/* eslint-disable */ // Sabbatical — trip-duration hub data. // Twelve regions worth a month-or-more career break, eight ways to take the time, // the long-form reading list, the desk, and the questions readers send in. const SB_META = { count: 32, newThisSeason: 6, authors: 4, avgLengthDays: 90, topAge: "32 – 48", updated: "May 2026", }; // I — TWELVE REGIONS, THE LONG WAY. // Every card opens a real long-term plan, budget, or transit guide already on file. // Order is editorial: Europe opens because it's the region most readers consider first; // India closes because it's the region that most rewards staying put. const SB_PLACES = [ { id: "europe", rank: 1, city: "Europe", country: "Schengen + Beyond", region: "Europe", nights: "60–90", budget: "$$$", season: "Apr – Oct (shoulder twice)", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1471623817296-aa07ae5c9909?w=1600&q=80", coord: "Apr arrival · Oct exit", tag: "Editor's pick", why: "Three months in Schengen, then over the line. The trip that makes the 90/180 rule feel like a feature, not a bug. One country a week, one rail pass, no rental car.", best: ["Slow", "Rail", "Café-led"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/europe/plan-long-term-europe" }, { id: "southeast-asia", rank: 2, city: "Southeast Asia", country: "Thailand, Vietnam, Laos", region: "Asia", nights: "90+", budget: "$", season: "Nov – Mar", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1528181304800-259b08848526?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Nov arrival · Mar exit", tag: "Most saved", why: "The classic long trip. Visa runs are a routine, not a problem; $30 a day is normal, not heroic. Come for the food, stay for the cost of staying.", best: ["Cheap", "Food", "Coworking"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/southeast-asia/plan-long-term-southeast-asia" }, { id: "japan", rank: 3, city: "Japan", country: "Honshu + Kyushu", region: "Asia", nights: "60–90", budget: "$$$", season: "Mar – May, Oct – Nov", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1540959733332-eab4deabeeaf?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Mar arrival · Jun exit", tag: null, why: "A 90-day tourist visa, a JR Pass renewed every three weeks, a single Tokyo apartment as the spine. The country that rewards staying long enough to tell the trains apart.", best: ["Rail", "Food", "Solo"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/japan/plan-long-term-japan" }, { id: "south-america", rank: 4, city: "South America", country: "Andes + Coast", region: "Americas", nights: "90+", budget: "$$", season: "Apr – Nov (Andean dry season)", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1531968455001-5c5272a41129?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Apr arrival · Nov exit", tag: null, why: "Colombia for the climate, Peru for the trail, Bolivia for the silence, Argentina for the steak. Three months minimum because the buses are honest about distance.", best: ["Buses", "Spanish", "Mountain"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/south-america/plan-long-term-south-america" }, { id: "middle-east", rank: 5, city: "Middle East", country: "Jordan, UAE, Oman", region: "Middle East", nights: "45–60", budget: "$$", season: "Oct – Apr", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1539650116574-75c0c6d73c0e?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Oct arrival · Mar exit", tag: "Underrated", why: "Two months that read like six. Wadi Rum a week, Petra a week, the Gulf coast a month. The region that proves slow desert travel is its own pace, not a compromise.", best: ["Desert", "Slow", "Dry season"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/middle-east/plan-long-term-middle-east" }, { id: "india", rank: 6, city: "India", country: "Rajasthan + South", region: "Asia", nights: "90+", budget: "$", season: "Oct – Mar", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1564507592333-c60657eea523?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Oct arrival · Mar exit", tag: null, why: "The country that makes a month feel like a paragraph. Six months on a tourist visa, $10 a day in the south, the trains as both transit and lodging. Pick a base. Don't move much.", best: ["Cheap", "Trains", "Food"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/india/plan-long-term-india" }, { id: "east-africa", rank: 7, city: "East Africa", country: "Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda", region: "Africa", nights: "45–60", budget: "$$", season: "Jun – Oct, Jan – Feb", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1535941339077-2dd1c7963098?