My Senior Gap Year

Chris Herrmann never intended to take a gap year. Certainly not a senior gap year. Life was too comfortable in Perth, Western Australia. Grandchildren were coming along one after another. Living the family dream. But suddenly life threw a spanner in the works. The reality hit. It’s not something that just happens to other people. He was now on his own. 



Life is a journey. Not a destination. He knew that. There were however a hundred reasons why not to do this gap year. To give up his home in one of Perth’s most beautiful locations, sell the furniture, sell the car, say goodbye to family and friends. To take off for twelve months backpacking around the other side of the world. What, giving all this up? Surely, you’re too old. And what, travelling solo? But his gut feeling kept saying otherwise. Thankfully his gut feeling won out. 



My Senior Gap Year, The Book, tells his story in his own unique style. From pushing himself out of his own comfort zone. From not knowing a word of Spanish to his humorous attempts to communicate with the people he encountered. Navigating his own way around from one country to another. Experiencing every form of transport from a horse and cart to a five star coach. From sleeping on the floor of a Buddhist temple to a mat in the middle of a jungle. 



Finding himself left literally penniless in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country. And how his experiences with the people he met, like drugs, waste, terrorism have changed his views. He left with no purpose, other than to step out the door, travel and explore. But then how he turned an opportunity he discovered in the middle of the desert to benefiting charities worth around quarter million dollars. And that was just at the beginning of his journey.



My Senior Gap Year. It’s never too late.