JOHANNESBURG – Take a gap year to travel and see the world is the advice many people give school leavers. It sounds great, it sounds exciting and it is good advice. But can you afford to do it? According to Linda Greenberg of Boston City Campus & Business College this is a much tougher decision these days because of the financial commitments one must make to take advantage of a gap year. It’s ideal to try and find a way to finance your travels without total reliance on your parents.
“The good news is that you don’t have to give up on your dreams of travelling,” she says. “You just need to think out of the box and network wildly until you find a way.”
Idea 1: Study and work until you have enough money to travel.
For starters, why not give up the idea of a gap year altogether? To take an entire year off is not easy; never mind having to save enough money to last for a whole year of travelling! What you can do instead, is to plan a few months to study; another few months to work and earn money and then finally, a period of time to go travelling and have fun.
It may not be a popular option but it makes sense to further your studies straight after finishing school. You can do various short courses, skills programmes or complete some modules of a full course or towards a degree. This way, you will have something to add to your CV, you can continue your studies after your travels or travel in between semesters, and you will be more likely to find a job. Go to www.boston.co.za to have a look at the various short learning programmes or book an appointment with a career advisor at the Boston campus nearest to you. It may, for example come in handy for you to learn more about;
· IT – Boston City Campus & Business College was voted best computer training college by The Star readers (Star Reader’s Choice Awards 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and offers many IT courses, including MS Office 2013 and Windows 8. The IT examinations at Boston have international accreditation and will look great on a CV if you wish to get temporary work while travelling.
· Customer service and call centre operations – you can enrol at Boston to do a full qualification or simply do a few modules. This is an industry that has a large number of entry-level jobs, both on a temporary and full-time basis. This will allow you to earn and save, before you make a decision about taking a gap year or going straight into building a career.
Idea 2: Get a qualification in travel and tourism – and travel as much as you want.
After finishing school you can enrol for training in travel and tourism at a good, accredited college like Boston. Some learning programmes stretch over three years, but once you have completed them, you can go see the world and earn money while you are travelling. Or you may just decide to make a long-term career of travelling. Imagine that! There are many stories of people who started their careers on board cruise ships, travelled the world, and then found permanent jobs at top hotels all over the world. Boston offers various tourism learning programmes in travel and tourism operations (three years); in hotel and catering operations (two years); hospitality management (two years); reservations and front-of-house. These learning programmes have modules such as tourism geography and customer service, business English, bookkeeping and office practice to ensure students have all the skills needed to build a successful career. These learning programmes have a theory side and a practical side, which means that students have to get real work experience before they can graduate. As part of the training, Boston students go on field trips and outings to local tourist attractions, hotels and so on. In the case of hotel and catering training, students attend practical kitchen workshops.
For more information on careers and courses in travel and tourism, visit www.boston.co.za or book a one-on-one career advice session at to the Boston City Campus & Business College nearest to you.
