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Ask HN: What would you do with 6 months of free time?

8 points by jhferris3 ↗ HN
I'm graduating from college this month, and just accepted a job that I'll start in June-July. I was lucky enough to get a signing bonus as well as have some money saved up, and I want to put this gap time to good use.

I've got a few side projects that I've been putting off that I could work on, and a few hobbies that I could spend some time on (photography, for one), but I could do these things anytime.

Any particular places to travel? Any experiences that I could go and seek out in this time? Any other ideas?

13 comments

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pdelgallego
I will travel, or be a volunteer or both things at the same time.

After I drop the college, I went to north Italy, bought abandoned house and I restored it. I learned a lot of stuff.

If you are from US, maybe go to Europe is quite expensive at this moment, and probably you can get more in south america for your bucks.

If you have an idea about what kind of experience are you looking for, maybe we can give better advices.

nolite
I'm in a similar situation. Ideally in 6 months, i'd like to be proficient at Rails, familiar with Haskell, and build an income source stable enough to not have to get a job. (ie.. be ramen profitable) So that's where my 6 months are going
toumhi
I'll be in the same situation in 2 months, leaving my current job in a social network company. I'm going to spend some time on my own projects, and start freelancing while traveling in South East Asia.

When you'll have your day job, you'll have very little time to work on your side projects, so I would say take advantage of that now. That, or traveling for an extended period of time is also very eye-opening if you haven't done it yet. South America is still my favorite place. In 6 months you can see most of the continent, not sure if you'll want to go back home though :-)

zoomzoom
Go somewhere you have never been, and eat something that makes you grossed out.
jhferris3
That might be hard to do without getting into some very gross things, but I definitely appreciate the sentiment.
smtf
I've always loved traveling to places where the standard of living is much cheaper then where I live. This way you can eat better and do way more extravagant things while potentially saving money. Between 5 star meals you could be hacking your side projects from a posh roof top patio and when your in a slump you can go site seeing.

The other advice I'd give to traveling to relatively exotic places is to somewhere that someone you trust knows well; preferably with said person. The best way to find all the gems of a new place and get a real feel for the local flavor is with someone who knows how to showcase it. If you have friends from interesting places see if they can help you plan a trip, or see if they can join you for some portion of the excursion.

rrrhys
Set a deadline (maybe 6 weeks) and finish a side-project I have going on - While still in 'work mode'. It frustrates me sitting around at my day job and then scrambling to work on it in free time/travel time.

I'd love to get up, get ready in the morning, (go somewhere, ideally) and do 8 hours of MY work a day.

PloniAlmoni
Just out of curiosity, where will you be working?
dcaldwell
I'd go to Central America, study my brains out, and learn Spanish. Knowing another language is invaluable. It's very doable to become very proficient (not fluent though)in another language during this time - I've done it. Antigua, Guatemala has some of the best and cheapest one on one tutoring in the world.