How to get paid to travel? I think this is seriously one of the most asked questions I get! Ok I will be 100% honest with you guys, this does not really exist. We are absolutely not paid to travel. Actually, being paid to travel doesn’t make sense unless you are paid by tourism boards to promote tourism in their country. And believe me, this is not happening every month! You need to know that 99% of travel content creators and travel bloggers actually pay for their own trips most of the time. We travel because we love it. So, that being said, the question is more, how to afford your travels?
In reality, there is no secret, if you want to start traveling, you need to save money and make travel a priority in your life! This is what we have done in the past few years to start traveling. But obviously there are different ways to make money online, work at a distance or even work abroad to be able to afford your travels in the long term! If a 9-5 job in an office is definitely not for you and you are dreaming to leave everything and travel, this post is for you! Building a business online is not easy but it is totally possible! We will give you all our tips and our own experience! 😉
How to afford your travels?
1 Being a blogger
The first option to afford your travels can be to become a blogger. Indeed, blogging can be a real income source but it takes time and energy. To start a blog you need to be passionate, don’t do this just for money! It takes several years to build an audience around the same passion and to be able to monetize your blog. The big plus is that, even if it takes time and energy, it is an amazing job, it doesn’t feel like work! And you can work from anywhere in the world, all you need is wifi! But you need to love writing and contact with people! You can start a travel blog but also a fashion or food blog!
If you are wondering, here are the different ways to earn money as a blogger:
✔️ Affiliate marketing: when someone purchases a product or service through a link on your blog, you will earn a commission. This can be a travel insurance, an accomodation, a flight, a product on Amazon and so on.
✔️ Sponsored blog posts: a brand can choose your blog depending on your niche and audience to promote their products and services. If you think the brand and products can be interesting for your audience, you can create a sponsored post on your blog for them.
✔️ Content creation: you can also create content for brands with articles and web redaction. This means you will write articles for online magazines, and websites.
✔️ Ads on your site: Once you’ve reach at least 25 000 readers on your website, you can earn money if you put relevant ads on your site. The more people will click on the links, the more you will earn money. Make sure you put relevant ads and not annoy your readers!
✔️ Sell products on your website: you can also sell products and services on your website as online classes, presets (which are photo filters) or even an e-book!
✔️ Sponsored press trips: Once you have enough traffic on your website, you can start to get contacted by tourism boards, or tour companies. They will invite you on a trip to talk about their country or their services. This is probably the best way to be paid to travel and meet other creative-minded people!
As being a blogger, being a social media content creator is not easy and takes time, energy, passion, and patience. Building a strong community around the same passion takes years. To make money as a social media content creator you will basically promote products or services that correspond to your audience on Instagram or Youtube. Usually, you can start earning money with 80k followers but it also depends on your engagement. It’s not always a matter of followers but quality of content and engagement.
✔️ Sponsored stories: you can also earn money to talk about products or services on your Instagram stories. But it’s important to think long term and only accept relevant collaborations that sincerely correspond to your community. This is exactly why the term “influencer” has lost all its legitimacy but it’s not the topic today!
✔️ Sponsored posts: also called product placements or just sponsored posts if it is a service. You can get paid to create content and post it on your Instagram account or videos on your Youtube channel. For Instagram that will be creating photos and posting them on your account to promote a brand. For Youtube, that will be create a video to talk about a special product or service.
✔️ Content creation for brands: you can also get paid to create content for brands. This means photos and videos. They will use your content for their own marketing and website.
You should also read our post about How to become a social media content creator.
3 Be a photographer/filmmaker
Also, another way to get paid to travel or should I say to afford your travels is to be a pro photographer or filmmaker. You will sell your creations to brands, tourism boards, hotels and so on.
For this, you will need to invest in great photography gear, learn about photography and post-production! This is also a slow process and it takes years of experience but it’s so rewarding!
4 Be a writer/ journalist
Then, if you don’t specially want to start your own travel blog or website, you can be a freelance writer or journalist and write for online magazines, blogs, and other websites. You will be paid to write posts for them. The best part of this job is that you can do it anywhere in the world!
You can write for awesome magazines as National Geographic, New York times and so on. You can even be ask to get on a trip to write about new hotels in various destinations or festivals.
5 Have a business online
You can also decide to create an online store and sell your products and services! This can be a fashion brand, a jewelry store and so on. This also requires time to build visibility online, marketing strategies, SEO and promotion to be able to sell your products. But it’s also an amazing way to afford your travels.
If you think you have something new to bring on the market, do it! Read our post about become an entrepreneur: the reality!
6 Teach English online
Then, if you’re a native English speaker or if you’re fluent in English, it’s an excellent way to supplement any job or even have it as your full-time job. You can teach English from anywhere in the world. The most popular company is VIPKID and has Chinese students.
7 Find a job abroad
Next, you can fall in love with a country or a region in particular and decide to move there. If you manage to find a job there, you will be able to stay there for a few months and get paid to travel! Or at least earn money and be able to afford your travels around this country in your spare time!
In Australia, for example, it’s easy to find jobs in farms and vineyards. If you have particular skills, you can easily find a job!
8 Work as a freelance
Then, you can work as a freelance in several fields, and afford your travels. You can be freelance in marketing, social media, website creation and so on! This is amazing to be able to travel from anywhere in the world, you just need your computer and wifi! If you have skills in these fields, it can be a great way to “get paid to travel”.
9 Work for a travel company
The last one is to work for a travel company. There are several possibilities. Either you be a flight attendant, work on a sailboat. Or you can work in a holiday club for a season. Or either to be a tour operator and be paid to have meetings in different destinations.
Are you ready to afford your travels?
I really hope this post will be helpful for you to inspire you and live your dreams! I know that almost everyone is dreaming about get paid to travel. It sure is really difficult at the beginning to afford your travels but it is possible in the long term!
When you are starting to travel, the most important is to save money and make travel a priority in your life. Also, you should consider traveling close to your country or in a country where the cost-of-living is low. Until you are able to make money. You can also try couch surfing and pet sitting anywhere in the world. It’s not paid but it’s a great way to save money and connect with locals!
But I think the most important is to follow your dreams and have the courage to take risks! Also, don’t do it for money, this will never work. If you don’t like social media, photography or writing it’s impossible to succeed. Make it by passion and conviction! I know it takes time but it is so worthing it! Believe in yourself and do what you love!
Personally, traveling and photography are our biggest passions and we love doing it together! Also, I absolutely love sharing our experiences with you guys and also be inspired by yours!
If you know you are made for this and you have the passion, all you have to do to believe in you and to go for it!
Follow our next adventures on Instagram @chiarabarrasso @jelafaille
Travel is my passion and my job (I’m a Travel planner). Saving money and make travel a priority is the first step ! Thank you for this interesting post, maybe one day my travel content will help me travel even more ❤️
Author
Thank you for your support Emma! Travel planner is a super cool job! I’m sure this will❤️