Mind the Gap

Photo credit: Fidel Fernando

As college exams are coming to an end and life at uni is drawing to a close, some students will choose to take a gap year.

Some will stay in their country of origin and have a hand at work or volunteering, some will travel abroad for a new experience.

The idea of taking some time off between academic stages can find its roots in the 17th century, when young aristocrats were taking a ‘Grand Tour’, to gain cultural knowledge and experience.

But it’s the end of the National Service and the desire to get away from the severity of war that saw young British Baby Boomers going out in search of experiencing new cultures and finding ways to avoid future conflicts.

Over the years, organisations such as Project Trust and Gap Activity Projects helped shape the concept, whilst companies like Topdeck, Flight Centre and the now defunct Student Travel Association turned an idea into an industry estimated to be worth billions of dollars globally, and millions of pounds in the UK alone.

Whilst the concept has endured, the motivations and ways to spend a gap year have evolved over time. Leading travel firm Kilroy, which stepped in when STA went bust during Covid, produced a report that sheds a light on why and how young people from Generation Z (18 to 27 years old) spend their gap year.

Here’s a short summary of what they found:

🥾 GenZ often take a gap year to travel as a way to boost their mental health and wellbeing.

Let’s remember that they have endured a lot in their formative years: cost of living crisis, lasting impact from the pandemic, ever increasing damage from climate change and the relentless pressure from social media. A gap year is an opportunity to take time off these stresses and reset.

🥾 Mindful escapism: more and more young travellers want to remember their gap year and favour meaningful interactions. So it’s goodbye all day benders by the beach, and hello to sobriety, personal growth and cultural immersion.

🥾 Sustainability is taken into account when choosing both the destination and the mode of transport.

🥾 Shorter trips/destinations and paid work help manage the finances and make it viable.

🥾 Forget paper guides like Lonely Planet, it’s all about Chat GPT and TikTok/Insta when it comes to planning a gap year abroad.

The reality and conditions under which any generation lives clearly influence the reason why people take a gap year, and what they do during that time.

What has remained a key priority over the generations though, is personal growth.

Out of 1,000 respondents, 50% chose personal growth as the reason for considering a gap year. This was way ahead of the second reason (explore before study @33%) and subsequent ones.

As the French say, ‘Les voyages forment la jeunesse’: travelling shapes the young.

Mind you, that’s true for any age group.

Millions of viewers (a record number, according to TV ratings body BARB) of the programme Race Across the World have witnessed this over a few series.

Removing ourselves from the routine and our habitual environment, especially when immersed in another culture, stretches us. It asks us to grow. And in doing so, it brings a new or renewed confidence in ourselves, which makes us embrace the future with gusto.

What can be seen from the outside as a gap in anyone’s academic progress or career turns in fact into a giant leap for the person who’s lived that experience.

I did a bit of research in my own network and when reflecting on their gap year, my connections say the same when it comes to the benefits accrued over that period: more independence (including but not limited to financial independence), more maturity, more confidence and very often more fun!

Depending on the stage at which you take a gap year, this experience will have a positive impact on how you handle further studies (including finding a side job to help with university costs) or your employability if you enter the job market.

Back in 2019, YouGov polled HR professionals and 63% believed that a constructive gap year can make a job application stand out.

So how to make a gap year as constructive and beneficial as possible?

First, have a good think about what you really want out of it: is it personal growth, or travelling and experiencing new cultures, or de-stress by taking a break from studies, or volunteering, etc?

Second, plan it well.

If you decide to go abroad, you can do it with or without gap year travel professionals. There are a few organisations around, depending on where you live in the world. Of course these organisations charge for their services, but that might give your parents/carers peace of mind and you will have some of the legwork done for you - like sorting out flights, visas, access to work/volunteering experiences etc

Third, consider the support of a mentor.

Whether you stay at home to take a breather from your studies and earn a bit of money, or you go abroad, a gap year is the perfect opportunity to go on an inner journey.

As you’re about to say goodbye to your teenage years and enter adulthood, reflecting on what makes you YOU, what you are naturally good at, what puts a spring in your step, will give you even more clarity and confidence about what you want to do next.

A mentor can also help you build resilience, and overcome the challenges that a new environment will often bring.

Last but not least, a mentor can act as a bridge and help you smooth the transition between your gap year and the return to ‘normal’, whatever that means for you.

In conclusion, if you feel the pull of taking some time off to regroup, allow yourself to pause and explore what a gap year could mean for you.

Resist the temptation to label a gap year as a waste of time and money.

You have time on your side and resources can be found when you really put your mind to it.

Evidence suggests that it could be one the best decisions you will ever make.