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Objectively speaking, it is absolutely absurd that we ask teenagers to choose the direction they want to take their life as soon as they finish high school.
I went into college as an 18-year-old thinking I’d end up changing the world by working in Washington D.C. before disappointing my parents by deciding to write on the internet for a living. I’m not sure if an extra year of reflection would have changed things but that doesn’t mean I don’t regret taking a gap year.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, a “gap year” is a temporary academic hiatus that’s becoming increasingly popular among high school graduates who have parents who are willing to pay for them to travel around the world and discover themselves.
Taking a gap year comes with some risks but it also comes with some absolutely fantastic chances to make your Instagram followers jealous, as these examples show:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmNkz9pBzaN/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmMmiFog_A3/
You can calculate the cost of a vacation around the world but you can’t put a price on likes.
Gap years are especially popular among students in Europe but plenty of other people are hopping on the bandwagon.
To track where they’re going over the course of their journey, Alpha Travel Insurance combed through Instagram to find the most popular gap year destinations around the world.
Here are the top locations:
- New York City
- Sydney
- Bali
- Rome
- Paris
- Melbourne
- London
- Venice
- Bangkok
- Los Angeles
Omaha failed to crack the Top 25 but I can only assume it was right on the verge.