Grown-up gap years

Good evening.
The gap year is a well-established rite of passage for students, but increasing numbers of older travellers are embracing this type of adventure, whether as a midlife career break or a way of travelling during retirement. Travel companies which specialise in gap year itineraries and overseas “voluntourism” placements are reporting a shift in the demographic of travellers wishing to take an extended break.
For Mirjam Peternek-McCartney and her husband, Mark, it was the pandemic and a fast-approaching 50th birthday that gave them the push they needed to realise a long-held dream of taking their children out of school for a family sabbatical. “It was a midlife crisis with other factors mixed in. We felt we had to grab this window,” says Mirjam. The family headed to South America, travelling overland from Colombia to the southern tip of Patagonia for eight months, schooling their children on the road. Riding with gauchos in Argentina, helping out on research projects in a rainforest lodge in Peru and spotting wildlife in Patagonia were among the highlights.
For some, the experience can prove life-changing. Mariam Amini writes about her experiences of volunteering overseas and how it helped her to find her career, her husband and a way of reconnecting with her heritage: “By pushing the parameters of our comfort zones, being intentional about the work and connecting with locals from across the world, our lives have gained so much meaning. I also feel more confident and capable with each new experience.”
After retiring, Kate Harrison travelled solo across the US and Canada, stretching her limited budget by volunteering at music festivals, camping and travelling by Greyhound bus. Not only did this help keep costs down, but it also brought her into contact with a community of like-minded people. “Things happen when you travel by yourself,” she writes. “Most of them wonderful."