Jobs for People Who Love to Travel

Jobs for People Who Love to Travel.

More and more people want to work remotely. They want the flexibility of working from wherever they want and the ability to work whenever they want. In fact, the trend is becoming so popular that one in four millennials and gen-zers have expressed a desire to work abroad.

Is this realistic, though? How many people really have the skills to make it as a globetrotting remote worker? Do you have to be really specialized to pull this off?

It all depends on what you can do and your expectations in terms of standard of living. This post covers some of the more popular career choices.

What are the best Job options for People Who Love to Travel?

There are actually a wide range of jobs that allow you to work (and make money) while travelling the world. Some require a certain degree of specialization but there are also many remote no-experience vacancies.

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular choices.

Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)

If you are a native English speaker – but sometimes even if you’re not – teaching English as a Second Language is an extremely popular choice for making money while living abroad. Many years ago, years before starting this blog, I studied for and obtained a TEFL diploma. I thought it might possibly be my ticket to travelling the world (it’s still a backup).

There are a lot of different types of ESL jobs though, so you should familiarize yourself with the possibilities before you start looking around. These include:

1. Full-time language school teaching

If you are lucky enough to land a job at a proper language school in another country, it could afford you quite a few benefits:

The school will likely support a long-term visa for you to stay in the country for an extended period (this will eliminate those annoying “visa runs” that expats often have to make to other countries).
You will receive a regular salary and possibly other benefits such as health insurance and paid leave.
The school will probably have other resources available to help you with adjusting to life in the country, providing useful information when you need it, etc. It will also provide a supportive environment for you to be in while you’re away from home.

2. Freelance teaching

Many people choose to teach freelance, meaning they pick up whatever students they can and agree to meet them a certain number of times per week. This can be a great option if you are savvy enough to find the right kind of students. Some ESL teachers manage to get corporate CEOs as students and rack up pretty impressive salaries.

However, freelance teaching also has a lot of potential frustrations associated with it. If you don’t have a third-party authority (such as a school administrator) forcing your students to pay by the month, they can easily drop classes on you as they wish. And this can seriously throw off your schedule and proposed budget.

Also, if you teach on a freelance basis, you won’t have the same kind of support system you would get from a school.

3. Teaching in a grade school or high school

There is also an opportunity to work in schools where local (or perhaps international) kids study. These can be great positions to get because you will not only get all the privileges that working for a language school will give you, but you might make quite a high salary, as well.

If you want to go this route, keep in mind that you will almost certainly have to have the right kind of ESL certification (a TEFL certificate if you are American, or a TESOL if you are British), and possibly other certifications, as well. Also, you should do careful research on the country you want to live in, because some school systems are known to be strict and impose guidelines on their teachers.

Countries like Korea and Japan offer the best opportunities. But there are other great countries to teach English.

Jobs for People Who Love to Travel — Japan: a great place to teach English

Blogging

A lot of people want to be bloggers. It’s possible, but I’ll warn you that it’s a lot of work and that most people quit within a year of starting out. You can have a career as blogger but it might take you a few years to get your blog off the ground.

The very basics of having a successful monetized blog:

Niche content. Niche works: If you love to travel, think about some specific aspect of traveling that has a particular group of devotees. If you’re a vegan, for example, you can write about finding acceptable food options in other countries. Or perhaps you travel in mountainous places and want to share your tales of climbing in obscure parts of the world. Or it can be country specific. Our 2^nd blog Mapping Spain gets more traffic now than this blog. Why? Because it’s niche. So think hard of your strategy when conceiving your blog.

Social Media. You can write great content but what’s the point if you can’t get it to people? Many bloggers who succeed have prior experience in publishing and SEO and they know how to get their content out there. I’m not going to give our secrets away – but I recommend that you specialize in at least one Social Media platform and build your audience there.
Content. In the end, it’s all about content. That’s what will make or break your blog. And content has to be informative and helpful to people, but it also has to be written in an engaging/entertaining way. I know lots of bloggers who haven’t succeeded and it’s usually because they’re not that interesting to read. Again, as I said about niche content, make sure there’s something unique about your blog. Boring content doesn’t succeed, especially these days with all the free content out there on big platforms.

If you have a knack for making videos, you might also consider going the vlogging route. Some people are better talkers than writers. Again though, think about what you want to present and how you are going to make it unique. And be ready that it takes a while to be a successful blogger or vlogger.

Freelance writing

A related field is freelance writing. If you have a gift for there are plenty of opportunities to write for other people.

Note: Don’t think that you have to confine yourself to one thing. A blog can help promote a freelance career. Because of my blog I’ve been invited to write for major newspapers and online publications. So don’t limit yourself, consider how different jobs can help you grow your profile and experience.

There are several things you should keep in mind if you want to get into Freelance writing:

Better-paying opportunities usually require that you have an area of specialization. If you do have a particular field that you know enough about to write about professionally, this will give you an edge over other candidates.
With freelance writing, you will usually face the same challenges with regard to unpredictability that you will with freelance teaching. You can have months where you get tons of assignments, and others where you get nothing.
There are often special skills that you need to learn to get ahead as a freelance writer. You have to, for example, make your articles SEO friendly so that articles show up on search engines. As a Freelance writer you have to keep on top of things (current trends, global events) and use them – as well as your experiences and expertise – to pitch articles to publishers.

Working at local places

If you don’t have any of the above-mentioned skills, aren’t a native English speaker (although sometimes teaching and writing gigs are available in other languages), or are just starting out in life, there are often unskilled jobs that you can find in other countries. These are not top-rung jobs…but if your goal is travelling and seeing the world they might be just what you need.

For example, many youth hostels need help running their facilities. It’s not uncommon for people to clean or help out in hostels in exchange for room and board, and possibly even stipends. Cafes and bars also offer these kinds of opportunities. These kinds of places might offer things like visa support, as well.

Continue your existing job and get a Digital Nomad visa

I’ve said it before: if you have a good job at home and can do that same job remotely, then you have the best of all worlds (without the stress of finding something overseas). When we started our full-time travels in 2014, Lissette continued working remotely for her Montreal employer. She did that for 5 years. Imagine, you’re making a North American salary and paying expenses in a country where the cost of living might be half of what it is back home. You could be saving a lot of money.

If that’s your situation, you might be eligible for a digital nomad visa. Many countries offer them now including places like Thailand, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Costa Rica…

Do your research. As of right now (July 2024), 58 countries offer Digital Nomad Visas.

Summarizing…

A lot of people want to live and work abroad. As with anything in life, plan for that and consider all the options. And don’t limit yourself to one thing. As I’ve mentioned up top, I took an online TEFL course when I worked my 9-5 job in Canada. I had a language diploma years before I actually left the country for a life of travel. I could have taught English. I had also just started my blog at that time. With time, the blog has led to freelance writing opportunities.

There are many opportunities out there. Think and plan ahead. If you play your cards right, you may just find yourself on an exciting new path in life!

What are the best Job options for People Who Love to Travel?