Remember a while back I wrote an article about lifestyle redesign? It’s potential to exclude others?
I’m learning a second camp exists, those who already subscribe to a trimmed down material existence, are grasping pieces of what they love to do, but long to travel.
I confess, it’s easy to feel insulated. My corporate job allowed me to save 30% or more from each paycheque, adding to the pot are profits from selling possessions.
So, how to make travel happen for those not in my position? Some would suggest sheer will. Uh, somehow that doesn’t cut it.
Nobody relishes feeling trapped, no matter what your financial forecast might be, that is a universal feeling.
The road to travel?
Debt
If living expenses are under control (lowered rent, food, spending budget intact), credit card and student loan debt are probably what’s left to tackle. Here’s my lame advice, if you can, find an extra job that’s short term. Besides sites like craigslist, temp agencies are another avenue to obtain short term stints that add to your income. Some jobs available are receptionist, shipping and receiving, file clerk. Not glamorous, but if it’s temporary, who cares? Your purpose is to squash debt, not become top Girl Friday. Another thing, consolidate all your debt into a single payment. Doing this means you deal with one interest rate instead of several and it will be less daunting mentally. Speak to your bank, credit card company, or student loan provider for options.
Work for Free
Volunteering is underrated. Do comprehensive research and spit out a list of organizations that will do several things:
- Not charge for accommodation and provide meals.
- If they do charge, ensure it’s a small amount. Find out if you can get a tax receipt for flights, some offer this.
- Offers a stipend during your stay.
- Takes care of the visa process for you.
- Aligns with your ethics and philosophies.
Volunteering is not a free vacation. It’s dual purpose, gaining education and exposure to other cultures. You may not be able to travel for a full year, but small, satisfying trips could be reality.
Teach English, Again?
Some have tried this, hated it. Some haven’t. Why I suggest it for the umpteenth time is not every teaching experience from country to country will be boilerplate. If you had a terrible experience previously, it might be worth trying again. Once you settle somewhere, teaching can take many forms – native children to the country, international students, corporate clients. Each scenario affords challenges or leeway, it’s a matter of finding a suitable one.
Word is corporate clients are the cushiest, because work hours are short, and living quarters a personal choice. If coordinated with care, paying off debt and hanging in a new country is tangible. I know someone who paid off her entire degree by teaching overseas.
Some countries I know of (add to the list in the comments!):
- Thailand
- Brazil
- Japan
- Korea
- Turkey
- China
- Taiwan
- United Arab Emirates
Some bloggers who’ve done it, and can offer a fair opinion on the subject:
- Nomadic Matt.
- Our Own Path.
- Vagabonding Life.
- Around The World “L”.
- Grrrl Traveler (she’s doing it as I write this).
Speeding towards our dreams
Cruise Ship Jobs
Can you play a mean lick on the guitar? Massage shoulders into putty? Eat, sleep, breathe photography? A cruise ship job is a viable option for you. Some interesting points to consider:
- You can not only earn, but save a substantial amount of money for a short period of time, all your expenses are taken care of by the cruise line (food, accommodation, medical care, airline ticket to the port of embarkation and back home, regardless which part of the world you live).
- Citizens of certain countries don’t have to pay taxes on the income they have earned at sea (US citizens pay taxes if employed by US based cruise line).
- Travel in style around the world for free (even getting paid for it).
- Getting away from a boring job, career or every day routine.
- Cruise line jobs allow you to visit a variety of places, since you will be working in many different countries.
Resources to get you started:
- Cruise Ship Job Finder
- How To Find a Cruise Ship Job
- Free Directory of Cruise Line Recruitment Agencies
Start Joshing Like An Entrepreneur
Along the lines of cruise ship jobs, tap into something you can market or sell. Whether you design websites, sew handbags, or shoot/edit video. Take it from a woman who did not grow up with internet. My youth was spent hand writing the perfect ‘f’ in my stapled together exercise book. Let’s just say things took their sweet time to germinate. Suddenly the internet made immediacy a hot buzzword. Anything and everything can happen, which leaves boundless opportunities to market your skills, interests or passions. An internet connection is reasonably priced, so is setting up an online store or website.
People or ideas to get the creative blood thrumming:
- The Exile Lifestyle – Colin Wright runs a boutique design firm abroad, with 3-month stays in each country.
- Untemplater – Damn fine overall site to connect with other entrepreneurs and percolate ideas.
- Cody Mckibben – One of the brains behind Untemplater, his site gives tips, tricks and encouragement.
- Kickstarter – Got a project in mind? A film? Photographing majestic animals in Africa? Dance or art study? Get your project kickstarted.
- Hostel Dog – Garrett Schemmel grew tired of wandering without purpose, so he turned his love for travel into a business. Read his story.
- Etsy.com – Giving hobbyists a venue to make money from their passions.
- Ponoko – Manufacture and sell products from your Mac or PC. I know, cool.
- How to Set-Up An E-Commerce Site.
Redefine Long Term Travel
Reconcile the fact that my kind of long term travel can’t exist for everyone. It may be perceived that cubicle warriors boast an advantage, but I think not. Travel comes down to passion and thinking outside the box. I encounter a plethora of regular folks who don’t want to or won’t be doing it with my methods.
- Traveling Savage – In the fall of 2010, Keith Savage embarks on traveling stints at one month intervals with intentions of returning home to his wife, Sarah.
- Solo Friendly – Gray Cargill is the kind of solo traveler who prefers a home base. And why not? Her site offers relevant and well written solo tips.
- The Nomadic Mother – A single mother gathers a 65 L pack, her 8 year old daughter Katie, and a desire to travel to set off in 2008. She just returned to a home base, with more plans to travel.
