Wow, there are a lot of questions rolled up into one here and the answers will vary according to your personal situation, primarily around where you are in your career and what kind of budget you'll be on for the year. I did something similar in 2001 after the dotcom crash, just two years out of college and no real commitments to leave behind.

Here are some key things to consider:

Travel

• What are your passions? Since you'll be traveling for a year, try to incorporate those passions into the travel experience. For me that was a passion for wine, so I found a way to work at an Italian winery. During the same year, I also spent a full season in a ski town, skiing being another passion of mine.
• Similar to the above point, what are your career aspirations? You could potentially get great international experience doing something tangentially relevant to your career path but in a new and interesting country.
• Are you interested in learning or improving upon your language skills? The best way to learn a new language is complete immersion over an extended period of time. This is your chance. Do you want to get conversational or really become fluent? That could range from 3-6 months depending on how far you want to go.
• What is your budget? Your money will last a lot longer in places like Southeast Asia, or South America than places like Australia, New Zealand, or the Middle East.
• Go places that are hard to get to. Time will be on your side. You won't be concerned with fitting everything in for a one or two week vacation. Go to places that require a couple flight connections followed by a long train and/or bus ride. Take advantage of your time line.
• Get to know different cultures. This goes beyond site seeing. Take advantage of how much time you have off to stay in one place long enough to really get to know people and their customs.

Job Re-Entry

• Assume that it's going to take at least 2-3 months for your job search, unless you are fortunate enough to know you have something lined up.
• The initial part of your search can coincide with the last part of your trip so you can get a jump start upon your return.
• Reflect on the key learnings of your time off and consider how they they could potentially be useful to a potential employer.