Confessions of a Gapper

On your right, sand...and on your left...

Imagine yourself in Heathrow. You've just said goodbye to your mum, and you're now tingling with excitement at the prospect of getting on the plane that will transport you from the grim, grey backdrop of Britain to some exotic, far flung country where the sun never stops shining. You are that breed of young person that seems to annoy most grown-ups more than any other, even students. You are a “gapper”, about to embark on a journey of thousands of miles, a voyage of self-discovery set to leave you with everlasting memories and mind opening experiences that will make you more mature in a few months than the entire decade of your puberty did, right? The answer to this question is, without a doubt, a resounding “perhaps.”

While most of the anecdotes you hear would have you believe that all gap years are spent in some sort of permanent high where one goes from culturally enlightening experience to culturally enlightening experience, all the while meeting fantastic fellow travellers and partying the nights away, it is important to remember that people are always going to be economical with the truth. Certain gappers appear to be in a state of denial that anything bad happened to them on their trip, as it seems almost like a sort of dogmatic belief they hold that travelling is a wholly positive thing to do.

I am going to break convention here, come out of the gapper's closet and say that I have had a gap year, but I did not enjoy it. Shock horror, I hear you say, a negative gap year experience, how can this be? Well, part of the reason I didn't enjoy my gap year was that I was a victim of circumstance (my trip involved being robbed at gunpoint on my first night, breaking up with my girlfriend of three years that I had been travelling with, consequently having to do the rest of the trip alone, and catching dengue fever, a mosquito borne illness also known as 'breakbone fever'). There were, however, other more common negative aspects of travelling that I feel need thinking about when considering gap years.

Firstly, travelling is boring. I don't mean the activities you might do while on your trip, but the actual journeys themselves which one makes are tedious. Seasoned travellers telling you of their tales usually neglect to mention the six hour wait at the bus station in the middle of nowhere. Yes, a train ride through the Indian desert is a unique experience, but I assure you it gets tedious after twenty-eight hours. (“Ooh look over there, another patch of sand”). Add this to all the other inherent stresses to being in an unfamiliar country and you can grow to really despise these journeys.

Next, while backpackers would like to think they are different to other holiday-makers, it is an inescapable fact that they are simply tourists and like all tourists are a source of income for locals. By no means is this a problem in all countries, but there are places where the people are very forceful in attempting to make you part with your money. In places like these, the hassling really can become infuriating, with the words “Hello, my friend” making you feel less friendly with each utterance you hear from an aggressive rickshaw driver. In other places the hassling may not be so in-your-face, but tourists are always going to be a potential cash cow for natives and it is important to remember this and be wary of potential scams they may try and pull.

Finally, perhaps the most irritating potential hazard when backpacking are other travellers themselves. Yes, you do meet some wonderful people from all over the world while travelling, but unfortunately travelling does and always will attract a large number of idiots. These idiots can take several different forms but one of the worst are the ones who go to a country with the sole aim of imbibing as much alcohol and drugs as possible, not caring for a minute about the culture of the place they have come to and making you embarrassed to be a Westerner. The other unbearable kind of traveller you will meet is the pretentious kind. The kind for whom travelling appears to be some sort of contest to see who has been to the most remote, unheard-of place and if you haven't been there then you're clearly not getting as fulfilling an experience as they are and it is sure to be the “most wonderful marvellous place you could ever go.” It is very easy to be fed these people's myth of their own superiority but they can usually just be humoured with a smile and an “I'm sure that must have been incredible.” (Said as sarcastically as you like, of course).

I hope I have not discouraged the reader from taking a gap year; I mention these negatives only as something to consider before assuming that all gap years are amazing. People often say that travelling is all about self-discovery, but it is possible to self-discover without jetting off thousands of miles away. Many other things apart from travelling can be just as rewarding. If you are sure that what you want to do with your year out will be good enough to be worth enduring these inevitable bad points then by all means do it. If you are sure that you are travelling with the right people or person (remember some people travel better on their own), as I believe that very often it is who you share your travelling experiences with that matters more than what the experiences themselves are, I would not recommend, however, doing a gap year apathetically, as you will not gain much from it, your money could be much better spent, and the negatives I have mentioned are likely to bother you a whole lot more. When you are travelling, everything you feel is accentuated. The highs are higher, but the lows are much lower and I think it is worth bearing that in mind. Incidentally, if you take one thing away from this, I hope it is that I have written an entire piece on gap years without once quoting that infernal YouTube video.

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