Advantages: Great destinations, experience of a lifetime, registered charity so not profiting from you, just go for it!
Disadvantages: Ummm.... cost might put people off, although it's pretty standard for this kind of thing it does seem a lot of money at first. You can raise it though!

...I didn't actually go on a gap year expedition, although I have heard they are good. I went on one of their 6 week summer expeditions, to the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrghyzstan, in summer 99. The expedition was fairly typical of the summer ones, with a little over a week spent on a science project, some time doing glacier training, ice climbing etc. and then a two week trek phase. The different types of science work varies with the particular expedition, but often includes ecology-related projects, surveying, geology, glaciology etc. I did a geology project and really enjoyed it. Overall however I think the quality of the science done varies quite a bit, beware if that is your main reason for going, the expeditions are primarily set up for the adventure type stuff. The expeditions usually cost around £2700, although it varies from... Read review

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Advantages: Waterproof, shockproof trendy useful, shall I go on!!!!!
Disadvantages: None

...Manufactured by Timex, under the name of TMX this watch is encapsulated within a sturdy resin carabena. Allowing you to really take this timepiece absolutely anywhere. Shock and water resistant this watch has nifty little extra functions including an alarm, stopwatch, indiglo backlight, screensaver and mystery answer. Costs around £30 from good jewellers or £25 in Argos. I didn’t pay for mine; it was a prize from the cokeauction. As someone who isn’t particularly gentle with any piece of jewellery, this watch looked just the job. It cost me 8600 credits, which in real terms is 86 red coke ring pulls, and was well worth the effort. This design enables the carabena clasp to be fixed onto just about anything, from school bags to belt hooks and even onto wetsuits, if that is your thing. As someone who finds... Read review

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Advantages: So so chocolatey!
Disadvantages: So so fattening!

...dinosaurs & a fudge swirl'. Mmm, delicious! Now as with all Ben and Jerry's ice creams they're best eaten once the containers been left out for a while, that way the ice cream gets soft enough to dig your spoon in! Now, we're on an expedition, searching for dinosaurs. The ice cream is soft enough and we begin to dig. Sure enough after a few attempts we come across a brown, gooey fudgey river. Watch out! You don't wanna fall into that! After several attempts we overcome that obstacle and my, it was delicious! It leaves us with a sweet and creamy taste in our mouths, but enough of that, we won't have enough room in us to finish our expedition. We continue digging. The layers of this strange surface are cream with chocolatey brown fudge layers running through. The ice cream has a very creamy almost milky taste to it, it's very pleasant, maybe... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight, robust, colour coded poles, reflective guy ropes
Disadvantages: It's not true 4-season, small cooking area, lack of headroom

...of your rucksack (it you're not a purist!) Because it is primarily designed as a lightweight expedition tent, there isn't much room left once there of two of you in it with all your kit - it's not designed for luxury living! The groundsheet raises off the floor in a bowl shape, which is good when there is surface water around after a particulary wet night. However, it isn't good when you spill your hot drink over yourself! At night, if your mate/girlfriend/wife turns over, you kind of have to turn over as well. Getting ready for bed and getting up in the morning is tricky and (at 6'4") I find it a struggle to get over-the-head tops on. The cooking/storage area is small and you need to do quite a bit of kit management to cook safely when its pouring with rain. During hot weather, it is nice to sleep with the fly-sheet removed... Read review

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Advantages: The Sentinel
Disadvantages: My God, it's not full of stars...

