Maybe a western/northern european thing to do.

In eastern Europe it's normal for your degree to take anywhere from 1-3 year longer than it should have for various reasons including "taking a year off to chill", but actual, planned gap years where you're not in education are basically unheard of. Let alone gap years where you travel around and spend money.

I know a few people who signed up for master degrees in say Germany and found that almost everyone in the program is a few years older then them.