This year I have decided that the time has come when I am going to improve my general knowledge about the World and in particular all the wonderful places there are to visit.

I will admit that Geography was never my best subject when I was at school. It didn’t help that my teacher was a real bore and he didn’t seem to enjoy the subject.

It doesn’t run in the family though as both of my children have studied Geography and they both have enjoyed it so much that it has prompted me to maybe re-educate myself.

One of my children is thinking about taking a Gap Year and has been researching various places to visit. I think he has decided to plump for a Galapagos Islands Holidays. Well it isn’t going to be a holiday, more a learning experience and a real change to his everyday life.

As he is planning to be away for at least 6 months and is starting his trip in the Galapagos Islands, that seems as good a place to start my Geography lessons. The islands are part of Ecuador and consist of six main islands, with twelve smaller islands and at least forty small islets. Some of the islands are as far apart as a six hour boat trip. Bearing this in mind I would have thought that Galapagos Cruises are a really popular choice with visitors to the Islands and an absolutely brilliant way of experiencing the Galapagos.

Now for me Walking Holidays don’t sound brilliant, but when you consider what you will actually be experiencing you might change your mind. Who know’s you might just manage to get a glimpse of the fantastic Giant Tortoises native to this area. On reading up on the tortoises, I have already discovered that originally there were fifteen species of the Galapagos giant tortoise, but already four are extinct. However, with all the efforts of conservationists, the remaining species of tortoise are managing to survive, which is fantastic.

I’m sure my son is going to have a brilliant adventure when he is away and will certainly have plenty of stories to tell me on his return. By the time he gets back from his travels, I am sure I would have had time to read up about all the places he has visited and learnt a bit about each area.