10 Things You Should Experience on Your Gap Year

There are so many things you can do for your gap year and so many options available depending on what you want to do. Over the past few weeks I have been rounding up the reasons do to different things on your gap year. As my last post in the #takeagapyear series, I wanted to round up the best of the best and go over a few of my original points in the first post of this series. A gap year is an amazing thing to do and I’m sure you will have an amazing experience no matter what you do but here are my final thoughts on how to make it the best it can be.

Things you Should Experience on your Gap Year

An adrenaline activity – This could be sky diving, buggy jumping, canyon swinging or something a little tamer depending on the thrill you are seeking.

Travelling solo – Nothing pushes you out of your travelling comfort zone than travelling alone, so whether you just take a day to wander a city solo or spend your entire year travelling solo both will provide you with that push out of your travelling comfort zone. It is also a great way to see something that none one else is interested in.

Doing a group tour/activity - I’ve already told you the reasons for taking a group tour and I strongly believe it should be part of your gap year. There are group tours which last for half a day to ones which last for months on end either way it will add diversity to your gap year and is a great way for meeting people if you are travelling solo.

Get lost – Whether it is by accident or on purpose, I think everyone should get lost at least once. Or at the very most wander with out any real direction or purpose. It will give you a chance to just look and see rather than rushing around too fast and missing things that may be of interest.

Try a new food/dish – One of the BEST things about travelling and visiting foreign cultures is the food. Some of my favourite dishes are from South East Asia and full of spice, however prior to that I was very timid with food and had been vegetarian for two years of my life.

Engage in a conversation in a foreign language – It can be hard to talk in a foreign language, much harder than reading it. However it is very polite to be able to say hello, goodbye and thank you in the mother tongue of the country. I particularly enjoyed engaging with waitresses/waiters who were prepared to spend time sharing their language with us, learning to say cheers in Vietnamese was a highlight for me.

Take a challenging hike – Another activity to push yourself out of your comfort zone is to do something physically challenging. For me, on my gap year this was hiking 18km over the Tongariro Mountain Range, the exhilarating feeling afterwards is worth the pain of the physical challenging.

Try a new sport – For me this was snowboarding, but it could be anything from surfing to diving. Keeping it to something you can’t do at home makes it all the more worth while.

Do something you have never done before – I don’t think I need to say anymore…..

Teach/coach/volunteer – This could be working at Camp America, volunteering abroad or even just engaging with children while travelling through a country.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of post about taking a gap year and if you want to know any more feel free to leave a comment below.

Tags:  Advice Gap Year Travel Student Take A Gap Year Travel Inspiration