1. Teaching
Teaching can be a great way to fund your life overseas. This is what many aspiring bloggers choose for supplementing their travel lifestyle. Teaching abroad is not limited to English, you can basically apply any niche knowledge as long as you find a suitable offer. Find a few inspiring stories below.
Venga Vale Vamos
Kirstie Jeffries is a traveler, digital marketer and blogger behind the Venga Vale Vamos travel blog. California-native, Kirstie has been to over 23 countries across six continents and had an experience of working for two years as a teaching assistant in Spain through the Spanish Ministry of Education’s North American Language and Culture Assistants Program.
On Venga Vale Vamos, Kirstie shares what working as a teaching assistant or an “auxiliar de conversación” is. For example, it offers a rather relaxed work schedule with 12-16 hours a week, which allows for a good amount of traveling. You can always supplement your salary with private lessons which are usually well paid. Assistants also get three-day weekends as well as countless holidays. To learn more about the life of teaching assistants in Spain, read stories of other auxiliares de conversación that Kirstie meticulously gathers on her website.
Beach Bum Adventure
Steffi is an English teacher and blogger living and working in Asia. On her blog Beach Bum Adventure, you can learn about Steffi’s experience of teaching English in Thailand and the Maldives as well as traveling to other countries in Asia. With over eight years of experience in teaching English and four years in blogging, Steffi is a nice example to look up to if you’re looking for a way to get paid to travel.
It all started when Steffi was taking a teacher training course. After talking to colleagues, she realized that teaching English and traveling can be perfectly combined. Steffi completed the CELTA course in England and started her teaching career, which so far has taken her to France, Italy, the Maldives, and Thailand. Steffi believes that teaching abroad gives a great opportunity to spend a lot of time with locals as well as get to know many different nationalities while working full-time.
Organic Chemistry Explained
Mark Coster has over 20 years of experience in organic chemistry and is the founder of the Organic Chemistry Explained blog. Mark is originally from Brisbane, Australia, and has been able to work in Australia, the UK, and the United States.
At some point, Mark began to experiment with new methods and technologies for teaching and discovered that tutoring online could help students to achieve success more efficiently. As a consequence, the Organic Chemistry Explained blog was born with the purpose to make education available for everyone. Mark aims to help students all over the world to learn the intricacies of chemistry and he only needs a good internet connection to work. His favorite place is quiet beachside towns. What’s more, his expertise in online business allowed him to build more niche websites and earn steady income in quiet times of the year, when students are on vacation.
Passport and Piano
Fiona Berry is an international music examiner and travel blogger behind Passport and Piano. She is passionate about music and believes it to be a universal language that helps communicate to the whole world. This, and a passion for travel, encouraged Fiona to become an international music examiner and get paid to travel to over 70 countries, as she examines graded and diploma exams for various musical instruments.
Fiona has a flexible schedule and, as exams only last for five days, she can travel around the location over the weekend. She also gets her flights and accommodation during the examining period paid by the company. During the years of work, she has also organized music tours to Europe and arranged many concerts and sightseeing experiences.
2. Volunteering
Volunteering is another excellent opportunity to travel across the globe, make acquaintances and have new experiences. If you are ready to put in some work in exchange for a chance to explore a new area, then volunteering might be just for you. You’re likely to get free accommodation and food and can use the rest of the time to explore the place.
How Far From Home
It all started back in 2015 when Stevo and Chanel left their advertising jobs and comfortable lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and went on a journey that has changed their lives. The original idea was to see how far from home they can go, and also happened to be a great name for the blog. The couple tracked each kilometer and wrote the distance down on a chalkboard, which later became viral on Instagram. Six years and 60 countries later, they are still on their journey, in a hope to “travel to the moon and back.”
During this time, they’ve had a lot of adventures around the world, including volunteering with huskies and other dogs in Norway and Italy or scrubbing toilets in Sweden. These experiences were so rewarding that Chanel and Stevo created a travel blog and even launched a co-authored book with Italian dog trainers.
They started volunteer work through the Workaway website. They found their first gig in Norway where they had to work at a husky lodge and look after 70 dogs. Responsibilities included training dogs for racing and mushing, scooping their poop, and chopping wood. Then, Chanel and Stevo went to Sweden and while their job was described as “helping with tourists,” in reality, they had to scrub toilets, albeit it was only an hour a day. So the rest of the time, they were able to take the host’s car and explore the country.
