I recently took 3 months Dec-Mar to travel with my partner. I had it signed off while in the Civil Service. The deal was that you don't get to choose the job you come back to, but guarantee the pay would be the same. I was already out on temp promotion/secondment - it was a no brainer. Plot twist: I got the opportunity to apply for a new job - a dream job. But I had the trip signed off! What to do: I applied and haggled that I'd start, do the first 10 weeks, then take the break and come back fresh. It worked (somehow!). I held strong boundaries and didn't meddle with work while I was away. Nobody died, we're all good. Three months was a good amount for us - we could travel as we wanted (flashpacking with half in NZ and half in cheaper climes) without worrying too much about the budget. Make the trip a year and that would have been different. Similar vibes to you in terms of living the life you want. Having taken the trip, I think now we'll want to take regular trips of a month or two between contracts/jobs or by saving up leave and brownie points. In terms of justifying it, I've tried "I'm better to you recharged than burned out", "I needed to re-find my creativity and verve" and other things. The one that gets the most nods and knowing 'hmm yeah's is " even though it was a hard system reset, I didn't realise how much I needed it - I'm so glad I took the risk and did the trip". Bonus tip: fly out in early December (or whenever your late year work peak ends - we went after the first full working week of Dec) and nobody really notices your absence until the second week of January anyway...