Thread: My Gap Year. Thoughts?

Hi Folks,

On my gap year, what would you do?

I'm going to the states, that's non-negotiable. I will be leaving in May, and returning august/september. Not sure if I will apply for an extended visa yet.

The original plan was to head out there and buy a bike. That's a bit awkward because I'm not a citizen, but it's do able. The cons with this are cost I guess, the initial out lay. The pros would, obviously, be the freedom.

Been looking, and I don't think I could deal with Camp America, but the volunteer stuff looks pretty interesting. 8/10 week program, usually accommodation is provided and food on working days, they all seem to rotate you every couple of weeks through different national parks all over the show. It's all manual work in National Parks, small groups of 10-12 people, sounds pretty good.

I would be able to travel after as well, but obviously, no bike . . .

Thoughts?

What is a gap year?

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

What is a gap year?

I thought the same thing and was a little surprised that it had a Wikipedia entry.

Gap year - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taking a year off from studying.

That's the one, fairly common term over here, didn't think about it. Sorry folks.

When you say bike are your referring to a motorcycle or a bicycle ? What part of the USA are you going to be heading for ?

motorcycle. I would like to go up to the north west ideally, Washington and Oregon. Though I'm open to bits and pieces in the east and Arizona and Nevada, I'm pretty flexible. Primarily, I wanna be out in the middle of no where for a while.

This is one site I've been looking at that runs these Volunteer programs:

http://www.bunac.org/volunteer/usa/

I don't think you would regret it later. It would look good on a resume too I suppose. Oh, also, once your life and responsibilities start cranking up, you will regret it if you miss out on this.

Oh, there is no doubt I will be doing something, just not decided what yet. I know I would regret it if I didn't do something, and I don't regret taking a gap year, even though I've just been working.

I'm liking this volunteer thing though, it looks good.

Leaving one wet and cold place for another or is that just London? Sounds good motorcycle and the outdoors. Volunteering for free lodging and food isnt a bad deal either. Enjoy the ride.

Ahh it aint so bad here.

Lodging and food for 10 weeks, leaves me about a month to do my own thing and still be within the visa waiver thing. Would be very much in the out doors.

Would be a lot less hassle for me in terms of organisation as well. I could probably afford to rent something for a week or two if I did this volunteer thing, maybe longer.