The Gap Year Guru’s Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there an age requirement?
A: Traditionally, a Gap Year candidate is someone who is taking time to expand their horizons, step back from the academic world after completing their high school career, and opening up to broader experiences around the world before entering into college life. The minimum age to be considered as a candidate for Rustic Pathways Gap Year programs is 18, and all students must be a high school graduate at the time of travel in order to join our programs.
Q: How does the Gap Year Program work? What is it composed of?
A: Our Scheduled Gap Year Program allows you the ultimate flexibility in budget and timing. The whole Scheduled Gap Year program runs each year for 9 months, and is composed of 11 individual country ‘modules’, each of which runs from between 2 to 4 weeks in length. You can travel for just a few weeks to a single country, travel for a few months to a region of the world, gap for a semester, or join us for the entire 9 month program. The possibilities are ample, and your specific interests in various regions of the world can be a great tool if you are looking for a shorter term Gap Year experience. For example, if you have always wanted to journey to the South Pacific, we have Gap Year programs running in The Fiji Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. You can easily choose one of these destinations, or combine all three! If South East Asia is closer to your area of interest, you can easily link up our Gap Year programs running in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, with the opportunity to extend your experiences to also include our Gap Year programs in both India and China.
Q: How do I get from country to country?
A: All Gap Year students take connecting flights between countries, and are responsible for arranging their own airfare. This allows Gap Year students to take advantage of utilizing any frequent flyer miles that may have, as well as accrue a significant amount along the way. When you are looking into these flight arrangements, Rustic Pathways will help you organize your routes between cities and countries, so you will have a clear understanding of the flights you are looking for. Another great reason for Gap Year students to arrange their own airfare is because, as students, you will be able to take advantage of the multitude of “student airfare” deals, such as around-the-world tickets and other great regional airfare discount packages.
Q: Will someone be there to meet me at the airport?
A: It is a long standing Rustic Pathways policy that all students are met at the airport when arriving into one of our international destinations, and then escorted to the airport to depart at the conclusion of their program. Rustic Pathways ensures that our staff on the ground have all of the Gap Year students’ flight information prior to their departure from the USA. Gap Year students will be required to provide this flight information to Rustic Pathways before they begin their Gap Year program. In some cases where students will be purchasing additional international flights between Gap Year programs after having departed the USA, then our Gap Year staff will ensure that this information is properly distributed to all relevant staff well before the scheduled flights. It is by ensuring these procedures that Rustic Pathways is able to properly coordinate all international flight arrangements for our Gap Year students, and we are always there with you when you are arriving and departing our destinations around the globe.
Q: Is health insurance included?
A: Health insurance is not included in the cost of your Gap Year Programs. Rustic Pathways requires that all students have valid International Health Coverage for the duration of your time on our Gap Year Programs. This must be sent in to our USA Office prior to the start of your Gap Year Programs.
Q: What do I do if I get sick?
A: Rustic Pathways takes all precautions available to ensure that students are traveling within a safe environment, eating well prepared meals, and sleeping within clean, safe surroundings at all times. Furthermore, all of our Rustic Pathways Gap Year staff are up to date on their Wilderness First Responder and First Aid certifications, which provide them with the ample knowledge and ability to deal with most illnesses and injuries that could ever occur. It is very rare that such instances occur. However, as with all international travel, sometimes certain foreign dishes, or just the strain of international travel, can leave you feeling a bit under the weather. These instances are thoroughly dealt with by our staff, and we take every precaution to ensure that you receive the best medical treatment you need. In cases where you may need to seek professional medical care from a hospital, Rustic Pathways will arrange to escort you to a proper, clean, and safe medical facility to receive such treatment. Our staff will stay with you while you are receiving medical care, and will alert your family if such instances occur, as well as keep them up to date on the developments as they progress. This is an extremely remote occurrence, as our first priority with all of our programs is the complete safety of our students.
Q: Who are my leaders?
A: Your leaders are full-time Program Managers and Country Directors for Rustic Pathways. Each leader has extensive knowledge of their region and has spent several years working on a variety of projects in country. Taken as a whole, our team members speak more than 20 languages, have traveled across more than 130 countries, hold degrees from some of the world’s top schools, and have led countless groups of across some of the world’s most interesting, exotic places. While individual backgrounds are extraordinarily diverse, every person holds to a common set of values regarding the standards of the company, a single-minded dedication to excellence across our organization, and an absolute focus on the safety of our programs and the well-being and enrichment of our students.
Q: Do I have free time?
A: All of our Gap Year experiences are designed to give you some free time in different locations. Time to write home, reflect on the experiences that you are going through, take some time to explore by yourself – all these are part of the journey.
Q: I am a vegetarian/vegan? Can I still come?
A: Rustic Pathways can accommodate almost all dietary restrictions. There are enough great foods and dishes in the world to satisfy all taste buds and meal preferences. It is very important that you communicate any dietary preferences to our staff prior to your start of a Gap Year program, so that we can put everything into place. It is not a difficulty for us, but it is necessary to indicate such restrictions as you are applying, so that we can make the proper arrangements. Along with this, and also extremely important, is to specify any particular food allergies that you may have, in order for us to properly prepare the necessary steps to ensure you are getting the correct diet while traveling on your Gap Year experience.
