Do you love to travel but don’t have infinite piles of money to fund your dreams and feed your wanderlust? The ideal plan is to look for jobs you can do while traveling.

But let’s face it: a job is a job and many have come to realize doing the job actually obstructs the exploration side of traveling. Not so many companies allow their employees to sit for six months immersed in some remote Asian culture or spend two months on a beach somewhere to master surfing skills.

There are, fortunately, plenty of globe trotters out there who also became digital nomads – people traveling, working and making money on their own time and terms while casually connected to the internet. Photographers, travel bloggers, reporters, sports buffs and culinary researchers can meet the best of both worlds: travel at their own pace and make money on the go. Many things can be learned en route and many jobs can cross your path if you know how to look for them!

Let’s take a look at 32 awesome jobs you can do while traveling and keep your freedom all to yourself!

1. Online Freelancer

As long as you have a laptop and an internet connection you are good to go! You can work remotely from a hotel or the beach. It doesn’t matter as long as you deliver the results to your client in time and at their best. You can do anything as an online freelancer, from writing papers to filling Excel sheets with given data. If you pick up the pace and gain a good reputation you will be making money and travel freely with no schedule and no boss.

2. Travel Blogger

This is the most logical thing to do since you are a nomad and a travel buff. Building your own blog and turning it into a business might take years, but you can use shortcuts. Write really awesome articles and take some good pictures, throw in some funny personal stories and first-hand information and online travel magazines would be happy to publish you. The quirkier the story, the better. Walk an unbeaten path and instead of writing about the most interesting landmarks in a city (as everybody has Wikipedia), go for top places to visit after a breakup or offer tips for one-day trips to a certain destination.

Online travel magazine will evaluate your story and if they like your personal take on traveling, they will help you make a name for yourself in the travel blogging niche. From there you can become a permanent collaborator for newspapers, travel agencies and blogs, travel companies and so on.

3. Import / Export Representative

Some small / medium companies would love to offer you a percentage of sales as long you can deliver products from one country to another. It is rather illegal to start selling your own-bought souvenirs at street corners, but a part-time collaboration with a company on non-edible goods, product samples and so on might offer you the exact financial freedom you were looking for.

4. Travel Translator / Interpreter

If you are fluent in at least one foreign language, your funds are secured. Take your certificates and papers with you to add authoritative value to your skills and find translator jobs for tourist groups, hotels, and business people traveling in foreign countries or magazines needing written translations.

5. Tour Guide

You may need certifications, but in more remote areas your services will be more than welcomed by tourists willing to pay for a guide speaking their language and really knowing the place. If you are business oriented for real and love a place enough to stay there for a year or so, you can develop your own travel / adventure tours.

6. Travel Bartender

You can be a bartender in the Caribbean in summer and in ski resorts in winter and have enough money to allow you to move freely from one destination to another without constantly worrying about money. It isn’t that difficult to find a bartender job overseas and there are plenty of resources to help you with your endeavors.

7. Resort Worker

Another one of the jobs you can do while traveling is find employment as a resort workers. There are plenty of international resorts which would hire seasonal workers for a large range of jobs, starting with desk clerks and ending with electricians. There are always the work permits issues to be solved, but as a wandering vagabond you can land some comfortable labor with enough money to fund your next expedition.

8. Hostel Worker

Many hostels are willing to offer their tourists some odd jobs you can do while traveling that include accommodation and food. If you plan to stay for longer periods of time, some hostels will eventually pay you for desk jobs or “around the house” work.

9. Freelance Fitness Instructor

If you love to keep fit, travel, make money and help others keep their health and looks you can become a freelance fitness instructor. You can also close deals with local hostels or gyms at a given travel destination and make good money no matter where you plan to go next.

10. English as a Foreign Language Teacher

Not many people know this, but professional English teachers are highly sought after all over the world. You would need, however, a college degree and a TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), but you can land such a job almost anywhere in the world and still travel upon your liking. Korea and Japan are considered to be the highest paid countries of the world when it comes to international English tutors.

11. Massage Therapist

While we are not all skilled in this art and science, massage therapists are highly sought after in many parts of the world. Freelancers usually work in resorts or in collaborations with hostels and spas. You can advertise for yourself and cut hotels discounts if they refer the clients to you.

12. Photographer

If you are skilled in using your camera you can become a full time travel photographer and send your works to blogs, newspapers and online magazines. However, you can become a local freelance photographer for hostels, resorts and even bars / cafes. Moreover, exotic destinations are usually sought for honeymoons and wedding ceremonies so you can land wedding / any other type of party photography job to contribute to your financial traveling comfort.

13. Busking

This isn’t a quite a job and some might frown upon it but it can make you enough money for food, shelter and a bus ticket to your next destination. Depending on which country you are in, busking might be illegal or it might be allowed with the appropriate license. Busking represents street performance – magic tricks, mimes, music, cosplaying and so on. Either you do have some talents to show for and make money or you just look good in pictures in your Deadpool suit, busking is a fun way to meet people and earn an honest buck.

14. Online Sales

Even better than importing / street selling stuff, online sales can help you make a decent income while you travel. You can sell items that you buy in local markets or stuff that you don’t need anymore.

15. Profit Sharing / Affiliate Marketing

Such an endeavor offers you plenty of free time especially if you already have a website or a blog. You can become an Amazon affiliate for a wide range of products; you can make affiliate earnings from book sales or cosmetic products and so on. This doesn’t mean sitting back, relaxing and counting your money, as competition is fierce, but if you get the hang of it, your profits might start looking quite attractive.

