Best Jobs for People Who Want to Travel and Make Money
Do you have travel plans in mind, are you looking for an adventure, or do you just want to see new places? Have you thought about quitting your job to travel? Are you wondering how you can get paid to the see the world? If so, there are a variety of ways you can make money and travel.
If you would love a job that involves traveling, there are positions in which you can travel the world on your employer’s dime. Some jobs, for example, where you “clock in” to your work location—like working on a cruise ship or as a traveling nurse—can take you to exotic places.
You may even be able to ask your current employer if you can take your job with you while you travel. It might be a hard sell, but you won’t have the opportunity unless you ask.
Another option to consider is a position where you can work from anywhere. Many travelers find flexible work-from-home or telecommuting jobs so that they can go wherever they want when they want. If you’re cognizant of time zones, and flexible as to when and where you’ll work, it can be easy to work remotely while on the go.
Top 15 Travel Jobs
Here’s a list of jobs where the job either involves traveling or can be worked remotely. The list includes a variety of options, the salary range for the position, and a brief job description of what you’ll do on the job.
Flight Attendant
Income Range: $30,000-$75,000/year (US Bureau of Labor & SmartAsset)
When it comes to schedule, flight attendants submit to rigorous work hours. However, job satisfaction among flight attendants is quite high. If you like to fly and travel, you will “live” all over the country, or possibly even the world.
You would have moderate control over your schedule through requests (or bids), but you would maintain work days, “on call” days, and off days.
Remote Customer Service
Income Range: $25,000-$40,000/year (US Bureau of Labor & Salary.com)
Of the other jobs listed here, this one could be the most difficult to maintain and travel. Often, employers require you to have a set workspace, but occasionally they only care that you have reliable Internet and a quiet space to work.
You do need to be technologically literate with basic computer and phone skills. Duties revolve around solving problems for customers belonging to one or a few companies within a similar industry.
Consulting
Income Range: $50,000-$150,000/year (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
When upper-level managers or executives leave the corporate world, they often embrace a lighter schedule through industry consulting. If you have an executive-level background in human resources, finance, or manufacturing, you have the unique experience and education to assume leadership of special projects for firms needing to overcome a challenge.
More and more companies are valuing the expert, outsider’s opinion,since the outsider expert is not as emotionally invested as are those within the company. As a consultant, you can plan your travel around the location of your clients, or secure just enough work to pay for your quality of life as a traveler.
Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)
Income Range: $25,000-$80,000/year (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
English teachers can teach non-English speakers online (telecommuting) or on-site in foreign classrooms. People around the world long to make the English language a key part of their (or their children’s) education.
You do not need very much training to begin a career in ESL, but you do need foreign language skills. Often, you can choose the age range of those non-English speakers you want to instruct. If you want to teach English abroad, the places most interested in hiring English teachers are Asia and the Middle East.
Cruise Ship Crew
Income Range: $20,000-$65,000/year (US Bureau of Labor & Indeed)
Working on a cruise liner (such as Carnival) offers a number of possible job descriptions, including customer service, hospitality, event planner, bartending, and more. Usually, your room and board are taken care of.
Crew members work long hours, but in your off time, you get to enjoy some of the amenities aboard the ship, visit places where the ship is docked, or even continue your education online.
Au Pair
Income Range: $10,000-$30,000/year (US Bureau of Labor & Aupair.com)
If you enjoy children, you might do well as a nanny, known as an “au pair.” General responsibilities include babysitting, maintaining the kids’ living areas, and transportation. In some cases, the au pair might be partially responsible for children’s education as well. An au pair is often considered an additional member of the family.
Naturally, employers are well-to-do families in more modernized countries. Though the pay looks low compared to other professions, au pair hosts are usually required by their governments to provide room and board free of charge.
Tour Guide
Income Range: $20,000-$50,000 (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
Applying for and qualifying as a tour guide is hard work. You may not get paid for training, and you will have to study hard to absorb the information necessary to properly service customers. This is one of the more exhausting traveling professions. You will have to know how to take care of those on your tour, and also how to properly handle emergency situations.
