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Fifth edition of the definitive handbook for all those students who want to make the most of a year off before or after college. Contains all the necessary information on the specialist Gap Year programmes available, including the enormous range of jobs that can be found by travellers, possibilities for voluntary work around the world, joining an expedition, gaining some new skill or qualification, or simply taking the opportunity to travel. Features include a country-by-country guide to Gap Year opportunities worldwide. The book is vividly illustrated with first hand stories and case histories from Gap Year travellers.

‘Provides a comprehensive guide to opportunities, sound assessment of the risks and rewards, and accounts from more than 100 young people who have already filled the gap year’.
- The Daily Telegraph.

‘Whether you want to work as an au pair in the Netherlands, with disadvantaged children in Romania, teach English in Japan or pick avocados in Israel, Taking a Gap Year is the book you need. Recommended.’ - Overseas Jobs Express.

‘Recommended reading’. - The Guardian.

‘If you’re advising anyone to consider further reading on this increasingly popular subject then you won’t go far wrong with this Vacation Work release.’ - Euro Express Magazine

For over twenty years Canadian-born Susan Griffith has written some of Vacation Work’s leading books, becoming the foremost authority on finding temporary work abroad.

Long-term Benefits
Gap years can change you and change the direction of your life forever. After enjoying her gap year carrying out conservation work in the coral reefs of Tanzania through Frontier (see entry in the ‘Directory of Specialist Gap Year Programmes’) Emily Jimsor changed her university course:
To me the most important part of the experience has been the effect it has had on my career. I became really involved in the conservation side of things while I was in Tanzania, particularly looking at the effects of pollution on coral reefs. I learnt so much from the field staff out there and their enthusiasm really inspired me. When I came home I contacted my university (Portsmouth) and told them I really wanted to study marine biology. The tutors were very understanding and I was able to swap courses. My entire life has changed, all thanks to that one article I read in the local paper about three years ago.
Sometimes travels abroad have a similar impact. After working his way around the world in many low-paid and exploitative jobs, Ken Smith decided to specialise in studying employment law. Several gap year students have become so involved with their destination community that they carry on raising funds and sometimes recruiting volunteers to carry on the work. After his gap year in Kenya, Rob Breare set up a charity called Harambee Schools Kenya that continues to support the education of village children in the Central Highlands.