3. Renting Out a House
Renting out your place can help pay for trips. To some, it may seem adventurous leaving your home to strangers while being far away and unable to check in on it. Janice from the Solo traveler blog thinks otherwise. She’s been able to cover her monthly rent by sharing her spaces with other travelers through Airbnb and meanwhile, travel worry-free. Find her story below.
Solo Traveler
Janice Waugh is an avid traveler and the voice behind the Solo traveler blog and community. The idea of renting out a house to earn money and finance trips was born many years ago, when Janice did a 10-month vacation with her family. At that time, they rented their home for the whole trip, which brought in $25,000. This has become a great way to sponsor their trips ever since. Janice’s friend Elizabeth also rents her apartment when traveling, and the revenue generated helps cover the monthly rent when she’s gone.
4. House Sitting
When looking for ways to sponsor your trips, pay attention to house-sitting opportunities. These are jobs where you have to look after someone’s house while they are away, and this can be anywhere around the world. Thus, you can travel to another destination long-term, save up on rent, and even meet some friends, including furry ones, since pet sitting is often included.
Travelling Weasels
In search of opportunities to save up on rent, Laura and Tanbay, bloggers behind Travelling Weasels, decided to take on house sitting. They signed up on a special website and applied for various positions in different regions until they got a positive response from a homeowner in Australia. Soon they were invited to fly across the globe for a six-week homesit in Victoria and another one near Adelai. House sitting allowed Laura and Tanbay to spend the money they saved on accommodation to travel around Australia which would have been over their budget otherwise.
So, what is house sitting like? Naturally, first and foremost, you’ll get free accommodation, and in contrast to Couchsurfing, there are high chances your new house will be homely or even fancy. Next, you’re also likely to house sit pets, and not only cats and dogs: for example, Laura got to look after chickens, horses, lizards, sheep, and more. What’s more, house sitting allows you to travel the world and live in destinations you couldn’t afford staying otherwise. Many homeowners also treat their house sitters as honored guests, picking them from airports and train stations, cooking a welcome meal, showing around, and more. So, if you’re up for great travel adventures, human and furry friends, and great free accommodation, try house sitting.
Traveling Tayler
Tayler is another blogger who uses house sitting to sponsor her trips and also works as a virtual assistant for online business owners. She graduated from the House Sitting Academy, has experienced full-time housesitting in Australia, Asia, Europe, and the United States, and is in awe of the international community of house sitters, whom she finds to be incredible people.
So, how did it all start? When Tayler embarked on full-time traveling, she had no idea how to afford accommodation until she learned about house-sitting. Not only has it helped Tayler save hundreds of dollars in rent, but also to experience the local lifestyle in every destination. While she spent only three to five weeks in each place, it was truly great to immerse into new cultures and neighborhoods. So, anyone interested in long-term travel on a budget could consider the option of house sitting.
On her blog, Tayler shares a lot of tips for aspiring housesitters, digital nomads and travelers. She believes that house sitting would be right for people who like helping others and taking care of pets, enjoy experiencing the local lifestyle rather than just being a tourist and finally want to find an affordable way to travel the world.
To use this opportunity to your advantage, it’s crucial to find house sits that apply to your interests. Start by listing things you already know how to do and enjoy doing, for example, walking the dog, watering plants, collecting the mail, etc. Also think about the size of property you can look after and the length of time you’ll be available. This will help narrow down your search. Check out Tayler’s step-by-step guide on how to get started as a house sitter, create an inspiring profile, find available sits and land a job that you’ll enjoy.
5. Writing
Writing is perhaps one of the favorite ways to travel for free and get paid for by plenty of travel bloggers. It allows them to be location-independent and work full-time meanwhile. There are plenty of relevant and high-paying niches you can explore, such as travel, lifestyle, finance, food, sport, and many more. If you are interested in a topic, it’s entirely possible that other people like it too, so your expertise could come in handy, while you’ll have more freedom in your work schedule.
Wes Meets World
Wes Pearce from Wes Meets World is a virtual career coach and resume writer who earns a six-figure income by coaching people around the world in the job search. To find clients, Wes at first registered on freelance platforms like Upwork and took on any customer who ordered his services. Now he leverages social networks like LinkedIn and promotes his website on search engines.
