The world is constantly expanding with amazing and unique opportunities to travel and make a living while doing it. If you’ve ever wondered how you can explore exotic places and pay for it, how you can make back the money you’ve already spent on an excursion, or if you want to change jobs so that you can trek the globe and experience a variety of cultures, but wonder how you’d survive, there are plenty of ways to do it.
Here are five of the most common ways the experts are making a living while you travel.
Get A Job
If you want to move out of the office, but are drawn to steady income, consider getting a job in an industry that sends you around the world. There is a plethora of options available to you. For example, you could work as an au pair, importer/exporter, or an instrument, dance, or language teacher.
These jobs may have you in one location for an extended period of time and require you to keep a regular schedule, but imagine how deep you could dive into that area and their culture before you move on to another assignment.
Other options might include becoming a yoga or workout instructor. You can visit locations around the world and create a workout video in various places. Then you can post it on your monetized blog or sell it as a workout package on your website of even behind a paywall on YouTube, Vimeo, or Amazon. You could also sell it to app creators who use video to add variety home workout systems.
If you are looking for seasonal work and enjoy working with people, consider becoming a surf or ski instructor, cruise ship or resort service employee, tour guide, bartender, or docent.
For something different, look into becoming an international house or pet-sitter. This is a rapidly expanding industry for the trustworthy animal lover. Just imagine getting paid to go anywhere in the world, love on fur babies, and give pet owners the freedom to travel as well.
Blogging
Creating a blog that incorporates writing about your trips as well as your photography or videography can be a great source of entertainment and income as you travel around the world. Of course, you will need to get your own domain name and a host before you get started.
Chances are, you are journaling about your experiences anyway, why not add a photo or video and post it? Blog readers are very interested in the personal side of the writer’s life. If you can write in such a way that you are revealing your adventure in an engaging story format, followers will show interest and interact with you, making it easier to attract affiliate advertisers to your blog and generate income. The more you explore and blog, the more engaged your audience becomes, and the value of your blog increases.
If you can provide something valuable to the reader, the your blog will be more appealing. Perhaps you can create a guide of do’s and don’ts from your experiences. Maybe it’s a list of tips for how to connect with locals for an authentic cultural experience. The possibilities are endless. Just make sure it’s valuable and relevant to the post or your overall blog theme.
Content Writer/Freelancer
If the idea of potentially uncertain income makes you uncertain about the prospect of becoming a freelance writer or blogger, consider establishing yourself an independent contractor with a handful of strong industry leaders looking for web content. Big travel-related companies are looking for content to fill their sites without the hassle of hiring a full-time staff.
While negotiating the terms of your potential contracts, request the style or voice in which you prefer to write, destinations you would like to visit, or topics and attractions that you would like to explore. The content world is your oyster.
Photography/Videography
Photography or videography is a great way to make a living while you travel. With the advance of camera capabilities on mobile phones, freedom has been granted to even non-professionals to capture a moment during a trip and sell it or post it on their monetized blog. There are all kinds of sources looking to pay photographers for images: travel related websites, vacation planning agencies, hard copy and online magazines, and tourism boards, to name a few.
If you’re a shutterbug, selling your memory-inducing photos can add padding to your expenses and provide you with the flexibility to work and play anywhere you can upload your photos.
Remember to make images high resolution and do a thorough check of any agreements or contracts for payment terms and rights of use or image ownership.
Open Air Markets
One of the best features of visiting cities around the globe is wandering through the open-air markets. They offer a vast selection of local and cultural favorites – food and clothing being most common. Consider creating and selling your own art, photography, or jewelry that you can offer as a vendor.
Many tourists specialize in touring markets in every city they visit, which gains you visibility and opportunity to make connections from other cities and countries with similar markets.
Locals will enjoy having new-to-them options and perspectives to choose from as well. You may be asked to stay for longer than you anticipate because you offer something unique to them!
These markets are the crossroads of everyday life in each city and can offer a snapshot of the culture. What better way to enhance your open-air market income than by combining that experience with photography/videography and blogging about your participation there? It could open a whole new niche in the blogging world for you.
Making a living while you travel is not as daunting as it may seem at first glance. The key is to know what you love, be creative in how you apply your passions, and begin reaching out to those already doing something similar, then make it yours. Financed adventure awaits – go make a living while you travel!