Any one said f'it and done a season as a adult (as in >30y/o)? - tips

[knowsam]

So, did things backwards and spend my youth career oriented, and now I'm seriously considering pulling shoot on the working world for a season / yr and spending some time chasing winter. Anyone who's spent any time doing this, I'd love to hear your thoughts / tips? Ideally, I'm looking to see a bit of the world and don't want to stay in one place and want to see as many of the classic places as I can. What are the best locations to link up, best ways to ski/stay on a budget. Where can one land and buy a van cheap, stay for a month or two. I'd want to limit the number of flights (and time lost to flying) and be on a reasonable budget (not a 18 y/o dirt bag budget, but a budget).

Can ski western Canada/US as much as I want, so I'd rather not focus on there, BUT, if a van around there with a month spent 2 wks in Europe 2 wks in Japan and a summer down south is the best way to do it, then I could be convinced.

Cheers

[spankthepow]

Mrs. Spank and I said F'it, quit our jobs and just spent 6 months on the road: Pt. 1 Japan

We're 27 and both had been in the working world 4-5 years. Saved up as much money as we could so we could enjoy ourselves a bit and not totally dirtbag it. We got rid of anything we didn't need and rented our house to our friends. I bought a topper for my truck and built out a sleeping platform/gear storage and spent 5 months in the back of that in the US Canada.

Two weeks in a single foreign place isn't enough time and you'll find yourself wanting to stay longer, instead of hopping on another flight and lugging your gear around the world (add in weather days, travel in country, etc). Also, you can't always buy a car in a foreign country as a foreigner (Japan you need proof you own a parking spot) so renting wheels will rack up some $. We stayed a month in Japan and racked up some good discounts for our van (~50% off total).

Travel light. Pack what you think you'll need, then go back and trim it down even more. Be ready to veer off any sort of "schedule" and have a blast!

[plugboots]

What do you do for a living? When I kinda did this, I came back to my field and, (they said), I was overqualified to do the sales jobs, but nobody wanted me to be a manager either. It would have helped to stay in the same biz somehow to keep in the loop. Even if you're taking a year or whatever off, try and do something part time to stay connected.

[cat in january]

Subaru was easy to convert to a sleeper (backseat out, platform in) and I found it very comfortable in the winter and found a place every night I needed without fuss. Buy snow tires.

I combined Mountain Collective and Powder Alliance (Sierra at Tahoe) passes to get all the lift served skiing I wanted in NA. Making it work you need to be into the road trip aspect.

Hot Springs are worth searching out.

Have friends and family meet you in the places you go.

[bobbuilds]

Live your life, do not worry about a job. Do not stay connected and do not listen to others who tell you work is a necessity.

More and more people are figuring it out, and the more who do will change the way we work as Americans. Fuck a 5 day work week, 3-4 tops and people will have time for themselves.

I just went back to work after a 6 year travel and have fun kind of life. I am miserable now, I will buckle down for a few more years and it's back into the woods for me.

As others have said, go light. It's not what you have, but what you do with it.
All I had was a kayak and mtn bike, ate well and stayed out side all the time.

Life was good, now it's time to pay for the van upgrade and then it's back to the woods for me.

Also, I don't computer much, I read what you wrote and am excited for you, go get um!!!!!

[grskier]

Pick a pass and do that for most of the winter... Pick a month and hit up Europe or Japan

[spankthepow]

Even if you're taking a year or whatever off, try and do something part time to stay connected.

x2

Mrs. Spank and I both were able to get our previous jobs back in some capacity just by keeping in touch with our previous employer (an email every now and then, just saying 'hi'). With a mortgage payment and upcoming school bills, it was definitely nice for us to come back and have some sort of income immediately. Leaving on good terms with your employer is never a bad thing.

Live your life, do not worry about a job. Do not stay connected and do not listen to others who tell you work is a necessity.

Unless you're a trustfunder, won the lottery, or have zero financial responsibilities, you should have some sort of idea of what you're going to do post-travel...

[Angle Parking]

Pick a pass and do that for most of the winter... Pick a month and hit up Europe or Japan

This is sound advice as far as i am concerned. A home base of sorts with a few excursions to exciting locales. There's definitely something to be said for spending an extended stretch of time at a hill. Doing so has always been a good investment in my experience.

[AmmergauerTele]

Get the Tirol Snow Card - something like 85 ski areas in Austria for around $700, ski a ton in Austria and branch out from there, northern Italy, maybe a bit into Switzerland, etc. Austria is so nice - Tirol is amazing! Ischgl, Solden, Obergurgl/Hochgurgl, Pitztal, Kuhtai, Zillertal Arena, Hintertux, Kitzbuhel are all on one pass. This is what I'm planning on doing one winter.

[LC]

Don't over-research it. Hit the road and figure things out as you go, that's half the fun.

[dunfree]

Over research. The more you know, the quicker you'll get to where you want to go and the less you'll spend getting there.

Under plan. Weather changes, tastes change. You are off, have fun.

The longer you are gone, the harder it'll be to go back to what you did. Either because doors will close (depends on what you did, 6mos to a year you are probably fine, longer might be more problematic, definitely if the economy shits the bed/your field craps out) or because you'll find it difficult to adjust to a grind again. That's assuming your season is just spent skiing/whatevering, not a ski/work shit menial job kinda deal or a ski/work part time or a "I don't have to have a job ever and can travel forever".

A tip? Figure out what you want to do, and see if your budget matches. You want to hit lots of classic spots. There's basically two things that meet that in the Northern Winter - western US/Canada and Europe (which is pretty much the Alps for "classic). You can buy a pass and be stationary, or be mobile and hit the hot spots, the latter is the choice if you want to get lots of classics.

I'd change your paradigm - your previous thread on europe seemed prejudiced with the idea that it was cheaper/easier to stay down valley and drive from some central place to skiing (and got some shitty answers - Landeck? Ugh! Sure it looks good on a map, but man is it charmless in winter ime). If it's a ski trip you've got skiing + transport + food + lodging +? boozing/partying. Staying farrrr down valley may be cheaper with food (if you eat fastfood or from a grocery - although many skitowns in europe have relatively affordable grocerys ime) and somewhat cheaper lodging (unless you stay long term, perhaps not much), but transport time + cost* will go up. Are you going half a word away to drive an hour a day each way? Depending on your tastes/transport the delta can be quite small to non-existant for the tourist (holiday weeks excluded - but you don't want to be there anyways then). If you've a car, or even maybe not, 2-4 days per area will let you get to know it somewhat and strike a balance.

*if you have some europe connection you can maybe get a cheaper car by buying instead of renting. Remember don't drink and drive there.

[knowsam]

Some great advice here, all! Not sure how it would work with the career thing, that's sort of an open question. What about some of the more mundane stuff - who sells the best insurance, can you get a place to stay demonstrating income if you're bumming for a year, anything special you had to do to prevent your over 30 body from blowing a knee? etc.,

[neufox47]

Some great advice here, all! Not sure how it would work with the career thing, that's sort of an open question. What about some of the more mundane stuff - who sells the best insurance, can you get a place to stay demonstrating income if you're bumming for a year, anything special you had to do to prevent your over 30 body from blowing a knee? etc.,

I'd be tempted to spend time in SA and Asia to ski places that are both cheap and hard to get to without lots of time.

Insurance depends on where you are and where you go.

Do you want to tour a lot or lift served? Either way get in shape, really good shape, the best or close to the best shape you have ever been in, before you go. Get your core and legs strong and build muscular and cardiovascular endurance. Checkout the routines mountain athlete puts out.