Great idea - I'm happy to pay $50-$100 a year on good journalism, I just don't know where I want to spend that money and on what type of articles. The one click pay and refund policy sounds good.
Can't wait until you get more North American publications :)
I quit my job at Amazon and went on a 4 month long bike tour through South East Asia... it was kind of a sporadic decision, but basically it was a gut feeling that I needed to get out there and mentally reset.
Great experience and would definitely do it again, especially bike touring. You kind of get into this rhythym of: wake up at sunrise, eat breakfast, decide on route, cycle as much as you feel like, go swimming, talk to people, find a place to camp/sleep, fix bike, go to bed. Every week or so you'll hit a major tourist centre where you can get a western meal/talk to other English speakers... then you're back on the road!
If you're burnt out/are looking for a reset, I'd avoid trying to work and travel at the same time, if you can afford it.
Budget: I think it worked out to about $15/day over the 4 month period, which may have included a flight home too.
I came back feeling energized, optimistic, and found a job at a great startup within a month of being back!
I picked my way through sections of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. I didn't feel like being dogmatic about always cycling, so I hopped on trains when I felt like it (you can easily put your bike on the train for a modest fee). For example, I trained down south to Krabi/Ton Sai and then cycled back up the southern coast, which avoids having to bike the same route twice.
Generally you don't need to camp, since there are plenty of cheap guest houses where you can shower and get a good meal, although it's handy to have a tent just in case.
> I think it's very valuable if everybody on the team understands the big picture.
Completely agree. This will allow the person working on this component to make trade-offs as necessary. They may also catch things that you didn't think of when building the system ie: Separate individuals working on subcomponent A and subcomponent B may realize they can share a lot of logic/configuration - no need to duplicate it.
I'm doing something similar. I don't have a mortgage or kids, so I don't feel it's much of a risk. If I keep up my skills, I can always go back to full time work.
In the interim, I also decided to reduce my cost of living (cooking more, cheaper apartment) so I can weather any droughts of work.
I agree with this. I typically feel the most creative and energized at around 10am: after I've had some breakfast and a coffee, and gone for a short walk.
If you've got flexible office hours, pick a few days a week where you come in after lunch and work later. If you are worried about how it might affect your work, front-load the day with things that will take the most creative energy and save the evening for things like catching up on emails.
