Travelling is fun but it doesn’t come cheap. If you plan to travel for several months or more, you may need to pick up another job.
Working on the go has never been easier with technology that allows us to communicate from across the globe. Pick up a job that will help you financially and also allow you room to explore.
Freelance
Freelancing is one of the most common means of making money while abroad. Many become freelance writers and marketers but there is so much more.
Almost any job can be freelanced like web design, software engineering, translating, data entry, editing, transcription and online tutoring. Freelancing is one of the most attractive jobs because IT Technology has made freelancing readily available so you can travel the globe without sacrificing your financing.
Find freelance jobs at a site like Remote.com.
We highly recommend Sharon Gourlay’s “How to Make Money From Blogging” – She details strategies for monetization and the exact methods she uses to make an annual $150,000 income.
Teach English
Image: Adam Patterson / Panos / DFID / CC BY 2.0 via Flickr
English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and countries are always looking to hire new teachers. Almost any country you can think of has a program that hires English teachers, and some countries even offer housing, medical insurance, and higher than average pay.
If you’re interested in becoming an English teacher, you can find jobs on international job boards like Serious Teachers. This is a portal for teaching jobs all over the globe, and it’s free to register.
Serious Teachers has been running for the past 13 years, so is one of the most well established job boards for international teaching gigs; registering for free means you can apply to jobs, and get email alerts once the jobs are published on their site in a specific country of your choosing.
30,000 teachers and administrators have been hired via this job portal, so it’s a good one to have an account set up on.
Work in the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is vast and only limited by your imagination. If you want to travel the world, become a flight attendant or work on a cruise. If you want to stay in one country, search for jobs in tourism.
You can work as an English translator or lead tours in the city for native English speakers. Perhaps you can become a bartender, a waiter or a host at the local restaurant or bar. All country’s need English speakers in the hospitality industry.
Become an Au Pair
Au pairs are childcare workers who live with a host family. Your job is to babysit the child and teach them English. Many families seek au pairs to give their child better language skills and to expose them to diverse cultures.
Au pairs get free housing, good pay, benefits and an immersive experience in the local culture. A family will acquaint you right away with all of the local attractions, entertainment, food and travel.
Marketing
Marketing jobs come in many forms. You can work as a marketing or public relations professional from your home if you can keep up with the occasional call or Skype meeting.
Meetings can be inconvenient because they’re more than likely scheduled by their time zone, not yours. However, if you are already involved as a marketer, this is a great way to stay connected.
Sell Hand Crafted Goods
Turn your unique crochet art into a viable source of income by using an online shop like Etsy. If you have an interesting craft you may be surprised how much someone is willing to pay for your skill.
Work Exchange
Photo by Jim Holmes for AusAID via DFAT Australian Aid.
Work exchange programs span the globe and encompass any number of jobs. From tilling farms in South America to bartending in Greece, work exchange programs have it all.
In a work exchange program, you agree to work for a business in exchange for food, housing and sometimes pay. If you plan to participate in work exchange, make sure you have money stashed in your savings because your program may not pay much!
Check out websites like Help Exchange and Work Away (classifieds style lists of work exchange projects available around the world). These are good places to start when you want a nice, local place to stay; and to make an impact on a grassroots level, with all of your time and effort going directly to bolstering local workers and families.
Work as a Translator
As mentioned earlier, every country needs translators. English translators can work in almost any capacity.
You can translate books, brochures, blog posts and more in written format. You can also become a business translator in an office, translate for tours or record translated voiceovers.
Translating is a great way to sharpen your foreign language skills and keep you on your toes—as well as keep the money flowing in on your travels.
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16 Comments
I make money as a travel blogger, VA, skype consultant etc. My husband picks up Chef work but that only works for London and Australia ( visas!). I think that if you want it badly enough you’ll always find a way to fund it. If you use money as an excuse, you don’t really want it.
That’s a solid list of ways to travel without running down your savings. These days, there seems to be a trend towards having a portfolio career where you do a little bit of everything. Teaching English seems to be really popular right now.
Awesome suggestions! I’m currently working marketing jobs that allow me to travel whenever I want. But I’ve definitely have had to stay up til 3 or even 5am to get on skype calls or gchats. Not always the most convenient thing when you’re going to be out all day the next day
Freelancing is the only way I can travel. None of the other options fit me :D
Such an awesome list. Personally, I would do the work exchange. You get some new experience and meet some amazing people that way. Teaching English oversea is so popular now, and I can see why. In some country, they pay very well.
Thanks for the article. It would be great if you share in detail or refer sites that can help establish such programmes to work overseas while on vacation. Once I met a foreigner (could be a traveller himself) working in an accommodation rental in Iceland and wondered how he got the job there. I would’ve loved to learn how to do that. It would definitely help to offset my expenses in an expensive country I travel to like Iceland.
I’ll have to check out those links. I’d like to do more traveling and it would be nice to have a good freelance job to pay for my wanderlust.
These are all pretty good ways to make money, while being on the road. I will check out some of those links you posted, to make some more money in addition to blogging. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic list with some great opportunities and suggestions I wouldn’t have thought of. The work exchange sounds especially great – especially if I could tie it in with a house-sitting gig! And while it might not be a massive money-spinner, selling your original travel photos can sometimes work too!
These are great ideas, Megan. However, folks should also research the pitfalls.
Your freelancing, for example, should probably start before you find yourselves away from your home country. (Let us not forget most of the those sites that advertise freelancing gigs involve compensation that- to be totally honest- barely qualify as a pittance.
Teaching English almost always requires you to speak the local language, as well. Korea, as an example, has a rigorous process to enable an American to teach there. (Yes, even just English.)
Au Pair positions in many countries (and, unfortunately, even here in the states) involve abuses such as virtual slavery – refusing to let their au pair travel freely, work significantly higher hours than stipulated, etc.
Many countries require the traveler to have a work- rather than tourist- visa.
And,then, there’s the income tax issues when making money abroad. Both to one’s home country and to where one was employed.
I think teaching English would be pretty cool. I know a lot of people who teach around the world.
I make money on the go by my marketing clients and by our photography tutorials. Selling crafts was something I never considered until this article but a great idea for the future!
Since I have kids, some of these options aren’t as suitable for me, because I would need to find a place for my kids while I do work. I like the freelance option, but it’s so hard to make that jump sometimes, and be able to really assess what you’re good at (and also confident enough to be able to sell that skill to others). Still trying to find my niche!
Hi Meg,
All great tips. I am big on making money cyber style; freelance writing, blog coaching, selling my 126 eBooks, audio books, paperbacks, courses,affiliate stuff, other consulting channels. If you create value and build up your friend network the opportunities are limitless. Thanks much!
Ryan
This is a great list Meg but I have to say I have a bunch of Early Childhood Educator colleagues who would cringe at being called babysitters/Au pairs. Lol. However, I think for us in English speaking countries teaching English is a most likely choice. It was something I was thinking of doing way down the road when I retire. lol. Doing jobs that are based around a particular skill or education I think is a safe bet.
Great Tips! Such a great information.
I agree with you that “Travelling is fun but it doesn’t come cheap.” I have always been facing problems with Making Money and was trying to hire someone to help me.
I will tweet your post. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Stefan