Learn as you travel

When you return from you travels it's good to have a story to tell in your job interviews. Saying "I used my time off to learn Mandarin and experience the Chinese way of life" sounds a lot better than "I spent four months on the beach"! This doesn't mean you need to spend your time in a classroom, just think about the value of what you do. There's a vast range of overseas courses and activities available, all offering some sort of learning. Many are aimed at gap year students, but a large number are also accessible to 'career break travellers' too. Here are some ideas.

Learn a new language

The obvious thing to learn overseas is a new language. This will help you to communicate while you're on your trip and could improve your career prospects when you return. You'll find it much easier to learn a language when you're in the company of native speakers. So even if you hated languages at school it's worth a try.

Many employers really value foreign language skills. A survey by the CBI shows that the main demand is for French, German, Mandarin/Cantonese and Spanish, with conversational ability rather than full fluency mattering most to employers. That's the kind of skill that you'll pick up overseas.

There are huge number of courses you could go for, from a straight classroom-based Russian course in St Petersburg to learning Spanish with tango in Buenos Aires. Cactus Language offers a good range of overseas language courses as do Caledonia Languages and CESA Languages Abroad.

Take part in a conservation project

If you enjoy the outdoors and wildlife then try taking part in a conservation project. These can be anything from marine conservation in Madagascar to tropical forest conservation in Cambodia. Conservation projects typically involve practical work and / or participation in research activities.

Providers include:

African Conservation Experience - organises conservation work on game reserves in southern Africa

Blue Ventures - marine conservation expeditions and research in Fiji, Madagascar and Malaysia

Coral Cay Conservation - specialists in coral reef and tropical forest conservation

Do community work

If you're interested in helping people or want to gain experience that is useful for a career in social work, teaching or caring, then community work abroad could be for you. There are number of organisations that place people in community work projects. There are some opportunities for unskilled volunteers but often relevant skills and experience (e.g. teaching) are required.

Providers include:

Village-to-Village - volunteer placements in Tanzania

Outreach International - place skilled volunteers in projects in countries including the Cambodia, Ecuador and Sri Lanka

Personal Overseas Development - a non-profit organisation arranging volunteer placement in teaching and orphanages among other things

Or do something completely different

If you'd like to learn something more unusual then try on of the many other courses on offer:

Learn to be a diving instructor - Gap Year Diver offers 7-15 week diving instructor traineeships in the Red Sea

Become an art expert - Art History Abroad - organises art history courses in Italy

Build a boat - the Boat Building Academy - offers courses in boat building in Lyme Regis, from 2 days to 38 weeks long, the latter leading to a City & Guilds qualification

What you can expect to pay

You'll find that you will need to pay for most of these courses and projects. With most providers the longer you stay the cheaper it works out on a weekly basis. Typical costs are about £200 per week for shorter courses, excluding travel, but it really does depend on what you choose to do and where you do it.

For more travel links

See our 'Our pick of the travel sites' page for links to travel providers and other travel resources on the web.