Tales of a Travelin' Consultant: Annnnnnd she's off. Kinda. Sorta. But not really

I have been with my current company, Deloitte, for almost 2 years (see original post from 2009 where I wasn't working in the midst of my former company going bankrupt...) For the past 16 months, I have been lobbying them to grant me a Leave of Absence. This consulting firm is great - there are two formal programs to give burnt out consultants a break:

Sabbatical program that allows for 3 months of leave, at 40% of your pay and obligation that one returns to work

Leave of Absence which allows for up to 6 months of unpaid leave and only an expectation that one returns to work. Since this has been my biggest dream for almost 10 years, I went with this option.

In August 2010, I was officially approved for the Leave program but then got surprised with a promotion. The real surprise was on me, because this meant I couldnt leave right away. After many negotiations over Starbucks at various Southern California strip malls, my boss and I decided on March 2011. Then it was April 2011. This made perfect sense, as I had my friend Liz Lippy's wedding in Isla Mujeres and then I could just cruise down the Yucatan to Central America for some spanish lesson on the cheap (read: no vale un huevo).

To kick-off my Leave, I booked the destination wedding trip with my sister BB and her boyfriend Josh. We were very excited and I started looking into options for spanish courses in Guatemala. Alas, my boss isnt in his high position for nothing, and his negotiating skills got the best of me. He talked me into coming back for a few weeks and leaving for good in late May. Firm.

To kick-off my Leave, the second time around, booked the first trip of my Leave to Belize with my mom to begin in late May. When we told my client counterparts, they took it well and were genuinely happy for me. I started transitioning my work. Somewhere in these transition conversations, I agreed to coming back from Belize for 2 weeks to work.

So to kick-off my Leave for the third time, I booked a trip to Bogota, Colombia for June. Good thing I'm not a career negotiator, because I really really suck at it.

Apparently everyone in my life was looking forward to getting rid of me for 6 months - I had no less than 5 formal going-away parties. Unfortunately, I kept on coming back for more celebration. A few highlights:

Deloitte-only party at the Mission Inn (on my Top 10 Hotel list). It's a non-branded hotel, but oozes with charm. However, there is an amazing promotion at Starwood properties, so I decided not to book a room there and instead be a points-whore. When a colleage was checking into the Mission Inn, he asked the girls to give me an upgrade because it was my going-away and it is my favorite hotel. They couldnt find a reservation for me, even though Michael kept insisting I was staying there. Oops.

Project-wide party at a winery in Temecula. A lot of wine, a lot of food, and really far away. Surprisingly, over 30 team members attended. When the bill came, I had to pick up half of the check.

LA friend-party at the W Hollywood. Prepartied in my hotel room with snack and alcohol supplied by Nancy. It was one of the first times I didnt get an upgrade to a suite so the preparty was a bit awkward. Luckily Mary Claire and I had adjoining rooms but that really didnt help. We decided to go to Drai's, the nightclub on the top floor that I love to hate and turn into a snob the minute we approach the velvet rope. I started hanging out with one of my favorite ultimate fighters, Wanderlei Silva. We had a good convo - talking fighting, the last time I saw him in Minneapolis, and Brazil. I started playfully punching him, figuring if my friends can handle it, so can a professional fighter. WRONG. He got kinda pissed with the sucker punches to the belly, but I couldnt understand his accent in the loud club, and he finally honked my boob.

International-themed costume party in Denver. Nar and Geoff hosted this spectacle which really brought out the stereotypes. Almost everyone came in costume, including babies and children. Among other costumes, we had Mexicans, Jamaicans, Frenchies, Indians, Gypsies, Safari girls and a Gorilla. There were tons of foreign drinks (not everyone could handle the Big Black Dick rum, thogh) and even a Corona shaped pinata.

Surprise-going away dinner in Pasadena. This was my last week onsite, and everyone was ready for me to finally leave. I didnt have any work to do, so I kept putting my head into other people's business and basically stepped on toes all week. My client Marie wanted to go to dinner, but I was sick on antibiotics and tried to get out of it. She is a bulldog, so didnt give me an option. When we walked into the restaurant, I was greeted by my Deloitte team! What a nice surprise.