If you dream of living a nomadic existence,
travelling the world for an indefinite amount of time, then the one thing that
you need to figure out is money. Whilst you can travel the world on a budget
living off dried noodles, at some point that money will run out if nothing is
coming in. Of course you can work hard at home to save up money, spend it all
on a whirlwind trip around the world, then come back with nothing and save it
all up again. But what if you could find a way to make a living on the road, so
you didn’t have to do that? There’s a new breed of nomad out there- the money
savvy traveller who isn’t afraid to use a bit of ingenuity and make a living
out of travelling the world.
1. Writing for the web
If you have a way with words and are good at writing, there are
plenty of online travel magazines like Matador
and BootsNAll that
will pay for your writing. You can also make money as a copywriter writing
articles, press releases and web content. Freelance websites like People Per Hour
or Freelancer.com are a
good place to start looking.
2. Start a travel blog
Travel blogging is one option to make money online, but it’s hard
work and you won’t make money overnight. Buy yourself a domain name, set up
Wordpress, choose a nice theme, then begin publishing quality articles that
people would want to read. Market your blog through social media sites and
network with other travel bloggers out there. Of course there’s no exact recipe
for success, but once you’ve built traffic you can make money through google
ads, affiliate schemes and private advertisers. There are plenty of ebooks and
websites out there telling you how to make money blogging, but to start with
maybe check out Problogger and Make Money Travel Blogging.
2. Photography
The wonderful thing about travel is that there are so many photo
opportunities of landmarks, people, food and scenery. If you’re a budding
photographer and have the ability to capture stunning photos, then you can make
money by selling your photos to publications. You can also make money by
selling images on stock photography websites like istockphoto or shutterstock.
4. Web Design & Graphic Design
The brilliant thing about having a job that’s centered around the
Internet is that you can do the work from anywhere in the world, as long as you
have a laptop and internet connection. Everybody needs a website these days.
You can make money by offering to make websites for bars, restaurants, villa
rentals, surf camps...wherever you go you’ll meet people in need of a website
or logo. Travel with business cards in your pocket and network with people in
the place you’re staying. Look at job boards on freelance websites and check
out sites like craigslist.
5. Bar/Restaurant jobs
This is probably the easiest option on the list because you can get
working holiday visas for countries like Australia, the UK, Canada and New
Zealand and do some bar tending or serving. The best way to get a job like this
is by walking into a bar and handing in your CV, or chatting to the bar
manager. If you have a European passport then you can work in tons of countries
across Europe. Of course, whilst I’m not encouraging this, there are
plenty of bars and restaurants that will pay in cash for handing out flyers and
bar tending. I know many people who travel around the world doing seasonal work
too in hotels and resorts. They follow the snow and do a ski season in the Alps
or Canada, then spend the summer working in the Greek Islands. With bar and serving
jobs in some countries you can make more money in tips than from your actual
wage.
6. Teaching English as a second
language
This is still one of the most popular
ways to make money abroad, particularly if you want to travel to Asian
countries like Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea. It can be
beneficial to have a university degree and a TEFL or TESOL certificate, but not
always compulsory. The best site to visit is Dave’s ESL Cafe to get you started.
7. WWOOFING and fruit picking
Fruit picking isn’t for the faint-hearted (believe
me, I tried it and didn’t last very long) but there are plenty of fruit picking
and packing opportunities, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. You can
find work through an agency that will contact you to tell you of the work they
have available, through websites like Anywork Anywhere
and Picking Jobs,
or by looking locally in hostels and pubs in fruit picking areas. WWOOFING involves volunteering on
organic farms in exchange for accommodation and food and you can search for
opportunities on the WWOOF
website.
8. Hostel Work
If you’re looking for some free accommodation, there are plenty of
live-in jobs you can do, including hostel work. Talk to the hostel owner where
you are staying and ask if you can do some work in exchange for free
accommodation. You’ll probably have to do things like sitting on reception,
showing people to their rooms, night shifts and making beds.
9. Crew
You
can find crew jobs on boats, luxury yachts and cruise ships by looking at crew
sites or paying a visit to the nearest harbour to ask about any jobs. You could
be a deck hand, a steward or stewardess, an engineer, or a chef and you get to
sail to some exotic destinations.
10. Ebooks/themes/apps
With the Internet there are lots of opportunities these days to
create and sell products like Wordpress Themes, Apps and ebooks. Whilst you may
have to put quite a bit of effort in to make it, once it’s done you get
consistent passive income from it.
Of course, this is just the tip of the
iceberg and there are plenty of job opportunities out there. You could get a
diving instructor’s licence, work in a trade, temp in an office or become a
tour guide for the summer. Think about the skills you possess and how you could
use them. Some people fall into a job by accident because they were in the
right place at the right time, whilst sometimes people land a job by enquiring
in advance.
Related Articles:
7 Tips for Making your Working Holiday a Success
5 Tips for Finding a Temporary Home in a New Destination
About the Author
Victoria
Brewood has been travelling the world and working from her laptop since 2009.
She packed her Broadcast Journalism degree into her backpack and set out to
travel the world and work remotely. She is the owner of travel blog Pommie Travels
and makes a living as a freelance copywriter.
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