- Mike Barish – A travel writer with a permanent home? Yup, they do exist.
- My Beautiful Adventures – Andi Perullo is a Traditional Doctor of Chinese Medicine who travels every couple of months.
Instead of year long travel, the converted might want to consider life long travel. Travel, whenever possible, is never cheap or inauthentic.
Source: Cruise Line Jobs
Photos: pierre pouliquin and extremearO
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
@GRRRL TRAVELER – I’m seriously thinking of stopping over! Would be great to meet you in person. :)
May 14, 2010 at 1:29 am
Hey there Grrrl Wonder! Looks like you’ve covered all bases & thanks for the mention. I didn’t see your link-back until now, so apologies for the delay. There are moments when being a newbie expat & a EFL Teacher can obviously feel brutally draining & a juggle. The “easy life” you imagined occasionally feels hard. Perhaps that’s the 9-5 culture that you live and i’m just getting to know. heh, heh. How do you make it balance out? You travel! ;-) I think you should plot a stopover in Korea on your way out this way– we need to get a drink!
@Keith – Thanks, Keith! Couldn’t agree more on the echo chamber. Yet, there’s also that collective consciousness to contend with! :)
Great post, and thanks for the mention. Much of travel blogging is done in a kind of echo chamber, but posts like this one strive to reach a broader audience. Nice work!
@Brooke vs. the World – Exactly, Brooke. If travel is the blood that pulses through your veins, there IS always a way. And again, with the internet, the information is readily available. Love your comments! :)
It’s really amazing what you can do if you just put your mind to it. Sydney is a freaking expensive place to live – seriously – but somehow I get by :) Everything seems so relative… whereas before I would be like “OMG $200/WEEK for rent – no way”. Now, it’s just standard. You change your needs and pick out what’s important and deal with it… just like those people who busk or sell jewelry to travel.
@Andi – Accolades well deserved lady. You make travel happen and run a business! I’m amazed at you, these days I’m an unemployed reprobate. :)
OMG, I’m SO honored to have been mentioned, was TOTALLY not expecting that!!! This is such an awesome post girl. I hope everyone reads it. It has such valuable advice. I strongly believe that if someone TRULY wants to travel then they’ll find a way period. I get really tired of hearing people say they wish they could travel. If I sat down with them for 10 minutes I bet I could easily figure out a way to make it happen. It’s all about priorities. Thanks for the shout out. :)
@GotPassport (Aye) – I always miss the RV people, so thanks for that! And Chiang Mai is a decent spot for a home base if you ask me. :) Look forward to meeting you!
Sorry my fingers cannot type as always… Workamper.com is what I was referring to!
so glad you have a section for “redefined long term travel” This is totally our cup of tea, for now. Our home base will be Chiang Mai, Thailand and sooo looking forward to it!
Oh and we’re trying to get on the “semester at sea” in the future so that’s something to consider for those who loves to teach and travel.
For those of you considering the RV route, consider Waprkamper.com. We met so many peeps doing this during our 3-month long travel last summer (2009) with our 6 yo.
Great resources here Jeannie.
@ayngelina – Right on, sister. Agreed. I do think there are folks who just can’t see the forest through the trees, their mission is to complain and not see the varied possibilities. Travel is possible, with multiple pathways!
@Joshua @ H2BA – Interesting you choose teaching English. Guess lawyering is a country specific job? Obviously the purpose of it is to immerse yourself in the culture as you said. :)
@Gray – I just adore your site for highlighting that solo travel comes in many forms, just like long term travel, there is no set formula. :)
@Kyle – Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I’ve suggested WWOOFing in another Gypsy Tips, why repeat myself? :) Great advice on cruise ship jobs. What I’ve heard is work schedule and type of job is a factor. I could be wrong here, but my understanding is ships are based on hierarchy, so musicians have an easier time of it than kitchen staff. If you like to cook, don’t work on a cruise ship, you probably won’t see daylight for days! Hopefully Wandering Earl sounds in on this discussion. -:D
You know I’ve met a lot of people on the road who aren’t career professionals and they still travel. In fact I met one guy who was a busker and just made enough money to get by. Recently I met a girl from the US who makes jewelry and sells it in local tourist markets and she’s been traveling for two years.
The fact is, if you really want to do it, you can make it happen.
Teaching english is definitely on my list of travel options in the coming years, although I see that more as a stopping off point before my next project – what it does do is give you the opportunity to immense youself in an community that you would never ever even visit in normal circumstances.
I like that you have highlighted all the varied ways that people travel long term – especially the ways I have not considered before! Those who do it and make a living along the way are so inspiring.
Thanks for the mention. Jeannie. You offer some good advice here. I had not heard of Kickstarter or Ponoko before, so I’ll have to check them out. Setting up an e-commerce site is the easy part; getting people to buy your stuff is definitely harder. But it’s still worth trying.
Hey, thanks for the mention! It’s always a welcome surprise when reading a post :)
I’ve done 2 of these (and almost 3), and these are definitely good options. I can say volunteering can be difficult at some places unless you have a specific skill to offer. Through my wife’s connections, I was able to make websites for a couple of different non-profits and in exchange, they housed us. Excellent experiences and highly recommend it. Also, while I haven’t done it, I’ve heard WWOOFing is a good experience.
As for teaching English, yes, it does vary quite a bit based on a lot of factors, most of which are out of control of the traveler. Some people have good schools, others don’t and it’s really hard to tell which ones are good or not. On the definite plus side, we knew several people in Korea who payed off huge of debts by teaching there for a year.
As for cruise ships, I had a lot of musician friends who did it in the summer and all they told me was that it was very hard work. Lots of money, but lots of work. But, most people end up liking it and doing it again and again (see: Wandering Earl).
Thanks for the good list!
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