I talk a lot about saving money while travelling – this is a budget travel blog after all – but how about if you could make money while travelling? That would be living the dream, right? There are lots of ways you could earn money while travelling, whether that is working remotely at your current job, working on a side hustle or selling or renting out something. In this post I’ll share some of the ways to make money while travelling, so you can stretch your travel budget even further!
Easy Ways to Make Money While Travelling
Unfortunately, there are no easy ways to achieve your dream of living a life of travel without having money. I hate to break it to you but earning money while travelling involves spending time working, not just sitting on the beach all day – and anyone selling you courses to achieve a six-figure income easily is just trying to earn more money for them, not you!
That said, if you are happy living a relatively simple life in a cheap destination where you can get by on quite a low income then a life of travel is definitely possible!
Work Remotely
If you currently have a job or work freelance, working remotely is much more common than it was a few years ago. Since the pandemic, companies have realized that a lot of the work that employees do can online be done from home – or from anywhere!
Working remotely means you don’t need to quit your job to travel, you can do both. As long as you can cover the work and hours required then working remotely from anywhere is a great way to earn money and travel at the same time.
If your employer won’t let you work remotely full time, see if they will consider a workation – that is a couple of weeks or months of you working abroad on a temporary or trial basis. There are plenty of coworking spaces all over the world where you can set up a desk and work from wherever you like – even if just for a few weeks.
Become a Digital Nomad
A step up from working temporarily abroad is to do it full-time. Digital nomad life has many benefits, although there are some drawbacks to being away from home all the time, it is a wonderful opportunity to work in another country.
The best news? You don’t need any experience to become a digital nomad, there are lots of digital nomad jobs that don’t require any skills or previous experience, so anyone can do it – as long as you can work a computer and get a decent wifi signal and a few other essentials to start your digital nomad life you will be ready to go.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: The Essential Barcelona Digital Nomad Guide
Teach English Online or In-Person
Arguably this could be classed as a digital nomad job, but as it is also common to do in person, I thought it deserved its own section. If you are a native English speaker, you are in high demand all over the world by people wanting to learn and practice English.
While you might be able to give informal classes without any kind of qualification, having a TEFL certification gives you a better chance of finding a job and getting better paid for it. There are various services that offer online English classes that you can apply to so you can teach English online from wherever you are or find a job in a school teaching English abroad.
You can also offer private classes, by placing an ad in a local paper or online, or through word of mouth. When I first moved to Barcelona I made some extra cash by teaching a couple of people private classes in one of the quieter cafes in town.
Do a Work Exchange
Work Exchanges are one of my favourite ways to save money while travelling, and I love spending more time in each place I visit to really get to know the destination and the people.
I’ve used work exchanges to save thousands of dollars while backpacking, but did you know you can also earn money by doing work exchanges? Usually, a work exchange means that you will work a few hours a week in exchange for free accommodation and other benefits, but now if you do a work exchange through Worldpackers you have the chance to earn money with Worldpackers Programs.
Save up to 20% on Worldpackers Membership
Save $10 on a year's membership with Worldpackers with the discount code TALESOFABACKPACKER
PLUS I'm also giving away a FREE copy of my eBook "How to Travel for Free Using Work Exchanges" (worth $17) to everyone who joins Worldpackers by 31st March. Send a screenshot of your Worldpackers membership purchase to me at claire@talesofabackpacker.com and I'll send you the guide!
PLUS register with Worldpackers by Mar 31st and have the chance to win one of 50 annual Lingopie plans to learn languages while you travel for free!
Worldpackers will pay you to create blog and video content for their website, so other Worldpackers volunteers can learn from your experiences. You can also earn money by referring new hosts and new volunteers.
Get a Job Abroad
While the above suggestions shouldn’t require a specific work visa, if you are eligible to work in the country where you want to travel then finding paid work as you go is another great way to earn money while traveling.
Seasonal jobs are often the easiest to get, so you could work in a hostel, hotel, bar or restaurant in a tourist area in the summer, work on a cruise ship or work a ski season during the winter or teaching English is a great travel job that you could do almost anywhere in the world.
For young people then there are various visas available to allow you to spend a year working abroad, for example, the J1 visa for working in the USA or work and travel visas in Australia and New Zealand. I spent a summer working in the USA on a leisure ranch, and working as a camp counsellor is another popular job in the USA for students and young people. Fruit picking is a popular job for backpackers in Australia who have a work abroad visa.
Start a Travel Blog
Yep, this is my absolute favourite way to earn money while I travel – although travel blogging certainly isn’t the quickest way to earn money online! Building up a business from scratch takes a lot of time and effort in the beginning, but it can bring huge rewards.
