Gap Years for Adults - About Us

In February two years ago I decided that I wanted to do a Gap Year with my two daughters then aged 7 and 9. This would coincide nicely with my 40th birthday and the children would be 9 and 11. Perfect!!!

It was a fun yet stressful time in the planning and an awesome time away.

This site is put together to help you plan your own travels. The information that I offer through this site is not so much about our adventures (although they do feature through the children's eyes in their journals). This site is more about how you too can do your own family gap year and we offer a collection of tips and little pieces of invaluable advice that we gleaned along the way.

Essentially it is a little handbook for all those who have said to me, 'I wish I could have done what you did.' to explain how I did it and the various pitfalls and peaks.

I am a published author having written for various magazines and newspapers around the world and my first book was published in 2001, a work of non fiction which, encouragingly, received excellent reviews and in second edition now. Working on Yachts and Superyachts

I love writing but am not good at making up stories (can never think of a clever ending!) so have focused my efforts on non fiction.

Our gap year adventure was a fabulous experience and nearly a year on it's one that I haven't yet regretted it in anyway. I hope this site helps you to take a step in the right direction for you.

It's horribly easy to talk yourself out of an experience.

As a student in southern France Molly Holt had found an entrancing village she couldn't forget and friends urged her to try to rediscover it. Molly assumed that property there would be out of her reach but further research proved otherwise, as prices were half what they were in Britain. The family now lives in a small village in the hills above Nice where Molly renovates houses and paints pictures:

I don't know whether I found the same village I discovered as a student but it looks similar! How on earth could I spend all those years thinking I couldn't possibly settle there? If you decide to do exactly what you want to do, there's always a way of accomplishing it. It takes someone to say don't be such an asshole. I suffer from this lack of faith as much as everyone else.
Building that wall is so stupid.

- Extract from Gap Year For Grown Ups - Susan Griffiths