Ask HN: What would you do on your sabbatical?

12 points by wowsig ↗ HN
My husband and I are planning to take a sabbatical for a couple of months.

We've been researching around for interesting things to do and I got really curious what would HNers do if they went on a sabbatical from work.

16 comments

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Sleep. A lot.

Then build a tiny home (or a boat, log cabin, farm, etc...) and enjoy the sunsets and sunrises.

+1 for tiny home.

My wife and I are looking to build a tiny home in the near future. I imagine it to be a highly stress-relieving activity.

Oh, me too. What is it with devs and small houses? I've been dreaming of one for ages now.
>What is it with devs and small houses?

I think it's the creation/building aspect. Tiny houses seem to be within the grasp of an individual to build. Kinda of like building an application, it has the same aspects - designing, architecting, building. At least this is why it's attractive to me.

Yes, that does resonate with me. Having control of what and how I build. Never thought of it that way.
Some of us don't need much more than a bed, a bathroom, and a battlestation.
I would:

- Play an obscene amount of video games. I have a huge backlog in my Steam/Origin libraries.

- Spend as much time as possible with my wife. Easy to do as we both love games.

- Start and maybe finish a side project that's been rolling around for a while.

- Visit my family and friends back in Ohio.

- Maybe drive to Vegas. I've only been there once. I've never driven that way west, either.

So really nothing that I wouldn't ordinarily do outside of the travel. I am a simple man with simple tastes :-)

> I have a huge backlog in my Steam/Origin libraries.

5 years ago I would have played most of the games I had unfinished in my library. But my tastes in everything, especially games, have changed so much that I wouldn’t want to touch 90% of the games in my account…

Go deep in one of my specialties, or start on an entirely new field, depending on what I'd plan to do next in my career.

(At least where I'm from, a "sabbatical" is not a do-nothing-holiday.)

Travel both the country and as much of the world as I could afford. Visit all the friends that I don't see very often. Make a real effort to read all those books I havent yet read.
I second traveling the world. It helps you grow as a person and you become more human.

My grandfather used to say: there are two types of people in the world: those who simply take trips (even if to other countries) and then those who travel (and take in the experience and, hence, grow).

Here's a possible itinerary for you:

Arrive at Guatemala City

Take a 40 min ride to Antigua, a beautiful place. Stay in Antigüa as your HQ.

On day one, explore Antigua, drink the coffee and eat chocolates.

Day two: hike a volcano, called Fuego

Day three: visit a coffee plantation

Day four: go to lake Atitlán and stay in San Marcos for several days. Take in the local festivities as there is always something being celebrated.

Day five: travel by boat in the lake to other towns, like Panajachel. Go to Hotel Atitlán for a great and hefty meal.

Day six: visit a women's cooperative in a town around the lake. Use the tuc tuc service to travel around as the drivers are also great tour guides because they know their towns.

Etc etc.

"become more human" bothers me. First of all, you're either human or not. It a binary thing. Hopefully I don't have to explain that on this site. Maybe you could use that when talking about computers "becoming more human" or perhaps an embryo "becoming more human" as it develops in the wound. But I think we can assume the poster is a fully developed "human".

And according to his/her question. He's just looking for ideas for some cool things to do with his/her time off.

It's so vague. Maybe the phrase you're looking for is it "broadens your perspective". Maybe something else.

And there are better places than Guatemala. Like Costa Rica.

Live completely off-grid for a year (or at least for a summer). I understand there are so many lakes in Canada that you can get flown to one and have it all to yourself for an entire summer of camping, fishing, whatever.
Spend a year "deep learning" Tai Chi in China (I live in India), @ 6 hours+ of practice a day, something that can't be done alongside a normal work life.

I am planning few weeks of such immersion, but I'd love to do it for a full year.

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