Laura002

Hey there dear travellers
I am planning to do a gap year after my graduations, so I'd realy like to hear your opinion and what I could change or what's not possible for my idea.

Costs ca. 12000€ ??? (I am really not shure about that)
August 2018 flight to a country in latin/south america (I don't know which yet, depending on the social project)
->"Roadtrip" 2 weeks- 1 month through the country with a travel buddie
->social project (something with animals) ca. 2 months 1000€-2000€
flight to canada
-> Roadtrip 1-2 month with a travel buddie
-> Ranchwork 3 months
-> social project (sth. with animals or the environment) 2-3 months
visiting a friend in the us ca. 2 weeks
August 2019 flight back to germany
Thank you for the time to read this and (hopefully) write a reply

mdinbc

hello,
not so much commenting on your itinerary, but as a heads up please make sure you have proper work permits in advance.
For Canada, here is a link to the government website:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/eligibility.asp

There may be links to jobs in our national parks somewhere on the site as well. Be careful of sites that lure gap year students with, but in reality have very low wages and high accommodation fees. It looks from your timeline that you plan on coming to Canada in Sept or Oct? It is the end of summer tourist season, and the winter ski areas will not be up to speed for jobs yet (but already doing their hiring for the season).

To me a ranch job in that season will be cold, dirty and perhaps lonely for a young person (ranches tend to be in remote areas). You may be more successful in a service industry job in a ski town.

anyegr

In addition to work permits, make certain you can actually get into the countries you want to stay in. Visa requirements are different depending on where you come from and if you are only a tourist or plan to work at your destination.

Does "social project" mean volunteer work? Check to see if you need work permits for that, too. Also make sure the organization is legitimate if you want to use it as a reference for future jobs.

I have no idea if your cost estimates are correct. But you do need a backup plan if you can't get any jobs.

Vaccinations?

It does sound like an interesting adventure. But maybe you'd get better responses on Thorntree. There's likely to be more young people there.

thursdaysd

There is a whole forum dedicated to gap year travel on Lonely Planet's thorntree. And before you get too excited about volunteering you might read some of the articles that suggest it may do more harm than good, although that may not be the case if you are working with animals.

Good thing you have nearly a year to work on this! I have some doubts about your budget, although you do have a fair amount of control over the cost of accommodation and food.

toddhicks209

It looks like you have a good plan.

toddhicks209

It's interesting you want to do these fun things but your plan appears very expensive. In order to have all that money upon graduation, you probably need to work a lot, save a lot and keep discretionary spending low right now.

thursdaysd

Make your mind up. That's not what you said in October.