Inactive License?

Okay, so I feel like this is a fairly simple/easy question to answer (or at least it should be), but no matter how much I google it, I can't find the correct answer anywhere. I am in my last semester of nursing school (BSN) and after I graduate in December, I am planning on taking the NCLEX-RN in the state of Washington in January. However, I do not have immediate plans to do nursing for perhaps a few years because I am going to be in Europe and I'm pretty sure that because of the language barriers and as a new nurse with no experience outside of clinicals, I will not be able to get a "nursing job" (unless you guys know of otherwise, I would love to know about any opportunities). Anyway, my main question is, after I get my RN, how long do I have my license before it is no longer valid because of not practicing nursing? I tried looking it up and I found terms like "inactive" and "expired" and I'm not sure what everything means if anyone has ANY insight or knowledge, I would LOVE to be enlightened. Thanks so much!