Do Something Different

Life can get a little monotonous at times and it is all too easy to start day-dreaming about doing something different with your life. Many people never act on their desire to do something different and just carry on regardless. An ever-increasing number of people, however, are realising that it is possible to step out of the rat race, break away from the usual routine and do something different with your life.

If you are in full time education or toiling your way up the career ladder the best way of doing something different is to take a gap year or career break. It may be that you want to do something different simply by travelling and ‘seeing the world'. Perhaps you would like to do something different and more rewarding than your usual job, such as doing some volunteer work overseas for a worthwhile cause? Whatever your idea of doing something different is, there is almost certain to be a gap year programme to match your preferences.

Do Something Different - Australasia

Australia and New Zealand are fantastic gap year destinations in that it is possible to obtain visas for working holidays for these two countries, and each of them is blessed with some unique attractions and countless potential experiences. In Australia you can do something different by walking along the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge, swimming alongside reef sharks in the Great Barrier Reef or checking out the wildlife in Australia's ‘Crocodile Dundee' Northern Territory. In New Zealand you can do something different by swimming with dolphins in the Bay of Islands, ice-walking along a glacier or bungee jumping over a river. If you want to do some volunteer work in Australasia you can do something different by working as a conservation volunteer in the remote parts of Australia other backpackers don't get to see.

Do Something Different - Asia

Asia is a great gap destination in that it is full of fascinating sights, culture and history - and an added bonus is that most of Asia is incredibly inexpensive to travel in too. In Asia it is possible to do ‘something different' by trekking the Himalayas in India and Nepal, working up close with endangered orang-utans in Malaysia, re-building houses destroyed by the Asian tsunami in Sri Lanka, travelling on a high-speed bullet train in Japan, riding on an elephant in the Thai jungle and taking the famous Trans-Siberian Railway through Russia, Mongolia and China. For anyone who wants to do ‘something different' by working as a volunteer in Asia there are numerous hugely rewarding volunteer programmes.

Do Something Different - Africa

Africa is a huge, beautiful continent of incredible diversity and most gap year travellers are attracted to it by its amazing wildlife and wide range of hugely rewarding volunteer projects. In Africa you can do something different by working on a private game farm in Botswana, walking along a suspended ropeway through the treetops of rainforest in Ghana, going on safari in Kenya's famous Massai Mara game park, working with the endangered desert elephants of Namibia, witnessing the competitors reach the finishing line of the famous Dakar Rally in Senegal, taking the revolving cable car to the top of Cape Town's Table Mountain in South Africa or going white water rafting beneath the mighty Victoria falls in Zimbabwe.

Do Something Different - Latin America

Like Africa Latin America is a vast, varied and incredibly beautiful area teeming with unique wildlife. Latin America is also a great place to learn Spanish or, if you spend your gap year in Brazil, Portuguese. If you want to do something different by volunteering there is an excellent choice of volunteer projects available in Latin America, both working to help people and endangered wildlife. In Latin America it is possible to do something different by visiting the incredible Iguazu Falls in Argentina, caring for orphaned children in Bolivia, partying at the Rio carnival in Brazil, helping to fight the illegal trade of Costa Rica's sea turtles, working as a teaching assistant in the Dominican Republic, exploring the ancient Mayan ruins in the jungles of Guatemala and trekking the Inca Trail to the ‘lost city' of Machu Picchu in Peru.

If you are constantly tired of the everyday routine and yearn to do something different in your life the various possibilities are endless.


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