When I turned 18, I decided to move out of my parents’ home. I wanted to see the world, but I had no money at all. How could I travel the world when I was totally broke? But I also believe our dreams can come true when we set ourselves up for success. I found ways to move around despite my lack of money. I hope I can open your horizons a bit and inspire you to find creative ways of getting paid to travel, or at least to cover some (if not all) of your travel expenses.
Work As An Au-pair
An au-pair (literally meaning an extra pair of hands) is usually a young
foreign person between 18 and 30 years old, who wants to travel the
world, learn a new language, experience a new culture, and live new
adventures. In exchange for that, they offer a maximum of 25 to 30 hours
of help to a local family who provides food and accommodation, plus
pocket money. The au-pair lives with a local family, usually helps with
the children, and should be considered a member of the family and
treated respectfully.
When searching for a host family, make sure you are like-minded and have
a lot of things in common. That’s the key to a great experience. Some
families will offer some perks, like your airfare, a language course, a
monthly transportation pass, etc. Check which family offers you the best
perks, but always keeping in mind that compatibility, similar ethics
and lifestyle is way more important than any “perk.”
I´m now in Switzerland, doing a very short au-pair program. I have a
wonderful host family, great children and I´m very glad I had this
chance to live in Zurich, while experiencing the culture through the
eyes of a local family.
Work At Summer Camps Across the United States
Summer camps can be a great opportunity for you to travel to the States
and have all your expenses met. Every summer, hundreds of American
summer camps fill up with children wanting to have a great time. You can
travel to another state if you want a new experience as a camp
counselor, and some of the camps also hire young foreigners who want to
have a taste of America and meet people from all walks of life in
exchange for daily activities with kids. You won’t make a fortune and
you might not be able to save much, but you’ll be paid and have zero
expenses.
After the summer camps are over, you have the opportunity to travel all
over the United States with the money you made. You’ll probably team up
with other people you’ve met at the camp so you won’t be on your own.
Teach English
This is probably the most profitable work/travel opportunity out there.
If you’re a native speaker, you can just take a short online course or
even find countries which won’t require any certificate.
If English is not your native language, you can still do it, but you
should have decent English skills. Having actually completed an ESL
course is a plus as well.
Work on a Cruise Line
This is hard work and you’ll be living with the people you work with,
which is not always easy — especially if you don’t like or don’t get
along with someone. But it’s a great opportunity to travel and making
good money at the same time. Your ability to have time off when the ship
arrives at a certain port depends on your type of job and duties. If
you’re in the cleaning department, you might have to work, but if you’re
working with other departments like entertainment, massage,
hairdresser, etc, you might have time off.
Every year many cruise lines around the world recruit people from all
walks of life. If you want to sail across the world, get a CV ready and
check for hiring dates. A quick Google search should tell you which
cruise lines fit you better, which routes you’d like to do, and who’s
recruiting. There are also forums where you can ask questions to people
who work or have worked aboard cruises.
Work as a Tour Guide
Are you extrovert, communicative, and have patience to deal with people all day long?
I believe being a tour guide or tour leader can be one of the best ways
of exploring the world, get paid, and have no expenses. You might get to
experience things you wouldn’t otherwise. You’ll meet people from all
over the world and live a wonderful adventure. Some tour companies
specialize in adventure travel, budget travel, spring break adventures.
you’ll find something that relates to you if you search for it.
Contracts usually last for a year or more, so you’ll have to be very
available with no attachments, no pets, no and no significant other
(unless you don’t want to see them more than once a year!). This is easy
for the early 20s, but more complicated for the older folks. I think
it’s a chance you could grab if you’re totally free.
Get A Temporary Agriculture Job
I’ve picked up grapes in France for 3 weeks and then had money to travel
for a year — on a super low budget, not luxury traveling for sure!
Usually, the money is great and the work is temporary. You’ll meet other
people from all over the world, mainly travelers who are also gathering
some cash together. You usually get a free place to stay and some wine
for your efforts. Everyone I know and who did grape picking in France
said the job was super easy, relaxed and fun. Australia and New Zealand
usually welcome farm workers as well.
Workaway
You won’t be paid as a workawayer, but you should have all expenses
covered, while volunteering. The Workaway website is a work/exchange
volunteer type of program, with projects all over the world. I love the
workaway concept of making your way around the world by volunteering and
giving back to the community, while having the expenses paid and
getting to know a new culture in depth. Workaway is perfect for people who want to stay a long time in a certain place for free or as a chance to learn a new language.
Couchsurfing And BlaBlaCar
I’ve met the most amazing people through the Couchsurfing
community. People are usually very open-minded and generous. If you
want to travel around and have a free place to sleep, this is the best
option! Remember that hosts’ homes are not a free hotel, so treat them
and their space with respect, offer to cook for them, and always keep in
mind you’re being welcomed by a very generous person who hosted you out
of kindness.
If you want to connect with local people, hang out, make new friends,
find company to do activities, check out the events page at the
Couchsurfing website. There’s always something going on!
If you have a car or a van and enjoy traveling by road, using BlaBlaCar
or some other type of carpooling website will meet all of your travel
expenses. On these carpooling/ride share websites, people share expenses
and travel by land. You have to all be heading in the same general
direction, but if you take a couple of people, you’re probably be able
to cover 100% of the fuel costs. This is a win-win situation for all:
carpoolers will have the convenience of going by car and not having to
drive, and you’ll have your gas money covered. (Don’t have a car? Check
it out anyway for a few outstanding cheap rides; you’ll save an
incredible amount of money. Oftentimes, there are free rides because
some people get really bored traveling long distances alone and are
happy to just have company to chat while they’re driving.)
Making Sure Your Food Expenses Are Covered
I didn’t buy basically any food during those overland trips. I had no cash for that, so what did I do?
Most bakeries, pizza shops, and restaurants throw away ALL the fresh
food they didn’t sell during that day. So I took advantage of that. When
I traveled around Italy, I ate pizza nonstop: they were free and
healthy, and filled with veggies and good quality ingredients. In the
evening, before the bakeries or pizzerias closed, I’d ask if they had
any food they were about to throw away. I usually got more food than I
could even carry, leaving me with dinner, breakfast and lunch for next
day.
People can be extremely generous and they have nothing to lose by
offering the food. Be aware this WON’T work with big chains, just small
family businesses!
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