June 2020 Gap Year Training Trip:



Narrow Boating the Oxford Canal /// Cancelled



This trip has been cancelled due to Covid 19, but will be rescheduled when more information is available. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list for updates please go here.



June 19-28, 2020



Our Gap Year Training Trips are first and foremost, FUN! We will pack LOADS of information into our trip in our morning seminars, but the trip itself is designed to instill confidence and teach multi-disciplined travel truths! After this trip you will feel confident and comfortable for whatever the road ahead might hold. On this trip we will cover:

• Pro Packing
• Foreign currency and banking
• Logistics (this is vague but vastly broad)
• Travel tips and common mistakes to avoid
• Dealing with emotional highs & lows
• Communicating in foreign lands
• Communicating with our loved ones (this is harder than foreign lands sometimes)
• Safety and Best Practices
• Cultural taboos to avoid
• And so much more! Do you have specific concerns? Bring them and we’ll help



Our next Gap Year Training Trip will be a 10 day Narrow Boat Cruise on the scenic Oxford Canal. The Oxford Canal is a 78-mile narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Bedworth via Banbury and Rugby. We will begin the training process by meeting at our boat (rather than the airport) and will have a celebratory dinner at the iconic and rambunctious, Red Lion Inn, in the thatch-roofed village of Cropredy. After some ice breakers, we will jump right into our adventure!

read on below...

We will decide who our primary boat pilots will be, determine crew responsibilities, and get a good nights rest for the next day’s boat training. Everyone will take shifts at the helm! While we will be doing plenty of gap travel training, we will also have to learn the narrowboat system with its locks, gates, tow paths, and steps. GYBC trainees will be the sole pilots, navigators, and managers of the journey. From meal planning to shopping, to boat piloting, to managing the British lock system, you will do it all! Included are day trips and tours of historical sites along the way. Participants who maintain a training program are welcome to run the tow paths alongside the boat. Camping under the stars will be possible in more rural areas. In an effort to keep this trip affordable, we will spend all of our nights aboard our boat, but will certainly see the surrounding countryside.

This is a trip of a lifetime and we can’t wait to see you on board! It’s worth mentioning that this trip, like all GYBC training trips is an ‘unpluggged’ journey. This gives us an opportunity to be fully present and to experience the gifts of the moment. We appreciate greatly that you're up for this adventure and ask for your support in honoring this policy. We will have a staff photographer/videographer and a trip scribe to record the high notes and parents will get regular updates, but no cell phones are allowed. Gasp! I know! You’ll thank us when it’s all over.

What’s included:

• 8 nights accommodation on a classic narrowboat.
• Breakfast and lunch daily, healthy snacks and drinks
• Narrowboat Training, after this trip you will be fully qualified to pilot your own boat.
• 6 days of GYBC Travel Training (manual included)
• 4 Day trips to include Oxford University, Rousham House gardens, among the most celebrated in England, and several other historic residences, cathedrals, and sites.
• A GapYear Basecamp Travel Journal

Not included:

• Airfare to England (we will provide a group fare, or feel free to research a great deal and book yourself, which is excellent training for your gap year!)
• Transportation to launch site (should be minimal)
• Dinner: Most nights we will eat at a local restaurant, inn or pub. If we are not moored near one, we will cook a group meal!

Some details:

• This trip is for ages 18 and up
• There will be two boats and 2-3 trip leaders. As we get closer to the trip we will have more in-depth leader bios and a daily itinerary. Our leaders are all passionate travel pros who embody the GYBC spirit of commitment to quality, radical optimism, authenticity, embracing cultural differences as a gift and absolute inclusivity.
• All GYBC trip participants will read and discuss a book from the GYBC Book Club. Never fear, if reading is not your thing, listening is fine. We value hearty and involved discussion and seek to deepen our experience and connection on these trips (and in life) by sharing, exchanging ideas, and laughing together.

Due to the size of the boats, this trip is limited to 12 people. We recommend booking early as it will fill fast. If tight quarters are tough for you, this might not be your trip!

In the book THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, Rat tells Mole

“there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Before purchasing this product we ask that you consider the Gap Year Base Camp mission and vision. It’s simple, but profound.

We believe that your gap experience will change you. We believe that changed people create change. We believe that you will become a better version of you in this process. Stronger, kinder, wiser, bolder. At the end of it all, we need for you….the world needs for you….to use your new super powers for good. To go forth and do good.

If this plan works for you then please click BUY NOW.

Your new tribe is waiting on the other side.