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INFO@XTREME-GAP.COM
0044 (0)203 286 7065 (UK)
0031 (0)208 932110 (NL)
SKYPE: XTREME-GAP
INFO@XTREME-GAP.COM
0044 (0)203 286 7065 (UK)
0031 (0)208 932110 (NL)
SKYPE: XTREME-GAP
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At Xtreme Gap Year we believe your time abroad should develop you personally, and be filled with countless moments of real excitement, gained by doing something out of the ordinary, and seriously cool.
If you are looking for a real gap year challenge and want to push your comfort zone feel free to review our programmes. Our gap year programmes enable you to truly achieve your personal best. Challenging your comfort zone and participating in an extreme sport activity in amazing locations will show you what you are really capable of.
We are not just for people on a gap year...Oh no. Some of the Xtreme Gap programmes last 60 seconds, some 2 weeks. We call them adrenaline shots, so if you are looking for a short break adventure holiday, we are here for you too. Feel free to check our some of our real gap reviews from real customers to discover how much you could achieve on a gap year with Xtreme Gap.
Xtreme Gap Year are experts in exciting gap year adventure travel and unique gap year projects abroad. Established in 2008 after discovering there was a real gap between value for money and current offerings in the gap year industry, we are proud to be the best value gap year company. Check out our most popular Gap Year destinations below.
Google Gap Year and you will be inundated with tempting gap year programmes, promising you “life changing trips” and telling you can make a difference on your gap year. While it is certainly true that there are lots of cool Gap year ideas out there, many companies will offer your similar experiences. Gap Year Volunteering is especially championed by many of the big players out there, but not by us and here is why.
Really Exciting Gap Year Programmes
Absolutely no bunny cuddling projects, although we do have a programme where you can pick up panda poo in China (we feature that particular programme to show you how ridiculous some gap year programmes can be – and no we have never sold one of these trips (but others have check out the i-to-i Panda conservation video on google: It is really is that exciting...)
Nothing marketed as “ethical travel” in our opinion these are often by words for (high profit and zero fun). Our gap year programmes have a real focus on adventure, adrenaline and having a great laugh abroad.
Many of our programmes you need some serious guts to do, making you a super human being if you travel with us (with the exception of you pooper scoopers out there).
Please allow us a quick rant here, we promise we will be quick...ish. Perhaps not, but this point is really important to us. So bear with us. Ahem...
We hear many stories of people on their gap year choosing to undertake some volunteering options as part of their year out. The big companies will tell you can “make a difference” and that they are championing the plight of developing countries by offering “man hours” from their volunteers. The fact is, offering a voluntary project is highly profitable area for many of these companies as they can get away with charging high amounts for programmes that keep you occupied for many weeks, relying on the charities and Ngo´s they work with sourcing you cheap or free accommodation, often in very basic conditions. They get away with this because if you really have a desire to help out, you will go for it; it takes advantage of your good will.
Very little of the money you pay will then go back to the organisation you choose to volunteer with. Being a gap year organisation, we do get requests from organisations to “sell” their projects, as we have a no volunteering policy we have to turn them down, but because they approach us we know the profit margins some of our competitors are making. For instance Turtle conservation projects in Costa Rica costing $150 and being sold for 900 pounds.
We feel profiteering from gap year takers good will is highly unethical and we will never be a party to it.
We don´t. We think it is very special if you want to spend you gap year doing something for somebody else, just please, go with an appropriate organisation (start with V.S.O. or voluntary service overseas) and avoid any one that is “gap Year Volunteering” specific, especially if they are charging you for the privilege.
On another note if you are going to volunteer, find an organisation that will train you to deliver a needed skill while you are away, not just send you somewhere to “teach English”.
Rant over.
A brief glance of our website site may cause you to lump us in with the other companies out there offering gap year programmes. Please don´t be tempted to think we are all the same. Xtreme Gap Year was set up in 2008 by 2 people, Debby Neeskens from the Netherlands and Oliver Bray from the UK. One of the founding principles of setting up the company was to break the industries rip off practices. If you want to know more about what we are referring to, don´t take it from us, read about it in the Sunday times article here.
