Gap year Q&A

- Mary, Gloucester

But of course… Your gap year is the perfect opportunity to do this. If you’re interested in a particular area, for example the media, now’s the time to find out if it’s for you. Get in touch with your local paper and radio and TV stations and grab all the chances you can.

My tips? Be professional and make a good impression. Get all you can out of each experience. Ask for references, and keep hold of the contacts you make: they could be your fast track into a dream job.Future lawyers, riding instructors, accountants and teachers… all should make use of this opportunity.

- Harriet, Woking

You probably won’t want to hear this, but the final decision is his. Considering he’ll do what he wants to do whatever you say (this is normal at this stage!) much of the pressure falls on you to make sure the two of you don’t fall out…

Encourage him to present you with a plan. This will get him thinking seriously about how to get the most out of his year. Then sit down and discuss it with him and you’ll probably find a compromise falls into place. A gap year could be the making of him. People who’ve taken gap years are considerably less likely to drop out of Uni, and employers appreciate the life skills they’ve gained.

I’m worried that if I take a break I won’t be able to get back into studying…

-Vicki, Wakefield

This is a myth, often propagated by parents who don’t want their kids to travel!

Some people decide to change their university course after taking a gap year, but as far as I’m concerned that’s a good thing – it shows that you’ve consciously thought about things and have a clearer idea of what you want to do.

A few come back from their gap year and decide not to go to Uni, but these are the people who – if they hadn’t taken a gap – would’ve ended up dropping out anyway.

-Nick, Cardiff

First things first: sort out a plan. Make a list of the top countries you want to visit, the top sights you want to see and the top activities you want to have a go at. Take time to research all this stuff – how feasible is it? Can you afford it? Are you sure you can travel overland from Delhi to Delaware? Research will a big part of your gap year, but it’s not like school. This is the kind of research that gives you a distinctly tingly feeling…

Round the world tickets, rail passes, travellers’ discount cards… you’ll find all these things help you to get the most out of your travels. They’re all out there; you’ve just got to find them.

- Linda, worried mum, London

Don’t worry, there are several ways. You could do an emergency money transfer through a company like Western Union or Moneygram. You and he would both need to find one of the company’s agents – they’re dotted all over the world – and then you could get money to him easily. Alternatively he could give you power of attorney over his accounts. This would mean you could pay money into his account and he could take it out from a cash machine wherever he was. Or why not tell him to use his credit card and offer to pay off the bills for him? Ouch! For emergency use only!

Kathy, Chesterfield

We all see worrying things in the media, but the idea that travel is dangerous is a myth. In fact, it’s safer to take a gap year than to study at Uni.

Check out your destination country on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s website (www.fco.gov.uk), which will tell you if, for example, there are areas you should avoid.

There are various great travel safety products that will help you to feel more secure, but the most important thing to take with you is your common sense, and you can’t buy that in shops. Plan your trip carefully, do your research, and don’t be stupid.

Travel is an overwhelmingly safe and enjoyable experience, but you won’t know that until you get there… you’ll just have to take my word for it!

Visas… vaccinations… flights… there’s so much to sort out I’m worried I’ll forget something!

-Pete, Edinburgh

Don’t panic. There’s a reason why people like us here at gapyear.com exist, and that’s to help you sort all this stuff out. Browse our site, chat to those who’ve been there and quite possibly done that on our message-boards, or read one of our two books, Before You Go or The Virgin Travellers’ Handbook.

- Vikram, Cheshire

Go for it. You can earn a load of money – especially if you’re living at home and your outgoings are low – and build your CV too. Employers in later life will see that you’ve worked hard to achieve your goals and will be impressed, especially if you do a job now that’s relevant to your future career.

It’s easy to earn money; saving the stuff can be more tricky. You’ll look a bit silly if you’ve got no dough at the end of the year. Work out a saving plan and you’ll probably be able to afford a treat like an overseas trip and still arrive at Uni with a chunky bank balance.

