Is Taking A Gap Year Boring?

you'll only get bored if you let yourself!

i worked for half of my gap year, and went on a volunteering placement, for 5 months, and travelled for 1.

It was a bit hard at first with all my friends going to uni, I defo felt a bit left behind, but at the end of things, I made loads of friends from working (and also learnt a bit about the general public ), and had the most amazing time volunteering and travelling it was untrue.

travelling doesn't have to be expensive, it all depends on where you go and how you do it. I still have a fair amount of money left over after the end of this year, and whilst it won't exactly get me through uni, it all helps.

and, at the end of everything, I feel like I've had a life experince (not wanting to sound cheesy), i've grown up a lot, and will definately appreciate university far more than i would have done last year, feeling a lot more worldly wise than a lot of my close friends. Also learnt what it means to work hard.

and if a year out gives you some time to think over what you want to do in uni/finish an a level, do it. you wouldn't want to make the wrong decision, and it's not as if you're going to be behind everyone else if you apply a year later. loads of people do it.

hope this helps.
good luck!

If you are going to Australia, it will be very expensive, same prices as here, so you'd need to work lots to save money for uni too. You could travel to somewhere like south east asia, which is very cheap. For example, in Vietnam i was spending £7 a day (with a nice room) instead of about £30 in Australia. Thailand was about £10 per day for me. But staying in dorms rather than doubles is much cheaper. Just an idea of the cheap places where many backpackers go - it's a well trodden route!

I didn't take a gap year before uni and i really regret it.

Brilliant, thanks for the ideas of prices there! Thailand sounds very appealing, I have to admit, though the main reason I went for the idea of going to Australia is because they speak English and it's generally known as a 'safe' country. But I guess that if I'm not going to do these adventurous things now, I'll never do them!

Did you go by youself, or with others? Was it okay, as a girl, travelling to these sorts of places?

I went with my boyfriend, but i met lots of girls on their own or with other girls. If you stay in dorms you usually meet people. Thailand is quite safe as long as you stick to the backpacker route and just be aware of what's going on around you (as you would at home). The thai people are really friendly, and speak pretty good English. What about New Zealand? Same price as Australia, but i found it quite British and friendlier than Australia. I got a special ticket with Qantas which was a return to NZ with free stop overs in Thailand and Oz for £950 and bought cheap flights for flying within asia.

I'm really, really liking the sound of that. And having stopovers in Thailand and Australia would be amazing, so without going back and forth too much you've seen quite a lot of places. And £950 is very good!

I was thinking of going with some gap year company, but I guess they may overcharge because of organizing it all. I might just have to convince a friend of mine to come along with me...

Once again, thanks for all the info. It's great to hear from someone who's actually been out there and done it.

Also, you don't have to stop over in Thailand, you can stop over in quite a few countries in Asia. The ticket is called a Dreamtime ticket, they have quite a few, normal, special and plus (varies in number of stopovers). http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/eu/gb/specials/dreamtime Prices vary, we left in June, so winter and rainy season - but we went skiing in NZ and it didn't rain much in Thailand, great weather all round! And Australia has good weather all year round really, especially Sydney and above.

Gap year companies are good as you meet people and stay with them, but it's so expensive.

Don't do the standard thing of going to Thailand. Honestly, even if it's the 'done' thing for gap yearists to do, there are far better countries to see, either on your own or with friends. The only areas you'd want to visit are now so overrun with bars and brothels catering primarily for tourists that white people are almost the majority. There's more adventure in going to a different supermarket to your local than there is travelling around Thailand.

Wow, you can choose from such cool places! Tokyo? Yes please!

That sounds like such a good idea. I'm really tempted by this now. Is it usually better to book early or late?

Thanks for the link!

Are any of your friends taking gap years? What's the social life like at your work, do you get on well with the people there? I spent quite a lot of my gap year working, and whilst it was a fantastic experience which I really enjoyed (job quite relevant to what I want to do in the future) it got quite boring sometimes because all my friends went to uni, and most of the people I worked with were married/had kids so we didn't go out much. Now I'm working in France I'm having a great time and absolutely loving it (only 3 days left though!), but it was hard being left behind, especially at the start of the year (mine was unplanned so everyone left and I was suddenly on my own with no idea what to do!) Overall though I'm so glad I did it, sounds cheesy but I have learnt so much and grown up a lot. I think I'm a lot more ready for uni. I would definately say go for it, but be prepared to possibly be bored at the start, and I would say try to do something other than just working if you can. If you're worried about money maybe think about getting a job abroad? Or as other people have said, travel cheaply, you can make more than enough money in the first half of the year to go travelling for a bit, I went round America a bit and had a couple of holidays to Jordan and Romania, but I think I could have done a lot more and could still have saved a bit for uni.

I think the standard answer to this will be that it depends on what you do on your gap year. Some people will work right through and can earn between £10000-£20000 so it doesnt have to be a waste of money. Stop worrying about what your friends are doing because you will all be going to different unis anyway i presume. I recommend taking a gap year to take a break, get some experience travelling and do what you really enjoy.