[Denbob99]

I didn't change my drinking habits when away. Figured it was important to relax at the end of the day and it can get boring in a van of an evening when the nights get longer.

It helps that Spain (and Europe generally) has dangerously cheap booze of course 

[abarro81]

In the main I tended to avoid seiging which may have contributed to low stress and no burn out. Rarely stuck with anything which felt like it would take more than three sessions max and mostly did stuff that was potentially onsightable or would go down with in a few redpoints at most. I think doing a few months of this is more beneficial to your climbing than a handful of stressful seiges, not to mention a lot more fun and less likely to produce a trip spoiling injury.
I didn't change my drinking habits when away. Figured it was important to relax at the end of the day and it can get boring in a van of an evening when the nights get longer.

Conversely, the time of the trip when I mostly was onsighting I got the most burnt out - from start of Oct until Christmas I was basically onsighting and quick ticking only, and it meant that every day I went out putting pressure on myself to perform. By the time I came home at christmas I was done mentally; didn't want to put my shoes on for 2 weeks at home, just campused and fingerboarded! When I was putting more time into things I was more chilled and didn't suffer this issue. It's hard to separate variables though, since when I was putting more time into stuff I was also living in a house which helps a lot, or it was later in the trip when I'd done a bunch of stuff which may have contributed to not feeling stressed about getting things done...
In any case for me some variety is needed - next time I'll boulder more and ensure I'm mixing up onsights, quick RPs and projects. Also good to accept from the outset that time is less efficiently spent than on short trips I think - on a 2 week hit you feel like every day has to count, on a long trip I can't sustain that approach and definitely need to be more chilled.

On the boredom point - if you get a van then get a good battery set-up and a hard drive with loads of films/series on it.

[Bonjoy]

To some extent it will depend on what type of climber you are or aim to be. I'm happy to be a mid-grade slacker, doing loads of quick routes was right up my street. I did do some longer projecting on both trips, but found it stressful. I hate being surrounded by shit loads of amazing routes and being stuck trying the same moves for days on end, with the ever present risk that for whatever reason the invested effort might all come to nothing. I'm well aware this sort of attitude is no good if you aspire to big numbers.

[T_B]

To some extent it will depend on what type of climber you are or aim to be.

And what type of climbing you're mainly into. I can't imagine going to Spain if I took a year off, despite being into sport climbing. But then I have the benefit of having climbed at places like Taipan, Yosemite, The Needles CA

[abarro81]

2/3 of your list are trad destinations TB!

[Bonjoy]

T_B - I should have added " and what your partner (if you are going with one), is keen on and competent at"
I camped near Taipan for several weeks but only got to climb on it a couple of times as it didn't suit my climbing partners.

[T_B]

Fair comment, but I can think of incredible sport routes in places like Tuloumne that unlike Spain you couldn't just rock up and do on a long weekend from the UK e.g.

[a dense loner]

When I see pics like that I wish I could actually climb!

[Steve R]

It has been touched on already but, depending on where you go and your personality to some extent, I wouldn't underestimate the hurdle of getting partners if you're going solo.  I'm looking at spending some longer periods in Spain this winter and the partner factor is probably my main priority when it comes to deciding where.
I've done some solo longer trips in the past(South Africa, Squamish) and, as a fairly anti-social introvert, I found it quite challenging meeting and arranging to go climbing with new people all the time! 

[shurt]

Been mentioned a few times on here already but I went to NZ for a longish trip (6 months). Got a work visa which I think is pretty easy to get unless you are of advancing years. I climbed, worked, took a bit of cash with me, bought a car which was cheapish but good to get around to the different areas. I think it was Chris who mentioned going further afield. I would deffo consider this rather than Europe. There will be time to do trips around Europe later but having the time to go to NZ, Aus, Canada, the US etc. for an extended period might only happen a few times in your life depending on how it pans out. I don't think you'd regret it.
I used a great website to get work over there where you did about 2-3 hrs work a day and got food and board. Easy to climb the rest of the time if near enough to somewhere. It helps to make your cash last longer. Lots of places let you work more hrs and earn cash if you want to. This is it I think: http://helpx.net/nz/index.asp
Climbing is varied - sport, bouldering, trad, alpine. You can ski and snowboard too if you're into it.

