Safe Gap Year-Our Advice

Our Travel Advice

Introduction

Why do we go travelling? Why do we leave our everyday lives behind and take ourselves so far outside of our comfort zones?

The answers to these questions are different for each and every person; some are just out looking for fun; some want to help less well-off communities; some want to learn about other cultures; some want to see the thousands of different landscapes our planet has to offer.

Others have a specific goal; to dive on a specific reef; to see a specific sight; to visit relatives; to seek out a particular species of animal; for spiritual fulfilment...

Others still don’t really know why they want to go away, they may just want a break from the day-to-day routine or be looking for something new in their lives. Ultimately there is no common reason that makes people travel; with the exception of curiosity and a sense of adventure they have inside themselves.

But the reason you choose to travel plays a big part in what preparation you need to make for that trip. Visiting relatives can make a trip relatively straight forward, you are picked up at the airport on arrival and you have all the best local advice and local guides to hand throughout, but for others where to get advice can be a headache.

Do you wait until you get there and ask when you arrive, rely on a guide book or seek out fellow travellers and who can you really trust to give you accurate and credible information? Certainly the Internet is awash with useful advice from different sources; some are very reliable others slant information for their own purposes. Even well respected travel agents who specialise in independent travel are susceptible to exaggeration and up-selling.

We recently accompanied two independent travellers who wanted to book a trip to South East Asia, to a well known travel agent. We had prepared a detailed itinerary, but after an hour the trip they had originally planned had changed from a trip round South East Asia to a Round-The-World ticket; or from £700 to £1250. Not until we showed them the availability of internal flights did they realise that a flight for which they had been quoted £250 could be booked on the Internet for just £30.

So who can you trust? Start with your own instincts and then contact us. At Beyond The Blue our aim is to help individuals and groups planning travel to any part of the world, our workshop aims to provide you with all the information you need to start planning your trip, gap year or independent travel. Our backgrounds are as professionals with a love and wealth of experience of independent travel.

We bring these two backgrounds together to create a workshop that combines recognised professional skills, with the in-depth knowledge we have gained through exploration of some of the world’s remote environments as well as its most popular destinations.

Some people will think they know it all already and can learn the rest as they go, but culture shock gets all of us, even our most experienced instructors still have to overcome it when they visit a new country.

Let us help you avoid the phrase all too often used by travellers that ‘it happened out of the blue’ and help you to see ‘beyond the blue’ to a safer and more fulfilled travel experience.

We believe in a transparent open approach and in providing access to useful information through our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA).

A short introduction to each of the subjects we cover during our workshop is published to allow anyone planning to travel to gain an insight into the considerations they will need to make, these include:

For more details on our Workshop / Course Dates and Fees please visit the How to Book section of our website, call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

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specialists in training, consultancy and event management