Hello Laura 😊
The questions do not reflect my opinions at all.
Whose opinions do they reflect?
1. What is your opinion on the modern ‘Gap Year’?
I think it can turn out to be a life enhancing experience.
2. How do you think taking a year or a period of time off from studying or working benefits people? - If you don’t feel it is beneficial, please explain why.
I think it helps people discover more about what type of adults they want to be and what they want to do with their lives.
3. Why do you think many people these days choose to take a year off?
Because it seems like a fun and/or interesting thing to do.
4. Why do you think the majority choose to go travelling in this year off?
Is it what the majority do, or is that a guess? Well, travelling is an interesting and exciting way to spend a year, for those who come from countries which are wealthy enough that they dont have to earn an income right away after high school to help their family out financially.
5. Do you think there is a certain level of competition between travellers to have the best stories?
Huh?! No! Anyone who competes in this way or thinks that others do has not really discovered their real reasons to love travel, in my opinion.
6. Do you think that one experience of travelling can outrank another? (for example, does hiking in the Andes mountains outrank backpacking round Thailand because Thailand has been done by so many more people) Please explain your answer.
Travel is subjective. What will out rank for some is different from what will out rank for others.
7. If you have been travelling, how do you think you benefitted from the time you spent travelling?
My first taste of travel awakened a passion I did not know I would have(for travel). It to a large extent shaped my life. And there are things like incorporating travel into my life has made me an excellent money and time manager and travelling in the third world has shown me how to live simply in some ways.
8. What do you think of backpackers?
Not sure what you mean by this. It sounds a bit like ''what do you think of women?'', ''what do you think about white people'', ''what do you think about bread?''. Are you asking if I hold prejudices against them? Well no, because I am one. The backpacking style of travelling makes travelling often affordable for me.
9. ‘Disaster tourism’ is a ‘new craze’ where tourists are taking advantage of disasters to go to the area and observe the aftermath. Prices are often cheaper and you may get a more authentic view of a place. This tourism is often much needed by the areas of disasters. Would you be interested in ‘disaster tourism’?
Tourists taking advantage of things like cheap prices!? I really dont believe that there are people who go to these places to take advantage of anything. And the prices are not necessarily lower, and there is not necessarily less tourism at these places(presuming that by authentic, you mean that there are few foreigners there). I go to places like that to gain some empathy and understanding. When I just see things on the news, it is always distant, and the people are always them way over there. When I go to those places I can see that these are real people and I can find out more about what happened and hope that in some way that the telling of their story will spread information around the world that will bring about change somehow.
Mel
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