There are many ways to spend a gap year – work, travel or volunteering. A good combination of all three is volunteer tourism or voluntourism, which is becoming very popular as a gap year activity, not only for young people, but also for grown ups.
What is a Gap Year?
A gap year, a popular practice in the United Kingdom and Europe, is now gaining in popularity in the United States and Canada. Gap Year is a term that refers to a prolonged period, not always exactly a year, that mainly young people take, usually after school to explore the world or to have an adventure or two before settling down to college or university or a career.
According to Gap Year.Com, the modern Gap Year pioneers came in the form of Tom Griffiths and Peter Pedrick who brought the gap year market onto the web in 1998 with the launch of gapyear.com.Known as the 'Gap Year Guru', Tom Griffiths is recognized as a global authority on gap years and acts as a media spokesperson around the world. Gap Year growth is accelerating across all age groups in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The US is expected to witness a boom in the coming years as the small percentage of those who have passports starts to rise.
United Kingdom’s Prince Harry popularized Africa as a gap year destination when he volunteered in South Africa in 2004. Many other volunteer travel opportunities are available across the world for young people include working in ski resorts in Canada; summer camps in America and working in the Australian Outback.
Gap Year – a Timeout for Grownups
Taking a gap year is not just for young people, a gap year can be taken at any age.
If the empty nest syndrome is making baby boomers ache with longing from listening to their children babbling on about their gap year trip, they don’t have to stay in the 9 -5 rut at home, they can take a timeout – a gap year for grownups. There are plenty of really interesting opportunities for volunteer work and travel for grown ups.
Voluntourism Project
Gap Year for Grown Ups will take travelers way beyond the typical tourist experience. Whether gappers are looking to take a career break and travel the world, volunteer abroad or simply discover something new, then a gap year for grown ups can be both rewarding and fun - a good voluntourism project.
Volunteer work abroad gives the responsible tourist a chance to make a positive contribution to countries they visit. They can volunteer in many ways:
Volunteer With Children or Teach English
Make a real difference to underprivileged children. Care for orphans, work with street children, or teach English.
Volunteer with Wildlife - Conservation, Research and Rehabilitation
There are many places around the globe where grown up gappers can become involved in wildlife rehabilitation, conservation and research. The wildlife volunteer work on this website reaches across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australasia and USA.
Community Volunteering for Grown up Gappers
Community volunteering is something that is a perfect fit for gregarious and empathetic people. Grown up gappers become part of extended families by volunteering within a community and working on community development and outreach projects.
Community volunteering could involve working in a HIV/AIDS hospice; helping with house building initiatives or participating in community outreach work in some of the most impoverished areas of the world.
A Positive Gap Year Timeout Experience
By becoming a volunteer and turning a gap year timeout into a positive experience, young people and grownups can make an enormous contribution to society, and have a great time in the process.
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