16. Teaching People Things

We are not talking about getting certifications and diplomas, but have some fun teaching people some things you are good at. Such things can be music, arts, web design, bike riding, pottery, cooking, you name it. The best path is to close deals with hotels and hostels and offer them discounts for referring you to their clients. You can teach people fishing, horseback riding and even basic computer skills for reasonable fees.

17. Children-Oriented Activities

This sounds a lot like busking, but it is children-oriented. Parents (and especially parents traveling with children) are willing to pay for the little ones’ entertainment, especially during family vacations. Art classes, face painting, animal balloons, origami, pottery, gardening, fun and educational games – these can be activities and classes you can get paid to offer a bunch of enthusiastic kids.

18. Dance Teacher

Same as teaching people anything, if you have the moves, you can get seasonal jobs at hotels and resorts to offer tourists such classes. While it is harder to teach people dancing in the lack of a proper studio, you can get some collaboration with hostels and hotels to allow you to offer such services in one of their halls.

19. Cruise Ship Crew

Now this is a job-job: you can get hired by a crewing company for a yacht or a cruise ship. You will get food, shelter, a salary and some pretty impressive travel experiences as long as you are willing to travel where the ship cruise takes you.

20. Menu Editor

This is a rather odd job but it can become a means to an end. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes and hotels trying to attract foreign tourists, but their menus and signs are full of mistakes and especially bizarre English translations. You can give the good people a hand and get some money for it, or at least free food.

21. Advertiser for Local Businesses

Some local restaurants and sports centers will love a helping hand in attracting tourists – especially a collaborator who can speak a foreign language or two. You can spread flyers for a certain local company or you can literally pick up and convince tourists to try some water sports or some local activities or tours.

22. Food Critic

Somewhere in between a travel blogger and a freelance online worker, a traveling food critic can make a name for himself by writing on behalf of certain restaurants on dedicated platforms for online visibility and traffic or by reviewing food and restaurants for online publications or magazines. This won’t make you rich over night, but you can build a reputation as a foodie and make money from paying websites in search for fresh content.

23. Fruit / Vegetable Picking Jobs

In many European countries, in Australia and other interesting places you can get by if you also get a fruit picking job. Life is not that easy, as the job is hard and the payment not mind-blowing, but if you just want to make money to fund your next trip, you should be fine.

24. Organic Farm Worker

This is even better than finding a fruit picking job on your own. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) offers volunteers the opportunity to work and travel in safe and ethical ways. Usually payment is not involved, but you can work in exchange for your food and accommodation which means that you can travel for a long time without depleting your savings. 

25. Volunteer

If you opt for Peace Corps, the Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity (or any other international volunteer-based NGO) you will be able to safely travel the world and make it a better place in the same time. The Peace Corps doesn’t pay, but it does offer you a monthly stipend to cover your expenses when you are abroad. Whether you build homes, offer educational aid, relief and basic care to children, adults and communities, a volunteer’s job will take you many places and offer you a new perspective on the world. 

26. Au Pair

Travel, make money and babysit cute kids all over the world? It sounds almost too good to be true. Being a nanny in foreign countries may not be just like in the movies, but will earn you money, experience and a veritable immersion in another country’s culture. You will also often be living with the family you are working with, so this will cut down your accommodation expenses. 

27. Fast Food / Restaurant Cook

The hours are long, the workload can be stressful sometimes and you may need some credentials, but mixing your love for food with your cooking skills might be your ticket to traveling, being a working chef and making money on the side to finance your next trip to a new place of culinary wonder.

28. Day Trader

If you can do this and have the skills and experience to make money, you can do it from anywhere in the world with awesome results. According to travel traders, this is the perfect job granting you location freedom, time freedom, and financial freedom.

29. Festival Vendor

There are many ways to make money while selling stuff you own or create on your own, but nothing beats being a festival vendor. Some people travel for culture or history, others to experience some of this world’s greatest and most exciting festivals and celebrations (either rock concerts or costume parties). Selling arts and crafts with these occasions brings you big bucks as you work with huge numbers of people. Moreover, you can sell some interesting and useful things if you have a nose for this business (plastic rain coats, rubber boots for muddy festival arenas, pocket flashlights, batteries, leather accessories etc).

30. Festival Worker

Large festivals need a lot of qualified and unqualified people to work with and you can hunt for jobs by looking up large festivals a couple of months before they are held. You can be part of the cleaning personnel at one and bar tending personnel at another. The money isn’t spectacular, but if entertainment is the reason that you travel, seeing your favorite bands and attending some of the weirdest and famous world celebrations (while earning a buck or two) may be a traveler’s dream came true.

31. AirBnB Entrepreneur

Now just as you travel the world, others do the same. Why not rent your place to others just like you (in an automated-enough process to not require your physical presence) and live off the rent you get?

32. Internet Poker Player

Last but not least, internet poker players make (and sometime lose) good money while free to travel anywhere in the world. Some skills and a reliable internet connection is all you need. You don’t need to become a full-time gambler to make decent earnings and stay safe.

Are you going to travel and work your way through the world in the immediate future? What destinations do you plan to visit this year and how do you intend to fund them? Which one of these amazing jobs you can do while traveling appeals to you the most? 

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