It won't let me quote anyone and deleted my previous reply so..
In truth, no, I've been bits of it
and hope that the rest is true - I am only 19 myself, but I'm starting a year long placement as part of my mathsdegree (which I don't enjoy 100%, but some bits of it are alright) and I've visited a few times, the work they do (and what I'll be helping with) seems very interesting, the people are nice and cracked a few jokes and seemed to have good chemistry together, and I finally get my own source of income
though I'll most likely just save it anyway) and have been travelling to a few different countries in recent years, sometimes to see some football, and I really enjoy those trips
There's no set age - the sooner the better (kind of) but it's okay to take gap years, get some experience etc while you figure out what you want to do - just as long as you aren't hanging around for years without really progressing. You can do that before you're 18 too, and just do research as well and figure out what it is that you want.