
Work and Travel: 6 Careers You Might Pursue
Its been a long time I haven’t work an 8-5 job. In fact, one of the reasons I quit was actually to be able to travel. Soon the questions started. How are you going to travel if you don’t have a regular job? Let’s say that I kinds prepared for this moment. There are jobs that you can easily do by just having an internet connection and a laptop with you and those were the first options I expored. This is a list of jobs you can do from anywhere, while you’re traveling and that allow you to save some money if you feel an 8-5 shift is not your thing. These are my alternatives.
Translator:
This is my main income source since my studies were in Foreign Languages. There are different websites I can find my translation gigs such as Proz.com, TranslatorsCafe, Fiverr y Upwork. A translation work (depending always on the amount of translated words) might pay at least $200. In a good month that you can make up to 6 translations, you can make $1200 just from this. The good thing about this is that I can actually make it form anywhere as long as I have internet access and it allows me to organize my time better. Besides, I have already proved that I can make more money translating 20 hours maximum in a week than what I used to earn on my full time job while I have a lot more time.
English Teacher:
When I was still in college doing my Bachelors’, knowing already that I wanted to start to travel, I got a certification to become a TEFL teacher. English teachers are well paid and have really good benefits in many places in Asia and Middle East. If you are ready to live in a new place and get to explore the world like this, it might be a great job for you. Online, you can get a TEFL certification easily in the International TEFL Academy, that’s how I did mine. The other good thing about it is that they are always coaching and are approachable to help you job hunting after you get your certificate.
One of the best places to be an English teacher is South Korea. The teaching package most of the time include paid rent, medical insurance and a minimum wage of $1800 monthly. There are other places in Asia that are always hiring English teachers such as Thailand, Vietnam or China, but the benefits are not as good. My advice is to get a certification, that way it will be easier to move around and find a job.
Au Pair:
What is an Au Pair? An Au-Pair is kind of a baby sitter that lives with a family abroad and helps on taking care of the children, teaching them English or any other foreign language as part of the job. As she gets housing from the family, she might immerse into learning a new language or getting to know life in her new destination.
Au Pairs are well paid in many places in Europe and in most of the cases it is an easy job. You usually work after school hours until the time the parents get home. Some places you might find Au Pair jobs are InterExchange.org or AuPairWorld.com
Virtual Assistant:
What is a Virtual Assistant? It is some sort of “office clerk” in charge of administrative duties of any sort of digital company remotely. I know many Travel Bloggers (better paid than me) that hire a virtual assistant to be in charge of their social media while they are traveling. As a Virtual Assistant, you might earn up to $30 per hour, and at least, depending on the duties, you work about 4-5 hours a day.
Some skills that Virtual Assistant might have are basic office skills such as using Microsoft Office, or if you have some knowledge on HTML, WordPress and social media can be even better.
Where can I get a Virtual Assistant job? Once again, I think Fiverr is a good place to find your first gigs as a Virtual Assistant. Once you have gained some experience, you might move to other platforms to make even more money.
Work/Holiday Visa:
There are countries such as Australia or New Zealand that offer work/holiday visas to those who wants to spend a year over there working and visiting. I wrote a post in Spanish some time ago that include some of the place you might find more information on how to apply to obtain one.
Etsy/Amazon Seller:
Do you like to make handcrafts? Jewelry? Do you have an specific talent? Definitely Etsy is a good place to sell your creations to any part of the world. For anything you list on Etsy, they will charge .20 cents and 3.5% of the product price on each transaction. The hardest might be at the beginning, as in any entrepreneurial project, to find buyers and make your store visible. Once you have done that, it might become a good income source.
Other people prefer selling their items on Amazon. You pay .99 cents for listed article and about 6% al 15% del artículo one the transaction is complete. They call this the “referral fee” but as you know, listing something in Amazon has its advantages when it comes to exposure.
Why you don’t recommend Travel Blogging or Travel Photography if you’re a blogger?
Simple: There are jobs that depends on many things. I’ve been working on this blog for three years, and it was last year when I begun to feel companies, sponsors and partners were starting to take me for serious. I really don’t want to lie: Being a travel blogger or a travel photographer are stable jobs, but that doesn’t mean I’m not encouraging you from pursue them. If you’re interested on doing them I will totally recommend you to go for them, but combine them with another career that I just recommended here, so that way you will always have an income source while following your passion.
As I explained, besides blogging I also take some translation gigs. All the careers I recommend here are things I have done or I might have considered to do.
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Atul Chauhan
Great article! Work exchange is also a great way to save some extra penny on your expeditions. As a professional photographer, recently I’ve created an online store on Pixpa to sell my artwork and results were encouraging.
Michael
These are really great tips on work and travel careers. Freelance is also another method to work and travel. Skills such as graphic design and IT allow for more flexible working conditions while traveling 🙂