All play and no work can make Jack's gap year awfully dull. I mean, there's only so long a person can relax on the beach sipping interesting-looking cocktails out of coconut shells (little paper umbrellas optional). Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from enjoying this kind of lifestyle for a while, but your gap year also offers many other options. You could find yourself teaching English in Thailand. You may even find yourself coaching rugby in Australia - who's to say?
For some people, arranging the perfect job can result in the perfect gap year. Ski fanatics, for example could land themselves an instructor's job - that's as long as they have the right qualifications. And how many ski instructor jobs are there available in the UK?
If you have plans to become a professional writer after your gap year, it may be that you’re thinking about writing a few articles or blog posts about your travels and putting them up online for all to read. Here's a thought: before you start packing, why not go online and look for websites and print publications actively searching for writers? You could find yourself breaking into professional writing long before you come back from your gap year, because those web sites and publications could end up paying you for your writing talent.
Different people look at their gap year in different ways: some want to make their CV look as impressive as possible. Others want to make as much money as they can. But if you're just thinking of spending a year away, you might enjoy living the life of a migrant worker, going round Australia picking fruit. After all, hundreds of people have already spent their gap year doing just that. It's not glamorous... and it probably won't make your CV stand out from all the others... but from what we've heard it's a great way of spending twelve months with like-minded people - whether they’re on their gap year too, or they've been doing this for a living all their lives.
Come to think of it, there are many, slightly off-the-wall ways of earning money during your gap year: for example you could land yourself a job as an extra on a Bollywood film set... or as a steward on a cruise ship or even - if you're extremely lucky - on somebody's private yacht.
All you have to do is keep your eyes peeled for that perfect opportunity!