Get paid to travel, and earn money while you sleep when you set up passive income strategies on your blog to earn money from ads, digital products and affiliate marketing. If you are wondering how to start a travel blog, I am working on more content for you, so comment below and let me know you’re interested!
Become an Influencer
Some people make getting paid as an influencer look so easy, but growing a social media following can be tough. At the moment, Tik Tok seems to be the easiest way to gain followers if you can create unique and engaging videos. Instagram is another popular social media platform, although it is harder to grow quickly on Insta.
Once you have a good following – or a small but highly engaged group of followers – you can earn money by promoting products or services on your channel. Some tourism boards, hotels and tour companies will pay big money to influencers to promote their destinations, but constantly pitching for work takes time so don’t expect an easy ride.
Another problem with being a social media influencer is that your audience is on a platform that belongs to someone else – so if an app shuts down or gets banned then a lot of people will lose everything they’ve built. Don’t rely just on one platform, building a website and/or an email list as well is a good idea.
Live Abroad
Quite a big step, but living in another country for a long period gives you an incredible opportunity to experience another culture and to travel while maintaining a full-time job. If you plan to move somewhere you’ll need to apply for a visa to do so, unless you are already eligible to live and work there. If you’re not sure if you need a visa, check iVisa which will tell you what you need to do.
I spent five years working and living in Barcelona and fell in love with the city – and I’m gutted that Brexit has made things so much more difficult now. However, it is still possible, so don’t discount it, just do your research first.
Rent Out Your Home
One of the easiest ways to earn money while travelling is to rent out your home on a rental service like Airbnb. You’ll need to pay someone to clean in between guests and to manage any problems that might come up, but you can make serious money while you are away.
Don’t forget you’ll need to check what paperwork is required – you may need a license to rent out properties to tourists, and have certain safety regulations in place as well as insurance to cover you if anything goes wrong.
Sell Stuff
Selling products or services as you travel could be a nice way to earn some money on the road. I’ve met people backpacking who have made money by selling jewellery, doing massages or cutting hair, as well as selling artwork, doing tattoos or giving language classes.
It might not earn you tons of cash but it all helps! Especially if you couple this kind of work or creative side hustle with a work exchange – you’ll save money by not spending money on accommodation, and earn a bit of cash for food, drink and fun!
Other Ways to Earn Money While Travelling
There are lots of other ways to earn money as you travel, and with a bit of imagination (and potentially some hard work) you can earn enough money to keep travelling as long as you want. If you have any suggestions please let me know in the comments!
Earning Money vs Saving Money
For me, when I first started travelling I had some savings that I used to fund my trip. To make my money go further I stayed in hostels, I looked for free things to do wherever I was and I worked in hostels in exchange for accommodation. I was very careful about saving money while travelling so I could travel for longer.
But, you can’t just travel on a budget and expect the money to last forever. You definitely need to find ways to earn money while travelling if you want to have a life of travel, otherwise it’s just not sustainable. That said, to help you balance your expenses and income to start with, you might like to read these posts:
- How to Travel for Free
- Top Tips for Backpacking on a Budget
- Working in a Hostel in Exchange for Accommodation
How to Make Money While Traveling FAQs
Do travel bloggers make money?
Travel blogging can be a great way to make money and travel at the same time, but it can take a while to establish yourself as a reputable blogger. It is not an easy way to make money online but it can be very lucrative if done well.
You'll need to choose a competitive niche to focus on and become an expert in, and spend time learning about Search Engine Optimization so Google will show your articles to people searching for specific topics.
Then there is social media management and making sure you have high-quality written articles and photography to go with it. Learning how to start a travel blog that makes money isn't as easy as you might think but if I can do it, you can certainly do it!
How do you live a life of travel?
The first step towards living a life of travel is to make travel a priority. If this is the most important thing to you, then you will have to make sacrifices in other areas to make sure you can achieve your dream travel life.
Then find ways of earning money as you travel, by choosing one of the jobs or side hustles in this post to get money to fund your travels. And go! Often the hardest thing is deciding to go, but most other things can be figured out later - just book a ticket and do it!
Can you make a living traveling?
You absolutely can make a living traveling, although it can take a lot of work it is definitely worth the effort. Start with one or two of these jobs to earn money while traveling and give it a go! Remember, it doesn't have to be forever so just give it a try.
How can I work and travel at the same time?
There are lots of jobs you can do online so you can travel and work online as you go - working remotely is more popular now than it has ever been so talk to your boss and see if they are open to the idea.
Alternatively, there are plenty of jobs that involve travel as part of the work, from hotel jobs to tour guides and everything in between.
How can I get paid to travel the world?
A dream job is one that would pay me to travel the world. Travel bloggers and influencers are some people who get paid to travel, but other travel jobs include flight attendants, cruise ship workers, tour guides and many more.
Hello, Claire, thank you for your suggestions.