Fed up of being stuck in an office? Are you screaming ‘I want to travel the world!’ but haven’t saved up enough to justify going traveling yet? Listen here: why don’t you just bite the bullet and work AND travel. I escaped the norm by going to teach English in South Korea – with less than 500 quid in my pocket. There are so many international travel jobs today and a lot of them are in my opinion, the best jobs in the world!
Travelers’ careers are booming and the work travel life is becoming more and more common – especially now that a ton of jobs are online! In this rapidly changing digital world we now live in, it’s time to open our minds and go for it. With so many jobs that involve travel – even jobs that require(!) travel available, the time is NOW.
Here’s 17 fantastic jobs you can do while traveling to make money.
17 fantastic jobs you can do while traveling
I’m an expert in some jobs (travel blogging and teaching English specifically) but I asked my favourite travel blogging peers for their invaluable advice on how to travel the world whilst working too. Let’s start unlocking your future!
Teach English Abroad
Top of the travel abroad jobs list is teaching English as a second language! I cannot recommend teaching English abroad enough! With very little money in my pocket when I first started travelling back in 2010, opting to teach was the best life-changing decision I made. It enabled me to live and work in South Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Austria, Poland and Germany…all whilst earning money and immersing myself in fascinating cultures. Teaching is one of the best high paying travel jobs around: if you think this might be the job for you, I urge you to give it a try.
Even better, all Teacake readers get 35% off MyTEFL’s 120 hour certificate. Taking this course will teach you everything you need to know to get your teaching career started (and employers will want to see you’ve completed it). Find out more here.
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Be a Travel Blogger
Being a travel blogger is a dream come true for many travelers, but I want to stress right from the start that building up influence, followers and a good reputation takes time! I started travel blogging purely for the passion of empowering others to face their fears, push their boundaries and reach their full potential through solo female travel. Then I began to clock on that I might be able to make money from it all.
Travel blogging takes up a lot of time. Not only are you a writer, but a photographer, social media manager, tech geek, key decision maker, negotiator and email responder. If you’re passionate and are prepared to put in the effort (a lot of effort) then you goddamn go for it because the satisfaction is brill. It’s one of the best jobs that allow you to travel the world if you’re creative and expressive.
Don’t do what I did though and start doing things wrong from the start. There are many things that you need to know right from the beginning, so that you don’t have to go back and correct a ton of mistakes.
Make sure you read my post ‘How to create your own travel blog in 8 easy steps‘ to hit the ground running.
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Be an AirBNB host
Do you have your own accommodation and room to spare? I know plenty of travellers who own their own house or apartment, and simply make money whilst they’re on the road by renting out their place to other travellers on AirBNB.
You can earn lots of money every week by doing this – and you don’t even have to be in the same country whilst doing it! There are plenty of awesome cleaning and rental management services out there who will help you keep everything running smoothly. All whilst you’re off on the mountain or chilling out on the beach!
Get started right now. Click here to become an AirBNB Host.
RENT OUT YOUR PLACE WITH AIRBNB
Make money whilst you sleep, renting out your own accommodation!
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Work in hospitality
Want to know how to travel the world? There are so many travel and tourism jobs in hospitality! The industry is vast and only limited by your imagination. This could mean becoming a flight attendant, a hotel concierge, or working on a cruise. Hospitality is anything related to the business of serving or entertaining people.
Something you can always rely on in hospitality are the decent amount of bars throughout the world who are willing to pay ‘cash in hand’ to those with bar tending or table service experience. And the same goes for small family run restaurants, cafes and hostels.
The best way to hear about these opportunities is by asking around. You can also check out the local classifieds or community boards at local hostels or radio stations.
Resorts all over the world hire international staff for everything; from front desk positions, waitressing and housekeeping, to jobs in the activity and entertainment department. Some resorts at smaller and more isolated destinations like Australia’s Hamilton Island even offer 6 to 12 month contracts. They can include options for housing.
All country’s need English speakers in the hospitality industry. So whether you have experience as a hairdresser, tour guide, or waitress, there will always be the opportunity to find jobs where you travel and make money at the same time.
