15 ideas keep your gap year memories alive.

Keep the travel memories alive! When you are traveling around the world on your gap year and see so many new thing, go so many new and exciting places, get introduced to so many cultures and you go through so many emotions you tend to forget stuff. Would it not be great to collect some memories along the way to never forget what it felt like. We have traveled a lot and on our travels we have spoken to many other travelers on their gap year about what they collect. Here are some tips on what you can do to bring a little bit of the world to your home and keep the memory alive:
1. Collect beer labels, every country has its own beer. You probably shared that beer in a unique place, or shared it with a new friend. Write the date on the back and keep it in your travel diary.
2. Match boxes (maybe not the matches itself) from clubs you went to bars you visited and hotels you stayed.
3. Masks, imagine coming home and putting them on the wall… recalling all memories. Trust us even if they are big it is worth the effort to ever ship them. Ones you are stuck in an office it would be nice to dream away every now and then looking at the masks on the wall.
4. Handmade art, often cheap in the country of origin, but worth a lot back home.
5. Flags (big or small) from each country.
6. T shirts are nice too, we advice anyway to start travelling light…now you have something to wear. By doing this you can show off subtly you have travelled the world.
7. Caps, same reason as the T-shirts. Easy way to show off ;)
8. Small bank notes from each country, great to make a collage back home and hang it on your wall. It costs very little, weighs nothing.
9. Collecting a bead from each country to make yourself a funky necklace.
10. Furniture (you would have to ship this) for a house full of beautiful furniture from around the world.
11. Postcards, send your mom a postcard from every country and tell her to keep them. Write down a unique story or experience you had at that place. Nice for the family…and for you ones you are home again.
12. Badges and pins from every country, small and easy to carry.
13. Dolls from each country, lots of people do this, maybe nice for your kids later ;)
14. Toys, each country has different toys for kids. Often the same idea, but just adjusted to the country and culture.
15. Make a little video on the first day you arrive at a new place or when you leave to go to a new place. You can post the video’s on the web and share your emotions with the rest of the world, or just with your friends and family. Real cool to look back later, you will notice you have grown out to be a world traveler in the end.
16. Train boat and flight tickets will prove you that it was not just a dream!

More tips are welcome. What do you collect when you travel (next to photographs)? Mail us. info@xtreme-gap.com

Gap Year info for parents in the USA

It’s September, and if you are the mom or dad of a student, you are either recovering from, or in the midst of, the college search process. During this time, it might become clear to you that your son or daughter might not be entirely ready for the next step in their education. This should not concern you too much because there is another option for the wary pre-freshman: the gap year.

A gap year, or “year out”, is the British tradition of deferring college in favor of a year spent traveling, interning, exploring and engaging in other forms of experiential learning. Recently it became a trend to take a gap year and it has been gaining popularity all over the world. Even more and more young Americans are opting to take a year off before college.

Colleges and universities are supporting this opportunity by making deferring school easier and in some cases, like Princeton, offering their own in-house gap year programs. In most cases, a simple letter to your child’s school of choice explaining their reasoning for taking a gap year is enough to secure their spot for the following school year.

There are many benefits for a student taking a gap year. Parents often list the following as changes they see in their children over the course of a year out:
• Maturation, self reliance and independence
• Recovery from academic burnout / Renewal in eagerness to learn
• Wider world view and global perspective
• Discovery of interests and passions through firsthand experience
• Ridding themselves of the travel bug or the desire to “do some things” before they begin college
• Learning or gaining proficiency in a foreign language
• Real world experience before the college “bubble”
• Better avoids the risk of first year drop/fail out by providing the opportunity to refocus priorities and gain maturity

The economic climate
In this economic climate, taking a gap year can also be a wise financial decision. A gap year allows you more time to let your college savings mature and reapply for better financial aid packages.


What now?
So let’s assume your child is well suited for a gap year. “What now?” you may ask. In short: Talk with your kid and research ideas and programmes.
Look online on www.xtreme-gap.com if you decide sports and adventure travel would suit your kid. Be sure not to press to do what you wathink is bst for them to do. But do set some ground rules like: You may not go jumping of mount Everest. This will not only empower your son or daughter to be deliberate but will let them know you trust them to make adult choices.

Set a budget, and be sure to factor in the “extras” like vaccinations, airfare, travel money and international health insurance. Don’t be shy in asking your child to contribute a certain portion of the budget themselves; either through a summer job or fundraising. This gives them a financial stake in their activities.
Before you know it, your child will be off to school, matured from a year of unique experiences and ready to take full advantage of their college years!

For more information look on our gap year travel section.

Xtreme Gap Year Competition

What about being an Xtreme Gap reporter for 2 weeks on a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand?





If you have always wanted to be a reporter and if you have the balls to do all our extreme sports, you should sign your self up to our competition.





The competiton will include a 2 week stay, with a friend!, on a tropical island and exploring all our extreme sports on the island. Free diving, Thai boxing, scuba diving, rock climbing and more! To give you an idea watch our extreme sports video online.

It is not all fun and games, we expect you to update us daily and send us pictures that are made by the camara's that we give you (your's to keep).

To keep posted become an Xtreme Gap Years fan on facebook!