I’m pretty excited to be typing this right now as I’m finally announcing some news that I’ve be waiting to share for ages!
I’ve finally launched my new business venture – www.EpicGapYear.com
Built By Travellers, For Travellers
Over the last few years I’ve travelled the world and had some amazing experiences and it’s totally changed my life for the better. I’ve been lucky enough to build my blog up to over 30,000 unique readers each month
and through it I’ve worked with some amazing travel businesses across the globe – from surf charters in Indonesia to scuba dive centres in Cairns and skydive companies in New Zealand.
One thing I began to notice was the amount of emails I received from you guys – which I try and find time to answer! I’ve had numerous conversations – from visa advice and what jabs to get through to what to pack and the camera kit I carry with me.
But I also found myself getting a lot of questions in regards to some of the bucket list items I’ve ticked off.
“Where do you recommend to do my open water certification in Thailand?”
“How do I become a surf instructor?”
“What’s the Spanish School you used in Ecuador?”
And then I suddenly thought to myself – why don’t I just set up something where you guys can simply and easily book everything I’ve written about?!
…it was a simple thought but little did I know the workload I’d just taken on!
Nearly 1 year later – hours upon hours of coding, photo editing, supplier emails, stress, cups of tea and sleepless nights later I finally did it!
Inspire, Connect, Deliver
In short Epic Gap Year is an online travel agency which helps you indulge a passion, learn something new or open up a career path – all within the genres of surf, dive, snow and adventure.
And the site aims to do that in 3 stages – inspire, connect and deliver.
Myself and the other amazing bloggers I have on board have so many amazing stories, photos and posts we share to help inspire you to enjoy the world and try something new.
The site then easily connects you to a place to read more details and easily book it.
The Epic Gap Year team provide you with all the support you need, answer any questions and then the amazing suppliers we have on the ground ensure you have an epic time!
The biggest thing about the site is everything on there has been tried and tested by real backpackers – real travellers that you trust and who are happy to have their names against their recommendations.
It really is a site built by travellers, for travellers!
And since we’re all still travelling we’re constantly striving to add new destinations, suppliers and experiences to the site – you’ll be able to read our personal reviews, check out how much we enjoyed it and then with a few simple clicks you can go do it yourself too!
For everyone involved in the site it’s a natural extension of why we blog – we all changed our lives and went out to live the dream – we blog to inspire others to do the same.
It’s just another step in making things easier to do!
So go check out the site, check out what experiences we have gathered together for you and let me know what you think of it all – I hope you find it useful!
…and of course share the love on Facebook and with your friends!
Free Dive Course?!
Also, to celebrate the launch of the site I’m giving away a free open water scuba dive certification on the beautiful island of Koh Tao – all you need to do to enter is sign up for the Epic Gap Year newsletter below and hit “like” on the Facebook page! (click here for more details)
I’d also like to take the time to thank everyone that has been part of the Epic Gap Year journey so far – for putting up with all the late nights, mood swings, stress, constant chatter, ideas bouncing and redesigns. But also for the crazy amount of support family, friends, readers and suppliers have given me and encouraging me to make it all a reality. It’s heaps appreciated!
The new site looks AMAZING!! Excited to explore it all :) Good job man!
Thanks Danielle – stoked to hear that you like it!
Wow Chris! This looks really great. Will this be a site others could contribute to or shared by a couple of other backpacking buddies to share reviews of places etc? Really good job, I’ll have a browse later on…
Jim
Hey Jim – thanks for the feedback, good to see my hard work is well received!
Indeed I’ve got a team of blog ambassadors who will be helping the site grow and sourcing new suppliers – if people have suggestions on companies to work with though I’m keen to hear about them, would be much appreciated actually!
Congrats on the new website! I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog and its helped me a lot to get prepared for starting my trip in August so I’m happy its all working out for you :)
Cheers Gemma! Glad the blog has been helping you out with your trip plans – let me know if I can be of any help!
Awesome site! Congrats on creating such a fantastic resource, can’t wait to check it out fully :-)
cheers Rachel – hope it helps you out!