It’s third year of university, that big, scary period of your life that seemed so far away, yet somehow you’re racing through it with no way to stop the progress. And the big question keeps getting thrown at you: so what are you going to do when you graduate then? You tense up, petrified of the impending judgement from the prying person before you. What happens when you have absolutely no idea about your career?

For me, I decided to ‘go travelling’. But there’s one thing that makes me incredibly nervous. It seems everyone has this same idea. Oh, I’m taking a gap year to earn some money and go travelling. If everyone is doing it, then how is it going to boost my CV? Is it just a cop-out so I don’t have to decide on my career? So I don’t have to, shock horror, grow up? Having graduated, all these questions have been percolating through my brain the entire summer, and I’m sure all my fellow students taking a belated gap year have had the same travel troubles. Is taking a year to do a job you are not particularly interested to fund gallivanting around the world a valid thing to do after obtaining a BA Honours degree?

I’m afraid I don’t have a universally applicable answer. All I can say is the key is conviction. I sat down, and thought about why I want to go travelling. I want to see the world. I want to have a bit of adventure before settling in a 9-5 job. I want to have on my CV that I’ve been to some amazing places. I want a break. I want time to reflect on what it is I want to do. I know it’s a long slog before February arrives, but I have belief in my conviction to turn the travel troubles into travel thrills!