Being able to travel the world while sustaining an income and even saving a bit of money was a dream of mine. Seeing other people enjoying sunrises and sunsets in Mexico, eating local food and speaking Spanish while also earning income while traveling seemed so unattainable until I realised it was so doable with an investment of my time and money to gather some skills. I went on to teaching English abroad, manage social media accounts and tour manage all in the space of a year. I can really say it is a dream to travel and work and I want to encourage other people to do so.
Here are 5 ways to make money while traveling the world.
In this article, I’ll give you traveling and earning tips and the ways I made money while travelling in Spain and Latin America over the last 3 years. The country really doesn’t make a difference, it’s more how you manage the different components to be able to work. A lot of it goes into the preparation, building the skills and I will link articles that can take you through different elements of them and the relevant course. I teamed up with my friend @isabelledoesthings who covered numbers 4 & 5.
I wanted to teach English to adults. I had little experience teaching English but I once volunteered in Brazil during my year abroad in 2019 and realised it was something I loved doing and was good at. Teaching English abroad needs qualification and I had no qualifications to be able to teach professionally! But I knew it was necessary for earning money and teaching English as a Foreign Language. During lockdown, I did some research and decided to register myself onto a 100-hour part-time online CELTA course (Certification of the English Language Teaching Adults) with International House.
The course costs approximately £1,500 and is available in different formats eg. in person. I mainly used Preply to teach and during my busy times, I earned around £50-70 a day, 4 days a week.
It eventually helped me in travel budgeting—I budgeted roughly between £250-£350 a week in places like Mexico and so it was a great way to cover my costs while also doing other jobs that I explain in this article.
Another great way in building income on the road is through digital marketing and social media management. I spent some time researching and enrolling in online courses with Coursera to build up my skills in digital marketing. There are a few apps which support the process of managing social media accounts that you should be aware of. Eg. Canva for design, Later for scheduling. Meta Business Suite to learn how to look at insights and analytics. They’re all really useful to then help you plan a social strategy for a client.
We all spend lots of time on social media anyway, so we know what makes a good post, reel, caption. That, plus a few professional tools such as the ones I’ve listed above will help you build a successful social media campaigns that are valuable for companies without a social media presence. I help 3 companies with social media management on the road and it’s been great (all fully remote!).
This is one of my favourite jobs when it comes to travel and work! I currently work as a freelance tour manager for Evolve Tours & Arbuthnott Holidays. If you’re outgoing, love to travel and consider yourself as organised, logistical and a forward thinker then Freelance Tour Manager may be the perfect job for you.
Oh, and foreign language skills always help but are never essential. There is little training required other than just gaining experience with companies such as Travel For Teens. They offer job opportunities to young people who are experienced travellers, high energy and eager to learn and have fun. They have many job opportunities throughout the summer months and you can earn good money whilst having very little costs on your trips.
The job itself is so fun and rewarding and is a fun way of sustaining income while traveling. I meet new people, learn about their cities whilst also exploring cities and places that I have enjoyed in the past. The skills I’d say are the most important are leadership, decision making and logistical planning. In one trip the role may involve me being teacher, doctor, waiter, hotel assistant, tour guide. There’s so much to learn and develop as a person and I love it. The job has taken me to amazing countries for tours like Argentina, Morocco, France, Scotland and Spain.
If you want to build up some valuable skills for tour management, I would recommend learning how to use a map properly, GoogleMaps doesn’t quite cut it in remote locations… Also, travel as much as you can as this always looks good on an application. My final suggestion is to complete a first aid qualification as many companies will require this for the application. I did a Wilderness First Responder course in 2022 and it has really helped me understand the needs of others and prevent illness and injury where necessary.
Volunteering is by far the best way to save money rather than make it while away, but not just that it gives you an amazing home away from home where you make friends from all over the world. A lot of volunteering jobs like Hostel Volunteering also offer the flexibility that you could work online part time while there, so you might get free food and accommodation, and work on your side hustle too. A top tip for hostel volunteering is to check the reviews of a place before you commit!
Teaching yoga is a great way to make money while travelling. It has been a dream of mine for a few years, and when I was doing my training I always had the idea that I could teach classes as a way to make money while travelling.
There are many different ways to teach yoga while away:
While volunteering: In hostels as your work for exchange or via Workaway or Worldpackers. Hostels may pay! Some hostels will pay you to teach classes there, not as a part of a volunteer scheme. This is not as easy to find but I recommend reaching out to popular hostels that offer yoga and find out what kind of exchange/payment they offer. This is a great way to make money while travelling.
Start your own classes – If you are in a location for a while you can print some posters and advertise your classes online – you could do beach classes or online Yoga classes in the park! You can also teach online classes to peers back home. I recommend starting an instagram while doing your training to build up some potential future customers before you start off. Online classes are amazing – all you need is a laptop or ipad, some good quality earphones (I use AirPods, you could also invest in a mic!) and a stable wifi connection.
We hope you found this article useful, if you’re interested to learn more about our experiences and remote work opportunities while travelling, then get in touch and follow us on instagram @studenttraveltipsuk @isabelledoesthings.
