Have you ever dreamed of quitting your job and traveling the world or pursuing your dreams? Or, are you in the midst of a quarter life crisis, realizing that the life you have isn't really the life you want?

In his book, “The 4-Hour Workweek,” Tim Ferriss introduces a concept called "mini-retirements," which means taking several career breaks throughout your life as opposed to waiting for one big retirement at the end of your life. For years, even before the book came out, I’d been trying to figure out a system that would allow me to do exactly what he describes — earn a living doing work I enjoy, but be able to live abroad or travel the world for extended periods of time.

The easiest way to pull it off is to work for yourself. With American employers only offering 2-3 weeks of vacation (if you’re lucky), working for yourself really is the only way to control your own time while still earning money. Unless your employer transfers you to another country or allows you to work remotely from there, the only way this type of plan would work is if you have your own income, independent of an employer.

Jonathan Mead of "Brazen Careerist" points out that The "4-Hour Workweek" (which I lurve) makes a huge assumption that you hate your job and that you want to be an entrepreneur. But what if you like your employer and want to keep your job, but you just need a break? It’s unfortunate that very few places in Corporate America offer sabbaticals (without requiring an extreme length of tenure). The "4-Hour Workweek" does outline a strategy for becoming location-independent within your current job, but I still think it’s a long shot for most employees.

Some people follow the work-quit-travel cycle (work and save up travel money, quit your job and travel, come back and get a new job, repeat), but I personally think it’s too unstable of a lifestyle for mid-career adults. There are other options, including working for yourself (which you can do from anywhere), or establishing a more flexible arrangement with your employer if you want to keep your job. Check the Sabbatical Resources section for more on these options.

While most “travel the world” books are written for college students and very young adults, Escape 101 is a sabbatical guide for people with financial and family obligations who can't just pick up and leave their everyday lives on a whim. Escape 101 was written to specifically address those who want to take a break from their jobs to travel. It addresses how to keep your job or business if possible, how to leave it if you must, and how to not go broke while embarking on your great escape.

I stumbled upon this book when I sought advice for planning a year abroad. Since this isn’t something that “normal” adult, working folks do, I had a hard time finding models for how to pay for it. I even sought out a financial advisor, who basically told me to come back to him when my travel was over and I was ready to buy a house and start investing.

Like other books of in the lifestyle design genre, Escape 101 starts by removing the mental and emotional blocks people have to taking a career break in the first place. For me, the paradigm shift begins in the section, “Figuring Out the Money” in chapter 2. Before reading this book, I used to think that the only ways to take a break and travel the world are:

1. to be a student enrolled in a study abroad program,
2. to be wealthy,
3. to wipe out our life savings or rack up debt to pay for it,
4. to throw my careers away and strap on a backpack, doomed to a life of vagabonding and living off the grid.

The authors dispense with those notions right away, encouraging us to explore other possibilities. They posit that you could actually earn money while traveling, or put a plan in place (which they lay out) to self-finance it without derailing your savings plans. You could work out arrangements with your employer to keep your job, or at least have a job to come back to. Or you could start a business and love your new life so much that you wish to never return to the job and the life you had before. I also liked the concept of sabbatical math -- the idea that your sabbatical won’t cost as much your regular life costs.

There’s an entire chapter on planning a sabbatical if you have kids, and another on leaving your business behind. The book also deals with the big question, to maintain or not to maintain (a residence back home).

The last chapter on re-entry left me wanting (maybe there’s a book idea here). Planning your return from sabbatical is as important as planning your departure. Authors Dan Clements and Tara Gignac weaved in some advice about dealing with obligations back home, and a smidgen of advice on how to position your escape on your resume, but I was looking for the tactical steps for coming back to your life, particularly if you venture off without a house or a job waiting for you when you come back.

Another bone I have to pick with this book, and most books of this sort, is that the assumptions are based on you moving to a cheaper place (usually South America, sometimes Asia). But what about those who want to escape to Western Europe? Or Hawaii? Authors of these books should write with those people in mind too.

Overall, though, I think this book got it right. For anyone who dreams of making an escape, the scariest beast for almost everyone is money. Escape 101 reduces the issue to a manageable scale, and then sets about methodically attacking it and getting it out of your way.

Read what round-the-world travelers have to say about taking a break and funding their long term travel.

• Planning Extended Travel Abroad
  How to Prepare to Leave Home for Six to Twelve Months or More. Diana L. Reid provides many useful tips, links and resources to prepare for extended travel and living overseas.
• Saving for That Once in a Lifetime Trip
  One young reader plans to spend 15 months risscrossing the globe. Our expert offers a short-term savings strategy.
• Finances: How we pay for long term bicycle touring
  Read how Tim and Cindie Travis finance their long-term bicycle touring around the world.

Gary Vaynerchuck, Wine Library TV
Gary is so passionate and I like several quotes of his. His most famous quote has an f-bomb in it, so I can't print that one, but I liked another point he made during his now famous Web 2.0 Expo keynote (link nsfw because of language):

"Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, 'What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life? I promise, you can monetize that.”

Tim Ferris, The 4 Hour Workweek
"Time is the new money."
The freedom to do what you want with your time (instead of having to trade it for money) is the directing your own life.

Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Nonconformity
I love this blog and everything that Chris stands for. My favorite writings of his are "A Brief Guide to World Domination," "279 Days to Overnight Success," and "How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review," -- which bascially changed how I lived my life in 2009. This one quote from him sums up my life philosophy:

"The widespread belief in deferred gratification—where we willingly put off the things we want for decades in a vague hope that one day we can enjoy life—is a false belief that prevents people from finding their purpose at an early age."