My eldest finished her A’Levels and decided she wanted a gap year. I whole heartedly supported her decision. I took a gap year myself spending 4 months as a chalet girl in Meribel and then a lot of travelling between knee operations. But that’s another much longer story, on the perils of being a nutcase on a mountain aged 18, and trying to keep up with the boys.
Anyway, this isn’t about me. My first born decided to work for a while waitressing in London, have Christmas at home and has now headed off to Peru. She left on Jan 1st. What a perfect day to see in the New Year! I thought it might be helpful to share what I learned in the prep for my ‘baby’ to fly off to South America.
1) KEEP CALM (and carry on)
Of course I was nervous. Of course. And I know that projecting my worries onto her would be counter intuitive. Why layer more anxiety on to her? I knew she had her own worries running. What if-ing is pointless. I actually said to her at one point, you might misplace your passport, have your money stolen or lose your luggage. All those things are annoying and fixable. Never mind about any of those things, focus on keeping you safe. The other stuff is exactly that, just stuff.
2) WRITE A LIST
She was a total star and did this herself and then we talked about things such as ‘do you think I really need this vaccine for yellow fever?’ and other things such as, is there Malaria there? We sat on the sofa of an evening researching, and had fun doing it! She is a big surfer, so when it came to talking about surf things I was told to be quiet. I don’t know the terms, and I am very uncool in this department. I have put a list at the end of this blog to help you when it comes to your gap-yaar Mothering moment.
3) BE READY FOR IT TO COST MORE
I had a phone call one say from said child truly upset at the cost of travel insurance. Its horribly inflated due to Covid but putting that to one side, a healthy teen travelling to Peru and Costa Rica seems to be a risk…. Cant think why. Additional laptop cover, surf cover and other stuff sent her into a spin. Without judging your family values on money, I let her manage this and pay for it. Her father and I contributed to the trip, and helped her on her way, and she paid for a lot of it herself. A good lesson in the reality of the cot of holidays and a good incentive to work hard! And hard she worked to get the money together.
4) TEARS ARE STANDARD
I took her to the airport on New Years Day and cried as I said goodbye. She had 2 flight changes ahead, and a quick chat on how to stay in transit (DO NOT EXIT THE AIRPORT!) left me thinking about foreign airports, 2 changes, whether her luggage would make it through and so much more. I was an emotional wreck! I tried to keep the emotional overflow under control yet tears poured when I said goodbye. This was it. Months away from home on the adventure of a lifetime!
5) KEEPING IN TOUCH
2 days before she left I had a worry moment that EE (the phone network she is on) might not be as budget as I hoped in Peru. I looked on EE’s website only to find it would be a small fortune to call/roam. Even the bolt on costs were horrible. So I organised a burner phone. Cue hilarious chat on why it’s called a burner phone. Told her not to use that term at the airport! Then she could get a local sim when arriving and have a phone to make calls if needs be, and send me the number, so I can take the cost of calling Peru. Other than that it’s WiFi calls when she is on WiFi.
I think that’s it for now in terms of how to cope with the lead up, and know I have LOVED the facetime calls I get, the tales of stray dogs on the street, photos of cats in the supermarket and the details of the new foods she has tried. I am so proud of her. She bloody rocks!
Here is the list of things to think about before a gap year trip for your teen:
- Vaccines
- Passport – check when it expires!
- Visa for the country
- Covid entry rules
- Insurance
- Accommodation
- Transport
- Cost of additional luggage (i.e. a surfboard – yes it cost a lot!)
- Mobile phone roaming fees (yes it is extortionate out of Europe) and burner phone options
- Shampoo/Conditioner – the bars are amazing for travelling. No bottles and good for the planet too
- Facewash/moisturiser
- Sunscreen/after sun
- Deodorant/toothpaste/toothbrush
- Tampax etc for the girls
- Condoms (I didn’t send her with any and a friend told me I was mad, so adding it to the list and not saying anything else on the subject!)
- Anthisan/antihistamine/antiseptic cream/plasters/dioralyte/Paracetomol
- Pasta/pesto/chocolate or equvalient simple food if your teen is heading somewhere they can cook and the local food may take a bit of adjustment. Its comfort stuff, especially the chocolate!
- Converter plugs
- Local currency
- A money belt
- Mini padlocks for locking luggage/surfboard bags
By Elizabeth, Founder of WoMo