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Jul arrival · Oct exit", tag: null, why: "An East Africa visa across three countries, the long version of safari that includes the cities and the coast, not just the parks. Two months because two weeks teaches you nothing.", best: ["Safari", "Coast", "Slow"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/east-africa/plan-long-term-east-africa" }, { id: "mexico-caribbean", rank: 8, city: "Mexico & Caribbean", country: "MX, GT, BZ, CO", region: "Americas", nights: "60–180", budget: "$$", season: "Nov – Apr", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1518105779142-d975f22f1b0a?w=1200&q=80", coord: "Nov arrival · Apr exit", tag: "Visa-friendly", why: "The 180-day Mexico stamp is the longest legal stay in the western hemisphere. CDMX as a base, Yucatán for warmth, a Caribbean island for a month. The American passport's longest natural sabbatical.", best: ["180 days", "Base + trips", "Warm winter"], href: "/en/plan/long-term/mexico-caribbean/plan-long-term-mexico-caribbean" }, { id: "europe-budget", rank: 9, city: "Europe, on a budget", country: "3-month build", region: "Europe", nights: "90", budget: "$$", season: "Apr – Oct", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1499856871958-5b9627545d1a?w=1200&q=80", coord: "$50/day target", tag: null, why: "Three months of Schengen on $4,500. East over west, hostels with kitchens, the night train when it's cheaper than the hotel. The booking sheet that makes Europe possible at sabbatical pace.", best: ["Budget", "Booking", "East-leaning"], href: "/en/book/long-term/europe/book-long-term-europe" }, { id: "india-budget", rank: 10, city: "India, on a budget", country: "3-month build", region: "Asia", nights: "90", budget: "$", season: "Oct – Mar", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1524492412937-b28074a5d7da?w=1200&q=80", coord: "$10/day target", tag: null, why: "Three months in India for under $1,500, all in. Sleeper trains, guesthouse rooms, thali plates, one big splurge a month. The booking sheet that proves the cheap version is also the better one.", best: ["Cheap", "Trains", "South India"], href: "/en/book/long-term/india/book-long-term-india" }, { id: "se-asia-budget", rank: 11, city: "Southeast Asia, $30/day", country: "Months, not weeks", region: "Asia", nights: "90+", budget: "$", season: "Nov – Mar", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1552465011-b4e21bf6e79a?w=1200&q=80", coord: "$30/day target", tag: null, why: "Long-stay maths: $900 a month, all in, in Chiang Mai, Hoi An, or Bali off-season. Monthly Airbnb, scooter rental, one cooked-at-home night a week. The numbers behind the dream.", best: ["Long-stay", "$900/month", "Bases"], href: "/en/budget/long-term/southeast-asia/budget-long-term-southeast-asia" }, { id: "india-cheap", rank: 12, city: "India, $10/day", country: "Months, not weeks", region: "Asia", nights: "90+", budget: "$", season: "Oct – Mar", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1514222134-b57cbb8ce073?w=1200&q=80", coord: "$10/day target", tag: null, why: "The lowest honest sabbatical number we publish. South India, off-season Goa, one ashram month, sleeper class on the long legs. A reminder that the cheapest trip is often the best one.", best: ["$10/day", "Slow", "Ashram month"], href: "/en/budget/long-term/india/budget-long-term-india" }, ]; // III — EIGHT WAYS TO TAKE THE TIME. // The pack + visa + transit guides that make a month-plus trip operational, not theoretical. const SB_ITINS = [ { ref: "SB-201", days: 90, title: "Pack for Europe,", em: "long-term.", author: "Iris", price: "65L bag", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1503220317375-aaad61436b1b?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Packing", "Schengen", "Layered"], href: "/en/pack/long-term/europe/pack-long-term-europe" }, { ref: "SB-204", days: 90, title: "Pack for SE Asia,", em: "long-term.", author: "Marcus", price: "40L bag", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1528127269322-539801943592?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Packing", "Tropical", "Quick-dry"], href: "/en/pack/long-term/southeast-asia/pack-long-term-southeast-asia" }, { ref: "SB-207", days: 90, title: "Pack for South America,", em: "long-term.", author: "Juan", price: "55L bag", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1526392060635-9d6019884377?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Packing", "Andes", "All-altitude"], href: "/en/pack/long-term/south-america/pack-long-term-south-america" }, { ref: "SB-210", days: 90, title: "Pack for India,", em: "long-term.", author: "Marcus", price: "45L bag", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1532375810709-75b1da00537c?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Packing", "Modest", "Train-ready"], href: "/en/pack/long-term/india/pack-long-term-india" }, { ref: "SB-213", days: 60, title: "Pack for East Africa,", em: "long-term.", author: "Nia", price: "55L bag", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1547471080-7cc2caa01a7e?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Packing", "Safari", "Coast"], href: "/en/pack/long-term/east-africa/pack-long-term-east-africa" }, { ref: "SB-216", days: 90, title: "Visas for Europe,", em: "long-term.", author: "Iris", price: "Schengen + UK", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1569949237240-5bd1ed0a3d31?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Visas", "Schengen 90/180", "Beyond"], href: "/en/visas-docs/long-term/europe/visas-docs-long-term-europe" }, { ref: "SB-219", days: 90, title: "Visas for SE Asia,", em: "long-term.", author: "Marcus", price: "Multi-country", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1566306411473-d4a8e4f5d4f9?