I have taken a career break a couple of times. First time was for six months in 1998 after leaving Fidelity International. I had no plan, and made it up as I went along. I had a marvellous time, solo backpacking in New Zealand and winging it. The second time was more planned, and I had sufficient funds to last a year. Again, I did a some backpacking, charity walks (inc Kilimanjaro and Inca Train). However, my not-at-all cunning plan backfired when the nice job I had lined up at BoA disappeared immediately after Sept 11 2001. By that time my skills (mid-range IT, data centres & tech services) were dated, and after 18 months I started again from scratch part-time in localgov. I am now on my third break, but this time it's permanent as I've retired, and absolutely love not caring what day of the week it is.