Many thanks to Joshua Hardwick for this helpful guest post on planning a gap year (Or Gap Yah, sweetie). Josh is a keen traveller based in the UK with a dream to travel the world, and is funnily enough, planning his own Gap Year right now. Currently a University student, Joshua runs the hair loss geeks blog with his friend; Ian. You can follow them on here on Twitter.
A lot of students have gap years and in fact, I am currently in the stages of planning my own gap year which will take place in the next year or so. However, I have noticed that there are a lot of different things to think about when it comes to planning these so I thought I’d share a few of the things that I have done so far so it might be a bit easier for you. I’ll also go into details about why I think gap years are so great.
Why should you have a gap year?
In my opinion, there are so many different reasons why you should consider having a gap year. The first is that it will give you the chance to travel to somewhere that you have always wanted to travel. They say that travel broadens the mind so I don’t see how this can be a negative thing at all. The second reason that I think a gap year is a great idea is that it gives you a great life experience.
Being at University myself, I know how easy it is to lose touch with real life sometimes. Sure, there are still a lot of things to do and it is hard work sometimes, but there are no bills to worry about (yet) and no budgeting to do. Travelling in your gap year will force you to have to think about your costs and how much you are actually spending. You will have to think about hotel costs, food and much more as if you don’t, you’re not going to be able to get home. This is something that I would imagine would keep you in good stead for the rest of your life.
Task #1 – Figure out what you want to do
There are a whole range of different things that you have the chance to do in your gap year; some people will travel the world and others will choose to get a job and earn their selves a bit of extra money. Of course, figuring out exactly what you want to do or where you want to go in your gap year is the first thing you will need to think about.
For me, I have always wanted to travel around Europe as cheaply as possible. This is what I am currently aiming to do in my gap year, at least for some of it anyway. Once you have figured this small thing out, you will be able to start planning your year.
Task #2 – Budget for it
Of course, your gap year will require at least some money, even if you aren’t going to be travelling the world or anything extreme, so it might be worth thinking about getting a job. Take my idea of travelling around Europe for example, even staying in hostels whilst backpacking as cheaply as possible is going to have some cost to me.
It is for this reason that I have begun thinking about earning money for my travels in advance. I could of course travel somewhere and work whilst there, but I want to be as free as possible during my gap year, so it makes more sense for me to plan ahead. I am now working around 20 hours a week at a local shop near my University which earns me a bit of extra money, most of which I am saving for my travels.
Task #3 – Actually do it
This is the hardest part for a lot of people (myself included) as most people will always dream of having a gap year, but many will never actually do it. Yes, a gap year can be scary, especially if you are planning on travelling to unknown countries and living off a small budget, but isn’t that the fun of it? Think about it, once you finish University, you’re more than likely going to have a full time job and what I refer to as ‘real life’ will begin.
Having a gap year will be your last real chance to be completely free of any ties so you need to actually do it! This is what I keep telling myself, as it is easy to talk yourself out of it. I am now close to having enough money (I think) so I’ll be thinking about heading off as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Obviously, there is a lot of other things that you will need to think about such as whether you will travel with anyone, how long you will go for and so forth, but these are the three things that are the biggest decisions in my opinion. They are also the things that you will need to think about before you really start planning the details of your trip.
Figuring out what you want to do was the hardest part for me, not because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but because there were so many great opportunities out there!
You’re right Nick- I think the most important thing is to just start, and then see where it takes you! All the best!