5 MORE Ways to Earn Money While Traveling

Enjoyed our top 5 Ways to Earn Money While Traveling? Looking for more creative ways to support your wanderlust?

Here are a few more genial ideas you may want to look into before you pack your bags and head out to discover the world.

5 MORE Ways to Earn Money While Traveling

1.Casual bar & restaurant work

The savior of many young backpackers, casual bar and restaurant work is phenomenal because it allows you to earn some cash, double that with tips (in many countries), meet a bunch of friendly locals and, if you choose to work nights, still leave you with plenty of daylight hours to explore your intended destination.

Casual work in the hospitality industry is the preferred option for those on working holiday visas mentioned in our last post (link when live). The only bummer with this is that you have infinitely higher chances to find employment in touristy areas, although a rotational roster (say, one month on and one month off) can be an excellent compromise. What you earn in a few weeks in a tourist hot-spot will buy you a month of travel off the beaten path.

2. Tour guiding & driving

Tour guiding work is rewarding, incredibly fun and is a wonderful way to explore an entire continent – all at your employer’s expense.

From culinary tours to sightseeing tours and specific-interest tours, guiding is an amazing way to finally take advantage of your native language in a foreign country. You may be surprised to know that jobs in the tour guiding field are widespread and, if you’re capable, resourceful and have an outgoing personality, relatively easy to get. This, by the way, is how I traveled through South America and Africa for years. I ran English-speaking tours for various international companies and, once my Spanish and Italian were polished off, even ran foreign language tours back in Australia, my home country.

Contiki run young and fun tours through Europe, and overland companies like Oasis offer adventure tours through several continents. There are also plenty of flash-packing options in between.

3. Cruise ship work

The floating equivalent of tour guiding work, cruise ship jobs are fabulous, especially if you’re just starting your travels. A lot more structured than other jobs in the field (you may only get one day off a week, for example) cruise ship work is nevertheless a lot of fun and can actually earn you a considerable salary. Moreover, you’ll get to visit exotic locations you may not otherwise ever get to see. Jobs in this field are open to all sorts of skilled workers. Simply think of a cruise liner and all the extras they include, like a gym, on-shore activities, restaurants, bars, beauty salons and spa services. Entertainment coordinators, water sport instructors, human resource managers and so on: you name it and a big cruise liner will probably need it. An even better alternative is scoring a job on a private yacht. You can check this guide out for more detailed info.

4. Seasonal work

Want to pick fruits in Australia, teach surfing in a luxury resort in Morocco or snowboarding in Japan? Then seasonal work is for you.

Farms, resorts and hotels love nothing more than a rush of fresh blood and crew every year. They find seasonal workers to be enthusiastic, usually multilingual and infinitely appreciative of the chance to experience a gorgeous part of the world at the best time of year. Professional companies and farms will also help you apply for work permits and organize accommodation. 

5. Get creative and put YOUR skills to good use

Honing in on your specific skills and thinking outside the box is arguably the best way to earn some extra cash while traveling. Because, at the end of the day, bar work is no fun if you’re an introvert and snowboarding in Japan is a tad unsuitable if you have never actually snowboarded in your life. So…what is it that YOU can do? List all your skills – and those you wish to gain – and get creative when googling opportunities abroad. Research, network and find that niche market that’s just right for you. Stuck for ideas? Ask your friends! Sometimes an outside perspective can work wonders. Maybe your photos are top-notch and you can sell them online – or ask hotels and resorts if they’d like a professional photographic portfolio done at a bargain price. Maybe you’re great with computers and you can offer web and graphic design services online. Play an instrument? Busking is immensely popular and one of the most portable work-skills you can have.

Get creative and find your own way to put your unique skills to very good use.

A last note…on working permits

The most important aspect which comes up time and again is the legalities of working abroad. This is a very personal decision. Work exchange programs, volunteering, and working for overseas-registered companies are legal in almost every single country, bar very few are exceptions.

When it comes to everything else, however, you should definitely inform yourself about the regulations which are tied to the particular visa for which you apply. If you can’t seem to make heads or tails of it, I suggest you contact the business owner or potential boss, and ask them what the regulations state about foreign workers. Whatever you do, keep in mind that getting caught working illegally can score you a huge black cross or your passport, something no avid traveler ever wishes.

Once you find a way to earn money while traveling, however, you can bet your bottom dollar that you’ll never look back, and you’ll see the world for the wonderful cache of opportunities it is.