Work-weary execs queue to take a gap year

The attractions are obvious: escaping the rat race, forgetting the mortgage and having time to savour new places. The gap year used to be the preserve of young people experiencing the world before work, but today's gap-year traveller is as likely to be a stressed-out executive or pensioner as a pre-university student.

Career breaks are gaining in popularity among professionals of all ages exhausted by the nine-to-five grind of office life, and among older people who never got a chance to take their own gap year but whose children embraced the experience.

With businesses more willing to let employers take unpaid sabbaticals, the improved health enjoyed by older people and the explosion in cheap airline flights, it has never been easier to break away.

Elisa Robinson, a 53-year-old personal assistant from Peterborough, was nearing retirement when she decided to take a sabbatical for three months last year to teach English classes in India.

'It suddenly hit me that life was quite short and I asked why was I wasting the last few years of health I had left in a job I no longer enjoyed,' she said. 'I was also looking for something useful I could do when I retired.

'Taking a gap year simply wasn't done when I was a teenager,' she added. 'My three children took gap years and came back with broader horizons, fantastic tales and memories they'll never forget.

'I decided I didn't want to leave my money to my children but deserved the fun of spending it myself,' she said. 'I've never made a better decision. Now I'm considering taking early retirement and going off again; I've even put a notice up at my Bridge club asking if any one wants to come with me.'

In the last year, VentureCo, a company that specialises in organising gap years for teenagers, has seen a 600 per cent increase in bookings made by those aged 44 and over for holidays lasting over three months.

'Last year we had just 16 bookings from adults wanting to take career breaks but this year there have been 96 already,' said managing director Mark Davison. 'We set up a few trips last year in response to a smattering of inquiries and the exponential rise in calls since then has been incredible. Now we're simply besieged by requests.'

The trend has also been recorded by Tim Hedges, assistant race director for Clipper Ventures, which organises year-long sailing trips around the world. 'We've seen a massive rise in bookings from people in their early fifties,' he said. 'They use the trips as a pre-retirement test, to see whether this is what they want to devote their time to when they do finally retire.'

Bridge The World, another group specialising in organising gap years, has reported a 14 per cent increase in 40-year-old professionals booking breaks of more than three months over the past 18 months, while another company, i-to-i.com, estimates around one-third of its customers are on career breaks.

'Gap yearers are no longer the biggest market in this field,' said Becky Allardice, marketing director for i-to-i.com. 'We have seen a doubling in the rate of bookings made by post-gap year travellers, with the oldest we have travelled with being 65 years old.'

Two years ago, Will Suthers, a single, 40-year-old former IT troubleshooter from Cardiff, took six months extended leave from his job to go travelling. When his leave ran out, he simply resigned from his job and continued his adventures.

'I suddenly no longer cared if I annoyed the company,' he said. 'I was frustrated with my career and my personal life and I wanted to do something to fulfil a need inside me which was not being satisfied.'

After quitting his job, Suthers met his future wife, 39-year-old Ellie Matthewman. She has also resigned from her job and rented out her home to take a year off.

But the shock of coming back home can be hard to bear, according to Alison Cowley, a 42-year-old marketing manager in Aylesbury, who returned 18 months ago from a year spent travelling around Australia, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.

'Letting out my house was the hardest thing I have ever had to do and walking away with just a backpack after spending an entire lifetime accumulating possessions was terrifying,' she said.

'But coming back was even worse; I was completely unable to settle down. Then I remembered how strong I'd been when I was travelling and realised I could change my life again.'

Cowley resigned her job for a second time and joined the National Trust. 'Now I'm happier than I've ever been in my life,' she said. 'I'm earning far less but I appreciate more what life is really worth.'