this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2026
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me_irl
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I get the point and I'm not criticizing it...
But are "gap year", "vacation", and "backpacking" not all the exact same category of thing?
More or less, but "vacation" also implies an additional expense beyond just missing work.
Gap year and backpacking, for most speakers of English, also refer to kinds of travel. Other countries have to have multiple words for "missing work" (jesus christ)
When a poor (most people) tells me they took a gap year, I usually assume that means that they got a job to pay for college. When a middle class person (entry level wealthy) tells me that they took a gap year I assume that means that they did fuck all until their parents forced them to get the fuck out of the house.
It's only when talking to actual wealthy people that I assume the gap year included backpacking or vacation.
Also when somebody says they spent their gap year backpacking, I don't assume that has anything to do with hiking or camping, but is more about spending a year not bathing and doing drugs with sketchy people in sketchy places.
Gap year could mean just doing jack shit at home and partying. Vacationing is partying at a destination. Backpacking is vacationing in the wilderness.