Recommended by Meg Jerrard ♥ Mapping Megan
Invest in the stock market
How to make money traveling? With my investments in the stock market! There are different types of investments, from long-term shares to swing trades, so you can decide how to invest depending on your availability to be online. However, trading is not for everybody and before investing your first dollars you really need to understand how this world works and the risks involved. Also, you always need to be very informed about what’s going on in the world: reading newspapers and watching the news is essential.
Because trading is a risky field, I have lots of rules or boundaries to protect my money (and my sanity) that I always respect. My most important rules are to invest money that I don’t need (I could eventually lose it), never invest all the money on a single thread and I also have a minimum and maximum amount of money per thread.
Trading is not my main job. This is something that I do for fun and to get an extra income. I started investing €1000 two years ago (just to give it a try) and every time that I earned something, half of the benefit went straight back to my bank account. The other half was re-invested together with this first €1000. After two years I have achieved payback (and more!) on initial investments. So we can say I go on playing the little broker with the stock market’s money!
Recommended by Elisa ♥ World in Paris
Be a yoga teacher
I knew I wanted to travel long-term and that I was going to need a job that could move with me. I hadn’t really thought teaching yoga was an option, so I focused on finding work I could do with my laptop. Yet while traveling in Central America, I was asked to teach a few yoga classes. This triggered a series of events that lead me to complete my Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) and since then, I have taught my way through Latin America!
There is a huge network of nomadic Yoga Teachers roaming the globe (no they aren’t all hanging out in Bali). Because of this, it’s very easy to find places to teach through websites like Yoga Trade and Yoga Teacher Facebook groups. If you are happy to teach in exchange for accommodation, Workaway is great too.
Many studios, especially in popular tourist destinations, are always looking for experienced yoga teachers. What I do is drop in and introduce myself when I get into town. I take a class and ask if they are looking for a cover teacher for however long I’m there for. Although I don’t teach yoga full-time while traveling, it is absolutely possible to do this, and I know many people who have. This just takes a little bit more planning and restricts where you can travel to, as you will need to line up a job before you arrive.
It’s also worth mentioning a little on language. I would recommend knowing at least some basics in the country you want to teach in. However, it’s not impossible to find a job knowing very little. Try hostels and hotels first as your students will likely be English-speaking travelers rather than locals. Knowing the local language means you have even more options when looking for a teaching job.
Yoga doesn’t just keep me sane on the road; it also puts extra money in my pocket, and instantly connects me with a super cool community of yogis.
Recommended by Claire ♥ Claire’s Itchy Feet
Check out my ultimate yoga packing list here.
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Run a Shopify Dropshipping Store
Running a dropshipping business on Shopify is one of the best travel jobs and ways to make a huge online income: all while traveling the world without restrictions. With a dropshipping business, you can be very flexible on your time and location. The only things you need are the internet and an understanding of how the system works.
Why is dropshipping one of those jobs where you can travel? It is a store without product stock! That means you don’t have to manage inventory, wrap products, individually send packages, hire a warehouse or actually ever see the products.
A high-level overview of dropshipping goes like this: find good products available from online suppliers. List these products on an online store. Run advertisements on social media to sell these products. Get the online suppliers to ship the goods directly to your clients.
If you’re going to be offline for a week hiking through the jungle in Thailand, then simply stop running ads, or increase your standard shipping time for this period. On the other hand, when you want to settle down for a few weeks and put away some hard hours of work, you can increase your advertising, drive more traffic to your store and make more sales.
Naturally, learning how to run and fine-tune the system does not happen overnight. Initially you are likely to invest a bit of money in trial and error whilst finding the right products, and ultimately the right customers for those products.
When you’ve found the right combinations of product, price and customer, you won’t look back.
Recommended by Josh ♥ The Lost Passport
Be a dive instructor
A few years ago I had my heart set on becoming a Primary School teacher in my home country of England. Whilst waiting for my degree to start I took a few months to travel Asia, where I learned to Scuba dive! It was always on my “Bucket List” and I thought Thailand would be the perfect place to try it. I can’t say I was a natural, but I fell in love with it straight away.
