Should YOU take a gap year?

A gap year, simply put, is a time between finishing high school and starting university. Most people associate a gap year with travelling the world, a good gap year should be about doing a bit of work, a bit of travelling and a bit of volunteering.

Before taking a year out, you need to consider why you are doing so, what you are going to do and whether or not it is a good idea. Some believe it is simply a waste of time and would prefer to focus their energies on going to university.

That was not me though, I decided to take a gap year because in my high school, they put immense pressure upon us to make a good UCAS application and good university offers. I felt that at the age of 17, not even old enough to drink, would be too young to go to university. As I had entered my final year of high school, I had just been on an incredible holiday with my dad. We spent two weeks in Southeast Asia and before that I hadn't really travelled anywhere except for family holidays to European and American tourist destinations. That two week adventure, had exposed me to new and amazing experiences and it really made me want to do more travelling.

As Spanish was my favourite subject, I really wanted to go somewhere in Latin America so I could speak Spanish on a daily basis. I also wanted to go to Australia and all these amazing Asian places I dreamed about visiting as a kid.

In short, my gap year started after my last exam, I just took some time before going to Brazil in order to take a rest, then spent 2 and a half months in South America. Then when I got back I spent 3 months not really doing much, I had a lot of time to myself playing FIFA in my room and used some of my savings to get a Nintendo Switch. I celebrated my 18th birthday with a huge party with my friends. I spent a lot of the time on websites such as Indeed looking for part time jobs and then planning the next part of my gap year.

Then when 2019 started, I got on a plane to go to Bangkok, I spent 6 months of my life travelling non-stop, starting with travelling across Southeast Asia, volunteering in Bali, then travelling around Australia, then over to Hong Kong and then China, then Korea and finally Japan. It was incredible.

When I got back to my home in Glasgow, I went back to the usual routine of simply going to the gym and playing on my PS4 and going to the gym. I spent some time catching up with my grandparents and friends. Then I got some part time work as a dish washer in Edinburgh, just before moving house and then starting university.

What Should You Consider Before Taking A Gap Year?

As said before, a good gap year involves a bit of work, a bit of travelling and a bit of volunteering. First of all, you should plan how exactly you will spend your time, so that you don't end up in your house doing nothing. Even though in high school, it seemed like the ultimate life is to just wake up a 10 and play video games the whole day, in reality it is unfulfilling. Getting a part-time job can be really difficult as there may not be many listings for a job you can just do for a month and when you apply there's a chance you won't get the job, I also spent a lot of time going door to door to local businesses handing in my CV and asking people I know if they could give me opportunities. 

When it comes to volunteering, you really have to do your research, as much as there are fantastic NGOs like Edumais who I volunteered with in Brazil. There are loads of sketchy "volunteering" programmes online who want to take your money and spit on you. There are programmes that work solely on exploiting young people's desire to do good as a way of generating profit and not actually improving the lives of local communities, I find this absolutely sickening and I think it should be illegal. I used a website known as the Mighty Roar which advertises itself as "structured and affordable" volunteer programs abroad.

 I used them to go on volunteering projects in Cambodia and Bali. When I went to do volunteering in Cambodia, it was absolutely shambolic. When I was taken to my room, there were no other volunteers already there and absolutely nothing was explained about the project, I had absolutely no idea what was going on and the people who were supposed to host me had zero interest in me and didn't seem to care if I was there or if I wasn't there. The food was completely awful and I even got horrible food poisoning which caused me to be projectile vomiting and in bed for 2 days. At least my host was decent enough to take me to the clinic. 

The actual "volunteering" was a total mess, the classrooms looked like they were in dire need of refurbishment, yet conveniently my host could afford to buy a fancy new car. The Cambodian teachers refused to let us help them and they insisted on teaching only really simple stuff to the point that they wouldn't learn anything useful in english. However it wasn't all bad, I met a guy living in the village who helped me out when I was sick and took me to his local gym and we even went to pub street. The fact is that the organisation in Cambodia wasn't directly connected to the Mighty Roar, they just benefit from being on their website and the Mighty Roar offers the service to volunteer there. 

It's a big shame that sketchy "volunteering" programmes exist in wonderful places like Cambodia. I reckon if you were just out of high school, took a gap year and went all the way to Cambodia paying huge amounts of money only for the "volunteering" to be poorly organised as such, I'd feel heavily cheated. 

When it came to volunteering in Bali, it was actually a great experience, although the organisation is not actually the Mighty Roar, it was actually an organisation known as VolunteerBali By The Sea, however, from the information that the Mighty Roar gave me, they acted like both of the programmes were done by them. 

All I can say about the volunteering programme in Bali is that it was brilliant, the people in charge of the programme knew what they were doing and valued my presence. When I found out that I'd be staying in the middle of nowhere, I thought it was going to be a long four weeks. However, when I was picked up in Ubud, I was taken to a guesthouse in Ubud where I got to meet the other volunteers and it was refreshing to know I'd be with other gap year kids. 

When we eventually got to the volunteering place, it was better than I expected, the food was really well made and I shared a room with three other guys in a hut made of wood which was pretty cool. However, the showers were cold and I didn't get wifi on my phone until I was 5 days in. That didn't matter though, we had each other, every evening I'd talk to the other volunteers and of course there was a guitar and we did sing Wonderwall. 

We had Friday and the weekends off, which gave us the chance to go out and explore Bali, the volunteers and I spent a weekend in Nusa Penida, an island near Bali which had great beaches and less tourists. 

Doing the volunteering was great, even though the school didn't have the fanciest supplies, I at least had a whiteboard and kids who were willing to learn english. The guy who was in charge of the place was a really cool guy and before the lesson we were given popcorn. In short, volunteering in Bali was excellent, I made new friends in which we had interesting and deep conversations with each other and the locals were really accommodating.

Third element of a good gap year is to travel, travelling, of course is what this blog is all about. Most think that travelling is about staying in 5 star hotels, chilling out at the pool or beach, eating at fancy restaurants and getting drunk all the time. Travelling on a gap year, is not like this. On my gap year it involved being flung right out of my comfort zone, I spent a lot of time staying in dirt cheap accommodation, exploring cities, eating street food and getting up at 5AM to get back on the bus in the Outback. 

You really have to consider whether or not this would be your cup of tea, backpacking is really full on. You will need patience when things won't always go your way, sometimes there will be delayed flights, bad weather and if you are on your own, it can be a challenge to travel solo. 

There is a lot to consider when it comes to the countries you visit, whether or not you need a visa to go to the countries you wish to visit. As a UK passport holder, I can go to countries like Brazil, Japan, and Thailand. However, if you want to go to countries like China and Russia, you need to get a visa before you even go to the airport. Another thing you need to consider is your budget, countries in Southeast Asia like Vietnam and Indonesia are extremely affordable. While incredible destinations such as Japan, Australia and Singapore may be outside of the budget of a backpacker. It is worth mentioning that travelling can be stressful and exhausting, taking flights and trains and wandering around everyday can tire you out, so make sure you have a balance of resting and exploring when you travel. 

But simply put - a big benefit to taking a gap year is the opportunity to take time to just travel when you probably haven't had the chance to do so before. Travelling is the best form of education as it can teach you a lot about other cultures and even yourself. I had made countless friends from all over the world and it has changed me for the better and prepared me for going to university. Getting out of my comfort zone had made me less shy and more adventurous. If you're on the fence about taking a gap year, take my advice and go for it - just know what you're doing to make it worthwhile.