Gap year - get your crystal balls out and gimme thoughts on travel?

[mightywoman]

My DS has uni offers for Sep '21 entry. But he's really not keen, as he puts it, on starting uni while there's any hint of Covid still in the air. So he's saying he wants to defer for a year. He would like to work, then travel, say from January '22 for 6 months. Of course finding work may be hard but what I'm really asking here is - please get out your crystal balls and tell me what you think his prospects of getting any meaningful travel done in 2022 are? He has no fixed ideas of where he wants to go. He will have to decide in May whether to not to request deferral. I want to support him but am worried the chances of travel may be so slim that he will have a 'wasted' year and might be better off going to uni in Sep 21, even though there may still be some covid restrictions hanging around. What do you think?

It's not just the travel - is he going to be able to find work?

This time last year I was encouraging my DD, a 2020 starter, to take a year out. My reasoning was exactly as you say; that she could work until Christmas (she did have a supermarket job which she had been doing from the minute A-levels were cancelled - bear in mind it might not so easy to find a new one now!) - and by that time, Covid would be all over and she'd be able to go travelling before starting Uni in 2021.
She didn't want to - which in retrospect was entirely the right decision. How disappointing would it have been to have worked stacking supermarket shelves all through the first 9 months of the pandemic only to find that the pandemic was by then worse and there was no chance of travel, only another mind numbing 9 months working in Tesco!

There is absolutely no guarantee that delaying university until September 2022 will make for a better university experience and there is no saying that a year out will give your DS a meaningful "year out".

Mine is currently on a gap year, managed to do a bit of European travel pre Christmas within rules, then found work abroad for a month in January and has been travelling since then. It seems that near enough every Brit on a gap year is somewhere in Central America currently! All within Covid restrictions. I would have no reason to believe there would be even more choices next year as places get more vaccinations.

@SeasonFinale How has your DC got round the no overseas travel restriction? What about insurance if they get ill etc?

My DC is on a gap year, but it has been a working gap year rather than a travel adventure one. They were hoping to explore Eastern Europe, but that looks unlikely before September.

My friend's young relative has been picking for online deliveries and it's really well paid and she's been very much in demand. She's exhausted after a few months of night work but has been offered a checkout job. I think there will be supermarket jobs. There will also be childcare, care, hospital NMW jobs.
No idea about travel, sorry!

Three of dds class of 2020 are currently away. One in Africa who has been on a crop biological experimental team and two in Costa Rica on specific gap schemes. The job front maybe OK come September if hospitality is open...maybe also look at tutoring jobs abroad for a few months.

My cousin is on her gap year this year, doing a ski season in Austria. I think if he’s willing to be flexible there will be options.

[quote ucasmistake]@SeasonFinale How has your DC got round the no overseas travel restriction? What about insurance if they get ill etc?

My DC is on a gap year, but it has been a working gap year rather than a travel adventure one. They were hoping to explore Eastern Europe, but that looks unlikely before September.[/quote]
I will PM you.

Hi mightywoman! Great that MightySon has Uni offers! Your concerns and anxieties are only natural and shared by my partner and by me.

Our daughter has offers for a PhD, both in the UK and overseas. She has decided to accept an offer overseas and plans to go as soon as she can after her Masters viva in July. She plans to travel in that country and nearby countries as much as academic commitments, her budget, travel insurance and anti-Covid constraints permit. She will also do as much paid work - academic and general - as is practicable, further increasing all risks.

Needless to say, we are worried but we have decided to make positive noises, in spite of the PhD (5 years) being overseas, the dangers facing a young woman and Covid risk. I want her to decide for herself and make it work. I'm tempted to suggest that your son should just go to Uni this year; he'll be fine and enjoy it and do well. Finally from me, nobody can predict Covid risk or what the post Covid world will look like. So I particularly admire those who are dynamic and determined to make things work for themselves.

My daughter? She is a 'Covid graduate' from last summer and most likely will be a Covid Masters graduate, too, this coming summer, having had at least 4 terms affected by Covid. Academic work? Most students she knows are working more and sleeping more! Her advice to all A Level students is to make the most of your original plans. Uni life under Covid is different but good. Get your degree and be in the graduate job market as early as possible . Travel? She expects to be vaccinated before she departs and so should any other student. Her view is that travel opportunities are there but you need to be flexible and resourceful. Finding enough paid work at home may be the biggest challenge for some students and some of the posts so far offer useful suggestions, broadly mirroring what her friends are discovering.

I would just get on with university. My son who graduated last summer was going round the world with friends but instead one did a masters, my son did a post grad law conversion course etc.

However you can do some things. Last year one of my daughters got to Antigua (march before lockdown ) and somewhere in Europe summer. My other one I think got to France ( and Switzerland Dec). My son got to Cyprus in the summer. Not all travel has been banned all year

My ds and his girlfriend applied for deferred entry - it had always been their plan and they figure there will be somewhere to travel to if you stay flexible. They plan to work and save money June - Dec and then go off in January.

Whilst there are no certainties I think a year out of education to do some growing up and earn some money will hugely benefit him but obviously everyone is different.

DS1 decided at the last minute, in August 2020, to take a gap year and defer his place. He is not interested in travel but was incredibly fortunate to get a gap year internship in his chosen field.

I have no idea about travel opportunities for next year but make two observations 1) whilst travel and work opportunities have been very limited this year they do exist especially if you are willing to be flexible and put the work in to hunt them out (and get a bit of luck). So don't necessarily dismiss it just because people say oh there wont be any jobs etc. 2) The change in DS from a year of work has been immense in terms of maturity, confidence and independence. I really believe the experience will help him get the very best out of his Uni experience and life beyond.