A question a lot of people ask is how do I afford to travel.
Working while traveling is one of the most cost efficient ways to travel the world as you don't need to save much before you leave to go overseas, and you can travel on the local currency once you start earning. I started traveling in November 2011 with my first stop being Sydney. My dream is to travel the world for an indefinite amount of time. I throughly enjoy living a nomadic lifestyle and I hope by sharing my experiences and highlighting the struggles that I encountered I can inspire other people who dream of doing the same.
I struggled to find a job when I first arrived and I watched my friend and traveling buddy leave for the next plane home because she quickly ran out of money living a party lifestyle without a job. She worked hard at home to save up money, bought a round the world ticket and spent it all in two months traveling Thailand and ended up in Australia with little money. She had to fly home with nothing to save it all up again.
The best advice I could give to anyone is to look and apply for jobs before you leave for the country you wish to work in and always have a little bit of money in your pocket. You are probably thinking this is easier said than done. I packed my bags for Australia without a clue. I was relying on a friend to have a job sorted for us... The same friend that ran out of money and went home. I was on my own. We spent hours and days looking at job sites and gum tree but nothing came of it.... Moral of the story, we were not looking in the right places.
My friend googled 'outback pub jobs' from the UK and secured us both a job and flew back out to start work. Try typing into Google... 'Best Outback pubs' and then email the pubs/hotels directy with covering letters and a CV. Doing it this way will save time being one of many who apply through an agency and you dont have to sign up to any websites or pay anyone any fees to help you find work. There are an abundance of outback pubs, hotels and road houses in Australia always needing backpackers.
See also my previous blog 'I want to live and work in Australia but how do I go about it?' http://journals.worldnomads.com/wanderandshare/story/101871/Australia/I-want-to-live-and-work-in-Australia-How-do-I-go-about-it
Bar/Restaurant/Hotel work is probably the easiest type of work to get and can also be very rewarding if you chose the right location. Generally these types of jobs will be live in and therefore are great for saving since you will pay probably only between $80 to $100 bucks for your food and accommodation and the rest is yours with no where to spend it until you leave for your next adventure.
WWOOFING and fruit picking are also popular among backpackers. While I have never tried this there are plenty of fruit picking and packing opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. Many of these jobs are advertised on Gum Tree or you can join an agency through the following websites:
www.workanywhere.com
www.pickingjobs.com
WWOOFING involves volunteering on organic farms in exchange for accommodation and food. While this isn't paid work, it would tide you over until you can find paid work but also WWOOFING counts towards the rural work for applying for a second year working visa.
www.wwoofinternational.org
Teaching English as a second language is 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. For some teaching jobs you need to have a degree but there are opportunities to teach without one. You do however need to get a TEFL Certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Check out STA travel for more information: http://www.statravel.com.au/teaching-english-courses.htm
Peace and Love
Zoe xxx
