Transition to Travel: A Midlife Career Break to Travel the World with Lance Wright

Mar 12, 2026

Lance Wright, a higher education professional and creator of The Midlife Crisis Traveler who took a seven-month career break to travel. He talks about negotiating leave from a job he loved, solo versus hybrid family travel, and finding community through tours and Workaway. He also explores how travel prompted minimalism, shifts in masculinity and identity, and a surprising clarity upon returning home.

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ADVICE

Explain Why You Need The Trip

Have honest conversations with your partner about travel preferences and why you need the trip.
Lance and his wife negotiated solo versus joint travel; she chose shorter trips while he took seven months solo.

ADVICE

Plan Community Projects To Avoid Loneliness

Plan community-building activities into solo long trips to avoid isolation.
Lance booked a Workaway in Switzerland after three weeks because he noticed he needed structure to meet people instead of staying alone in a room.

INSIGHT

Travel Forces Life Decluttering

Long trips force decisions you might otherwise postpone, like selling cars or downsizing your home.
Lance moved from a 12-year house into a condo and sold a car to simplify life before leaving.

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Dreaming of quitting your job and becoming a digital nomad? Planning a career break to travel the world? If you need some inspiration to make those travel dreams a reality, look no further! We're resharing some of our Transition to Travel episodes this month to help kickstart your plans in 2026. In this series, we interview a guest both before and after their travels (or during if it's long-term), so we can see how it all panned out and how travel has changed them.

Lance Wright is a longtime higher education professional and the creator of The Midlife Crisis Traveler, where he shares the story behind taking a major travel leap in midlife. At the time of this episode, he stepped away from his role at Colorado State University to take a seven-month trip, and that experience led him to rethink work, identity, and how he wanted to live.

This conversation gets into the real stuff behind long-term travel. Lance shares what it was like to ask for time away from a job he actually loved, how he and his wife navigated his decision to travel solo, and what helped him through the lonely stretches on the road. We also talk about minimalism, masculinity, identity, and the surprising clarity he had when he got home.

What chapter in your life might be ready to close so a new one can begin? I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope you’ll share by sending me an audio message.

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