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Teenager Gets Famous on Gap Year Brighton gapper secures €100,000 for his music Teenage gapper Adam Davis has abandoned the tired old cliché of discovering himself on his gap year, instead allowing others to do the job for him. The 18-year-old musician from Brighton has secured €100,000 on a French crowd-funding website after posting his pop music online. He now wants to enter the charts while enjoying his gap year at the same time. Speaking to the Brighton Argus, multi-instrumentalist Adam said: “They said it would take two years to get noticed and so, to have that many people who have been so kind, it’s really magic. “I’ve had really great feedback from DJs all over the world; it’s been unbelievable. “The label [Matchbox Recordings] said the album has got the potential to be really big.” In recent years Adam has become a well-known fixture on Brighton seafront and nearby Churchill Square, where he en...

The United States has dropped its travel advisory for Egypt from a level 4 ‘do not travel' to level 3 ‘reconsider travel'. After Egypt successfully flattened its curve of COVID-19 cases, the U.S. State Department has now reduced the advisory. Under the current COVID-19 entry requirements for Egypt , Americans are permitted to travel to the country for tourism. Traveler wandering through the ancient Karnak Temple in Egypt Between May and June, Egypt was recording on average over 1000 new cases of COVID-19 daily. Since flattening its curve at the beginning of August, the country has been able to keep its numbe...

Happy 150th Birthday London Undergound! Love it or hate it, it gets 1.1 billion passengers around London every year The Tube turns 150 years old today – so you can’t blame it for being a bit slow, rickety and smelly, not on its birthday anyway. Known in cockney rhyming slang as the ‘Oxo’ (cube – tube) the Underground has had a rich and fascinating history. During the Second World War it served as an air raid shelter, a fighter aircraft factory, and even as safe storage for the British Museum artefacts stored in the empty spaces. It was during this time it also served as a bed for the 177,500 Londoners that were found to be sleeping there. Nowadays you won’t find people, but more than half a million mice who like to call the Tube home. The humans did come back briefly in 2005, causing a problem with their loitering. This was soon sorted out with some classical music blasting through the sound system at problem stations. A few for the fact fans out...

Real life Forrest Gump walks the USA Backpacker walks across the USA in 178 days “Run Forrest run!” It’s probably one of the most well known quotes from any film. Can you remember the part of the film where Forrest decides to run and just keeps on running? Well this story is a bit like that apart from one thing – it actually happened. One day Nick Kleckner decided to go for a walk. However, instead of stopping after a few hours he kept on going. 178 days later and he made it across the USA. Known as “Hobo Nick”, the 25-year-old began his epic 4,023km journey without food, water or money. Along the way he gained a whole lot of facial hair to rival Forrest and went through five pairs of shoes during the trip, which started in Florida and ended in Huntington Beach, California. With little access to showers, it wasn’t long before he began to smell like “donkey turd”. At times he went without food for days, dropping 25kg during the...

Google Project Glass A new way to see the world At gapyear.com we like to keep you up-to-date with everything that's going on in the world. That's why we present to you 'Project Glass', Google's new augmented reality glasses. We think it could change the face of travelling (literally – you heard it here first). The glasses have a little microscreen over the right eye that allows you to use augmented reality to integrate Google's add-ons, such as Google maps, video calls and their social network G+. The early concept designs show wire-framed glasses with a display above the right eye which shows off personal schedules and location-based information. Also included is a camera, a microphone for calls and voice recognition, a GPS, and (presumably) a wireless connector to make the whole thing work. A statement by Google X, the company's experimental lab, said: "We think technology should work for you – to be there when you need it...

Scotland's youngest ever politician takes a career gap Aberdeen's John West has never shied away from following his heart. In 2007 he became Scotland's youngest ever politician at just 18. Five years on, West has found himself with itchy feet and has packed in the politics in favour of a gap year backpacking around the world. It's fair to say that John West's childhood wasn't like that of most of his peers. While his classmates were obsessing over Pokémon cards, Buzz Lightyear and Super Mario 64, nine year old West was begging his parents to let him stay up to watch the 1997 general election; the election in which Tony Blair became Prime Minister. When the election results came in for Aberdeen city council's Hazelhead ward a little over ten years later, West was celebrating his own success of having become Scotland's youngest ever politician, representing the SNP (Scottish National Party). In the five year since his election, John Wes...

The future of travel Things are set to change for backpackers and travellers on a gap year with the emergence of virtual tour guides by 2020. Backpackers and travellers will be able to use virtual tour guides through the same principles as augmented reality used on smart phones and hand-held computers. The virtual tour guides will be able to take you on a tour of a city, pointing out and highlighting areas on interest. The news comes from a report titled ‘From Chaos to Collaboration’ by technology experts Amadeus. The report goes on to predict the future of the travel industry. Fingerprint boarding passes and eye-scanning passport control may seem like things from Total Recall but they’re only eight years away. In 2020, all airports will be paperless and all bags will be electronically tagged. Paperless travel will take the stress out of travelling and passengers will no longer have to worry about whether they’ve lost their passport or not. A...

Italy is one of the most beautiful countries in the world bursting with rich history, culture, gorgeous beaches and stunning architecture.  With over 60 million annual tourists, Italy is the fifth most visited country in the world.  Here are all the latest COVID-19 entry requirements all travelers need to know before booking their trip.  View of Vernazza at sunset in Cinque Terre, Italy Entry Requirements For Countries Permitted to Visit Italy For Tourism The following countries are permitted to enter Italy for tourism under the following entry requirements:  No Restrictions: All EU Coun...