Human resources do not live in a parallel universe. They are pretty aware that potential employees can decide to spend 1 year traveling the world. Candidates could also be taking care of a sick parent, or being sick themselves for 3 months.
All these things are not deal-breakers.
Where I live they will even try to avoid digging too much into personal details, not out of discretion, but just because this is opening a door for potential discrimination claims.
Candidates seem to worry way too much about whether HR will approve of their life-style choices. Being independent does not imply being incompetent. Lies, on the other hand, is a no-no.
Note: filling a past gap in your resume implies stretching the truth at best.