We have come a long way from our extremely basic first gap year website offering Xtreme Gap Year experiences in Thailand and South Africa, and we have undoubtedly pissed off some of the competitors in the gap year industry who do not want you to be aware of what they are up to.
The fact is we are not out to make a fast buck, we believe strongly in the gap year programmes we promote and we always make sure we are great value for money.
We do not run call centres.
Many gap year companies sprung up years ago, they probably started out small just like us, but the landscape for the gap year industry has defiantly changed recently. The bigger (more profitable) companies like i-to-i and Real Gap we successfully bought out by Tui in 2009. According to some press reports i-to-i was bought for 14 million pounds and Real Gap for 17 million. Can you imagine how much money they must have been making for a big holiday and travel organisation to part with that much cash? Think about that before you are tempted to book through others, after all they have share holders and fat cat salaries to take care off. Where do you think their best interests lie? In true travel agent style, they are expensive offices and employ lots of people to hammer the phones selling you their trips; these are expensive which justifiably explains why they publicly site “marketing costs” as a reason for charging somewhat higher premiums for some trips.
We do not run call centres, and never will. We might remain small, but that just what we are about, looking out for the little guy.
We focus on really cool gap year trips abroad that benefit you personally.
Our main focus for selling gap year trips is to concentrate of cool trips abroad that will benefit you personally. That could be through discovering new cultures, taking part in some cool gap year sports or activities
Serious Fun.
Because we are a small company run by a small management team, we take care and effort in checking out the programmes we run, and make sure that they live up to expectations in that they are seriously good fun! This often means that the directors are travelling to the various gap year destinations (and if you want to read more about these research trips, you can check out our gap year blog, as we often document our trips on there.) to make sure that you will be getting exactly what you are expecting after you book.
People often ask us if they are too old to take a gap year with us. We tell them that it does not necessarily matter how old you are, but more what your personal expectations are. It is true that some gap year programmes do tend to focus on school leavers, and if someone not fitting that age group would feel a little out of place if they joined, but certainly not all. Many of our programmes are ideally suited to people who have a few more years behind them, if in doubt just ask. People who have travelled on their gap year with us have ranged from 18 years old to 55! (So if you think your Grand Pa is up for a bit of MMA Cage fighting in Thailand, let him know!). Lots of people of different nationalities join to, although predominately (with us) it is people from the UK and Netherlands (We are a Dutch Gap Year Company). However people from Spain, Dubai, The USA, Germany, and France have all joined.
Do you need to take a gap year? It is a legitimate question, as it is certainly more difficult to take a gap year these days that it used to be. With stories in the press about universities putting the “squeeze” on gap year takers, by reducing the number of differed entries, coupled with the fact that University fees are now well and truly in place, it is little wonder that people can be put of taking a gap year altogether. If you are questioning whether you need to take a gap year, consider the following:
Do you need to take a gap year? No not really, no one needs to take a gap year, no one needs to do anything, but you will find it beneficial, fun and exciting. If you take a gap year with us you might just find that it was the best thing you ever did.
What is the Adrenaline Travel concept? In a nutshell Adrenaline travel is all about having exciting experiences that you just can´t have at home. It is when you have butterflies in your stomach because you are about to do something so exciting, it scares you. Out of the ordinary cool stuff that makes your anus twitch. Things that will make your Mum go “Oh no you don´t, not under my roof” (don´t worry, you will probably find that she ends up wanting to join you on your trip)
Simply put adrenaline travel gap year programmes make the most of your time away, because they are genuinely different, exciting experiences set in suitably cool locations all over the world.
If you want to visit a country or a region and make the most of it, keep your eyes open for our adrenaline tours on the site.
We also provide other gap year stuff too, from gap year sports, wildlife conservation, gap year diving, qualifications and custom made round the world trips, arrival packages and bolt ons to assist you plan your perfect trip.
Where can you find our gap year reviews?
We publish our Xtreme Gap Year reviews on our blog. Don´t just take our word for it; read about the experiences others have had when they have travelled with us.
