New travel trend: Hire a travel coach and take a Life Sabbatical

Long Term Travel Coach Tara Russell knew the next Big Thing before the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love informed the rest of us. Realizing that people are searching for a way to add meaning to their lives, she created her company Three Month Visa to help people make their travel dreams come true.

Here’s how it works. Your feet start itching as you sit in your cubicle, during your lunch break you sojourn to Borders to drool over guidebook photos, at night you scour Travelzoo to find the best deals, but in the end you keep feeling like you can’t (there’s the kids and the economy and your mortgage and your car needs to be washed and…).

That’s when you call Tara. Her motto is “Stamp your passport, pack your bags, hit the road” whether you like it or not. She prides herself in being able to give you permission to take the life trip you never dreamed you could take.

Russell begins the process with a free 45-minute consultation to help you assess your life and ask the big question: what do you really want? Do you want to be Indiana Jones? To volunteer in the rainforest? To lie on a Bora Bora beach reading John Grisham for a month? Once you are hooked (and you will be once you speak to Tara, she’s electric and funny), you sign up for three months of (it’s a tax deduction!) coaching. The price includes three weekly sessions per month, email and phone support, plus her travel savvy, compassion and understanding.

I know what you are thinking; I asked the same thing: how can I afford this? First off it is cheaper than therapy (but no replacement—if you have mom issues this is not the person to call). Tara’s job is to point a finger at your finances and show you that if you stopped spending $4 a latte twice a day, you’d have more than enough for that plane ticket.

Furthermore, when you get back from that trip she is there to help coach you through reentry. You know the deal: crying when the sandwich guy at Whole Foods asks you which type of bread you want, because all you really want is a sandwich, not to choose between 13 types of bread and cheese!

In end, even if you don’t have the cash for a travel cheerleader helping you make your dream trip a reality, you can be inspired by Tara’s monthly San Francisco book club and lecture series. She calls it the “hostel lobby” for folks back home and it happens at Books Inc each month, check her website for details.