are citizens of the world. While I love that title, I miss my family and friends at times. I also miss being an integral part of the culture and knowing how basic things work like banking transactions, the transportation schedule, etc. I love being an expat but the comfort and familiarity of the US calls to me from time to time.
Jeff Jung – Career Break Secrets – Seville – Spain
Q13: What’s coming up for you and Career Break Secrets for the rest of 2013 and next year?
I’m currently out promoting my book, The Career Break Traveler’s Handbook which is part of The Traveler’s Handbook series. In May, I will be speaking at the Travel Bloggers Unite Conference in Rotterdam.
But, the really big news is that our The Career Break Travel Show will be launching on TV globally. We are still getting all the details about when, where, etc. But, I can’t wait until that finally happens. It has been a long time in coming. And, it will be so satisfying to see my vision from 2009 finally realized. From there, it will be time to start planning for Season Two of the show which we will go out to film next year.
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Wow, good luck with the international version of your TV show and have a blast filming Season Two. Sounds exciting!
Thanks so much for taking time to tell us about your career break, world travels and Career Break ventures. I really enjoyed learning about what you’ve been up to and what typifies other career break travelers.
Hope to meet you whenever I get myself to Colombia. cheers, Lash
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Follow Jeff and Career Break Secrets:
Jeff Jung
Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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