Some have discovered themselves, some have improved their fitness, some have gone on to become tribal leaders on small tropical islands revered as gods and worshipped by villagers. Some have been arrested. Some have lost weight (especially the ones who contracted dysentery). Many have become qualified to do extremely cool things like diving and kite surfing. Some have seen the best sunset in their life, some have made new friends (well most there was one guy who was just so unpleasant he never made any), one person in particular never went back home. Some discovered their hidden talents; many discovered they did not have any. All of them had a great time, yes even the ones with dysentery.
With a host of gap year companies pushing “life changing travel” it can be tricky to know who can provide you with really exciting trips. Just remember, we are a small company that properly research the trips, publish our research journals, not a company that resells trips out of brochures. If you want to go with a company that has been to the destinations and done the activities you are interested in, then join us on one of our gap year trips.
1. Log on to our site (You are reading this so that is the first step)
2. Look though all the alternatives by country or by activity (the small “search by box” at the top of the page will help.
3. “Request trip notes” on the programme page (we have lots of information on the site, but plenty more if you ask for it
4. Join our Facebook group and meet others looking to do the same.
5. Book online by filling out the booking form at we will contact you within 24 hours.
All sorts of people come away with us. All ages all nationalities. However this does not mean you will all be suitable to join. You have to have a love of excitement, and a genuine curiosity to experience cool stuff abroad. Do you have to be fit? Sometimes, but not always, besides we have plenty of options for you if you want to get fit too.
People travel with us for different reasons too.
Some people want to change their routine, day to day life has become a little too boring for them, some people need to get out of their environment for health and social reasons, they have fallen in with the wrong crowd and it is dragging them down and making them lazy. Some just want to do something seriously exciting with a mate, and a standard” TUI” holiday just isn’t going to cut it (did we mention real gap & I-to-I are owned by TUI” )
Others... travel with us because they can´t get enough of poorly fitting T-shirts and fake watches in Bangkok. Some people love the idea of experiencing the butt gun in Thailand after a hot curry. Whatever your reason, tell us about it on our face book page.
We pride ourselves on being very flexible when it comes to planning your gap year. Because we are a small company we are rather good at it too. Once again don´t just take our word for it, check our reviews.
We are flexible because we have people stationed on the ground in various different countries working for Xtreme Gap Year. We are flexible because we have been out and visited the in country partners and can actually tell you first hand what is possible.
We can also upgrade (and downgrade for the cheapos) accommodation and other aspects of the trip. We have put together lots of custom made round the world trips, gap years and short holidays, tweaked and tailored to fit the needs of the customer. Nothing to big (or too small for that matter). Of course there is a limit, sometimes we have to say no, we can´t do that. Like when one person wanted a tattoo from a Yakuza Gang, and another who wanted to try out the world’s smallest parachute (the size of a bed sheet if you must know). Sometimes people get greedy, and we have to let them down gently that it is not technically possible to be in 2 places at once, but where ever possible, if it is possible, we will stop at nothing until we have sent you off on your perfect gap year trip.
Apparently so. But not with us.
What apart from the fact we are a smaller business that gives a hoot about your trips, we don´t profiteer off our customers and volunteer projects (read this Sunday Times Article) and our trips are genuinely exciting?
Because we don´t do this for free you know. I mean someone has to come up with these ridiculous ideas like learning to dive with Tiger Sharks. Yes Tiger Sharks or getting stick whipped by crazy Filipinos.
How Can we help you Achieve the perfect Gap Year
• Search where you want to go
• What you want to do
• Request “get Details”
• If you want us to tailor make your trip we can
Gap Year Travel & Career Breaks with a Shot of Adrenaline
A New Breed of Adrenaline Travel Gap Years...
Gap Year Travel with us is all about adrenaline travel: Extreme sports gap years and exciting adventure travel programmes, offering you genuinely exciting alternatives to make the most of your gap year.At Xtreme Gap Year we believe your time abroad should develop you personally, and be filled with countless moments of real excitement, gained by doing something out of the ordinary, and seriously cool.
If you are looking for a real gap year challenge and want to push your comfort zone feel free to review our programmes. Our gap year programmes enable you to truly achieve your personal best. Challenging your comfort zone and participating in an extreme sport activity in amazing locations will show you what you are really capable of.
Most Popular Gap Year Destinations
 |  |  Gap Year Africa |
We are not just for people on a gap year...