According to Wes, freelance writing allows you to get a flexible schedule, work when and where you want, and earn a lot once you become an expert. But it also requires some hustling to find the first clients and build a portfolio, as well as can be an inconsistent income at times. Earnings vary depending on your niche, skills, experience, etc.; at first, you may charge about $100 per post, but after growing some experience, you may earn $500 and more. The type of writing also matters, for example, sales copies are usually better paid because they have higher return on investment.
The Boho Chica
Natasha Amar is a freelance writer and photographer who writes about travel, culture, cuisines, art, wellness, and more. An Indian, born and raised in Dubai, Natasha believes the Arctic to be her heart home as it is one of the places that can shift something inside of her. This passion for mindful and responsible travel was what inspired Natasha to quit a promising job in Finance and dive head first into writing. Today, she’s a full-time writer, photographer, content creator, and freelance journalist.
Natasha started blogging in 2011 to share her travel adventure with friends and connect to other travelers, as well as to inspire others to explore the world. Reading blogs of other travelers was what inspired Natasha to travel in the first place, and she felt she wanted to do the same for other people. Apart from blogging, Natasha offers freelance writing and advertising services, such as sponsored posts, ads, affiliate links, product reviews and social media coverage on her blog.
6. Selling Books
Selling digital and physical books can be another way to earn income while traveling. For example, you may create and sell travel guides to different destinations, how-to guides on budget travel, making money from a travel blog, growing your photography skills, improving your writing, etc.
Expert Vagabond
Matt Karsten is a writer with over ten years of experience in blogging and writing. To be able to start traveling, Matt downsized his lifestyle to live on less, for example, canceled gym membership and different subscriptions, sold off unnecessary items, stopped going out to bars and restaurants, moved out of an apartment to a shared flat. He also put a lot of time into developing an online business by writing and selling ebooks. After a year of hard work while on the road, Matt was already earning $1,000-$2,000 selling how-to guides.
Matt believes that travel writing can be a great source of income, but also sporadic if you write for other blogs. It can pay between $0.10 – $1 per word, while selling digital products may bring you $500 – $10,000 per month on average. If you have stories and experiences to share, you can easily look for content creation opportunities on websites like Travel Channel, which Matt resorted to at first.
As the Bird Flies
Frankie Thompson is the voice behind the As The Bird Flies travel blog and also the author of several published books. Frankie has always dreamt about writing fiction, but could only make it happen after quitting her corporate job and embarking on travel adventures around the world. Besides selling books, Frankie also does freelance writing and blogging, which all allow for location and creativity freedom.
So, what does it take to become a self-published author? While it may seem that you just write a book and publish it on Amazon, in reality, it’s a whole operation. You begin writing, then team up with an editor and a proofreader, format your book for various platforms to be published on, hire a cover designer, publish the book, create a marketing campaign on the web and social media, and so on. Naturally, it takes some buzz to publish a book on your own as an indie author, but on the other hand, you get more creative freedom and control over your books.
7. Selling Photography
As you travel the world, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to take impressive pictures and sell them to magazines, brands, companies, as there are always businesses looking for great visuals for their publications and campaigns. Selling photography can be a lucrative income stream, which brings up to $10,000 per year to Dave and Deb, bloggers behind the Planet D travel blog. Read their story below and learn how they make money while traveling.
The Planet D
Dave and Deb are bloggers behind the award-winning travel blog The Planet D. Being on the road for over 11 years has allowed them to develop various skills to make money traveling, one of which is freelance photography and writing.
At first, Dave and Deb made a base in India where life and travel was pretty cheap so they could easily grow their expertise. Writing blog posts and updating social media on a daily basis helped to grow the audience and allowed them to start selling ads. As of today, the biggest part of the trips that Dave and Deb take is sponsored by tourism boards, tour operators, and companies who want to promote their products.
Besides, there are many other income streams that allow the couple to earn six figures per month despite the pandemic, and one of them is freelance photography. Dave and Deb license their photos for advertising and editorial use to companies, magazines, books, and also sell prints to the audience online and with gallery shows. Photo and video licensing vary from $300 to $10,000 depending on the campaign, while print sales may bring in about $10,000 yearly.
8. Graphic Design
If you have graphic design skills, why not look for such gigs and sponsor your trips by creating and editing illustrations for businesses around the world? Especially since there are many free tools that allow for easy and intuitive editing even for beginners.
