Wouldn’t it be great to be able to travel around the world and get paid while you do it? With a little creativity and a lot of courage, those who intelligently plan their world travels can make a serious income while living it up in exotic, worldwide locations.

Let’s get into the ‘meat’ of how this can be done.

There are 3 types of travelers. Which one are you?



1) Savers – You get a job, or jobs, in one location, save and save, and when you have enough money and nothing tying you down, you go travel. If you’re reading this article you probably already know you don’t want to have this type of job. So, world travel job type number two is…

2) Traveling job seekers. These are people who seek to land jobs that pay them while they travel. Included are tour and adventure guide jobs, film and writing jobs, flight attendant and airline jobs, medical jobs, military work, and so on. 

You can get one of these jobs following a very simple formula: Apply for a bunch of positions. Send recommendations. Make follow-up calls. Send thank-you cards. Sooner or later, someone is going to ‘bite’ and give you a position.

3) Systems travelers. These people are referred to as the ‘new rich.’ They set up systems using simple (but new) technology to constantly deliver value to other people, for which they get paid over and over again. If that was jibberish to you, don’t worry about it. Let’s go a little more into depth about what, exactly, this type of person does.

Here’s an example of a ‘systems traveler’ at work:

Katie likes training dogs, so she makes some YouTube videos and writes a few 1 page articles about some of the stuff she knows. Her ‘job’ is to help other dog owners train their dogs.

When she puts these resources on the internet for others to benefit from, the people who are serious will click on the links in her articles and videos to get more information.

When they do, Katie sends them to a product she has found online that pays her every time someone buys a product. In this case, she makes $66.46 per sale (the actual amount I make for selling a dog training product). One in twenty people buys the product, so if Katie sends 40 people per day to the product, she makes $132.92 per day.

Getting the idea?

Here’s a hint: 40 people a day in terms of traffic is NOTHING. And once the systems are setup properly, your travel job consists of tons of traveling and not a lot of job. 

Jobs that travel the world are a dime a dozen. The ideal situation is to become a systems traveler with a job that travels the world. In other words, your online system covers all your expenses and more, while your ‘job’ is for fun and anything they pay you is just gravy.

Perhaps one of the most charming things about the the Australian Outback is its stubborn changeability. Even its seemingly rigid mountains of rocks have their way of changing right before your eyes, as if the landscape refuses all human effort to be mapped.

Unroll that map

And yet a map (and a compass too) is one of the most important thing you’ll need in your safari adventure. Current maps are available from petrol stations, RACV, NRMA, and most local police stations. If your maps aren’t current, you can get terrifyingly lost, which will not only frustrate and scare you, but can cause serious depletion in your food, energy, precious water and fuel as well.

Make sure someone knows where you are at all times. If you are on your own, give a friend your itinerary or make a point of periodically keeping contact with them so that they know you are not in danger.

Also, before leaving each township, check with the local police station and tell them where you are heading, your planned trip, and when you hope to reach the next township. If you do happen to get lost, the information will make it easy for them to organise a search for you.

If you have additional questions, ask the friendly locals too.

Campfires

Campfires must be watched at all times. Do not walk away from your lighted open fire and don’t leave your campsite without smothering all cinders and residue. Wildfires destroy not just trees and plants but also the animals that depend on them. And most wildfires in the Outback are results of carelessly-left campfires.

Keep Garbage In

Don’t throw or leave your garbage just anywhere. Whatever garbage you accumulate during your travel (food wrappers, toilet paper, bean cans, film canisters, band-aid boxes) needs to come back with you.

Rule of Thumb: Take only photos, leave only footprints

Our Australian desert and bush is dangerous, stunning and alluring, but you must keep your wits about you. The Outback is not just some arid region in Australia navigable by a four-wheel drive and ample drinking water supply. You can’t just travel Australia to explore the Outback, much less read about it in an article such as this. More importantly, the Outback is in the heart and soul of the traveler who has willed every step of the way. If you go now, you do yourself a favor.

