It’s astonishing how many people will put up with a job they don’t like, to only just cover expenses in a lifestyle they’re not thrilled about either.
Too often we ignore our inner child and sacrifice our happiness for a “healthy” paycheque. Considering it’s been proven that happier people live longer and that we spend on average 1/3 of our life at work, most of which whilst we are fit and healthy, it just makes so much more sense to put job satisfaction before income.
If it came down to it I’d rather just get by, besides the ones I love, doing things I love, in places I’d rather be or preferably all three together, that’s said, with a bit of hard work, the right planning and advice, you don’t have to give up the healthy paycheque either.
Over the years I’ve learned to live quite comfortably and even make great money as you travel, all you need is a bit of courage, effort and a pocket full of knowledge, yes your smartphone will do ๐
There are a bunch of amazing lifestyle jobs that allow you to travel and enjoy the world before you’re too old, below you have 10, I personally have done more than half of these “jobs” and loved all of them, the others I have also investigated or have close friends or family that chose these lifestyles, love life and travel a lot, I will save my personal favorite until #10. Please feel free to get in touch or leave comments if you know any other great options that may be useful for other readers. Enjoy!
1 – Cruise Ships–

- Cruise ships have pretty much every type of service onboard meaning they hire everything from the crew, labor work to hairdressers, entertainment, hospitality and much more.
- A simple search for “cruise ship jobs” and you’ll be able to find a company that works from your home country and everything you need to get started.
2 – Yacht Crew

- There are sites you can create a profile, where boat owners who need crew are looking for people who they might get along with and want to share their pride and joy (boat) with.
- Once sailing around you often meet other interesting people with boats that you can connect with so, It does get easier once you get in the scene.
- You may already know someone who knows someone with a boat but otherwise put some love into your profiles online. Below you have a few places you can start.
- https://www.findacrew.net
- https://www.crewseekers.net/
- Another effective tactic is just going down to your local marina and asking around, show your character and show your keen, meeting in person always has more impact.
3 – Airline Industry

- Becoming a Pilot obviously requires a decent amount of discipline and investment of your time and money but the pay and perks reflect the investment.
- There are a number of pros and cons with becoming an air host, here is an article that you might find interesting if you want to consider this as the job you’d like to go for.
- Airline jobs that come with the travel perks aren’t only limited to the jobs just mentioned but these two positions certainly provide more travel as you work.
4 – Volunteer

- Hostels all over the world rely on volunteers, in exchange you will get everything from just a free bed to sometimes 3 meals a day and more depending on what is expected in return. Get in touch with a few in the area you’re wanting to go and see if they will have any available positions around the time you plan to be there. Once you get going, again it becomes easier as your experience and network grow.
- Not just hostels but many businesses or foundations rely on volunteers, so you can find a large variety of volunteer jobs that you can apply for, here are a few places you can start looking.
- https://www.workaway.com/
- https://www.goabroad.com/volunteer-abroad
- https://www.volunteerforever.com/article_post/best-volunteer-abroad-programs-organizations-projects
- If you like the idea of volunteering on organic farms, check out http://helpex.net/ or https://wwoofinternational.org/
- Another great place to start which you can find opportunities for both volunteer and paid work is here https://www.workingtraveller.com
5 – English Exchange

- A certification to teach English like TEFL (Teach English to Foreign Language) will help open opportunities but isn’t always necessary.
- https://www.diverbo.com/ is a good example of a site that will connect you with opportunities but just try googling “Native English Exchange” for the area you are interested in visiting.
- https://culturegogo.com/ is a great site that allows you to exchange English for food and board.
6 – Tourist Guide

- Having certifications that back up your experience will always get you more jobs but I got my first guiding job just simply by being confident with people, bikes and having my first aid certificate and then grew from there.
- You can get pretty serious with guiding and make serious money along with it, but it really isn’t about the money for most guides, I have some friends that do it full time, but I also have friends that volunteer in adventure tour companies all over the world in exchange for board, food, a great time doing activities they love plus the occasional tips.
7 – Snowfields/Ski resort work