I Am Aileen
Aileen Adalid is a Philippines-born travel blogger and online entrepreneur who quit her corporate job at the age of 21 to travel the world and has now been to all seven continents. Since she was 13, Alieen remembers being passionate about learning and doing graphic and web design. Eventually, she started taking on various graphic and web design freelance jobs and then realized that it was something that could become a remote profession. These gigs provided Alieen with enough means to start traveling, and blogging in between freelance gigs helped to land numerous sponsored trips later on.
On her blog, Aileen shares step-by-step instructions on how to become a digital nomad. Start by identifying your skills that can help land online jobs and then polish them, for example, by taking online courses. All knowledge about graphic design Aileen learned by herself, exploring free resources online. Once you gather the necessary knowledge and gain skills, it’s time to register on freelance platforms and market your services.
9. Guiding Tours
Travel knowledge and expertise can stand you in a good stead if you choose to guide tours and introduce people to your region. Whether you host tours in your local region and save money to travel the world or do so in destinations you stay at longer, this earning method will help you meet travelers, earn some bucks, and potentially build a community for your project.
Travel With Kat
Kathryn is an award-winning travel blogger, writer, and photographer with over 20 years of experience in the travel industry. Her works have been published in Lonely Planet and National Geographic Traveller, as well as in a great many national and international publications.
A lot of traveling happens for Kathryn through press trips and campaigns, but she’s also been guiding tours in West Sussex, England, for the past two years, known as Sussex Walks. This side project allows her to share her love of local history, folklore, and wildlife, as well as to enjoy having conversations with people from all over the world, who are eager to explore West Sussex.
10. Travel Hacking
Travel hacking can allow you to travel for less or even for free by using your credit card smartly and earning points and miles. Today, there are many online stores and companies that reward customers with bonuses for their purchases. If you are already buying online, use this chance to get some cashback and enjoy cheaper trips afterwards.
The Travel Sisters
Patti and Matilda are sisters, best friends, and travel partners who’ve been on the road for over 10 years now and specialize in hacking the airline miles system by using their credit cards in the smart way. It all started from a college backpacking tour to Europe, which allowed the sisters to realize how much passion they have for traveling, and only thirty countries later, to understand that one can travel with more comfort for less money. Within only a couple of years, the girls accumulated enough miles to fly over a dozen international first and business class flights, and today almost all of their trips are almost all free and in the first or business class.
If you wish to follow their lead and travel on budget, while enjoying all the perks of high-quality services, get down to reading The travel sisters blog, where you’ll learn how to earn miles and points with little effort, no matter whether you prefer budget, luxury, or off-the-beaten-path trips.
Postcards and Passports
Tami Wilcox has always had a passion for exploring new destinations, be it a medieval village in France or a new cafe down the street. Travel also helps her strengthen her faith and family. Tami even calls herself a “travel agent” as she’s been helping her friends and family members to organize their trips, having so much travel experience.
To afford traveling herself, Tami has been hacking her lifestyle for a while. For instance, she takes advantage of frequent flier miles from her husband’s business travel, rents apartments instead of hotels, which is much cheaper, saves money with websites like mypoints and ebates, and so on. This seems to be working just fine, as she’s been to a handful of destinations in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and this is just the beginning.
11. Online Businesses
Today, it’s as easy as ever to launch an online business and work full-time while enjoying traveling and meeting people from all across the globe. What’s more, such ventures might be very promising, as the world is going digital, and more and more people prefer buying products and services online. Below, there are a couple of stories of online entrepreneurs who manage to combine an exciting travel lifestyle with taking care of their own company.
Nomadic Revelations
João Leitão is an audacious traveler and the voice behind the Adventure Travel Blog, where he shares his journeys into over 145 countries across Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North to South America, and Oceania. João has been working in the tourism business since 2006 and has gone a long way from creating content for hotels to opening his own boutique hotel in Morocco, and from selling tours through tour operators to becoming a tour operator on his own.
Bemused Backpacker
Michael Huxley has been traveling the world independently for over 20 years, and during this time has been able to build a successful career as a qualified advanced nurse practitioner, specializing in emergency nursing and travel medicine. This allowed Michael to create his own online travel clinic and share expert travel health and emergence advice to help backpackers organize safer trips. He is also a published novelist and author of several travel books.
12. Working Full Time and Saving
As promising as having an online career sounds, not everyone is ready to give up their offline jobs, especially if they are successful and fulfilling. In such a case, plenty of travelers prefer to keep doing what they do, save up and take breaks during the year to see the world.
