- In 2023, Erin Hynes and her husband, Lucas Amormino, quit jobs in Canada to travel for 6 months.
- The last time Hynes, 34, had done anything similar, she came home in credit card debt.
Erin Hynes felt sick to her stomach.
It was December 2023, and she'd just resigned from her job at an advertising technology company in Ontario, Canada, where she'd worked for over two years.
"I thought I was making a huge mistake," Hynes, 34, told Business Insider. "I really did like the job."
Hynes was quitting because she and her husband, Lucas Amormino, who was working at a financial tech company, had made the decision to embark on a six-month career break — an adult gap year of sorts.
"We really liked our teams, we had a good work-life balance," she said.
Hynes and Amormino are DINKS — dual income, no kids. Hynes said they felt comfortable with their finances, with a combined salary of 196,000 Canadian dollars, or around $143,800.
"We really care about stability and really cared about feeling like we have very defined careers," she said.
But in the final months of 2023, Hynes said she and Amormino began to feel severe burnout.
Hynes and Amormino, 33 — avid travelers who've always spent their PTO exploring new countries, cities, and experiences — tried to secure sabbaticals from their companies.
When those requests were denied, they took a leap.
In December 2023, they quit their jobs, sublet their apartment, and left their cat with Hynes' parents.
In January, they set out on a six-month adventure.
It wasn't the first time Hynes traveled for an extended period
Hynes and Amormino planned their mini-retirement to last roughly six months, during which they visited seven different countries: Tanzania, Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan, Georgia, and Italy.
They went on a safari, took cooking courses, hiked, and got to know locals through homestays and tours.
"The main goal was to step away from the sometimes monotonous routine of our day jobs," Hynes said.
The last time Hynes embarked on a similar trip, she was 26. She had finished graduate school and decided to fly to Hong Kong, where Amormino was based for part of his MBA program.
After the program ended, the couple spent months traveling through Southeast Asia.
It ended somewhat abruptly when Hynes ran out of money. She owed $1,000 on her credit card and felt obligated to return to Canada and call up her dad for a loan.
"My first paycheck that I got, once I was employed, I immediately sent him $500," she said. "I didn't want them to have to pay for my irresponsibility."
The incident didn't deter Hynes or her husband from planning another big trip. She said they spoke for years about doing it again.
"I'm a repeat offender," she joked.
The couple spent over 5 years planning for their career break
Hynes said she and Amormino went to great lengths to avoid falling into financial insecurity this time around.
"For the last five to seven years, we had actively been discussing that we were going to do a trip like this," she said. "We had sort of left it at, 'Let's just aggressively save, and when the right moment comes, we will know that it is time.'"
When that time came, they had 40,000 Canadian dollars, around $29,360, saved up purely for travel, as well as 20,000 Canadian dollars, around $14,680, as a buffer in case they found it tricky to find new jobs when they came home.
Hynes said she also began to earn money from her blog, Pina Travels, through advertising and affiliate marketing and brand partnerships. They put the additional income toward their buffer fund.
"It was really important to us that we had a specific amount of money that we were going to spend that didn't touch our retirement investments," she said.
They kept costs down on the trip by doing homestays and booking guest houses for the majority of their accommodation as well as having a flexible itinerary.
"Traveling that way — without too much of a plan — makes it cheaper because we could tap into the flight deals going on," she said.
Despite their meticulous planning and the fact that most of their family and friends were supportive, they felt some judgment.
"A lot of people around us, they're at the stage where they're having kids, they're buying houses. And we're doing not that," she said, adding that they are almost 100% confident they won't have children.
The couple relied on their networks to get jobs after traveling
When May rolled around, after about five months on the road, the couple started to feel uneasy.
"We saw the money running out, and we were like, 'OK, now we have to adult again and think about our return home,'" Hynes said.
While they were worried about navigating a tough job market, it felt less nerve-racking than when Hynes had returned from her last big trip.
"Being further in your career, it actually makes it easier coming back," she said. "We had a big network of people to tap."
Within a month of applying while abroad, the couple secured jobs and were able to negotiate start dates for their return in July.
Being honest about her career break during the interview and hiring process worked in her favor, Hynes added.
"I told people, like, 'Yes, we wanted to travel for six months. I feel extremely rejuvenated, and I'm very excited to work again,'" she said. "They were impressed."
As seamless as their return to Canada was, adjusting to having a routine again hasn't always been easy.
"Sometimes it just feels like the last six months of our lives were a fever dream," Hynes said.
To make it easier, the couple booked a trip to Iceland in September.
"Now we have something to look forward to," she said.