I still dream about Castle Hill, I will go back one day. Its incredible... 

[Bencil]

I’m planning a euro road trip in a van starting in September, also just finished phd and now desperate to have some time off. Probably for around 6 – 8 months but maybe longer.
Interesting to hear about people getting burnt out. Sitting at a desk dreaming of endless 3 start euro climbing its hard to imagine but can kind of see how it could be an issue if you don't try to break it up a bit. Main event will be sport climbing but will be getting some bouldering, multi pitch in too.
Linked into this my main concern is like Steve R said is finding partners. Managed fine on a 10 day solo trip in chulilla (mate had to bail at last minute) was able to find climbing partners every day but certainly added some level of stress (maybe this was due to high turnover of people at the place I was staying.) But then at the other end of the spectrum spending 6 months with the same partner day in day out could also get stressful as bonjoy has said with couples breaking up. How easy is it to find the happy medium here? Any tips? Which crags are going to be easiest to find partners? (will be mostly looking at south france and spain I think.)
Current plan is to head out at the same time as a mate and his gf who have a similar plan. Will also be trying to persuade friends to come join me for holidays.

[Denbob99]

Thought I'd update this as I'm now back and thought it might be interesting for others. We left in November last year and spent 7 months travelling and climbing, I'll post a quick summary of where we went and did:

India: Spent about a month and a half in Hampi bouldering. Its an amazing place, very laid back but full of travellers and not much else. You couldn't really say you'd been to India if you only went to Hampi. The bouldering itself is world class, we stayed in Goan corner. Even had all our money cancelled on us overnight (cheers Modhi) luckily Sharmilla from the Goan Corner sorted us out! Highly recommended, but do it soon as they might bulldoze the whole island.  We made it out to Badami too, which very much is real India. Good for a sport climbing break but not anything to write home about, the street food is some of the best food we had on the whole trip though.

After that we travelled north. Avoid Goa and any major city. Loved Udaipur/Pushkar and Rajastahn in general. After that we spent some time in Rishikesh which is beautiful, did some yoga and went hiking, lavvly.

I think we averaged £10 a day in India including food, accommodation and travel.

Nepal: I got giardia, a water-born parasite so had to look at mountains but not trek around them due to needing to be in very close proximity to a toilet for 5 days. Top tip, don't get giardia.

Thailand: Storms in Railay meant we went to Nam Pha Pa Yai climbers camp instead which was really nice. Good accommodation, great food and limited but excellent climbing. You zip-line to the crag which is novel!

After that we spent 10 days at Jungle Boulders, probably a bit late in the season for it as it was pretty hot but the bouldering itself was really nice and Dom who ran the place was great to hang out with.

Laos: We spent 10 days sport climbing in Thakek. World class climbing but the accommodation was a bit shit compared to everywhere else we stayed. First place we started to suffer serious burnout.

Back to Thailand: A month in Chiang Mai, 2 weeks in the city in an AirBnB and 2 weeks at Jira homestay. The actual climbing at crazy horse isn't that great, a month is probably too long to spend there in all honesty. Food at Jira's is great though and the bungalows were top value.

China: A month in Yangshuo to start. If you're heading to Yangshuo for any length of time then stay in an apartment. We paid £50 each for a month in a shared flat with a bunch of really great guys, the flats are owned by Ola who climbs 8c+ so can always get your draws back for you if you go climbing. Major burnout at times over this month but Yangshuo itself is a lot of fun and the landscape is totally alien.

After that we headed to Shigu and stayed at Stone Drum House. The accommodation was fantastic and Shigu itself is a really nice place to spend time and get a feel for what rural China is like away from tourists. The climbing won't ever be world class as the rock quality just isn't there, but there's huge scope for big sport multipitches if you're willing to bolt them.

Japan: Didn't climb, just did workaway on a farm for 2 weeks followed by a week in Tokyo. Tokyo is amazing for a big city, very green and never feels like 40 million people live there.

Any questions about anywhere we went, feel free to ask. Burnout is a bitch and hit hard at times, not something you expect when you have a job and only really get to climb on evenings and weekends! Pretty sure overall we averaged less than £20 a day including all travel between and in countries and the flights home.

[SA Chris]

Good work, and well done (except the giardia). When's the next trip then?