The gap year

Have you ever watched a holiday programme on TV, a film or read a book and been inspired to travel? The world has never been as accessible as it is now and that is great news if you want to go out and see "what is has to offer". Diverse cultures, food, languages and the beauty of not knowing what the next day will bring are inspirations to thousands of young travellers each year. In fact it is almost a prerequisite for students nowadays to take a gap year travelling before, between or after university.

Ways and Means

Backpacking round the world – You get to choose where you go, when and for how long. It really is the stuff of dreams. This ‘extended holiday’ is cheap and easy to arrange, with flights encompassing Thailand – Singapore – Australia - New Zealand – USA costing as little as £800. Visit here to pick a route of your own. Just going to this site brings back all sorts of great memories of the places I visited.

You can turn your traveling into a working holiday to supplement your money and to extend your stay in your favourite places. I ended up staying in Australia and Thailand far longer than I planned because I was having such a great time.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) courses – These placements allow you to select a location where you will teach local schoolchildren English. They can be either paid placements (usually in China and Japan ) or voluntary and no local language skills are required.

You will have to pass a course to undertake TEFL but other non-qualified placements are available. In most cases you will have to provide the money for your flights.

Gap Year Jobs are readily available in countries such as New Zealand , Australia , USA and Canada . These provide both the change in culture along with the benefits of a salary.

Voluntary Work Abroad – Voluntary work offers the opportunity to give something back to the places and communities you stay rather than visiting merely as a passing tourist. It can entail helping care for people, animals or for the environment and there is almost certain to be a project to suit your abilities and interests. Once again you will be expected to pay for your flights to and from your chosen placement.

Costs can be supplemented by acquiring a working visa for Australia if desired.

Accommodation

You don’t need to pre-book anything as you can book places as you arrive in each new destination. But don’t go booking yourself into the Hilton in every place otherwise your journey will last about 3 days before you run out of money. Select places that are safe, comfortable and most importantly affordable, making the most of local surroundings.

Things to remember

• Traveling is a lot easier than you think, the development of infrastructure throughout the globe and the dominance of the English language has made getting around much simpler.
• You choose where you want to go, the most popular areas are those such as South-East Asia and Australia, for something a little more challenging why not try South America, India or China.
• It is good to travel with friends but given all the different people you will meet don’t be surprised if your traveling party gets larger or smaller.
• Plan your trip beforehand, for example you do not want to be arriving in India in the middle of monsoon season like I did.
• Costs prior to actually traveling can include (depending where you are traveling to) flights, insurance, inoculations and medicine, Visa’s (both working and entry), equipment (backpack etc).
• Budget whilst traveling, some countries will be a lot cheaper than others, do not overspend in these countries and experience a nasty shock when you arrive in somewhere more expensive.
• Leave yourself flexible traveling dates/flights as your plans will change when you meet new people and experience new places.
• Don’t talk about it…. do it!

My top 5 places

1. Koh Phi Phi – Thailand
2. Pushkar – Rajahstan , India
3. Melbourne , Australia
4. Fiji (any of the offshore Islands)
5. Queenstown , New Zealand

My places to avoid

There aren’t many destinations I would insist are not worth visiting. Most places are what you make of them, however I would advise if visiting the Taj Mahal (definitely worth a trip) in India not to stay in the adjoining town of Agra for too long.