In a dark dark town there was a dark dark street, in the dark dark street there was a dark dark hostel, in the dark dark hostel there were dark dark stairs, down the dark dark stairs there was a dark dark dorm, and in the dark dark dorm, some travellers lived!
If you didn’t grow up with The Funnybones theme tune, you are probably quite confused by that opening sentence, so I’ll quickly gather myself and get to the point: night time.

Walk into the light… | Photo by Alexis Fam Photography
It’s dark. It’s cool. It’s sexy. That last one, I’m happy to debate over a beer one night.
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“Twinkle twinkle little STA(r), how we wonder what… you… are.” All together now! “Up above [Ant: one second, just popping over to Google]… the world… so high; like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle…”
That’s right, folks. From a very early age, we’re instilled with a beautiful sense of allure towards inky night skies, generously speckled with stars.

Did you know, more than half of Mongolians live in felt-lined tents, called gers. But can you name them all? | Photo by laihiu
But with street lights creeping across the lands and staining the darkness with an eerie orange glow, are there any accessible places left on earth where you can still kip under a thick night blanket? You can bet your bottom twinkle there are, and ode to your year of travel, I’m about to share with you some of my darkest secrets.
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Gap years are the perfect opportunity to test the waters on a variety of levels. Whether its a way of working out your future career, or blasting holes in your bucket list, a gap year is the moment to grab life by the lug-holes and bellow into its face.
If that was a little melodramatic; try this… a gap year is the perfect time to do (almost) exactly what you want.
You shouldn’t be surprised that we’re talking about gap years today. Our travel experts meet with 1000s of travellers every year to discuss their plans for a variety of adventures during their gap year. Some are looking for a one-way ticket to a quiet island, some are looking for the ultimate round the world ticket that splices wild parties with the deeps of the jungles. With over 32 years experience in the business, we know a thing or two about finding the perfect blend.
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We’re not getting any younger. In the time it took you to read this opening couple of lines, you’re already two seconds older. Three, two, one. Now you’re five seconds older. In five seconds time, you’ll be ten seconds older, and in an hours time you’ll be one hour and eleven seconds older than you are right now (I added on a second in case you were a slow reader).
So, with life whizzing by at such a pace, it’s time to make some plans. The kind of plans that will act like rungs on a ladder, allowing you to clamber through the world with a kick in your step.
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Put your mittens up if you’ve been watching BBC’s Frozen Planet? Me too. Everywhere I turn, I hear people exclaiming how much they want to tour Antarctica or p-p-pick up a p-p-pet p-p-penguin.
There’s something about the polar regions that instantly attracts my attention.
Perhaps it’s the impression of being the ultimate blank canvas? Or the beauty of a seemingly minimalist landscape, when compared with other continents’ fragmented urban landscapes.
So I went on the hunt for someone who could quench my thirst for more knowledge of the frozen continent. And I found him in Birmingham.
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