Wanting to experience something other than working as a tech or intern during the school year is proof that I want to have varied interests outside of pharmacy. It is not proof that I have doubts about the career. If anything it should resonate that I am comfortable in my choice and comfortable with my level of experience in the technician role.
I would hope that many of you could diversify your work interests as well.
I want pharmacy to be one aspect of my life not the whole thing. I want to be known as a novelist, an entrepreneur, an inventor - among many pursuits that I haven't even experienced yet.
Skills and experiences gained outside of the pharmacy are what make a pharmacist useful to patients. Being able to converse with people on multiple levels is what patients need to feel comfortable talking with their health care professional.
I work with a relief pharmacist who also is a travel writer. He only works in the US a few months of the year as a pharmacist and then is off to different countries during the rest of the year. He is my pharmacy hero. He brings a much needed "outside" perspective to the other pharmacists who are the prototypical "pill counters". Guess which one patients and techs feel comfortable conversing with?
Good luck with that. A true profession requires a lot of work and a lot of time if you want to succeed in it. Not that you can't have outside interests. I myself hike, knit, watch movies, spend time with friends, read non-fiction on a variety of subjects, etc. But any professional career, whether as a pharmacist, a lawyer, a scientist, etc. takes a lot of time to maintain and a lot of time to keep current on the field of knowledge. Unless your relief pharmacist is a genius (which most of us aren't) who reads pharmacy journals while he's off being a travel writer, he can't have the same knowledge as someone who is constantly working as a pharmacist. This, in my opinion, most likely puts his patients at risk.
I'm currently in academia, and those that are truly successful in it live, breath, and eat science. I realized early on in my science career that I don't have the drive for learning molecular pathways that they do, but I love learning about human disease, from the societal implications to its treatments to how it causes harm to the body. That's why I'm switching fields.
If you really want to be a travel writer, go be a travel writer. Or be a pharmacist and spend your vacations traveling somewhere different. There are pharmacists who have outside interests in travel and rock music, for an example, that still work full time. If I were you, I wouldn't expect to have some sort of career that you can go be a travel writer, rock star, inventor, etc. half of the year and still be an excellent pharmacist. Nor should you think that spending large amounts of time away from pharmacy will help improve your knowledge either. It may improve your ability to have conversations, but frankly, I think that's more of a skill you either have or don't have.