Individual Adventures

Working together, you and Blake will co-create a meaningful, practical, and affordable travel plan. He’ll help you:

• Set intentions and goals for your trip: How do you want to learn, grow, and push yourself?
• Brainstorm and research different activities, locations, and methods of travel. He’ll scour the internet, books, and his personal networks to find the best opportunities for you.
• Save money whenever possible: The goal is to maximize your experience while minimizing the $$ you spend.
• Understand the risks of the activities you’re considering and make informed decisions. This will make you (and your parents) feel a lot more comfortable with solo travel.
• Come up with a solid yet flexible travel plan that gives you direction and structure while leaving space for spontaneity and new opportunities.
• Keep a birds-eye view by creating a hand-drawn “Adventure Map” that visually represents your plan: an easy way to review and revisit your plans and goals along your journey (example).

If you’re 16 or younger, you’re going to face significant restrictions as a solo traveler. For this reason we prefer to work with young people who will be at least age 17 by departure day. But if you feel that you can handle the restrictions and want our help working around them, we’re happy to work with you! Register as normal and we’ll talk more over email.

If you’re 21 or 22, we’re happy to work with you as long as you’re happy to be a part of a community of younger participants. If you’re over 22, please contact us first by emailing blake@unschooladventures.com.

It’s up to you. Start traveling when you want and return when you want. We generally recommend traveling between 1-3 months for a first-time international experience. After your group membership comes to an end, you can (and should) continue connecting with your fellow group members, especially if you’re still traveling! The only difference is that Unschool Adventures staff members will no longer organize and facilitate these meetings.

Because this number varies, we will let you know when you register. You may also email Blake (blake@unschooladventures.com) for an update on the current group.

If you’re unsure of where you want to travel and what you want to do—no problem! The primary purpose of the planning process is to help you get clear about the why and how of your travels: Why are you doing this in the first place? How do you want to learn and grow? How much money do you have to spend? How much risk can you tolerate? How will you stay safe? What do you want to get out of this? With these questions answered, you can embark upon an international adventure with a fuzzy itinerary but clear intentions and purpose.

If you want to change your plan, then change it! That’s normal. It’s bad to travel with zero planning, and it’s also bad to travel with an overly rigid plan. Blake and the Individual Adventures staff will be here to help you think through your options, make your pivot, and stay true to your intentions and risk threshold along the way.

Yes—sort of. This is a program for young people who desperately need to scratch their travel itch before they’ll be able to focus in college—and not just waste their (or their parent’s) money.

This is also a program for young people who have no interest in college—perhaps ever. College is not a good fit for everyone, and there are plenty of ways to give yourself an education without a 4-year institution (see Blake’s book on the subject, Better Than College).

The weekly videochats are a place for you to connect with other motivated young travelers like yourself: before departure, while traveling, and after returning home. An Individual Adventures staff member will set up a weekly videochat meeting using Zoom and lead the check-in, facilitate discussions, and offer optional partner activities. We may also feature occasional guest speakers: accomplished travelers who have gone on their own independent adventures and visit to share their stories. Blake will pop into these meetings every once in a while to say hi, see how things are going, and offer advice, but mostly you’ll connect with him one-on-one.

The weekly videochats are always optional. We’d love it if you join, but we understand if you have more important plans :)

Our target videochat group size is 6-12 members: big enough for diversity, small enough to be manageable.

We will do our best to schedule meetings that work for your time zone and personal schedule, but please understand that we will not be able to meet your scheduling needs 100% of the time.

If the group becomes too large or scheduling becomes too complicated, we will simply start another, separate videochat group—and you’ll be free to join either or both.

No problem—we have a group Whatsapp thread also! This way you can stay connected to the group via messaging if you aren’t comfortable with videochatting or you miss a call.

In the beginning, when you’re creating your travel plan, Blake will work one-on-one with you for as long as it takes to form a solid plan. Usually this looks like 1-2 long videochat sessions (1-2 hours) with email follow-up.

After you’ve created your travel plan, you can expect a 15-minute one-on-one phone or videochat check-in with Blake (or another U.A. staff member, if you prefer) once every two weeks, plus an additional 3 hours of one-on-one videochat time, as needed.

No! Individual Adventures are for ambitious travelers and self-directed learners of all backgrounds. We don’t care if you attended a traditional school, an alternative school, or no school at all.

There are a handful of excellent gap year consultants out there, and their main focus is matching young people with established gap year programs. Additionally, these consultants do not offer the peer group support that you get with Individual Adventures.

There aren’t many similar offerings out there, but here’s a few we recommend you check out: Travel Access Project and No Crap Gap Guides.

We’d love to support your travels within your home country! Maybe there’s a great domestic opportunity that you want to make part of your adventure plan. Maybe you don’t yet feel comfortable traveling abroad. Maybe you’re on a very tight budget. No matter the reason, we are happy to have you as part of the Individual Adventures community!

Upon enrollment, you gain immediate access to the Individual Adventures pre-departure resource library: a curated set of articles, videos, and links that will help you prepare for your journey and address standard travel questions & concerns. Topics include:

• International flights: How do you find the best and cheapest flight?
• Emailing strangers and creating opportunities: Where to even begin?
• Language learning: What’s the best way to learn before departure?
• Visas & vaccinations: What do I really need?
• Packing: What should you bring?
• Staying in touch: How do I reliably stay connected to family and friends?
• Money: What form should I bring, and how much of it?
• Traveler’s insurance: Do I really need it? Where to get it?
• Avoiding scams: What’s the most common way that people like me get tricked?
• Risk management: What’s your backup plan? Which regions are safe to visit right now?
• Couchsurfing and work exchanges: How do I do them intelligently?
• Making friends abroad: How?!? (a topic close to Blake’s heart)
• …and much more. The resource library is regularly updated.

You also gain access to Launchpad, our 3-week digital workshop about staying productive as a self-directed learner: a handy tool for independent travelers, and a $100 value!

The program fee is due in full upon registration, payable via credit card or bank transfer.

Because we invest a huge amount of time and energy into each member—especially at the beginning—we cannot offer full refunds. If, however, after one month of membership you do not feel that we are a good fit, you may leave the program and we will happily refund 50% of your program fee.

At this moment, we are not offering scholarships. In the future we plan to make this a reality—please join our notification list to find out when that happens (use the link at bottom).

Keep scrolling down! You’re almost there :)