A firm base for adventure

Names: Peter Chittick, 47, Carolyn Fairbairn, 43, Emily, 10, Anna, 8, and Tom, 6.

Occupations: I was finance director of the Hotel du Vin group, Carolyn was strategy director at the BBC.

Timing: Seven months.

Our career break: We bought cheap round-the-world tickets, in business class. We had a routine of renting a house or staying with friends for a couple of weeks, where we did most of the kids’ schooling, followed by a week or two of adventure. We had bases in San Francisco, Tahiti, Sydney, Bali, Singapore, Japan, Kenya and Cape Town, and travelled independently around Papua New Guinea, Thailand, China and Indochina. In New Zealand we rented a motor home. In the Whitsunday Islands (Australia) we hired a bareboat yacht. In Tanzania we went on a week’s safari.

Our top tip: Make sure your house, jobs, etc, are completely sorted so that you don’t spend all your time worrying about what’s happening at home.

Haul up the sail

Name: Amanda Ribbins.

Age: 33.

Occupation: Head of European event management, US Investment Bank.

Length of time: 13 months.

My career break: I went sailing. I did a 14-week yachtmaster basic traineeship with Flying Fish and became a qualified yacht skipper. The first month was in the UK, the rest in Sydney. It was such fun. I then did a sailing holiday in the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast of Queensland, before heading back to England to take my sailing instructor exams. Next, I worked in the Mediterranean for the activity holiday company Neilson, and had a great season teaching guests to sail and taking them out on flotilla.

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