Just got back from my gap year. Wife and I were mid-30's when we did it, both in consulting, although totally different areas of consulting. Did a bunch of domestic (USA) travel, a month in Europe and 3 months in SE asia and New Zealand. I really enjoyed it, but wished I had everything pseudo-planned before I left so I could have just gone right away. Spent a lot of time planning trips or sitting around the apartment (NYC) which made me antsy. Worried too much about money while I was gone, and now that I'm back at work realized we are still in a really good financial position so I dunno why I was so worried about it.
I liked, but didn't love, SE asia. Thailand felt too touristy which is where we spent the bulk of our time. Really liked Vietnam and Cambodia, though. New Zealand was the best, I loved every minute of my time there as I'm more of a nature-y kinda guy. Also really loved our time in Iceland and mainland Europe. Such beautiful cities. Enjoyed the domestic travel too. I personally think 6-8 months in SE asia is a lot unless you really fall in love with it. There are really cheap flights to Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Asia that I think are worth checking out that otherwise would be prohibitively expensive from North America. Check out Jetstar/Air Asia and other discount carriers in the region.
If you're into the credit card churning/travel hacking thing, that can be a really great way to save some cash. I was able to get something like 40+ hotel nights for free on our trip, a free flight home from Europe for my wife and I and some other perks (travel credits, lounge access for a long layover). I was just starting to get into that stuff when I left, and wished I had built up bigger points balances as I could have saved even more. But don't know if that's something that's available to Canadians...
One other tip would be to stay with friends, acquaintances or family when you travel any time you can. The few times we did this it was such a huge help having someone local to show you around and it was just nice to have someone new to talk to every once and awhile.
I want to do it again (maybe South America next time), but need to work a few more years first, unless we have kids, then who knows. Could be grinding another 8-10 years...do it now while you can :-)