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Visas", "Run-friendly", "30/60 day"], href: "/en/visas-docs/long-term/southeast-asia/visas-docs-long-term-southeast-asia" }, { ref: "SB-222", days: 21, title: "Japan rail pass,", em: "for the long version.", author: "Iris", price: "¥80k / 21d", img: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1505761671935-60b3a7427bad?w=900&q=80", tags: ["Rail", "Japan", "21-day pass"], href: "/en/book/long-term/japan/book-long-term-japan" }, ]; // IV — THE SABBATICAL MATRIX. Six honest shapes for a month-or-more trip. const SB_BY_STYLE = [ { len: "One base, day trips", days: "30–90", count: 14, examples: "CDMX · Lisbon · Chiang Mai · Tbilisi", price: "from $1,500/mo" }, { len: "Slow rail, no flights", days: "60–90", count: 11, examples: "Europe · Japan · India", price: "from $2,400/mo" }, { len: "Three countries, one region", days: "90", count: 12, examples: "SE Asia · Andes · East Africa", price: "from $1,200/mo" }, { len: "Career break + study", days: "90–180", count: 6, examples: "Spanish in Guatemala · cooking in Italy", price: "from $1,800/mo" }, { len: "Remote work + travel", days: "90+", count: 9, examples: "Mexico · Bali · Lisbon · Cape Town", price: "from $2,200/mo" }, { len: "One country, six months", days: "180", count: 5, examples: "Mexico · India · Japan · Argentina", price: "from $1,000/mo" }, ]; // V — EIGHT READS, BY DEPTH. The long-form pieces sitting one click below this page. const SB_READING = [ { tag: "Method", duration: "12 min", title: "How to plan a sabbatical trip,", em: " for a month or more.", author: "Iris", href: "/en/types/long-term/how-to-plan-sabbatical" }, { tag: "Budget", duration: "11 min", title: "A year in Europe,", em: " under $50 a day, honestly.", author: "Iris", href: "/en/budget/long-term/europe/budget-long-term-europe" }, { tag: "Budget", duration: "10 min", title: "East Africa,", em: " under $50 a day, on the ground.", author: "Nia", href: "/en/budget/long-term/east-africa/budget-long-term-east-africa" }, { tag: "Budget", duration: "10 min", title: "The Middle East,", em: " under $50 a day, off-season.", author: "Iris", href: "/en/budget/long-term/middle-east/budget-long-term-middle-east" }, { tag: "Budget", duration: "11 min", title: "South America,", em: " under $50 a day, by bus.", author: "Juan", href: "/en/budget/long-term/south-america/budget-long-term-south-america" }, { tag: "Transit", duration: "9 min", title: "Middle East public transport,", em: " for the long version.", author: "Iris", href: "/en/on-the-ground/long-term/middle-east/on-the-ground-long-term-middle-east" }, { tag: "Transit", duration: "10 min", title: "Europe for months,", em: " no rental car required.", author: "Iris", href: "/en/on-the-ground/long-term/europe/on-the-ground-long-term-europe" }, { tag: "Language", duration: "9 min", title: "South America without Spanish,", em: " what actually breaks.", author: "Juan", href: "/en/on-the-ground/long-term/south-america/on-the-ground-long-term-south-america" }, ]; // VII — FAQ. Grown from the seed, opinionated, written for the reader who's actually going. const SB_FAQS = [ { q: "How much time off do I really need to call it a sabbatical?", a: "Thirty days of travel, and one buffer week on each end. So a six-week request, minimum, for a four-week trip. Anything shorter and you're taking a long vacation — fine, but a different planning form. The buffer weeks are not negotiable: one week before to handle the paperwork you forgot, one week after to readjust before the first 9 a.m. meeting. The travelers who skip the back-end week always regret it." }, { q: "Should I book everything in advance, or wing it?", a: "Book the international flights in and out, and the first week of accommodation in your first country. That's it. Everything else stays open. The mistake is over-planning a trip whose entire point is that it's long enough to absorb plans changing. You will meet someone in week three who tells you about a place you'd never have found, and the over-planned itinerary becomes a tax. Keep 70% of the calendar empty. Trust the trip." }, { q: "What's a realistic budget for a month-plus trip?", a: "$50 a day in Southeast Asia, India, or Eastern Europe — comfortably. $80 a day in Latin America, the Middle East, or the cheaper parts of Western Europe. $120 a day in Japan, Western Europe, or East Africa with safaris. Add a 25% emergency buffer on top. Add the flights separately ($1,200–$2,400 round-trip from the US). Add visas ($30–$200 each). The biggest unplanned cost is always a flight you didn't know you'd want to take — leave $800 in the budget for it." }, { q: "What if I run out of money halfway through?", a: "Build the buffer in before you leave. 