- Dawn, Leeds

This is what I like to hear Dawn... right, here goes:

1. Organise a fashion show. Get decent clothes donated, your mates to model, set up a raffle with some good prizes and tickets at £1 a pop, entry fee of £5, auction the clothes after, make 50p profit on each drink you sell, have a party afterwards. One event, £1,500 easy. If you get really good prizes for the raffle e.g. flights to New York, you can bump the ticket price up to £10 a pop and get friends and family to sell them.

2. Get two mates, three aprons, some fruit and a load of silly-but-ok prizes, and walk around town as a human fruit machine. "50p a play, all for charity". You all dip into your apron and pull out a fruit. 3-in-a-row wins a prize. Busy Saturday in town, £500 easy!

3. Find a bath (from the dump), get permission to stick it in a shopping centre, fill it with beans (cash & carry multibuy), get the local media to promote you, sit in it all day. Get mates to encourage people to cough up. £2,000 easy-peasy! Have fun and send me the photos...

You’re looking at this the wrong way. Work out how much you have and how much you’re capable of earning (remember you can work while you travel as well as before you go), and then decide on what you’re going to do.A cheap flight to Europe could cost you £20, an Inter-rail pass £150 or a round the world ticket from £850. Then work out what you’re going to spend when you’re there. This can vary enormously, depending on how you choose to live. I once did a three month trip across Canada and the US that cost me less than £500.

However, if you scrimp and save too much, you’ll miss out on some treasures along the way. If this is you first trip, don’t go for a whole year. Go for six months and do twice as much with your time!

- Jenny, Bucks

The trick is to take a bit of everything, split it up and keep it in various places. Travellers cheques aren’t the most flexible when it comes to spending admittedly, but they are great in the event of emergency. Take them in US dollars as they are accepted by most people in the countries you’re heading to. Cirrus or Maestro cards are useful pretty much everywhere and a credit card can be a life saver. You’ll also find that US Dollars are useful in most places, but you will definitely need local currency; particularly when buying smaller day-to-day items.

It is vital that you split your money up between your backpack and your daypack, so that if you lose one or someone goes through it, then you've got the rest as back-up. Find or make good hiding places to stop opportunist thieves... e.g. cut a slit in the inside back cover of an address book to hide your credit card.

- Manjit, Bradford

Travelling solo is an option. Thousands do, and the fact is you’ll never really be alone – you’ll meet countless fantastic people on the backpacker trail.

You could get yourself on a placement with a gap year organisation which will place you with other gappers. Or you could find a travelmate through gapyear.com. Just take care with the obvious safety issues.

Why not invite your mates out to join you for a week or two? Just to make them blindingly jealous…

- Mike, Bournemouth

People will tell you that lying on the beach is a waste of time, but there are some amazing beaches in the World! Why not get a round the world ticket and take in a whole lot of them? And while you’re in all these amazing countries, are you sure there aren’t a few other things you’d like to see and do? Visit a rainforest? Meet some local people and pick up a bit of their language? This is starting to sound like a more rounded gap year already!

Show your new plan to your parents and they’ll probably support you. If not, you’re an adult now: it’s your call. I had no support from my parents when I decided to go travelling, but when they saw how it changed and matured me they were glad I’d gone.

- Lucy, Surrey

If £1500 is all you have, then you can of course make it last five months. Getting jobs in hostels in return for accommodation, or even a small wage, when you travel around can help. Taking a tent and camping instead of using more expensive hostels will save you loads of cash (but will take you away from all the live stuff happening around the hostels). Buying a car that you can kip in (only for long periods in Oz) and giving people lifts for a bit of cash (safety issue) - can also save you money if you can then sell it on for a good price. Spending your money on seeing Australia as opposed to funding the clubs and bars also helps...

Useful links

Gapyear.com website

gapyear.com – your complete guide to taking time out. The UK’s largest travel community, with 100,000 pages of advice and information on every aspect of gap years, career breaks and budget travel. The site features a comprehensive database of volunteering opportunities, a free downloadable round the world planner and an active and friendly community of travellers ready to answer your questions!