And if you just heed these basic advices and take responsibility to care for each other, you’re sure to live to tell a great story.

Can you get a job over the summer while traveling? There are plenty around and many aimed at travelers specifically. Organize your work permit and check out the local paper for jobs for travelers. You’ll be amazed at what kind of work you can find to do.

1. You could become an au pair or nanny. There are many opportunities to look after people’s other kids while traveling. Try England, South Africa or Australia for starters.

2. You could teach English. In a number of countries there are opportunities for English teachers. If you are bilingual you’ll have a much better chance of scoring one of these jobs in places like Japan.

3. How about working in a pub? In England there are opportunities for free board in pubs where you are prepared to pull a beer. Hospitality jobs are relatively easy to come by in Australia.

4. Have you ever considered working at children’s holiday camps in the USA or Russia as a camp counselor?

5. You could become a fruit picker! Get to work in the fields all over the world.

6. What about a winter holiday job? Can you ski? You can get jobs as ski or snowboard instructors in many ski resorts all over the globe.

7. How about becoming a Jack or Jillaroo on an outback station in Australia? Immerse yourself in the culture of the outback.

8. Is there work available at the hostel you are staying at? It won’t hurt to ask. Sometimes you can exchange work for free food and board or at least a reduction in the price.

Apart from paid positions, you can also get volunteer work in many places. Volunteering your services can get you free food and board. How about volunteering on a farm? Or being a hike trail or tourist guide volunteer? You’ll get to see the sights for free.

For those of you who may be looking for a more serious work/travel experience there are other opportunities. For example, can you get a transfer with your current job to an overseas position? Or do you want to do something worthwhile in your gap year? Programs are available for students to travel in their gap year and get involved in some amazing projects all over the world. You could work in the publishing industry in India or teach children with special needs. There are many organizations set up to help place people who want to broaden their horizons by volunteering their services in foreign countries.

If you think working or volunteering while you are traveling would be a possibility for you, make sure you find out if you need work permits to do so. Using your skills while traveling is a great way to save money and meet people. You’ll be rewarded in many ways.

Backpacking can be a great hobby and sport. It is challenging, adventurous and exiting. It can be enjoyed by almost anyone who is reasonably fit and healthy, whether you are young or old, male or female. There are countless options on how and where to do it. Backpacking is a great way to get some exercise and get fit while having some fun at the same time. Read on if you would like to learn more about backpacking for beginners and what it is all about.

Backpacking is the combination between hiking and camping. Backpacking trips involve hiking through the countryside and wilderness areas and camping overnight. A backpacker has to carry everything they need on their back in a rucksack. A backpacking trip can be short or long depending on the individual; you can stay away for one night or for weeks at a time if you want to.

The longer the trip the more that must be packed and carried, so having a backpacking gear list and planning both the packing and the trip is essential. Some areas that are very popular backpacking destinations will have camp sites set up. They may simply have a fire ring and posted maps or they can have cabins, as well as a pitch for tents and a toilet and shower block. Other areas may have nothing at all and backpackers set up their camp wherever they find a good spot.

There is a community in backpacking. Everyone works together to preserve the wilderness that they love. There are certain accepted and unaccepted behaviors in backpacking. Backpackers try not to disturb or damage the area they travel in. They clean up all traces of their camp and never litter or take anything along their travels. The one thing you are allowed to take is photographs, so a small lightweight camera can form part of your backpacking checklist.

Backpacking requires a person to keep safety in mind always. There are many hazards in backpacking and a person who does not think about being safe is sure to fall prey. The backpack itself can pose problems if a person does not learn how to fit it and pack it properly. The physical activity can be strenuous and a person must be conditioned to handle walking through uneven and rough terrain. Basic first aid and general idea of wilderness safety are other things a backpacker must know. It is easy to get lost and hurt in the wilderness, so every backpacker must have a good handle on staying safe.

