You'd think my parents would be pleased to get rid of me after 18 years.

Taking their feelings into account around the time you're about to leave is important. Apparently, they find it very embarrassing not knowing where you are. You should leave them an email address and encourage them to consult gapyear.com.

It's not really them I'm worried about. It's my boyfriend, who says our relationship won't stand the separation for so long.

Perhaps the photos of strap ping young men - some not unlike Prince William - carrying out exhausting tasks in the sun will help. Gapyear.com has segregated message boards (rather like single-sex dormitories) where "gappers" of both sexes can express their fears and encourage each other.

Will it tell me about those filthy diseases I might catch?

In considerable detail. One adventurer relates the vile food he has sought out and eaten in the course of his travels, including a chilled bush pig, a boiled electric eel and giraffe. Apparently it defies comparison.

What else does gapyear.com do?

It sells travel insurance and sleeping bags, rucksacks and gadgets: four-function whistles, 10-band radios, mosquito nets and an "aqua cell" for a mobile phone. It also has an excellent archive of past articles and a database of organisations that recruit volunteers, although there is little suggestion that you might want to spend a gap year doing anything except travelling and, possibly, working abroad. Volunteering opportunities in the UK are overlooked, which is a pity.