I'm of a mind that gap years started with the Australian/New Zealanders that my ex and I used to meet when doing our mini form of gap year [ie travelling round Europe during the university holidays in an old car, sleeping in a two man ten living on packet soup and duty free cigarettes]. It was economically more sensible for students from the southern hemisphere to travel for a year rather than a few weeks. As I got older I started to think that we should all have a 'gap decade' in our 50's while our bodies are still passing their MOT's. I also have a theory that if all the Japanese travellers went back to Japan at the same time the country wouldn't have room for them...

For some, it's a breathing space away from exams and a chance to sort out what they really want to do with their lives. Neither of mine wanted one really, they both knew what they wanted to do, and I was very relieved not to have them either going away and getting mugged (happened to pretty much every other teen child of my friends and family) or staying at home bored and under my feet all day, then going out and getting drunk with friends all night. Some manage to get work experience for a year, others end up having travelling plans thwarted and having to work doing odd jobs for a year, like the poor boy over the road.

I don't think there's a plus or a minus. Lots of my friends think that it's good for their children to go off abroad and travel and learn to be independent. I preferred my children to go off to Uni over here first, learn to be independent gradually and then spread their wings, travelling in the summer with friends, or going skiing.

It all depends on the teenager, really.

All mine travelled - 2 after Uni and 1 before. One of them didn't come back - met and married an Aussie so all this Gap Year thing can have its downside . It certainly made them more confident and able to deal with the unexpected and I am only glad I didn't know what they got up to until after the event!
I think it's a brilliant thing to do once you retire: with the benefit of a few extra years you can appreciate your adventures much more, not necessarily get drunk and are more aware of the dangers. I would love to be brave enough to do it - anyone up for it?

Something I would love to do too, as you say Marmight we are older and wiser. Australia has always 'called' me but now I'm sure its never going to happen and I know its something I will regret not doing. OH can't/won't fly and no one close can afford either the time or money for a trip like that.. I wouldn't be able to carry much in a back pack I guess I'd have to 'downsize' my normal holiday garb

If you are at all tempted, "Go for it!" Those last three words were my 'permission' from my son to run away at 49 to make up for opportunities lost through early marriage /house renovation /divorce /18yrs of single parenthood. I was terrified, howled at Heathrow, took three wobbly months to adjust and then never looked back. Six months volunteering turned into mainly happy memories of fifteen years in Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and Spain and changed my life.

Wow! Brave lady!

Good on you, Brahaspatinda.

I too would love to travel but not brave enough, I think, to go it alone. Been to India (twice) and Nepal with eldest daughter and had fabulous time. OH not keen on longer flights, though I did get him to Ecuador and Galapagos to celebrate his 70th. Perhaps we should get together Marmight! For anyone interested there is a good website Grown Up Gap Year.

Hi there Debbie! My daughter "dropped out" of uni for a year in order to travel. First she worked full time to get the money for several months, and then off she went with her best friend, for three months.

They travelled through Asia: Thailand, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal and India. At first I wasn't in favour, more because I wasn't sure if she'd go back to Uni (She did and got a First) than out of fear. But in my heart of hearts I knew that travelling in this way is the most wonderful education ever I know, because I did it myself when I was young (South America).

Still I was nervous. I wanted her to email me just about every day, Skype and telephone when possible, etc etc. When I think what I put my own mother through, back then -- no mobiles, no internet, just a letter every few months!

I am very much in favour of youth travel. In fact, I think every young person should spend a year at school in a foreign country, if possible a country in the developing world. As an Oldie, soon to be retired, I'll also probably do some more travelling, but this time with as many comforts as I can afford.

Thanks for the interesting topic!
Sharon

Hmmm -- I don't know why part of that post has a strike through. It certainly wasn't deliberate, so please excuse!

My DD went travelling a couple of years after she graduated. She had been working for a while then moved into a flat share with a housemate who had been travelling and inspired DD to go.

Her grandparents had left her some money in their will and she took off in new year 2005 just after the tsunami and headed for Thailand.
She went by herself for nearly a year. Started with South east asia. Malaysia Austrailia . NewZealand and to India.

She was obviously lucky to have been able to fund this trip. For someone who had been quite shy it was the making of her. She would meet up with groups of other travellers in different countries and then move on elsewhere and had a wonderful time.
After her first couple of months away I began to relax about this and she kept in touch by email.

She returned hom a couple of days before Christmas when I had expected her to arrive back a week later. She and and her brother had hatched up this plot. I was expecting to pick DS up from the station and discovered DD there instead.

As a general rule, the gap for young people is between school and university or between university and starting a career – and it should be remembered that many, many young people do not get a chance to do this. What is the gap supposed to be for oldies – between retiring and dying, between being a mother and a grandmother? It just sounds like a lot of nonsense to me. I have travelled to many countries in several continents and moved to the other side of the world from where I was born, grew up and spent most of my adult life. I might do some more travelling to countries that are now nearby – or not – but a gap year?

Why not a year Absent? Some of us are not tied down to family commitments or a husband and can easily afford 6 months or a year away at a time. I too have travelled to many countries in several continents but only for short periods, so the opportunity to spend longer is not to be sniffed at

......I didn't realise there was a 'rule' about when to take a gap year! Yes, it is normally twixt school and university or university and work/marriage, but why not between marriage and marriage or in my case, widowhood and dotage? Who makes the 'rule'?

My children also travelled; in DD's case it was a gap between graduation and starting a career while DS took a couple of breaks from work to go off and wander.

Last year DH and I drove to Greece via Croatia and Albania returning via Sicily, Italy and France. We were away for three months and I could easily have carried on for another three. Accomodation was mainly booked a day or two ahead but on a few occasions I tramped along a beach knocking on doors till I found a place to stay for a few days.

We have family commitments which will prevent us repeating the experience for the time being but I wouldn't rule it out forever.

Absent, I don't think we should take the label "gap year" too literally. I think it just means to travel the way those young 'uns do-- not an everything-included holiday, but a longer visit in a culture different to our own, mixing with the locals and getting to know them, maybe living with a local family, learning a bit of the language, not to be mollycoddled in some tourist resort. An educational trip, leisurely, longer than usual, all our senses open and eager to take in the colours, scents, flavours of the country. I think this is what Debbie meant. We are never too old for such a trip, I believe, as long as our health is up to it.

I wonder how many of us have pets that stop us taking long breaks for travelling.I would love to take a couple of months to visit friends and do a round world trip or volunteer to help a charity as I had daydreamed about in the run up to retirement. I am fit and solvent but 3years into retirement and I get no further than Europe for no longer than a week..Why?2 elderly dogs and a grumpy horse!!!!!

We were going to Australia next year but, given the fact that it's not worth going there for just a couple of weeks, I decided I couldn't leave the dog for longer than that; plus the fact that, now she's getting older and has had a few health problems, if she did get ill on the run up to the holiday it would be a lot of money to lose if we couldn't leave her. Pity holiday cancellation cover doesn't cover pets. We once spent years having a holiday in the same caravan because the family dog had gone blind and it was the only place away from home that she knew.

In November 2000, we bought a small camper van and had our gap year. We returned this February having had a wonderful time round Europe and Morocco. For us we had made the right decision at the right time. We are all different.

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Reported.

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cho thue chung cu royal city | may loc nuoc nano | dam cong so

And another one. Reported.

With age, the gaps are not scheduled at a particular time. So besides aging dogs/pets, there are aging parents - we are all living longer these days - and gaps between surgeries and various ailments. We still have plans to emigrate, as well as travel, to foreign climes, but have been held up by the above. One day ......!