- You don’t need to be a ski instructor to enjoy the slopes, one of my mates works as a Chef, follows the seasons and just snowboards in his time off, he gets paid well enough to keep bouncing from one side of the planet to another and gets staff discounts off everything from accommodation, food and lift passes.
- You will almost definitely need a working visa to work in snowfields around the world, so it’s worth noting that in most places that become hard once you turn 30.
- Here is a good article if you’re interested in looking into snow resort work https://www.snowseasoncentral.com/10-steps-to-finding-a-ski-resort-job
8 – Dive Instructor

- It depends on where you are and how long you intend to stay but you don’t always need visas to get work diving but you will need to be certified and have some experienced at least.
- Feel free to get in touch as I have a few connections around the world with diving schools and shops
- here’s one site that dive shops will post job positions on https://divezone.net/jobs
- and a good article about what it takes and what it’s like traveling the world as a dive instructor https://www.aroundtheworldin80jobs.com/scuba-instructor-in-utila/
9 – Musician or Performer

- You don’t have to be an amazing musician/artist to get started, whilst I was in Florida USA, short on cash I knew a few songs well enough on guitar to play them on repeat as people walked past on the boulevard, I made about $40 US in 2 hours, which doesn’t sound like much but you can definitely get by on $40 US a day.
- Busking is a great way to improve your music as you travel and once you’re a more weathered entertainer, you can also start to book paid gigs.
- Cruise ships often pay well for in house entertainers, the work is regular and comes with perks of food, accommodation and of course travel. This isn’t limited to just music, maybe you’re a dancer or magician.
- Here’s a great article about how my brother has been traveling the world for 1500 days straight on his #looptheworld tour, all paid for by his music and how he gets gigs along the way. HOW TO GET GIGS ON THE ROAD (By Simon Wright)
10 – Online Income

The idea of being able to earn a great income from anywhere in the world or be with my loved ones when I want or when they need me was more than enough motivation to overcome my terrible computer skills and figure out how I could make an income with just a laptop and wifi signal.
How? Turns out in today’s ever-growing digital world there are plenty of ways, and the good news is that with a bit of discipline, as long as you can self motivate and follow simple instructions, then you don’t need to be a tech nerd anymore to make good money online. I literally taught myself to touch-type just a few years ago, why now? because geographical freedom aside, the truth is that online business is the future and I know it.
If you’d like to learn how to build a profitable online business from scratch and turn your skills or passions into an online income stream so that you too can start building a future with geographical freedom then feel free to get in touch or click here for more info.
Follow my journey from the 9-5 grind to geographical freedom with tips and advice along the way on Facebook and or Instagram.
Feel like this article might inspire someone that you know who isn’t happy in their current job and needs a change in direction? one way you can help me to continue investigating and writing useful content is by sharing and liking this article on your social media networks.
Until next time, be good to yourself and each other.
Tom Wright
Wow Tom!!!! This is so inspiring and very informative. Thinking of looking into a few ideas when l travel next year.I suppose my question is two part;
Is there an age limit on work visas for overseas and do you need a work visa to volunteer?
Happy adventures …xxx
Thanks Sharyn ๐ keep an eye out for my next blog which will be more about ways to make the pennies last whilst traveling without taking away from the experience.
Hey Sharyn, it would depend where you are looking to go, working visas and volunteer visas are completely separate visas, work visas often become harder with age if you haven’t got a specific skill that is in demand within that country just like Australia but volunteer visas tent to be easier to get and not so age dependant. Depending on which country you’re considering and how long you’re thinking of going for, you may just be able to go on a holiday visa and get in touch with volunteer opportunities there without the need to organise anything. A good sight to check out what countries your passport allows you to enter without pre organising visas is this one https://www.passportindex.org/byRank.php I hope that help a bit xx
This is very accurate and identifies most of the new demanding careers taking shape today!
Glad to see people like you inspiring new generations!
Hey Suey, I’m enjoying the experience of sharing some of the tips that have enabled me to live such a fun life! thanks for the comment ๐
Best view i have ever seen !
Thanks for your comment, I’m glad you think so and hope you got something out of it.