<p>where would you go and why? I’m considering doing a gap year and so am researching travel destinations and trying to figure out how I would want to spend my gap year if I elected to do so.</p>
<p>Anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?</p>
<p>What language skills do you have? What financial issues will constrain you? What do you want to accomplish and/or experience?</p>
<p>Well, if I could travel anywhere, I’d go to Antarctica, but I wouldn’t spend a gap year there. Travel is so personal; if I were doing another gap year now, I’d probably go to Mongolia/Siberia, but it’s not for everyone. Do you feel particularly drawn to anywhere?</p>
<p>Well, I’d love to experience more than one place over the course of my gap year. As fun as I think it would be to become completely immersed in one culture, I would rather visit a few places and not spend all of my time in one. I’m semi-fluent in Spanish and will be required to continue it in college as an international business major, so I thought that it might be beneficial for me to go to South or Central America. The only reason I’m hesitating doing this, is because I also intend to do a study abroad during my college career, so I would likely be studying abroad in one of those countries.</p>
<p>I’ve saved around $10,000 for travel, so finances aren’t too big of an issue. Preferably, I’d like to visit somewhere that I can get the most experience for my money (where the currency exchange works in my favor), which essentially rules out most of Western Europe (though I’m not dead set against it). Other than that, nothing in particular. I’m looking into applying for a student internship at an American embassy abroad, but I’m not sure how that’ll go as of yet.</p>
<p>Japan is a wonderful country to visit, but I feel money goes faster there. Why don’t you go to Argentina?</p>
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I think I spent more than that in 2 weeks visiting part of Europe (family of four). Make sure you work up a spreadsheet that attempts to capture all of the costs including flights, local travel (cab, train, bus, subway), lodging, food, admissions fees (to castles, national parks, etc.), restaurants, medicines, visas, health insurance if not already covered overseas, communications, etc. Be as realistic as possible. It may cost more than you realize although you can do it for much less than I did. Work it up for different parts of the world you might be interested in. The results might make the decision for you.</p>
<p>Europe is very expensive right now. If you can somehow get paid to be where you are then that’ll help but I don’t know how many opportunities there are.</p>
<p>The parts of South America I’ve been to have been interesting and it should be less expensive than Europe. Just remember that at least most of Central and South America is third-world and some areas are dangerous so make sure you research your destinations well and remember it’s not Kansas. Mexico also has a lot if interesting areas but I’ve only been to a small part of it. </p>
<p>Good luck and have fun - it should be a great experience.</p>
<p>I’d go to Australia.</p>
<p>There are so many different things to see there, and since the country is so large, it would be nice to visit for more than just a few weeks.</p>
<p>Try something exotic, like, the Seychelles. Or La Reunion. Or Madagascar.</p>
<p>Solomon Islands, Fiji, Australia, East Africa</p>
<p>South America is a big place. I don’t think you need to rule it out just because you might go that direction another time. </p>
<p>But if you really want a different continent, go to Spain. Having a European home base will let you visit lots of different places.</p>
<p>But to answer your original question If <<<i>>>> could go anywhere – I’d go to NYC, Washington DC, and Oxford, Ohio. As someone said, travel is personal.</i></p><i>
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