A gap year is an exciting experience which sees you embark on a physical and spiritual journey of discovery. It’s very natural for young people to set off on one such expedition; but it’s not as simple as stepping out the door and having the time of your life.

Just like with anything, a lot of planning goes into a year out in the world. Today we’ll run through the five steps you’ll need to tick off in a pre-travel checklist, before heading off on your grand adventure. 

1. Plan your route

 You don’t need to have a detailed knowledge of every step of your travels, but it would certainly help a great deal to have a rough idea of what you want to visit and when along every step of the way.

This can be helpful for a number of reasons, with some of the most prevalent benefits including:

• Saving you time when you’re out there
• Potentially saving you cash if you do your research on the best-value-for-money locations to explore
• Ensuring you’re able to visit everything you want to within a certain period of time

Useful tools such as Gap Year’s, helps you with the planning stage. Once you’ve got a rough outline of what you want to do, you can follow it as closely or as loosely as you see fit. Nothing is set in stone. 

2. Booking accommodation

It’ll be an incredible weight off your mind to know you have a roof over your head every time you stop in a new city or town. There’s no worse feeling than rocking up in a place, only to discover everywhere is fully booked out.

You can solve that dilemma before it occurs by organising your accommodation prior to travel. Hostels are generally the cheapest, and therefore best, option for people holidaying on a budget.

These types of lodgings were at one point relatively grim in their nature, but have taken a significant step forwards in regards to class and quality in recent years after the gap year boom.

3. Packing

We all hate to pack, but it will without question be one of the most important parts of any journey. If you get this pre-planning stage right, you’ll find your journey will be considerably easier all round.

There’s no right or wrong set of items to pack for your adventure, but you can find a comprehensive lists from Secret Traveller which provide you with a good idea of what you will and won’t need to take with you.

Some of the items you might want to pack include:

• Basic medical supplies
• Enough clothing and underwear to last you
• Waterproof items
• Copies of documents
• Zip-lock bags

4. Budgeting

It stands to reason that having enough money to get about will make things considerably easier for you when you’re abroad. The key to this is to prepare in the planning stages, and save up enough cash to easily see you through your holiday.

Saving every penny as soon as you know you’re off on your travels is smart, as it’ll mean you’ll have a considerable amount more to spend when you’re out there.

Little things like not having a dessert with your meal when you go out will save you a heap of cash – which will all build up when the time comes for you to take the trip. 

5. Finding a job

In contrast to the above method, you could always just get a job while you’re on holiday instead. You’ll again preferably need to do this before you travel, to guarantee you don’t end up getting out there and finding nothing.

It’s easier than you might think to find work overseas while still living in your native country; you just need to make the most of the internet and find something which’ll suit you.

Have a better understanding of how to plan for your gap year? If you put some of these tips into practice, you’ll be able to head out on your journey in the knowledge you’re fully prepared for what the world has to throw at you.