When Peter's highly stressful job got too much for him, he upped sticks for Patagonia. He's really rather glad that he did...

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Name: Peter Phillips Age: 27 Occupation: careergapper Peter did a six-month career-gap placement with VentureCo in Patagonia. What were your reasons for deciding to take a break? Work / personal life balance was too heavily swayed towards work; I found myself in a 'live for the weekends' lifestyle, earning a high salary and spending it to stay fulfilled. I also had a real desire to challenge myself physically and mentally in something different and perhaps more fulfilling, or at least to find out what it was like. Did you negotiate a break with your employer? I tried. I started by challenging the two-week maximum single holiday period permitted without CEO approval. I did this by requesting a one-month holiday (trekking around the Himalayas) from the CEO upon completion of a major new project for our largest client. This was rejected. I then did the same six months later upon completion of the second phase for this client. Again this was rejected. The third time was four months later and the CEO personally took me aside to explain that others would want a month off or more if I was given one month. So it was rejected; hence I had to reconsider my options: leave, or stay and forget the holiday. I choose to reconsider the holiday in the light 'what would I do for the perfect trip if I had as much time as I wanted?' Did you meet with encouragement or resistance from colleagues, friends and family? Absolute encouragement from everyone except my girlfriend, who was not interested in travelling. We took a relationship break as a result, but are now back together again. Colleagues, friends and family were very supportive as they felt I spent too much time working. How did you finance your gap year? Mostly from savings. However, I extended my trip from an initial four months to six months and ran into debt as a result. I had an offset mortgage set up to allow me to take some cash out of my mortgage if I needed it without penalty. This meant I had no financial worries away from home and could enjoy the trip. How long was your break and how did you divide up the time? The first four months was booked through a gap year specialist. This was an excellent way to ensure I had the expertise to see the highlights within a given timeframe and do things that wouldn’t have been easy or even possible on my own. I was in a group with others, which meant for an easy introduction to a very foreign culture. I extended the four months to six by spending the extra two months on my own travelling as an independent traveller. For me, this meant I was getting the best from both worlds. How did you choose the organised program? I went to the Destinations 2003 travel show in Earls Court, London. There I saw lots of companies, but few offering specialist programmes for trekking, backpacking and generally challenging itineraries. VentureCo was one, and White Peak Expeditions another. At first I was very un-impressed with VentureCo’s stand. The attendant was uninterested if I was not a pre-university graduate. So I took a brochure that happened to be labelled 'Career Gap'. Later, I sifted through all the brochures I had collected from the show and from the internet and eventually chose VentureCo. I was very impressed from then on as they are very careful with selection of individuals through a series of interviews. What were the costs involved? Do you feel they were justified? This was difficult as the organised programme was expensive. However, upon reflection this was certainly justified. The costs were split as follows: 1. Foreign language school and home-stay with family (in my case learning Spanish, living with a family in Cusco, Peru who did not speak English). This also paid for a child to learn English. Cost - £650 for three weeks. 2. Aid project for one month in the Peruvian Andes. Costs paid for villagers to take time out of their normal work and for all materials and tools. Cost - unsure, but around £500 each. 3. Expedition travelling throughout Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. All accommodation, food allowance and transport were covered. This cost about £3,000 per person and included a lot of activities. 4. On my own for two months I spent a further £2,000 on activities, travel, accommodation and food. What requirements did you have to fulfil (e.g. language, sponsorship, other skills)? None, simply an interview to ensure I was behaviourally up to the trip and fit for the program. Was there any red tape, e.g. tax adjustments, visas, etc.? No, not for British Citizens. All visas, airport taxes etc were handled by the VentureCo guides who were both very experienced with South American red tape. Did you consider doing a course? The language course was an objective of mine, either French or Spanish. This was included in the trip at the start, along with living with a local family to ensure total immersion. What was the highlight and what was the low point during your gap year? Highlights - there were many. In summary I experienced the culture of third-world countries like Peru and Bolivia first-hand and lived amongst the less fortunate. I enjoyed a wealth of culture so different from home. I also experienced nature like I had never imagined - glaciers, volcanoes, mountain ranges, condors, wild cats, rainforest, jungle, pampas, salt lakes, geysers etc... Low points - The restrictions of being in a group and personalities who cannot or will not go along with the program. I questioned whether some of the group members really wanted what the program offered. Interestingly, these people also turned out to be the ones that had the trip paid for by someone else, even one person aged 30. Also, I had split with my girlfriend of four years to go on the trip that I so wanted. That was difficult, but in the end we are much stronger as a couple than before. Where previously I had not considered taking things further, I now see no barriers. Did your expectations match the reality? Absolutely, the reality was better than what I had expected. With hindsight, what would you have done differently? A difficult question. In truth, nothing. However, I would never go with an organised group again. This is because I now have the confidence and experience to do what was organised on my behalf with this program... perhaps not all of it, but certainly most. I would love to have the time to do another trip on my own with the knowledge I now have of independent travel. As I didn’t have that knowledge before the trip I would have done nothing differently. How easy did you find the return to normality after your gap year? Not too difficult; a year out and I would definitely have had problems. I took four weeks to get back into work, choosing instead to travel around the UK and Ireland meeting friends and old acquaintances. Now that I am back, my productivity level is much lower and I have found it difficult to raise it to the level I was at before the trip. A one-year break for me may have been a step too far for my career. Give us a general assessment of the rewards and drawbacks of your particular experience... I am a much more patient and accepting person who withholds judgement on people much longer now than before. I have changed my lifestyle considerably; I used to live in London with a work-hard, play-hard lifestyle, and not necessarily a healthy one. Now I am a consultant who travels around Europe and the UK working with different people and I live next to the Peak District near Nottingham. Although I still work quite hard, I now feel I am mobile and in control of my career. I am a lot happier with life in general and am able to achieve a lot of my personal goals outside of the working week. I really cannot see a drawback in what I have done; any low-points have been a learning experience. In fact, when others struggled I saw the opportunity to help, so I benefited in the end. There was the strain of leaving my girlfriend behind and splitting up. That was a very tough decision but I knew I wanted to travel. In the end it was very positive for our relationship. In my experience I have found most people are impressed by what I have done -amazed, almost. Quite a few of my friends want to do the same but come up with excuses not to. They are afraid of change and of taking a risk: no one wants to return to a life that is 'worse' or a 'step back', but who says that’s the way it has to be? Perhaps the only reason I was different was because I was forced into a major change when Enron (my employer prior to the company I was working for when I took the break) filed for bankruptcy... Now I would say change is a necessary thing that protects someone from becoming bored, lazy and unhealthy. All these things are factors leading to the unfortunately common condition of depression. If someone says to me now (and two friends already have) that they are not happy with their lives, then I would say change it, here’s what I did... Click here >> to find out more about VentureCo