But on the upside, you become intimately knowledgeable about exotic parts of the world. Successful tour guides can become tour leaders, which involves more logistical planning and higher compensation.
Telemedicine
Income Range: $65,000-$200,000+ (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
Telehealth is a fast-growing industry that services telemedicine physicians. Occupations not only include physicians but also medical billers (coders), nurses providing health assessments for insurance companies, and customer service representatives.
Even licensed therapists are able to service their clients virtually through webcams.
Writing
Income Range: $30,000-$75,000 (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
The world of website search engine optimization has dramatically increased the demand for online content. That said, traveling writers are journalists, novelists, poets, and bloggers, too. If you possess a creative, capable writing style, you might seriously consider putting your skills to good use.
Even if you do not have the talent to publish a novel or book of poetry, you may still have what it takes to be a content creator for a marketing agency or a business website.
Coding/Computer Programming
Income Range: $60,000-$100,000+ (US Bureau of Labor & U.S. News and World Report)
As the 21st Century ushers in the age of artificial intelligence, more and more vital tasks are managed by software. Those trained and experienced in software coding are in huge demand in an ever-expanding world that shows few signs of slowing down.
If you have coding skills, or the ability to attend coding school, you can “speak to” computers in their language. As a computer programmer, you can often work from anywhere you like. All you need is a reliable computer and the expertise to create the code needed for projects assigned by your employer.
Coding/Website Development
Income Range: $40,000-$85,000 (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
While technically different from computer programming, building websites uses some of the same coding languages. Everything from building websites from scratch, to creating WordPress themes, to maintaining cloud software, falls under website development.
If you are a website developer, you are usually able to freelance easily and work from anywhere your computer can access the Internet.
Bartending
Income Range: $25,000-$70,000 (US Bureau of Labor & BreakIntoBartending.com)
Depending on where you bartend, you may or may not need a license to do so. While some restaurants will train servers to maintain the bar, more elite clubs prefer hiring professionals who have graduated from bartending school.
Serious bartenders use bartending school to perfect their trade and achieve higher base pay and tips. If you want to bartend and travel, bartending school might be a good idea, especially since it is cheaper and quicker than most vocational courses.
Online Translating
Income Range: $35,000-$100,000+ (US Bureau of Labor & ZipRecruiter)
One of the lesser-known, yet fast-growing remote-based jobs is online translation. If you are bilingual, formally trained in multiple languages, or if English is your second language, your translation skills may be highly sought after.
While some translating jobs are verbal, most involve some kind of transcription in which you would be needed to translate written content from one language into another.
Traveling Nurse
Income Range: $45,000-$100,000+ (US Bureau of Labor & All Nursing Schools)
Nearly every civilized part of the world needs nurses. If you are a registered nurse and want to travel, you may only need to pick your location and contact local hospitals. There are also traveling nurse staffing agencies that can help you pick your perfect job in the perfect location.
Virtual Assistant
Income Range: $20,000-$60,000 (US Bureau of Labor & Payscale.com)
Virtual assistants are more or less secretaries working remotely. If you have experience in an administrative assistant role, are handy with computers, and can maintain reliable Internet access, you are in a good position to start your career virtually and leave the confines of an office.
You are typically tasked with scheduling, social media management, and a number of other tedious tasks that your employer has little to no time to handle.
Tips for Searching for a Travel Job
Here are a few things to keep in mind when selecting a job that allows you to travel.
As a general rule, those trained in healthcare or digital coding are both the most highly-sought after employees and the most easily able to maintain their careers remotely from anywhere in the world.
For jobs that are less specialized, some travelers actually take up different careers at different periods of their lives. For example, this gentleman started teaching English abroad and then started working for a cruise line.
Income projections are only projected based on U.S. data. While many first world countries likely enjoy similar employment standards, most non-U.S.-based employers handle compensation and benefits differently.