We are not just for people on a gap year...Oh no. Some of the Xtreme Gap programmes last 60 seconds, some 2 weeks. We call them adrenaline shots, so if you are looking for a short break adventure holiday, we are here for you too. Feel free to check our some of our real gap reviews from real customers to discover how much you could achieve on a gap year with Xtreme Gap.
Xtreme Gap Year are experts in exciting gap year adventure travel and unique gap year projects abroad. Established in 2008 after discovering there was a real gap between value for money and current offerings in the gap year industry, we are proud to be the best value gap year company. Check out our most popular Gap Year destinations below.
What makes our Gap year programmes different?
Google Gap Year and you will be inundated with tempting gap year programmes, promising you “life changing trips” and telling you can make a difference on your gap year. While it is certainly true that there are lots of cool Gap year ideas out there, many companies will offer your similar experiences. Gap Year Volunteering is especially championed by many of the big players out there, but not by us and here is why.
Really Exciting Gap Year Programmes
Absolutely no bunny cuddling projects, although we do have a programme where you can pick up panda poo in China (we feature that particular programme to show you how ridiculous some gap year programmes can be – and no we have never sold one of these trips (but others have check out the i-to-i Panda conservation video on google: It is really is that exciting...)
Nothing marketed as “ethical travel” in our opinion these are often by words for (high profit and zero fun). Our gap year programmes have a real focus on adventure, adrenaline and having a great laugh abroad.
Many of our programmes you need some serious guts to do, making you a super human being if you travel with us (with the exception of you pooper scoopers out there).
No Volunteering
Please allow us a quick rant here, we promise we will be quick...ish. Perhaps not, but this point is really important to us. So bear with us. Ahem...
We hear many stories of people on their gap year choosing to undertake some volunteering options as part of their year out. The big companies will tell you can “make a difference” and that they are championing the plight of developing countries by offering “man hours” from their volunteers. The fact is, offering a voluntary project is highly profitable area for many of these companies as they can get away with charging high amounts for programmes that keep you occupied for many weeks, relying on the charities and Ngo´s they work with sourcing you cheap or free accommodation, often in very basic conditions. They get away with this because if you really have a desire to help out, you will go for it; it takes advantage of your good will.
Very little of the money you pay will then go back to the organisation you choose to volunteer with. Being a gap year organisation, we do get requests from organisations to “sell” their projects, as we have a no volunteering policy we have to turn them down, but because they approach us we know the profit margins some of our competitors are making. For instance Turtle conservation projects in Costa Rica costing $150 and being sold for 900 pounds.
We feel profiteering from gap year takers good will is highly unethical and we will never be a party to it.
Why do we have it in for Volunteers?
We don´t. We think it is very special if you want to spend you gap year doing something for somebody else, just please, go with an appropriate organisation (start with V.S.O. or voluntary service overseas) and avoid any one that is “gap Year Volunteering” specific, especially if they are charging you for the privilege.
On another note if you are going to volunteer, find an organisation that will train you to deliver a needed skill while you are away, not just send you somewhere to “teach English”.
Rant over.
We are a small company looking out for your best interests.
A brief glance of our website site may cause you to lump us in with the other companies out there offering gap year programmes. Please don´t be tempted to think we are all the same. Xtreme Gap Year was set up in 2008 by 2 people, Debby Neeskens from the Netherlands and Oliver Bray from the UK. One of the founding principles of setting up the company was to break the industries rip off practices. If you want to know more about what we are referring to, don´t take it from us, read about it in the Sunday times article here.
We have come a long way from our extremely basic first gap year website offering Xtreme Gap Year experiences in Thailand and South Africa, and we have undoubtedly pissed off some of the competitors in the gap year industry who do not want you to be aware of what they are up to.
The fact is we are not out to make a fast buck, we believe strongly in the gap year programmes we promote and we always make sure we are great value for money.
We do not run call centres.