People backpack for different reasons. Some do it for the excellent exercise. Some people like backpacking because of the adventure and love of nature. Others backpack as a way to learn and explore the outdoors. Whatever reason people backpack, there are large numbers of them and they continue to explore, love and walk through the wilderness with the common goal of a good backpacking experience.

This is just an outline of the basics of backpacking for beginners, there is a lot more to learn such as how to pack a backpack properly, how to choose the right backpacking cookware and knowing the right backpacking supplies to take. There are many good books on backpacking and I would recommend that you read through one and get a good knowledge of the backpacking basics before you set out on your own adventure. This way you should have a safe and exiting backpacking experience rather than one that you will remember for all the wrong reasons.

Have you ever experienced a serious disaster whilst on holiday? If not, it’s merely a matter of time. It has been said there are two kinds of travellers, those that have experienced a problem holiday and those that are still going to.

Tasked with identifying the top ten travel tips immediately got my mind going but an idea soon took shape. Why not use the experiences of the professionals, ask them to identify the more common causes of problems when travelling. Unbeknown to me this certainly dropped the cat amongst the pigeons, largely because limiting this to only ten became a problem, thank you so much to all those who were a part of the panel.

One of the most common problems and a unanimous choice of the panel were problems surrounding logistical arrangements. Largely related to reservations; dates and ticketing, these can be problematic despite the ease and simplicity of the internet. It is imperative when planning any holiday to any destination that all bookings are made well in advance, followed up either by e-mail or telephone a few days before your departure and still in time to rectify problems if discovered. After this has been done, prevent further problems by ensuring you have proof in the form of copies of any relevant document or reference number, this could be a receipt confirmation of a deposit paid or any item depending on your personal arrangements. This is one of those suggestions where prevention is definitely far better than cure.

Our second tip is all encompassing and covers the packing of essential items. Obviously these items might vary according to your personal plans but would perhaps include items such as passports and ID documents; applicable drivers licences; money - credit cards, wallets and other financial needs; mobile phones and camera’s, (get with it, preferably digital) are essential items nowadays, together with supporting items such as chargers and memory cards. On my personal list are always sunglasses, activity equipment, a few books, a pack of cards, a multi-purpose pocket knife and other smaller items or games which always come in handy.

How are we doing so far, the bottom line is that with tip numbers one and two you can go almost anywhere in the world and if you have forgotten anything else you can purchase them en route.

Tip number three is so absolutely boring you might well stop reading at this point but it remains one of the most common causes of holidays being cancelled. Before you leave home ensure that all domestic matters are resolved and tucked in to bed. These will again vary but will certainly surround adequate locking up and security issues; paying all accounts, in particular municipal services; cancelling any deliveries; ensuring access is available to a trusted friend or relative in the event of a fire or emergency; ensuring pets are adequately cared for and that someone responsible is able to contact you in the case of emergency during your holiday. Yes…boring….but oh so often the cause of having to either come back early or returning to face a smelly deep freeze or worse.

The basics are covered and now we can move onto the fun part, tip number four surrounds choosing the right holiday for your needs and enjoyment. To haul three children under ten years old to a game reserve for ten days will stretch your patience and theirs, you might enjoy spending half an hour looking at a bird or waiting for an Elephant to come to a waterhole while sipping a Chardonnay, they certainly wouldn’t. If you have had a really stressful year and are going on holiday for a time out, a few days in London followed by a few in Rome and a low cost flight via Moscow to save a few cents would mean lots of flights; too many airports and complicated transit arrangements. Our panel suggests taking a few extra minutes to analyse the real needs of all travelling partners before selecting your holiday destination.

You have analysed your own needs and decided on let’s say a scuba diving holiday as an example. Tip number five stays with destination choice and is all about research. That’s easy I hear you saying, once you’ve decided what type of holiday you want. However, you could also end up on a scuba diving holiday in monsoon season, perhaps to a great destination at most times of the year but in the month you have chosen, it’s infested with mosquito’s and a temperature of 45 degrees, is that what you wanted.