Q: How do I stay in touch with home?
A: In almost all of the destinations that you will be traveling to, there are ample internet café’s where you can keep in touch with family and friends. Also, all of our Basehouses have internet connections, so you won’t have to worry about internet in these locations. Some students also choose to bring along an internet capable phone from home, such as a Blackberry or I-phone. Just be careful about how much you use there, because some of the international calling plans can get quite pricey
Q: Can I bring a cell phone? Can I bring a laptop?
A: . In regards to cell phones, many students choose to bring along an international phone, some with internet capabilities, which work in most regions of the world. As stated above, this can be an expensive option, as most international calling plans get pretty pricey. As with our staff, you can purchase an inexpensive international phone almost anywhere in the world, which you can that add money to as needed. This will give you the ability to receive calls and make calls back home (though you will have to watch your account balance) while you are traveling. It is important that you remember that a large part of your time while participating in your Gap Year experience is to step outside of the world back home, so you want to make sure you are not letting things pass you by while chatting on the phone. In regards to a laptop, this may be an unnecessary piece of equipment to carry along. It is cumbersome, not the most travel friendly item, and may be easily enough done without. Since there are so many internet café’s, you won’t really need it for emailing. If you are thinking of bringing it along in order to have somewhere to store your digital photos while you travel, you may want to simplify this by just bringing along a digital storage until – it’s lighter, cheaper, and easier to travel with!
Q: What do we DO on these trips?
A: This will largely depend on the specific country or region that your are speaking of. There are so many different aspects of our Gap Year experience; it is hard to generalize everything that you will be doing. This is why we have provided detailed, daily itineraries for all of the countries that you can travel to on our Gap Year program. These itineraries are the best resource to get a strong feel for what you will be doing along the journey. The itineraries are located on the individual country pages on our Gap Year website, which can be found at www.rusticpathways.com/gapyear.
Q: Who are the other people on these trips?
A: Rustic Pathways Gap Year students mostly come from the USA. There are a few who journey from other countries, but the majority are scattered across the country. Some of these Gap Year students are returning after participating in our summer programs as high school students, and others are joining us for the first time. Generally speaking, all of our Gap Year students are intelligent, independent, motivated, and enthusiastic young men and women looking to set forth on amazing journeys around the world. Everyone has a passion for experiences new and different cultures, and everyone is excited to be a part of this adventure!
Q: What shots/medications do I need to take to travel to these countries?
A: It is very important that you speak with your family physician in regards to this issue. One you begin to narrow in on specific regions that your Gap Year experience will take you to, you can then easily convey this information to your physician, who can advise you on any immunizations or medications that you will want to have. Rustic Pathways can provide you with a detailed list of cities, villages, and provinces that you will be traveling to, which will help your physician advise you in the appropriate manner.
Q: What if I love it and I want to extend my trip?
A: This is not uncommon. Many of our Gap Year students will complete their selected portions of a Gap Year program, and they wish to extend their amazing journey. This is easily facilitated, as long as the following Rustic Pathways Gap Year program is not already sold out, and we can accommodate changing your flight arrangements. This is something that is looked at on a case by case basis. So, if this is something you want to do, Rustic Pathways will do everything we can to make it happen!
Q: What if I should have to come home early for personal reasons?
A: As with extending your Gap Year program, Rustic Pathways will look at this on a case by case basis. There are certain expenses that must be paid for by our organization prior to the start of the Gap Year program, in order to ensure that everything is sorted and will run smoothly. Under most circumstances, families will have to forfeit some of these costs, as they are non refundable to us as well.
Q: How long has Rustic Pathways been running trips?
A: Rustic Pathways is proudly celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. It has been a long road of laughter, service, adventure, and amazing journeys for all of us. Our roots date back originally to Australia, where the Chairman and Founder of Rustic Pathways, David Venning, began running 4 wheel drive trips through the Outback. Since then, we have proudly grown to operate in over 20 countries around the world, and have been enriching our students’ lives through service, adventure, and life skills for a quarter century.
Q: What is not included in the cost of my program?
A: Rustic Pathways covers half of our Gap Year student’s lunches and dinners. The reason we do this is to give you some flexibility with your free time, your meal choices, and to keep our published costs at a lower rate. Other costs that are not included in the Gap Year prices are such things as internet access, laundry, small snacks or beverages that you will want to pick up along the way, any donations to charities or temples that you would like to make, and other small things which fall under the category of spending money. In addition, there are some optional activities which are not included in the Gap Year program costs. Things such as sky diving, bungee jumping, zip lining; these are things that some students will have a desire to participate in, while others will not. In light of this, we remove such costs from the overall budget, so that only those students who are interested will have to pay the expenses.
What if my question wasn’t answered here? Ask the Guru, Email gap@rusticpathways.com, |