It’s All Bee
Bee AKA Bianca is a Zambian travel blogger living in London, who describes herself as “a rock climbing, gadget-loving programmer that loves to travel.” To Bee, travel is a synonym of life, and she firmly believes that it doesn’t have to be expensive. Bee used to travel from childhood, so this lifestyle came naturally to her. As she now works in the IT industry, her job implies a lot of trips. Bee also puts aside money from every salary and travels for leisure in between work assignments. It also helps to use loyalty schemes and create reward accounts when booking a hotel or a flight ticket, and can even allow her to travel and stay free every now and then, with the longest free stay being a week in Hong Kong.
The Aussie Flashpacker
Simone and Dan are Australia-based travel bloggers and authors of The Aussie Flashpacker blog, who met while backpacking in South America in 2013 and have been discovering the world together ever since. Simone and Dan have visited over 50 countries so far and have a bucket list that keeps them going further.
As Simone says, both of them have always had full-time jobs to sponsor their trips and normally work for six to twelve months to save up and then travel six months or so in a row. Traveling is their main passion, and they prefer to skip having a social life to some extent for the sake of being able to travel. While it’s a sacrifice in a sense, Simone and Dan seem to be perfectly able to balance out their work and travel and enjoy their life to the fullest.
13. Going on Press Trips
Press trips are a great method for a destination or a company to gain more publicity by partnering with an influencer. The latter is invited to see first-hand the place or facility and shares their experience with the audience. Naturally, established bloggers with an engaged community have higher chances of getting paid to travel. The costs vary a lot, and sometimes bloggers are simply offered free hotel stays or flights in return for their review.
Nomadasaurus
Alesha Bradford and Jarryd Salem are award-winning travel bloggers, writers, and photographers from Australia, who’ve been exploring the world since 2008 in search of the world’s most exciting experiences and landscapes. Today, they are earning $6,000 a month and are fully able to make this amount while on the road.
The idea for creating an online travel business came up during their trip around Asia, when Jarryd decided to take part in a writing competition and to his great surprise, won the World Nomads Travel Writing Scholarship. Jarryd took on freelance travel writing after that and little by little his works began being featured by large publications such as BBC Travel, CNN, BuzzFeed, and more. These travel stories soon started turning a profit, and after they’ve been told once that their articles would do even better with their own photos, Alesha decided to study and improve her photography. This allowed them to realize they can actually sustain a life on the road now.
Today, the couple manages to get paid to travel the world through press trips, invited by hotels, tour companies or tourism boards to experience the destination, product, or service and share their experience with their audience. Alesha and Jarryd charge about $2,000 per such trip or about $50-$100 a day, which is typical in the niche, but the prices may go up for renowned bloggers and experts who’ve been in the industry since the beginning.
Not all press trips are paid, sometimes you may get free hotels and flights, which can also help avoid additional travel costs.
14. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an incredible and fast-growing way to sponsor your trips by promoting other travel brands on your website. Create content, place an affiliate link and send your readers to check out your partner’s incredible offer. Thus, you’ll also help your audience organize a better trip and enjoy the services of reliable providers.
Never Ending Footsteps
Lauren has been stumbling her way around the world for over 10 years now. It all started in 2011, when she quit her job, sold everything and left with a one-way ticket. At first, Lauren’s primary occupation was freelance writing and editing, which earned her about $1,000 per month. Lauren also signed up with Mediavine and started making money with ads, which, depending on the traffic, also became a pretty stable revenue source.
At some point, Lauren turned focus towards affiliate marketing, which gradually became the primary income source. Whenever staying at a hotel, booking a flight, insurance or any other travel-related product, she’d mention it on her website and link to it. In 2019, affiliate marketing was already bringing around $9,000 a month, followed by advertising ($2,000 per month), copyright infringements ($1,000 per month), and course sales ($100 a month).
How to Fund a Travel Lifestyle: Now It’s Your Turn
Leading an exciting travel lifestyle and earning a decent income while on the road is absolutely possible, as evidenced by plenty of travel bloggers, some stories of whom we’ve shared. There are numerous ways to make money traveling, from teaching English to freelance writing and editing to going on press trips to affiliate marketing, and counting. Note that many bloggers combine several methods as they don’t know from the very start what will be the most efficient source of income and then adjust the strategy accordingly, and so can you!