The thought of heading back to England after my adventures in Asia filled me with dread, so I decided to put my teacher dreams on the back burner and continue travelling around Asia. From there I went to Australia for a year, and after diving the Great Barrier reef as well as many dives in the Philippines and Indonesia, I started to think about diving as a job. I was lucky enough to be taught by some great instructors, and felt it was a natural choice for me. It is still teaching but just in a different way!
I went back to England eventually, where I worked hard to save up enough money to head to Costa Rica for my Divemaster course. After that, I got my instructor license. I can’t say it was an easy ride, as days during my Divemaster internship were long and physically demanding. I was carrying tank after tank, loading boats and hauling heavy equipment.
It is also an expensive job, when you consider PADI fees, course costs, equipment prices, plus maintenance and insurance! Pay is low and weeks are non-stop, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I now teach in the clear blue waters of Malta, and I am so happy to be living my dream and spending my working days meeting new people and enjoying the underwater world.
If you are interested in becoming a SCUBA Instructor, the only way to get there is to start from the bottom by taking your Open Water course. After that it is a case of working your way up the levels and taking courses. It can be done as an internship in some places, but do not underestimate the cost and hard work.
As far as careers that involve traveling, getting work around the world as a dive instructor can be difficult. However, the more languages you speak, plus any other assets such as boat experience or mechanical skills you have, can really help with your employment.
Recommended by Demi ♥ Around The World With Her
Be a hostel worker
One of my favourite jobs that allow you to travel? Working in a hostel or hotel is one of the easiest ways to earn money! A great way to start off is by getting a volunteer placement in a hostel, in exchange for a free bed and breakfast. This way you’ll be saving money even if you aren’t earning it yet.
Sites like Workaway and Worldpackers have listings for hostel traveling jobs hiring and other organisations looking for volunteer help. This could lead to paid work. It’s useful to gain experience if you haven’t done this type of work before. For example, in Mexico I worked for two months in a hostel as a volunteer, and then they offered me a chance to manage the hostel for a month to cover the current manager’s holiday time.
To accept paid work at a hostel you should be legally eligible to work in that country and have the appropriate visa. Click here to check visa prices.
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Once you have the visa, and experience under your belt, you can apply for any hostel or hotel job.
The work you would do in a hostel can vary depending on the size of the hostel and how many other staff members there are. Usual tasks might include manning the reception desk, checking-in guests, showing them around the hostel, setting up breakfast, some cleaning of the social areas and changing beds.
For hostels or hotels with bars and restaurants, there are also positions such as bartender, chef or wait staff, which can earn you good tips too. The best part of hostel work is that you get to meet fellow travellers from all over the world, and the job is very sociable, so you can make friends easily. In many places, the work is seasonal, so you could spend the summer working in a coastal hotel, and the winter in a ski resort for example. It’s one of those travel industry jobs that’s never boring!
Downsides to this kind of work are that you live where you work, so having some free time without having guests ask you for help is almost impossible. Full-time jobs in hotels often have long hours and low pay, but for the other perks, I think it’s worth it.
Recommend by Claire ♥ Tales of a Backpacker
Run an Amazon FBA Business
You want to know about jobs that let you travel? I’m pretty sure having an Amazon FBA business is the ultimate when it comes to work you can do while travelling! That’s because a functioning FBA business doesn’t really count as work. FBA stands for ‘fulfilled by amazon’. Essentially, you’re an Amazon seller, selling products on the giant market place that is Amazon.
The beauty of FBA though is that, once they (Amazon) have the product, they (for a price!) deal with all prepping and shipping, plus all customer service too. So, once the product is in their warehouses, you can be making sales and selling product while you’re gallivanting on the other side of the world! This is the way to make money while traveling.
And, considering that things called ‘prep and ship companies’ can take initial delivery of any product, sort it all out for you and ship that into Amazon to begin with, you never even have to touch the product. Maybe you even have a virtual assistant to press the button to order more stock.
