My company grants us a one month paid sabbatical for every 5 years of employment. As an extra bonus, if you travel to an international (from the US) destination that you haven't visited before, they'll give you a $6400 stipend to pay for airfare and accommodation for two.

So my question is: where should I go? My initial inclination is to find one of the more exotic locations and just go there. It isn't necessary that $6400 cover the entire trip.

I was thinking something like MSN-SEZ-MRU-TNR-MSN for a good 4-5 week trip. It looks like the airfare (at least for the open jaw MSN-SEZ, TNR-MSN) would be about $2K

We've been to Europe several times on vacation, but never to Africa or Asia and I tend to like the natural and architectural/historical intrigues of the places that I visit.

I'd be grateful for any ideas that people might have.

My wife and I headed to Argentina for our honeymoon and absolutely loved it! There are supposedly many apartments for rent for part of the year and a ton of expatriates in BA. You could easily head up to Brazil and over to Chile from BA. The architecture in BA and shopping is incredible! Not to mention the food and the warmth of the Argentines....

I am in academia and get sabbaticals, but nothing like this! I assume you work for a private company. Sometimes the pull of the private world is very strong! Enjoy your time!

Yeah, I work for a private company. My other friends who work for public companies tell me that this type of benefit would not fly at a public company (and certainly not in academia )

Go where you both have always wanted to go. That's my recommendation!

Wow - I wish I was that lucky. I've never been to those places you mentioned. However, I'm not sure I would pick Seychelles if you like nature and architecture. In my opinion Seychelles is more of a resort island for one to rejuvenate. Again, I may be completely wrong and misinformed.

However, since you're already in that area of the world, you probably are better off visiting South Africa. However, if you are up for a bit further - Halong Bay in Vietnam is breathtaking. That's what I call nature.

That's a fabulous policy you have there. May your company never go public.

I would head to Asia; plenty to choose from there. I'm partial to Japan, but I would think you could find plenty of the natural/architectural/historical intrigues anywhere in the Far East.

Nature and architecture, huh?

That sounds like Southeast Asia to me. Or maybe India with the right itinerary.

i am an asia guy. so my first thought would be to go
to bangkok first and off somewhere in thailand. however i went to san miguel de allende in mexico and if you are older ( my age ) this is the close place to go. if you are 50's are more this is the easy fun place.

Wow, I need to work for that company.

I used a between-jobs gap to take time to travel, spending money from taking a buyout offer. In that situation I could have spent around 4 months in Europe or closer to 12 by deliberately picking "cheap" countries like in SE Asia, and I did the latter.

In your situation, though, if you're happy with the job, have a guaranteed return, limited timeframe and financial help, then I'd say you should be biased toward places that might be harder to work out financially on your own dime. For me that'd be Iceland in the summer, seeing less-visited spots in French Polynesia possibly by freighter (maybe the Marquesas or even Pitcairn), Spitzbergen, a train trip across Siberia or much of Europe.

If I had a month, I would head to one of the major resorts on the island of Cyprus (Ayia Napa or Paphos).

You can use Cyprus as a base, and very easily cover Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Turkey. If you plan far enough ahead, you can also get a VISA for Syria.