...respect him. And so theediscerning turned to Expedition to Earth, Arthur's first collection of short stories, first published in the UK in 1954. Would the book still hold up, or appear dated, juvenilia, or just plain bad? Well as it was in an edition from 1999, someone fairly recently thought it worthwhile resurrecting. The eleven short stories here all date from the late '40s and early '50s, and as such have one fairly obvious theme, and one perhaps not so predictable. As you'd expect from those dates, there is a concentration on war, and the effors of some to start wars, and of others to prevent future wars. In one shorter effort we read communications between aliens acting as galactic policemen trying to ensure Earth goes no further with her nuclear weaponry. Second Dawn, the opening work, is also in a stage between the end of a bad... Read review

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Advantages: bright and cheerful
Disadvantages: rubbish when you think about it

...in Bulgaria means there is a dearth of pre-school literature in English. Of course, I could buy and read her some baby books in Bulgarian, but she'd just laugh at my pitiful accent). "Jane's Animal Expedition" promised minutes of fun. The blurb on the back assured me that we would "travel the world with Jane the monkey and meet animals in 6 different habitats!" and went on to suggest that we could "discuss…why fish have gills…" amongst other esoteric ideas. Wondering if perhaps I had bought a GCSE science book by mistake, I checked the age guidance and, yes, the book is for 18 months and up. Poppy was a mere 6 months, but is very advanced for her age due to her exceptionally intelligent and domineering mother. Still, no matter, thought I. If the plot's as good as "the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" it'll be a hit. So, we sat down together... Read review

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Advantages: experience of a life time, looks good on cv/ucast, develop life time skills
Disadvantages: hark work, physically demanding

...World challenge expedition is an charity organisation that allows young people from all over the uk to experience an eye opening cultural exchange to one of the world beautiful countries and a physical challenge. They could apply through their school or as an individual ( but you would need to go through i selection process) They will learn to adapt to the new surroundings, the climate and the food. A 'challenger' could also develop new skills such as fundraising and team work which will be benfital in later life. There are different types of journey's you can take including some within the uk however i will be participating in the long haul Peru 2009 expedition. This is certainly no holiday, the team is responsible to plan their own trip, this includes the budget, transport, accommedation, food and much more. Although the exact... Read review

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Advantages: I want to do it
Disadvantages: I'd get cold

...that as the arctic is not predominantly land mass the land moves so you can walk for several hours, go to sleep and find yourself further away than when you started. The girls have a great sense of humour with some of the experiences that they had to endure and it is one of those books that if you read in company you’ll get the constant ‘what are you laughing at now’ comments. It also covers the why they did it, with some great descriptions of the serene beauty of the arctic. Frigid women is an amazing book, and a must for anyone who enjoys a good walk in the wilderness and imagines more or even if you don’t but just admire those who do. The expedition was relay in nature so Sue and Victoria did not get to stand on the pole itself but the experience is still more than I can ever hope to do. I have an enormous amount of respect for these women... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight, Very Comfortable, Airline Compliant
Disadvantages: Not the Prettiest thing

...Let me just say before you read this, that this product is only going to be of interest to people who have a fair amount of camera kit based on an SLR, Medium Format, or large Camcorder. It is not really a general use backpack, although you could use it as that, since it's weatherproof, light, strong, very confortable and very well padded, but it's most likely overkill unless you are carrying precious cargo. Now that i own a camera body, three lenses i take everywhere, extension tubes, a large Flash, a photo viewer/Hard drive, memory cards, filters etc, i needed somewhere to put it all safely when i go off trekking to take photographs. After doing some research, my decision lay between the Lowepro Mini-Trekker AW (an excellent bag also) and this, the tamrac Expedition 5. Both are small enough that you will have no problems taking... Read review

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Advantages: strong, lasts for ages (the bottle)
Disadvantages: can sting, melts plastics

...I bought this repellent prior to an expedition to Venezuela and my opinions about it are mixed. The manufacturer claims that one application will last approximately 8 hours, but most environments where repellent is necessary it is very hot and therefore sweating reduces the effective 'repelling time' of the spray. However the main problem i encountered was the harshness of the spray, it can really sting your skin and if you have sensitive skin i strongly recommend you to avoid this. Another problem is eyes and nose, if it gets near any of these, it can be very problematic as one of my friends discovered (it can damage your lungs). An example of how strong this spary is: it melted my plastic pen, and as a word of warning it can do that to garments to. With all its disadvantages it does have its up sides: the small bottle of 100ml lasts... Read review

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