With FBA, the entire process can be automated.
Of course, from finding the right products to sell, to getting products manufactured and running advertising campaigns on Amazon itself, there’s more to it than I probably made out here. However, in principle, that’s how it could work! Just imagine not having to exchange your time for money, such that you can fully immerse yourself in your travels…isn’t that the dream?!
Perform Fire Juggling
Being able to make money almost anywhere in the world is always useful. Whilst a lot of people might choose to teach English or work in a bar I take quite a different approach. I practice in parks and quiet places during the day and then when the sun goes down my money-making comes alive. Can you guess what it is? I’m a fire juggler! (Heads up for people looking for traveling jobs with no degree!).
Nearly 10 years ago when I was travelling through Central America I met some jugglers who let me use their equipment. Since then I’ve been juggling nearly every day, performing at festivals and bars, on beaches and on street corners all around the world. As long as there are people, then I’ve got a way of making money. The juggling gear is light and easy to carry, so all I need is some kerosene, a lighter, my juggling sticks and a hat to put the tips in.
Luckily I have a beautiful juggler’s assistant who pumps up the crowd and walks around with the money hat. If I find a good spot with lots of people walking past you would be surprised how much you can make from a 2-3 minute performance. Lots of bars and hotels are happy for me to entertain their guests and my hat usually gets a lot heavier after people have had a bit to drink!
Recommended by Josh (with Sarah) ♥ Veggie Vagabonds
Work in a surf camp
When I finished my Bachelor studies and was accepting to do my Master studies abroad, I felt like this was the right time to travel and simply enjoy the three months in between. However, as for most students, I didn’t have enough cash to travel for three months. Thus, I decided to combine my passion for surfing and traveling with some work. I ended up getting a job at a surf camp on the French Atlantic coast and loved it to the max!
My days were filled with good vibes, happy people in holiday mood and, obviously, plenty of time to simply hit the waves whenever I wanted to. I was responsible for making breakfast for everyone, for organising some entertainment during the evenings and to take care of the bookings – from the very first contact to the final greeting at the camp.
It was the perfect job during that time as it gave me enough freedom to explore the area, to push my own surfing skills and to simply chill before my Master studies began. Lots of surf camps around the world look for help and for that, you don’t even need to be a surfer! Sometimes they are looking for chefs, for teachers and also simply for people who are happy to do some cleaning in return for some proper sunshine and happiness.
Recommended by Clemens ♥ Travellers Archive
Work as a tour guide
My work as a tour guide for almost 5 years helped me in so many ways. It’s one of the jobs I did while traveling. I chose to work this job in my own country which is The Philippines. International travel guide jobs can be done everywhere in the world. The best thing that happened while working as a guide was that I had the opportunity to explore different islands and deeply understand the country. I connected with one travel agency in the Philippines who have the goal of promoting the importance of interacting with the locals and knowing the traditions and cultures on different islands.
The pay is good which is higher than the basic salary of the Philippines, plus its allowances. Generous guests also give tips which are usually not lower than $40. For me, it’s one of the jobs that can sustain my traveling lifestyle. I work in peak season from November to March and the rest of the months, I travel to other countries too.
If you are not a local in the country, you still can work as a guide. I meet western people working in the Philippines as guides for short periods of time, especially in the peak season. They earn more than the basic salary in their country. Through this work, I’m able to travel on the side, especially if I am assigned to a new island or town. I work in the daytime, and the rest of the days, I explore new destinations within the area.
Recommend by Ferna ♥ Everywhere with Ferna
Modeling for commercial ads and photo stock
Rob and I had a modeling career before we got married and started our nomadic life. It wasn’t serious, but once in a while we would have a job. So when we started traveling the world, we applied for a few modeling jobs here and there. But it was last year that our modeling career really took off and we could see what a great travel opportunity it provides.
It wasn’t planned but turned out that in Bangkok [Thailand’s bustling capital] there are many modeling opportunities. Many agencies are looking for ‘normal people’: the girl next door, the Moms at the supermarket, that smiley girl running at the park, the guy who looks trustworthy on a suit. They are looking for models that people can relate with, and in any big and international city, there is a huge market for this.
