Burned-Out Startup Worker Quits to Spreadsheet a Year of Avoiding Reality

KEY POINTS

•Maria Laposata and her husband combined their travel dreams into a giant spreadsheet to cope with startup burnout in Los Angeles.
•They quit their jobs two years later, saving $75,000 to fund a year-long trip starting in Rome with Italian classes and Aperol spritz ambiance.
•On a tiny island near Bali, Maria faced an existential crisis about her self-worth, realizing her husband was her actual priority, not work.
•Back in LA, both received job offers just as they returned, and Maria founded Travelries to help others plan similar travel breaks.

Maria Laposata, 32, fueled by a startup burnout that had her LA laptop sprinting from 7 a.m. to midnight, concocted a spreadsheet so dense it could have launched a NASA mission. She and husband, with caffeine provided by a morning cappuccino and zero dramatic flair, decided three months of globetrotting wasn’t enough, opting for a FULL year to maximize their Netflix-covered $75,000 escape budget. From sheltering from imaginary African snakes to awkward birthday epiphanies on tiny Indonesian islands, Maria managed to make a career-gap that looked like a résumé crime into the ultimate hiring flex. LA’s back, but this time she’s got Travelries to help anyone else childish enough to quit for a sabbatical.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

When your burnout is so intense that a spreadsheet and a $75k budget become your escape hatch, but the real exotic species you fight? Workaholic habits disguised as responsibility.

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