25% emergency fund, accessible from anywhere, in a separate account you don't touch unless you have to. If you're still nervous, the move is to lower the cost of the trip, not raise the budget — go to India instead of Italy, take buses instead of flights, cook two meals a day for a month. Teaching English online or doing remote contract work mid-trip is possible, but it changes what the trip is. Plan the budget so you don't have to." }, { q: "How do I keep relationships intact during a long trip?", a: "Set the expectation before you leave: weekly updates, not daily, with one scheduled video call a week to one or two people who matter. The friends you lose touch with on a six-month trip would have drifted anyway; the ones who matter will be there when you get back. The harder one is the partner staying home — that needs an actual conversation about what the trip means and what it doesn't, not an assumption that it'll be fine." }, { q: "What's the single biggest mistake people make on a sabbatical?", a: "Moving too often. The instinct is to see everything; the reality is that two months in three countries beats six months in fifteen. The trip is long enough that you can stop, stay, get bored, and start again — and that's what makes it different from a vacation. Pick a base in each country and stay at least two weeks. The good sabbaticals look slow on paper. They're the ones the traveler comes home from changed." }, ]; // VI — THE BRIEF. Six tips, in order of importance, for the month-or-more form. const SB_PRACTICAL = [ { k: "Logistics tip", h: "Lock dates in writing, three months out.", b: "The single biggest variable on a sabbatical is whether your job actually exists when you come back. Submit the request at least three months before departure. Get the start date, the return date, and the role you're returning to in writing. The travelers who leave with a verbal nod from the boss are the travelers who come back to a different job. Treat this as the first booking — earlier than the flight." }, { k: "Lodging tip", h: "First week booked, the rest empty.", b: "Book five to seven nights in your first city. Nothing else. The trip is too long for a fully-planned itinerary to survive contact with reality. You'll change your mind, you'll meet people, you'll find out a place you booked is wrong. Monthly Airbnbs unlock 30–50% discounts and are the right move for any base of two-plus weeks. Don't pay the per-night rate for a per-month stay." }, { k: "Pace tip", h: "Two weeks per base, minimum. No exceptions.", b: "The thing that separates a sabbatical from a long vacation is the willingness to stay put. Pick a base in each country, plant for two weeks at a minimum, day-trip from there. The first week is logistics and adjustment; the second week is the trip. Travelers who move every three days are taking a fast trip slowly — exhausted, broke, and never quite there. The discipline is to stop." }, { k: "Money tip", h: "25% emergency buffer, separate account.", b: "Whatever your budget is, set aside another 25% in a different bank account you can access from abroad but won't touch. Real costs that always come up: a flight home for a family event, a phone replacement, a medical bill insurance won't cover, a longer stay in a place you didn't expect to love. Two backup cards, two pockets, two banks. Notify all of them of travel dates before you leave." }, { k: "Visa tip", h: "Start the paperwork four to six months out.", b: "Some visas take eight weeks to process and have to be applied for in a specific order. Make a single spreadsheet: country, visa type, length, application window, processing time, cost, expiry. Do it the week you book the flight. The travelers who handle visas a month out end up rerouting the whole trip around what they could get in time. Apply early, in order, with extra passport pages requested at the start." }, { k: "Mind tip", h: "Build a re-entry week into the calendar.", b: "The week between landing and the first day back at work is the most important week of the trip. It's when you process what happened, sleep, do laundry, see one or two people who matter, and don't talk about it yet. Travelers who fly home Sunday night and walk into a 9 a.m. Monday meeting lose half the trip in the transition. Build the buffer. Use it. The trip ends well, or it doesn't." }, ]; // THE DESK — same four people as the wider Travel desk, here on the long form. const SB_VOICES = [ { name: "Iris Mendoza", role: "Senior Editor · Itineraries Desk", trips: 64, line: "A sabbatical isn't a long vacation. It's a different shape of trip — slower, less scheduled, longer than the patience your friends have for hearing about it. The good ones look boring from the outside.", av: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1494790108377-be9c29b29330?w=200&q=80" }, { name: "Marcus Lin", role: "Field correspondent · Asia", trips: 48, line: "Two months in Asia for the price of two weeks in Italy. The math is the easy part. The harder part is staying somewhere long enough to stop being a tourist there.", av: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1438761681033-6461ffad8d80?w=200&q=80" }, { name: "Nia Adebayo", role: "Field correspondent · Africa & Europe", trips: 39, line: "I tell people: the first month of a sabbatical doesn't count. It takes that long to stop being on vacation and start being on the trip. Plan for a trip that begins on day 31.", av: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1607746882042-944635dfe10e?w=200&q=80" }, ]; Object.assign(window, { SB_META, SB_PLACES, SB_ITINS, SB_BY_STYLE, SB_READING, SB_FAQS, SB_PRACTICAL, SB_VOICES });