HELLO
Happy Leap Year Day! We don't care for all that silly women proposing stuff (it is the 21st century after all) - we're just glad we got an extra day to get this newsletter out! Er... not that it's a last minute job of course...
Today we've got our usual round-up of news, photos, questions, plus a new video section and a fantastic competition. So grab yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit because we've given you the next ten minutes off work.
COMPETITION OF MUCH AWESOMENESS
Career Break Site approved volunteer organisation Global Vision International have launched a competition where you can win a year volunteering around the world! Plus, accommodation, food, flights and insurance are included. Not only will you be making a difference while having an amazing experience, you'll be blogging about it for GVI so all your mates back home can turn green with envy. They'll even throw in a video camera so you can record your adventures.
For all the information and to enter go to: http://www.gvi.co.uk/volunteer-around-world-free
This really is an unmissable opportunity, so go and enter now, then come back here. We'll wait.
TWITTER, FACEBOOK, THAT ONE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE NEW TWITTER/FACEBOOK
We've got over 1,100 followers on Twitter now, so do join them if you can (we retweet stuff from people far more interesting than us). We're on Facebook as well if that's more your thing. We're not on Pinterest because we're not quite sure about it yet (if you've got an opinion, please email us and tell us what it is).
If you've got a travel blog, story, Flickr stream or something else cool you want us to share, just let us know!
PHOTO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF INSPIRATION
Fab pictures of Kenya and its wildlife (with an article to boot)
The Guardian's travel photography competition theme this month is nature. Click here for the gallery, and to enter for next month.
VIDEO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF OMG
People in a boat being chased by a hippo on an African safari - we found this quite scary (but then we're wimps).
ON THE BLOG
Want to work abroad on your career break? Oyster Worldwide have helpfully provided a list of 4 things to bear in mind.
If you're looking for a job, getting your CV right is important. Here are 7 1/2 things NOT to put on it.
10 things I can't travel without and 10 things I can.
A post on how to make a great friendship card, complete with examples.
This is really useful - we found 10 quick ways to save a total of £1,692 a year (that's an average figure, not maximum!). Click here to find out how to do it.
Not new but updated: Things to do on a long-haul flight for the easily bored.
Are you interesting? Do you want to share your story on our blog? We're always looking for guest posts, so email info@thecareerbreaksite.com.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
For a change, not something you've asked us, but something we asked Richard Branson. And he replied! You can watch the video here (our question comes up at 1:38). The reason we asked it is because a certain number of career breakers start their own business after their break, so we do occasional stuff on entrepreneurship.
If you have a question for us, email info@thecareerbreaksite.com - we never share your name or any identifying info, and we delete your email once we've replied.
CAREER BREAK, TRAVEL AND WORK NEWS ROUND-UP
You've probably heard the news that Argentina turned away 2 cruise ships because they'd visited the Falklands (if you haven't, you can read it here). We'll leave the politics to a different website, but it's a good reminder that entry requirements and plans can change very quickly, so travellers always need to be flexible.
Here's a useful article from travel expert Simon Calder on how to avoid car rental rip-offs when you go travelling.
The Telegraph has a piece on 8 of the world's most dangerous islands. Some of them look quite nice - shame about the radioactive waste and stuff.
The government is planning to extend the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from 1 to 2 years - which means if you get shafted by your workplace, you can't do a great deal about it unless you've been there 2 years or more. Worryingly, we had to dig pretty deep to find this bit of news - there's info on the direct.gov site.
JOKE
My boss stormed up to me in the office today and said,
"You missed work yesterday, didn't you?"
"Not particularly," I replied.
FINALLY
You probably don't care but Career Break Site founder Rachel got married the other day. In true career break style she ran away (with her betrothed obviously) and got hitched in a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Drop her a line if you want advice on getting married abroad - a lot of career breakers are doing it these days!
Until next time, Happy St David's Day, Happy St Patrick's Day and Happy International Women's Day.
Love,
The Career Break Site
xxx