Is it ever too late to grab a backpack and head out into the unknown? Would you? Divorced and in her fifties, Jean Burnett decided that, having waved her children off on their travels years ago, it was now her turn.
Jean Burnett
Would you take an adult gap year?
Posted on: Fri 17-Jun-16 11:32:50
(26 comments )
When I saw my son and, later, my daughter off on their ritual gap year travels I was left with the usual parental concerns – will they stay safe, healthy etc? But there was also a sneaking feeling of envy and regret. Why couldn't I have a gap year and go travelling?
The idea was unheard of when I was eighteen. A friend who went to be an au pair in Denmark for three months was considered very daring.
“What can her parents be thinking of?” was one remark. In retrospect, that was very sad because the world was a much safer place in those days. I didn't join the hippy trail to India in the swinging sixties either, which I often regret. Instead I got married, went to live in San Francisco and had a child.
I finally managed to scratch my itchy feet when I was in my fifties. My children were off to college, we were in the middle of a recession (again), I was divorced and in debt and I decided to cut my losses. I sold the house, put my goods in storage and went around the world for £5000. My daughter dubbed me 'the world's oldest backpacker' but I didn’t even have a backpack. I used a light grip (due to a bad back), and replaced my clothing and necessities on the hoof.
I sold the house, put my goods in storage and went around the world for £5000. My daughter dubbed me 'the world's oldest backpacker' but I didn't even have a backpack.
My travels were inspired by literature. I have always been an incessant reader. I didn't complete a full circle of the globe; instead I radiated out from London like the spokes of a wheel, by coach, train or plane. I started in France, went on to Eastern Europe, then to India, the USA and Latin America, including Cuba. I managed to fit in Georgia in the Caucasus as well.
India was the one place that never failed to live up to expectations – Georgia was another.
After a lifetime of anticipation since reading Rudyard Kipling as a child, the colour, smells, sights and vastness of India was almost overwhelming. Latin America was also fantastic; Mexico will always be one of my favourite countries. I'm glad I saw Cuba before the hordes of American tourists returned and the first McDonald’s arrived.
Nearer home, everyone should visit Prague, another great city of the imagination. The reality is beautiful, sad and sinister too. Georgia had been on my list since I saw their marvellous dancers perform in the Soviet era. Sandwiched between East and West but not fully one or the other, their culture is truly different. I visited remote Svaneti where vendettas were carried on and ancient rituals were performed by Kalashnikov-toting grannies.
My feet are still itchy today and I hope to roam until I drop. I haven't travelled on the Trans Siberian railway and I still haven’t visited Burma. My advice to gransnetters is 'just go'. Age is often venerated in other cultures and people will be friendly and helpful. London is more dangerous than many of the places I visited.
Grab your passport and your vagabond shoes!
Jean is the author of Vagabond Shoes, her travel memoir. Her new novel The Bad Miss Bennet Abroad is published by Canelo Books and available from Amazon.
