How would you like to spend six months recharging your creative batteries while someone else tends to the cooking, the housekeeping, and the bills? Or perhaps bicycle across China or take a really long walk? Renovate your house, study fabric design in San Francisco, or take cooking clases in Vermont? Live in another country and use the experience to launch a whole new career, or just catch up on your sleep, your hobbies, your life? Stop dreaming and start reading, because you're about to be liberated. Six Months Off is a complete guide to planning and taking the break you've been dreaming of, without losing your job or your nest egg, or alienating your family and friends. Based on interviews with more than 200 successful sabbatical takers, it shows step-by-step how to negotiate for the time you'll need, where to find the money, how to use a sabbatical to reenergize a stalled career or as a bridge to a new one, and how to engineer a smooth reentry. A comprehensive resource guide and a chapter listing more than 50 programs and escapes -- some absolutely free -- will inspire you to stop dreaming about taking a sabbatical and start planning a move that could truly change your life. - Back cover.