"Jesus Christ Andrew she wants to go on a Gap Year"

To Gap Year, or not to Gap Year, that is the question:

College and I never really saw eye to eye, college occurs at that time in your life when the light at the end of the educational tunnel is slowly emerging. That light in fact is the strobe of a dodgy DJ deck but I didn’t know that at the time. It is also the age where you know every fact on every subject however in reality it is the age where you can drive and drink – separately of course, but neither are compatible with still having English first thing on a Monday morning.

 The main problem for me and the shed load of people I crammed into my four seater Mini was that the McDonalds breakfast queue was inconveniently 7 miles long just as I was on the way to college so that always made me a good 20 minutes late. I’d understandably always be greeted by the ‘why are you late?’ interrogation but I never really knew the answer, even when I left early the traffic would be far worse, so I figured I may as well have an extra 20 minutes in bed rather than sit in traffic, that answer didn’t make me popular with teachers. The thing is whenever faced with this question it was as if I had Tourette’s as the chronic lies would fly out of my mouth, I once told a teacher I was mugged on a train. I don’t know where in my mind that came from as my little mini hardly resembles a train, however I didn’t have to hand in any homework all week due to the shock I must be recovering from.

 This was when I decided I wanted to travel, somewhere between McDonalds and being mugged on the train. I wanted a completely new experience, before I went on to University. Everyone who travels seems different not just because of dreadlocks or sexually transmitted diseases, but their views on life seem different, you have to learn to let go of all of your expectations and keep yourself open to any possibilities, that and I needed a tan and heard that wine was cheaper in Asia.

At this age you are greeted with the best opportunity you will ever get to get off the educational treadmill and go and chase your dreams as it is the age before you have any responsibilities that prevent you from having this freedom to get up and go. Follow your heart and all those instagram photos you have liked and yes post a hot dog photo with an iddylic dessert island in the background. It would be heartbreaking to look back and have  list of things you wish you would have done when you had the opportunity. I learnt more whilst travelling than in my first year at university. The difference is incomparable, the people are so diverse and refreshing, not a single jack wills hoody in sight. Perhaps you didn’t get the grades you needed and want to reapply next year, what better way to spend your time or earn yourself money. If you’re going to be working you may as well be grape picking in France or banana picking in Australia than working at a local fast food chain just to fund your alcohol fuelled weekend, in my opinion anyway. What i am describing will be some peoples idea of hell and they may develop a negative opinion of me due to this. I am not saying it is the right or wrong thing to do, it was just right for me.

The gap year phenomenon is worrying a generation of people however, we so free spiritually decide to embark on this adventure yet we forget about those people who changed our nappies and kept us well nourished for two decades. See, what you've got to remember is these adults that i am referring to assume that you cannot locate a washing basket so how on earth are you going to locate the correct plane. They probably would not put money on you being able to make a bed and they are also unsure as to whether one can survive eating pasta 3 times a day 7 days a week. These likeminded people also assume they must have done something terribly wrong for their child to want them to dessert them like this, abandon them with only the constant worry left behind.

They will worry that you will fall in love with the first surfer you see and live in a far away land, never coming home and worry that you will stop sending them a Christmas card after two years. They will also worry that you will name their only grandchild after a small town in Asia, where it is too hot for them to send you the cardigan they dream of knitting and that they will see them only on Skype for the rest of their lives. Infact you’ve done quite the opposite and should be very proud; you have raised a child confident enough to leave normality and explore the ground they walk on, you have brought up your child to think outside the box and take a leap in their personal development and you have made a child who can go into these unknown territories make strong friendships and stand on their own. Having said that you may have just banned them from drinking alcohol in the house and they have heard the beer is cheap in Thailand.

Just because your beloved child has chosen to travel doesn’t mean they hate their family and are only leaving to get away from them or that they’re going to sleep their way around the world taking drugs on a daily basis. Travelling is now in the process of approaching adult hood it isn’t just to get 1000 instagram followers, well only some of the time. My reasoning for going was I wanted a year without the Sunday night feeling. I wanted to wake up and not need to know what day it was as everyday was a Friday. I also wanted to experience numerous different cultures (bars) and open my eyes to the world around me. 

I was away for 7 months, to me that felt like I was presented with a blank book filled with 219 blank pages and it was entirely upto me how I filled them. I could have gone out drank away all my money and be home after only 10 blurry pages. Out of myself and everyone I met no body does that. You might do that for the first week but it teaches you to grow up, you’re not at university with your parents a few hours down the road, you have to step up to the mark to be able to put a roof over your head because you cant run out of money and sleep on the streets in the middle of Thailand or on an island in Bali.