We’ve scored jobs for international brands and local brands, for printed ads, TV commercials, online campaigns and even for photo stocks. The better you are modeling and the more “commercial” you look, the better the opportunities are.
About payment: it all depends on the campaign, the brand, where the images will be used, duration of the campaign and of course, your modeling skills. But in a city like Bangkok, you can find jobs from 100 USD per day up to 1,500 USD for two days shooting. But of course, it’s not as easy and glamorous as it sounds. You must find a good agency to work with, have a good portfolio of photos and videos, be able to attend many castings and wait for a good gig to appear.
As an extra job, it’s great if you want to travel and work abroad, especially if you are staying longer in a place and can get to know people in the industry. Just be aware that in almost every country, if you are on a tourist visa this is an “illegal” job. It can be fine or you can end up with a fine!
Recommend by Natalie ♥ Love and Road
Freelance writing
How about freelance travel jobs around the world? Freelance writing has been instrumental for me in finding flexible employment that can be done from anywhere in the world. I do two types of writing jobs on the road; copywriting and editorial articles. The combination of both types ensures that I have a steady flow of work coming in from different directions. I do have a background in writing, having worked in the editorial department of magazines and in digital marketing before going freelance. Therefore, it wasn’t a big stretch to kickstart my freelance business.
Finding clients is always a challenge in any business, and I do this in two ways. I keep in close contact with connections from my previous job, which has led to several long-term copywriting contracts. For editorial work, I have fine-tuned my pitching skills and seek out opportunities by directly approaching editors. I also network at relevant events, which has given me several ongoing writing opportunities as well.
Freelance writing can be difficult to break into, so I recommend maintaining a positive approach and keep persisting! If you don’t have a professional writing background, I would suggest starting a blog or offering stories for free to publications to begin with, to build up a repertoire of work. With tight budgets, publications offer commissions to writers they know can deliver exactly what they’re after, so in order to break into the field, you’ll need to show commissioning editors that your work has already been published elsewhere as examples.
Recommended by Christine ♥ Christine Knight
Travel photography Jobs
Being a travel photographer allows you to travel for work. I’ve done it for the last 3 years, and once your work gets recognized enough, you will get clients contacting you instead of you having to approach them! This makes it even easier to travel since you won’t be paying for flights and accommodation while working.
After the job is done, you can stay or go somewhere else depending on your own preference. Of course, you don’t have to be a travel photographer to work while traveling. If you’re talented enough, almost any type of photography can be done on the road, even though some setups might require some planning or renting equipment locally.
As a travel photographer, it’s important to bring as little as possible without compromising quality. Therefore I have invested in a travel tripod and a great backpack. I currently use a carbon-fiber tripod from 3 legged thing (check it out here), and the streetwalker Pro backpack from ThinkTank (click here to find out more).
Another approach would be to travel and photograph whatever you like, and sell the photos to stock agencies, newspapers or magazines. A mix of the two is probably the best way to go to maximize profits! It’s quite easy to get going with selling stock photos. Most of them allow you to sign up directly, while others are more strict about the photos they allow to be uploaded.
Shutterstock is one of the biggest stock agencies where you can earn quite easily. There are several others as well, some are more niched stock agencies, but these ones are a great start if you have quality photos to sell: Deposit Photos, 123rf, Dreams Time and Alamy.
Also, make sure to invest in a great zoom lens that can work as an all round lens, as well as 1-2 other lenses that are more task specific, for example a wide-angle lens for landscape photos or real-estate photography. I always bring my Tokina 11-16mm.
Recommended by Alex ♥ Swedish Nomad
House Sitting and Pet Sitting
They say that you should “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” And I agree. I work as a writer/blogger, most of the time in front of my PC or laptop, of course doing what I love to do: pour out my thoughts into words. And this job is still doable while I’m away from home.
But it’s sometimes good to take a break from one’s daily routine, giving the brain some rest or something else to work on. That’s why house sitting, and pet sitting would be my favourite jobs that include travel, to have extra income while on vacation.