Many gap year companies sprung up years ago, they probably started out small just like us, but the landscape for the gap year industry has defiantly changed recently. The bigger (more profitable) companies like i-to-i and Real Gap we successfully bought out by Tui in 2009. According to some press reports i-to-i was bought for 14 million pounds and Real Gap for 17 million. Can you imagine how much money they must have been making for a big holiday and travel organisation to part with that much cash? Think about that before you are tempted to book through others, after all they have share holders and fat cat salaries to take care off. Where do you think their best interests lie? In true travel agent style, they are expensive offices and employ lots of people to hammer the phones selling you their trips; these are expensive which justifiably explains why they publicly site “marketing costs” as a reason for charging somewhat higher premiums for some trips.
We do not run call centres, and never will. We might remain small, but that just what we are about, looking out for the little guy.
We focus on really cool gap year trips abroad that benefit you personally.
Our main focus for selling gap year trips is to concentrate of cool trips abroad that will benefit you personally. That could be through discovering new cultures, taking part in some cool gap year sports or activities
Serious Fun.
Because we are a small company run by a small management team, we take care and effort in checking out the programmes we run, and make sure that they live up to expectations in that they are seriously good fun! This often means that the directors are travelling to the various gap year destinations (and if you want to read more about these research trips, you can check out our gap year blog, as we often document our trips on there.) to make sure that you will be getting exactly what you are expecting after you book.
Anyone can join not just people on a gap year
People often ask us if they are too old to take a gap year with us. We tell them that it does not necessarily matter how old you are, but more what your personal expectations are. It is true that some gap year programmes do tend to focus on school leavers, and if someone not fitting that age group would feel a little out of place if they joined, but certainly not all. Many of our programmes are ideally suited to people who have a few more years behind them, if in doubt just ask. People who have travelled on their gap year with us have ranged from 18 years old to 55! (So if you think your Grand Pa is up for a bit of MMA Cage fighting in Thailand, let him know!). Lots of people of different nationalities join to, although predominately (with us) it is people from the UK and Netherlands (We are a Dutch Gap Year Company). However people from Spain, Dubai, The USA, Germany, and France have all joined.
Why do you need to take a gap year?
Do you need to take a gap year? It is a legitimate question, as it is certainly more difficult to take a gap year these days that it used to be. With stories in the press about universities putting the “squeeze” on gap year takers, by reducing the number of differed entries, coupled with the fact that University fees are now well and truly in place, it is little wonder that people can be put of taking a gap year altogether. If you are questioning whether you need to take a gap year, consider the following:
- Gap years taken before university do not have to be for the entire year and can give you a years work experience before you go and hit the books.
- Gap Years might seem like an expensive option, but remember you have several months year to work and save up the funds. If you are considering your gap year and you still live at home, there are very few times in life when you can save up a decent amount of disposable income (to blow on a gap year) so rapidly. No mortgage or rent commitments.
- There really is no better time in life that before university to take a gap year, this is because after you graduate, you will probably have a sizable amount of student debt to manage, and a trip away may seem a little bit too frivolous.
- We believe that a gap year can provide you a lot of personally beneficial experiences that you can take with you to your next stage in life. For instance finding new social skills and learning how to deal with unusual situations abroad is all part of the experience.
- “Some day or later” means never. If you really have a desire to take a gap year, but then decide to put it off until later, real life will get in the way. We have seen this to be true time and time again. If you are really thinking about taking a gap year, then the likely hood is the best time to take a gap year is now!
Do you need to take a gap year? No not really, no one needs to take a gap year, no one needs to do anything, but you will find it beneficial, fun and exciting. If you take a gap year with us you might just find that it was the best thing you ever did.
Gap Years and Adrenaline Travel
What is the Adrenaline Travel concept? In a nutshell Adrenaline travel is all about having exciting experiences that you just can´t have at home. It is when you have butterflies in your stomach because you are about to do something so exciting, it scares you. Out of the ordinary cool stuff that makes your anus twitch. Things that will make your Mum go “Oh no you don´t, not under my roof” (don´t worry, you will probably find that she ends up wanting to join you on your trip)
Simply put adrenaline travel gap year programmes make the most of your time away, because they are genuinely different, exciting experiences set in suitably cool locations all over the world.
If you want to visit a country or a region and make the most of it, keep your eyes open for our adrenaline tours on the site.