Perhaps you might be looking for a quiet and romantic getaway and choose a week in a Spanish seaside village only to find out it clashes with a local political election and the local school holidays. Time researching local conditions is well spent, beware particularly of special offers or discounts, these are usually offered for a reason and often due to seasonality or other sub-optimal characteristics of the destination at the time the offer applies. This same principle applies to discounted flights and packages, it’s important to be fully aware of which items and costs are included and not included in the price.

How far have we gone so far, in summary we have the logistics and essential equipment under control, chosen a stunning destination to ensure our needs are covered and we have selected the dates to suit the destination characteristics.

Tip number six is about the modern day wonder of the travellers’ world. You guessed it, the internet. This modern tool enables you to ensure you are fully au fait with all and any information you might need. From disco’s to dive centres, museums to mausoleums, cathedrals to camping grounds, the information is easily available to you from the comfort of your home; office or failing which, an internet café. Referring back to our Spanish village, if you want to know the history, what to see and do while you’re there, the internet provides this service. Even once you’re there, if you want to send pics and news to someone at home, the internet has really made this simple. I read recently that in excess of 70% of all travel arrangements are now made on-line, wow, that is an awesome number and it is no doubt climbing, not without reason.

A list of top ten tips would definitely be incomplete without a reference to the importance of adequate packing. Notice we say adequate as it does vary according to destination and travel method. A car trip to Port Alfred with a trailer and roof rack is a far different scenario than a flight to London. Tip number seven is to pack early; to pack correctly and most of all to pack according to a well prepared list. One often makes the mistake of packing too much, leaving little room for error and no space to include a few souvenirs or that tee-shirt that looked so good in the market. On a personal note our family has a rule, what you pack you carry; this has a fantastic effect of ensuring no one packs without a plan.

The boring battle of the budget. We all have dream destinations we hope to get to one day; this is unfortunately not a reality for most of us. Tip number eight is to ensure you remain within your personal limits of expenditure. Interest rates are high and could get higher; credit offered by banks can be easily obtained by utilising the credit card options so often available. You don’t want to spend the year after your holiday stressed out about how you’re going to pay it back during the rest of the year. Plan adequately before and during your holiday. Whilst it’s certainly fun to spoil yourselves during a holiday, we suggest you allocate a daily allowance to each person and to the whole group; this will certainly help control costs, particularly in an international destination when one is not fully conversant, it can come back and bite quite hard.

The members of our panel are all seasoned travellers, local and overseas. In conversation we certainly learned that all had on occasion bumped their heads or made often silly mistakes. Our unanimous tip number nine is to enjoy South Africa. As residents of this beautiful country we are all absolutely blessed to live within a reasonable distance from either a beach; lake; mountain; game reserve or whatever it might be that appeals to your family. Too often we feel the need to travel far and wide when it’s all on our doorstep. We might travel to an exotic dive destination but haven’t yet experienced Aliwal Shoal; sit on a Mauritian Beach when our coast offers some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, perhaps even camping in France when you’ve never been to the Drakensberg or Clarens.

It might be a cliché but we really do have it all in one country. We certainly hope that our leaders will take every action to ensure that it stays that way. We in turn need to appreciate it and invest in local tourism and the job creation it offers. Our panel felt that we need to market ourselves as a destination a little better than we do, encouraging local travellers that Cairo is perhaps not always better than Cape Town. Local is lekker, it has its place alongside braaivleis, biltong, sunny skies and all the rest.

This might be our last tip of the ten we were confined to but it is the simplest and most important – have fun! You’ve worked hard, you deserve your holiday, please don’t forget to enjoy it. In most cases when on holiday, one is surrounded by those your love the most, those dearest and closest.

What an absolute blessing to be able to spend quality time in a holiday destination with those you love.