You may have imagined walking away from work for a while – especially after your fourth back-to-back Teams meeting on a Monday. Juergen Barbusca actually did it – and wrote a book about it.
After years in a successful career, and roughly five years spent thinking about and planning a sabbatical, Juergen left his job and hit the road in a 2003 Volkswagen EuroVan camper. Over the months that followed, he traveled roughly 32,000 miles across the United States and Canada. That journey eventually became No Overnight Parking: A Year of Vanlife, Discovery, and the Open Road.
In this episode of The Celebrated Mister K Show,1Yeah, I needed another show. Juergen talks about much more than the mechanics of vanlife. We discuss the work-life imbalance that prompted the trip, the financial and practical planning required to make it possible, the strange freedom of pulling out of the driveway with options as far as the eye – and gas tank – could see, and the constant improvisation that life on the road demanded.
There were also things no amount of planning could anticipate, including a family emergency and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, our conversation comes back to a deceptively simple question: how long should you postpone something important on the assumption you’ll have time for it later?
Watch the conversation below, or listen to the audio-only version below that. To get the book or contact Juergen, visit juergenbarbusca.com.
Also, here is a link to the 2025 Forbes article discussing sabbaticals and employee burnout we reference in the episode.
