ABOUT


Gap Year Basecamp

Let's get you ready to go.

WHAT WE DO


Gap Year Basecamp is a Gap Year consulting company and so much more. We Founded GYBC because we believe that a Gap Year is not an alternative to a college education, but an essential component of a well rounded education. We know from experience that it will change your life for the better. Those are big words and they are heartfelt. We consult, advise, support, counsel, and even train with our amazing training trips. We make sure that your gap year is as unique and dynamic as you are.

WHO ARE YOU?


You are someone, young or old, who knows that the world is waiting to meet you and teach you. You are open and thoughtful, connected and passionate. You want more than what’s before you and are ready to face your fears and step into a new life. You are creative and feisty or maybe analytical and reserved. You see a bigger picture. You are ready to grow. There’s no other choice but for you to go for it. We can’t wait to meet you.


WHY GAP YEAR BASECAMP?

According to Merriam Webster:


Basecamp is command central with a greater goal ahead.


By definition, a base camp is a place that serves as a staging area for a larger activity, adventure or expedition, typically in mountaineering. It is a safe and secure place from which to launch. 


That’s what we do. We are command central for your gap year, helping you to prepare your way and insuring your success. 


WE SUPPORT YOU


You can spend hours, days, weeks, researching and still not know the right choice to make. Let our expertise make your experience better. We know the best programs, the ones to be avoided like the plague, and the many layers of details that need managing. It’s nice to have someone you can trust when you have questions or things go awry. In short, we’ve got your back.


VALUES


We believe in the human race (and we mean ALL the people), Mother Nature, and the transformative power of travel. We are honest, hard working and super real. We love to laugh. We are fueled with caffeine and raw enthusiasm. We love art, books, wildflowers, architecture, music, amazing food, and deep conversations about stuff that matters. We hope to broaden minds and break down barriers. We KNOW that education does not always have four walls. 


JOIN US AT BASECAMP AND LET’S DO THIS!



MEET IVEY PATTON


Gap Year Basecamp was founded by Ivey Patton after years of answering travel questions and advocating for travel as a vital part of a great education. She believes that desk learning has its place, but true growth and personal transformation is seeded by experience. Ivey graduated from the University of Georgia and spent the next ten years traveling the world before settling down to raise a family in Durango, Colorado. She was a teacher in the Durango Shared School and started Durango Digital Marketing in 2012, which allowed for more travel. She founded Valley Camp, a summer day camp focusing on the arts and wilderness, a local favorite, and was a ski instructor at her local resort.


She and her family have gone on several family gap trips and are adventure experts. They spent three months in Central America immersed in the vibrant culture of their Guatemalan homestay families and in language school. After their school day they learned more about their new community, volunteered with local initiatives, and saw the mountains, lakes, villages, and rich culture of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.


The next epic journey was to Europe and looked quite different, but confirmed what they already knew...the world is full of amazing people and is over flowing with gifts for those who want to see them. Also, it holds true, that all over the world, travelers are some of the most interesting and thoughtful people you will ever meet. To become a good traveler is a worthy goal. To travel as a family for an extended period of time, to not just visit but immerse into another culture, is life changing.


Her own children are the natural victims of her gap year planning and have crossed the Atlantic in a tall ship race, sailed the Frisian Islands in the north Atlantic, paddled and sailed untold miles in the US and Canada, fished the waters of southeast Alaska, surfed El Salvador and California, sold soap from the back of a truck in El Cuco, attended college in Madrid, taken the Grand Tour of Europe, motorbiked the streets of Ho Chi Minh and boated the Mekong Delta, trekked and skied the mountains of Colorado and Switzerland, faced off with snow monkeys in Japan, para-glided the Swiss Alps, attended language schools in Quetzaltenango, Antigua, and Seville, swam with manatees and alligators, explored reefs and shipwrecks from Mauritius to Utila, biked Tuscany, visited too many cathedrals to recount, ditto museums, ditto bakeries, roamed the cobblestone streets of Scotland, climbed the Eiffel Tower, took a shortcut in the Vatican, hiked up active volcanos, soaked in natural springs whenever possible, gone cliff diving in Mallorca, experienced the cultural beauty of Semana Santa, gotten lost and found in Amsterdam, toured the vineyards of South Africa, experienced the moving history of Normandy, and circumnavigated the world in a cruise ship while trying to outrun a pandemic. Believe it or not, all on a VERY tight budget!


If any of this sounds interesting, she'd love to hook you up! She is currently writing a book about budget gap year travel and has a plan for ANYONE who desires travel and a gap experience, because more than anything, she believes that everyone should have the opportunity to see the world!


She's devoted to research and can't wait to send you packing! 


 Ivey, Tarifa, Spain


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