
Ask HN: What would you do on your sabbatical? - wowsig
My husband and I are planning to take a sabbatical for a couple of months.<p>We&#x27;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.
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jakebasile
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 :-)

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eswat
> 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…

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Samathy
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.

~~~
olivercreashe
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.

~~~
benkarst
"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.

~~~
olivercreashe
You clearly have not traveled

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nowarninglabel
Sleep. A lot.

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

~~~
dhruvkar
+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.

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

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dhruvkar
>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.

~~~
pryelluw
Yes, that does resonate with me. Having control of what and how I build. Never
thought of it that way.

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joeclark77
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.

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JoachimSchipper
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.)

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plinkplonk
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.

