Yes, I had a 15 month non-compete after leaving a high frequency trading firm. I got married and traveled 3 months around Asia (Japan, Korea, S.E. Asia, Australia). We came back and did some domestic travel then she went back to work and I started to concentrate on job search and personal projects.
The travel was great and unforgettable. I would suggest taking it slow if you are thinking of something similar. We enjoyed places when we were there for at least a week or more. We both eventually got fatigued from the constant moving and planning. I would certainly do it again but I would try to spend more time in total and longer stays at fewer places.
When I got back and my wife was working again, I tried to stay physically active to take up as much time as possible. I committed to expanding some of my knowledge by working in languages and frameworks that I wasn't exposed to in my last position.
Even with the effort to keep active and learning there is still a lot of time on your hands when you are not working. This tends to get filled with more low potential pastimes like video games, TV, etc. Everyone I know who had a similar non-compete leaned on these pastimes more than they wanted to, but its really hard to fill that much time with productive activities. If you want to avoid your vices I would suggest setting out a plan for 3, 6, 9 months and revisiting it every month. I'm not saying you have to stick to your goals but you should stay long term oriented to be productive.
The travel was great and unforgettable. I would suggest taking it slow if you are thinking of something similar. We enjoyed places when we were there for at least a week or more. We both eventually got fatigued from the constant moving and planning. I would certainly do it again but I would try to spend more time in total and longer stays at fewer places.
When I got back and my wife was working again, I tried to stay physically active to take up as much time as possible. I committed to expanding some of my knowledge by working in languages and frameworks that I wasn't exposed to in my last position.
Even with the effort to keep active and learning there is still a lot of time on your hands when you are not working. This tends to get filled with more low potential pastimes like video games, TV, etc. Everyone I know who had a similar non-compete leaned on these pastimes more than they wanted to, but its really hard to fill that much time with productive activities. If you want to avoid your vices I would suggest setting out a plan for 3, 6, 9 months and revisiting it every month. I'm not saying you have to stick to your goals but you should stay long term oriented to be productive.