Why take a gap ‘year’ – NOW
The sound of endless Saturdays sounds like a dream, right? So why don’t more people take the plunge and go on their trip of a lifetime?!
The main reasons are usually:
Can’t afford it
Have no one to go with
Worried about not getting on/moving up the career ladder
Or just plain scared…
These things don’t always have to be barriers to stop you travelling though! If I’ve learnt anything from working in travel, it is - you can do it too! Gap years don’t always actually have to be full-on 12 month trips – some people just don’t wanna be away from their family, their own bed, or a roast dinner for that long! So an alternative is what I’ve come to know as a “snap-gap” to use the industry lingo. This could be anything from a few weeks to a number of months.
So why take one?
1) You will meet LOADS of people! Even if you travel solo you are bound to meet plenty of people in the same boat as you. If you stick to the fairly “well-trodden” routes you will be able to tag along with others heading in the same direction as you. If you’d rather not head off into the world on your own there are hundreds of group trips you can book before you go to explore new countries and make new friends!
2) You will learn so much: When discovering far flung places you will not only learn facts and figures about these countries and their history but you will also find out things you never knew about yourself! Whether it’s what you like to eat (or don’t!), that you do quite like your own company, or that you can push yourself to limits you didn’t know existed, these are all a learning curve.
3) It doesn’t have to be SUPER expensive: As part of your travels there are various ways you can make your money go further. If you are an English speaker you can tutor or Teach English as a Foreign Language alongside your travels to earn a bit of extra cash (make sure you check the visa situation in the country you’re looking to teach though – wouldn’t want to be working illegally!). Alternatively you can get Working Holiday Visas for Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc. which give you the opportunity to get paid casual work while you travel. Thirdly, if you have plenty of time to travel, staying in one place for a longer period of time can cut costs dramatically! Instead of booking hostels and hotels you can rent apartments on a weekly/monthly basis which will get you a cheaper rate!
4) It can actually help you on the career ladder! Many companies actually look favourably on travelling. For one, it gives you an extra thing to talk about during interview and makes you a more rounded person. Two, if you have worked or volunteered as part of your travels then you will have gained more experience which is always a good thing!
5) You’re more likely to regret what you didn’t do! There are so many cheesy quotes about making the most of life and grabbing every opportunity by the horns (which I secretly love) but why do you think that is..?! Because they’re true! It is rare that people head of travelling and come back think – “wow, I wish I’d never done that”. At the very least you’ll learn something (like I said earlier) and at the most you’ll have the most incredible, amazing, life-changing, fabulous (*** fill in any more superlative adjectives here) and you’ll have the friends and photos to match!
From my personal experience I can’t recommend gap ‘year’ trips highly enough! I have done various trips from 10 days to 4 months at a time and have LOVED every minute! I have met people who will be friends for life, have bored my friends and family with streams and streams of photos and have eaten hundreds of delicious meals!
All I can say is GO TRAVELLING NOW!!!!