Gap year help and advice please.

brownie2

Vicky's right - you have to pass an RSA course - Responsible Serving of Alcohol, these cost about £45. If you are in New South Wales then this is a must to have, however in Queensland it wasnt needed when i was there last year.

gingercordial

Let him go! He'll have an amazing time and it will be so good for him even if it's not an organised one. And organised ones aren't all that great, my friend works for one such volunteering organisation, and my boyfriend's gone away with another, and they take a lot of money from you but in some cases don't give that great an experience.

That's assuming he's going get the money together for it himself of course!

Oldernotwiser

John_3:16 wrote: »

Thanks for all your comments so far.

A little background on this. He seems to have a friend who wants to go. they are both sensible but I am well aware when lads are together they may not be? He has a job at the moment that he is using to help him pass his driving test and maybe get a car. He says that he will work this summer and possibly the first part of next to get the money together. ( I and comfident he will do this)
He still wants to do it although it seems such a long way away. Our concern is a year seems such a long time to be so far away.

In many countries he'd be spending a year or two in the army at this stage. Australia's not a dangerous place and not far away with modern communications.

1sttimer_2

My DD2 has just returned from her gap 'year' of 8 months, taken 18months after her degree. She went with a girl friend and they planned where they were going before they went and then booked all the flights necessary, with alterations being allowed if needed.

They only planned the first night's stay in each new country and then just headed off into the unknown. They started in Singapore, went to Borneo, (they booked an organised trip to the Orangutan reserve + other things for here), Australia (gold coast) and New Zealand, where they worked on an organic farm. They wanted to continue to Fiji and then Hong Kong and mainland China, but unfortunately had to cut their trip short after 5 months. Even being 2 girls, they had no problems at all to contend with, they made loads of friends and are planning to finish it another time.

It was the best thing they had ever done. They worked hard to save up before they went and saw the most amazing things. My DD2 set up a 'blog' before she went so that we could all log onto to find out what she had done and looked at what photos she had taken. We found that out to be very good and she never felt that she was so far away.

As long as you are prepared to listen to their plans and sound enthusiastic then I'm sure they will tell you about what they are planning and you will get a feel of their excitement.

brownie2

Its so easy for them to keep in touch, there are plenty of internet cafes at every corner, phoning home is really cheap too I got a 600min international phone card which cost £5, my parents couldnt get me off the phone! When I came back and told them what I'd seen and done they are planning a trip there in the next couple of years themselves, so be prepared to pack your bags!

Almo

I spent some time travelling before going to uni and had a ball. I did the well trodden route and funded every single penny myself. I worked for eight months before I went, and worked for a few months before uni started, when I came back.

It drives me insane when everyone assumes that backpackers are being funded by mummy and daddy, and it equally drives me insane when they ARE being funded by mummy and daddy. I would recommend as strongly as i can, that you dont pay a single penny towards it. He'll have much more fun doing his own thing, getting jobs as and when needed (with a working visa of course).

If he wants to do BUNAC etc, then I would say go for it, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say steer him away from the type of conservation organisations that charge £4k, plus flights, for a few months work experience. If he wants to do something like that it is easily organised over the internet independantly; several of my friends have sorted out their own charity work in Africa, Thailand, Cambodia etc.

If you want him to work at "something" why not encourage him to do a TEFL course, which he can do all over the world (though he should check out the best course providers first). This will earn him more money than most backpacker jobs and will be useful for the rest of his life.

My smilies arent working, so I hope I havent come across too vehemently, but I think he should sort it out himself. You will do no favours by sorting it all out for him. I would have put a smilie here!

belfastgirl23

I think doing this will actually put him further ahead in terms of uni. As someone who has worked in one, a big issue is students who are not yet mature enough to handle the demands of studying independently or even of living independently. Many students are also trying to manage part time jobs (or even full time jobs) alongside study. Your son will learn a lot of skills while he is away and will probably learn a lot about the kind of support you have been offering him all his life too! I think he will benefit a lot more from his uni studies too.

While volunteer work is great, maybe he feels ready for the challenges of an unstructured environment. You should def point out to him the pitfalls of this but if he's still determined to go, and he has support from friends etc, in the end up I think you'd have to give in and it's probably best to do so with a good grace so that if he changes his mind he can admit it

I'd guess you are probably right that he will not be sensible all the time but much better to get this out of his system now than when he's doing part finals in uni!

And while a year is a long time, you should try to encourage him to put aside enough cash that if he wants to come home early he can. It is a long way away but he could take a decision to come home and be back within a week. It isn't irreversible.