Gap year update: the preparations continue

The past few months have been discouraging, to say the least. Being faced with student loan payments, full-time school and work, and other financial difficulties have made it incredibly tempting to drop the idea of a gap year and dive into a 9-to-5 career. That said, spending the last week travelling around Puerto Rico has reminded me of why I’ve chosen to take some time abroad instead of jumping into a full-time job.

With that said, here is a little update on how my gap year preparations are coming along.

As of now, the plan is that I will be spending the months of May and June in the Galápagos Islands, where I will be teaching English on the island of San Cristobal. My volunteer experience will be followed by some time in Ecuador, where I am excited to explore Banos, Tena, and Cotopaxi, in addition to Quito.

I will spend the rest of the summer months working full-time and saving money, with the occasional road trip around Canada and the United States. As of now, plans include visiting Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

In addition to working and road trips, I will be acquiring my TEFL certificate from the University of Toronto, and finishing my RYT 200 hour, of which I am halfway through. My plan is to use these two certificates abroad as a means of earning income when need be and building my way up as a digital nomad.

As of January 2024, I will be living abroad in China as an Au Pair, for about 3 months, during which time I look forward to visiting Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Xi’an, Beijing, and Macau.

So where am I at now and what am I doing to prepare?

At this point in time, I’m working on getting a police check, seeing as I’ll be working with minors quite a bit, as well as obtaining my first aid certificate. In the coming weeks I’ll be finalizing these two things and saving money for extras I’d like to have with me during my time in the Galápagos Islands. Some of these “extras” include a pair of binoculars, a snorkel and goggles (I really don’t want to have to share this or rent), and water shoes. I’ll also be saving for a VPN, to enable me to work on unsecured wi-if networks abroad.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous… I feel like time keeps moving forward and I haven’t accomplished much yet in terms of preparations. The next few months will be full of hustling and saving, but will surely pay off once I set foot in the airport.

I look forward to documenting the rest of my journey. Hopefully you’ll follow along.