I [25M] will be travelling overseas for at least a year but my GF of 7 months [26F] can't come. We've discussed it from the start but feelings have gotten complicated...

So I've lived in a small town teaching for the last 4 years and hooked up with my current girlfriend (also a teacher) out there in May. From the start I told her I would be travelling overseas in 2017 as it's something I've wanted to do since I was 16 and wanted to do so with no strings attached. She was fine with that but as things progressed it's become harder and harder to decide what to do.

As we lived in a small town things moved very quickly. After a couple months we were staying at each other's houses most nights of the week and towards the end of the term she was at my place for almost 3 straight weeks (which we both loved!). Once holidays began in early December we road tripped together, stayed at her parents house a week and then she came to visit me for a week (our hometowjs are about a 2 hour drive apart). During that time we spent a week apart and I hated the distance.

This brings me to the current situation. We've discussed the relationship continually and came up with an option that we agreed on a month and a half ago. We are going to spend the next 4 days together (she had to go back to her hometown) in a nearby city for both of us. After that we will break up but still chat. We will both go on living our lives. She has to go back to the small town we met in as she has another year of her country service. I plan to stay in my hometown catching up with friends and family as last year was my final year in the small town. I'll go overseas in March and in June/July we'll re-assess and see where we both our and if we want to continue the relationship.

However, she doesn't really want this option and I don't know if I do either. The other day she wrote a letter telling me she loved me (I didn't say it back because I don't know if I feel it yet and don't want to lead her on). We've grown closer and closer and we're great together. But there doesn't seem to be an option that we can stay together and not be negatively impacted. Here's what we've come to.

1. She can't/doesn't want to come with me travelling because she has a year left out at the small town. She wants to complete this and finish it even though she doesn't fully enjoy the job and is dreading going back. I agree with this and don't want her to give up on her career but would absolutely love for her to come with me

2. I don't travel and stay either in my hometown or nearby to her. I dislike living in my hometown and hate long distance (I've done it in a previous relationship and despised it. She says it could be different with her but based on the week apart I'm not convinced). I would stick around for a year waiting for her (a year that I took unpaid leave from my teaching job). I can't/don't want to go back to the small town as I've said my goodbyes there and feel like I accomplished everything I set out to do.

3. I travel but we do it long distance. I don't know if the relationship will last long distance as I said previously I'm really not a fan. I'm worried about things that might happen overseas or opportunities I feel like I might miss out on if I'm worrying about someone else. The trip for me was always about self discovery and I don't know if I can really do that while in a LDR. I'd be happy to travel with her as then we can discover ourselves together.

So that's where we're at. At the moment we're still going with the break up and re-assess route but I don't know if it's the best choice. We're wracking our brains for other options but nothing is coming up. I guess I'm just seeking advice. Is there other options? Or is there one that is the best and we should just suck it up? I'm terrified of giving this up and losing what we have as it hasn't really run its course. We'd be breaking up still caring for each other.

TL;DR - I am traveling overseas for at least a year but my girlfriend can't. We've come up with several options but none of them keep both of us happy.