Most of the time, house sitting and pet sitting come together when you want to travel to work. For a cat lover like me, it’s a win-win situation. I get to stay for free in places and relax, go out and explore the city for hours and enjoy bonding/playing with the cats once I come back.
If you prefer to take care of dogs, that’s OK too, but I find that dogs require more time to care for. Cats are quite independent, very few require going out in the garden, and they are smart: they know better than to get out of the premises.
Cats also help people around them relax, so that’s an additional benefit. There are also chances that the house owner only needs someone to look after their cats. You only need to visit once in the morning and later at night to feed them and clean up their toilets.
Choose a job you love, or take care of some animals you love while on vacation, and get the benefits of both. There are a number of services online you can sign up to to offer your services for house sitting and pet sitting. Teacake Travels recommends Trusted Housesitters. It may require some safety steps but house sitting is one of my favourite jobs with travel opportunities.
Recommended by Marie ♥ Our City Travels
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Trade cryptocurrency
Wondering how to make money while traveling? Trade cryptocurrencies. Whether you think they’re a fad or here to stay, there’s no question that there’s money to be made from the massive swings in price that are typical in this market.
Some people use traditional money such as Dollars or Euros to buy and sell Bitcoin for profit on popular exchanges like Coinbase and GDAX. Others, like me, make most of their money by using Bitcoin to buy and sell other cryptocurrencies, commonly referred to as “alt coins”, on exchanges such as Bittrex, Binance, and Cryptopia.
Others prefer to buy their coins of choice when the price dips, then hold onto it long-term. They plan to ignore short-term fluctuations in price, and cash out in a few months or years when they’ve made some decent profits.
This following should not be considered investment advice, but one of the easiest trading strategies I’ve used is to look at the top 100 coins on Coin Market Cap and go digging for cryptocurrencies that have fallen to (or near) their lowest historical price for the past year.
I don’t buy based on that alone though. I check to make sure the coin still has an active team working on its development and marketing (because I want to lower my risk of buying something that’s on its way to zero in the near future).
I also like to see lots of up and down price action over the previous year – a coin with some nice big price spikes in the past seems more likely to do so again – and the more spikes, the better.
If all looks good, and it looks reasonably likely that the price could bounce up by a minimum of about 30%, I’ll buy some. As soon as my order is filled, I’ll set a sell order at my target sell price. Then I wait.
Depending on how active the market is, it may take hours, days, or weeks for my sell order to be filled. Either way, I’m happy. These returns are a heck of a lot better than anything I’d get in a more traditional investment.
There are lots of ways to make money with cryptocurrencies. But whichever method you choose, please test it thoroughly before you put real money into it. Only invest money you can afford to lose.
Recommended by Avery ♥ Avery Breyer
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Comment Below!
What jobs that require international travel have you found?
Related Reading
How to find time to travel and chase your dream career
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Teach English Abroad to Fund Your Travels
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Fantastic post as always!! We’ve definitely done quite a few of these and have considered many others. Can’t say I’ve ever thought of doing fire juggling though, eek!
Just one thing to add – house/pet sitting isn’t a paying job, at least in the exchange-based model through TrustedHousesitters. While they used to allow members to charge, money is completely taken out of the picture with them now. We pretty much exclusively travel via house sitting (all our house sits come through THS), but it’s not a job in the sense that all the other jobs on this list are. You still need another paying job in order to pay for food, travel expenses, etc. I know a lot of people have the misconception that you can earn a good amount of money while house sitting, when that’s usually not the case (local pet sitting businesses aside). But of course, it can save you a ton of money, as you know!
Excellent point Sam! Thanks for clarifying :D
nice post…can i do some teaching about basic accounting?…i also love to travel..but my resources is not that enough to fund it….that’s why when i see your post it gives me a big smile on my face..lol….i can do volunteer in hostel and house sitter or pet sitter ….hope i can have those work where ever i go….
Sounds like a great idea to me Liza! Think about what you’re good at – then how you can make money from it!