We also do other Gap Year Stuff
We also provide other gap year stuff too, from gap year sports, wildlife conservation, gap year diving, qualifications and custom made round the world trips, arrival packages and bolt ons to assist you plan your perfect trip.
Where can you find our gap year reviews?
We publish our Xtreme Gap Year reviews on our blog. Don´t just take our word for it; read about the experiences others have had when they have travelled with us.
How have other people benefited from our Gap years
Some have discovered themselves, some have improved their fitness, some have gone on to become tribal leaders on small tropical islands revered as gods and worshipped by villagers. Some have been arrested. Some have lost weight (especially the ones who contracted dysentery). Many have become qualified to do extremely cool things like diving and kite surfing. Some have seen the best sunset in their life, some have made new friends (well most there was one guy who was just so unpleasant he never made any), one person in particular never went back home. Some discovered their hidden talents; many discovered they did not have any. All of them had a great time, yes even the ones with dysentery.
“When people want exciting gap years here is what they do”.
With a host of gap year companies pushing “life changing travel” it can be tricky to know who can provide you with really exciting trips. Just remember, we are a small company that properly research the trips, publish our research journals, not a company that resells trips out of brochures. If you want to go with a company that has been to the destinations and done the activities you are interested in, then join us on one of our gap year trips.
1. Log on to our site (You are reading this so that is the first step)
2. Look though all the alternatives by country or by activity (the small “search by box” at the top of the page will help.
3. “Request trip notes” on the programme page (we have lots of information on the site, but plenty more if you ask for it
4. Join our Facebook group and meet others looking to do the same.
5. Book online by filling out the booking form at we will contact you within 24 hours.
Who Travels with Xtreme Gap Year
All sorts of people come away with us. All ages all nationalities. However this does not mean you will all be suitable to join. You have to have a love of excitement, and a genuine curiosity to experience cool stuff abroad. Do you have to be fit? Sometimes, but not always, besides we have plenty of options for you if you want to get fit too.
People travel with us for different reasons too.
Some people want to change their routine, day to day life has become a little too boring for them, some people need to get out of their environment for health and social reasons, they have fallen in with the wrong crowd and it is dragging them down and making them lazy. Some just want to do something seriously exciting with a mate, and a standard” TUI” holiday just isn’t going to cut it (did we mention real gap & I-to-I are owned by TUI” )
Others... travel with us because they can´t get enough of poorly fitting T-shirts and fake watches in Bangkok. Some people love the idea of experiencing the butt gun in Thailand after a hot curry. Whatever your reason, tell us about it on our face book page.
How Flexible is Xtreme Gap Year when it comes to planning your trips?
We pride ourselves on being very flexible when it comes to planning your gap year. Because we are a small company we are rather good at it too. Once again don´t just take our word for it, check our reviews.
We are flexible because we have people stationed on the ground in various different countries working for Xtreme Gap Year. We are flexible because we have been out and visited the in country partners and can actually tell you first hand what is possible.
We can also upgrade (and downgrade for the cheapos) accommodation and other aspects of the trip. We have put together lots of custom made round the world trips, gap years and short holidays, tweaked and tailored to fit the needs of the customer. Nothing to big (or too small for that matter). Of course there is a limit, sometimes we have to say no, we can´t do that. Like when one person wanted a tattoo from a Yakuza Gang, and another who wanted to try out the world’s smallest parachute (the size of a bed sheet if you must know). Sometimes people get greedy, and we have to let them down gently that it is not technically possible to be in 2 places at once, but where ever possible, if it is possible, we will stop at nothing until we have sent you off on your perfect gap year trip.
Can blow up a cow in Vietnam with a Bazooka?
Apparently so. But not with us.
Why should you Travel with Xtreme Gap Year
What apart from the fact we are a smaller business that gives a hoot about your trips, we don´t profiteer off our customers and volunteer projects (read this Sunday Times Article) and our trips are genuinely exciting?
Because we don´t do this for free you know. I mean someone has to come up with these ridiculous ideas like learning to dive with Tiger Sharks. Yes Tiger Sharks or getting stick whipped by crazy Filipinos.
How Can we help you Achieve the perfect Gap Year
• Search where you want to go
• What you want to do
• Request “get Details”
• If you want us to tailor make your trip we can
