Get Paid to Travel
In a perfect world, your job would consist of traveling to exotic destinations with just a backpack and a laptop, experiencing new things daily and meeting dynamic people from around the world. Your work would require only a few hours a week and could be done from anywhere with an Internet connection. Getting up in the morning would be easy, your daily commute would be non-existent, and the salary would be enough for you to travel forever. In the real world, jobs that pay you to travel are nearly impossible to get and the money you save up for your endless vacation will only last you for so long.
When you travel, even on a budget, you need a good amount of money to spend on transportation, lodging, insurance, food, fun, and other ‘once in a lifetime’ experiences that seem to pop up daily. The good news is there are ways of getting paid to travel that are literally available to anyone who is observant, adventurous, and independent. Your new job is to record how to information about the places you go and the adventures you have so that others can be inspired and recreate their own travel experiences.
Steps
- Don’t forget to pack. Some essential components you will need to get paid to travel are a passport, a backpack, a laptop (optional), a pad to scribble and preferably a digital camera, which will be an added advantage.
- Get in Adventures. You need to gain some independent travel experiences. This could include touring around Europe, safaris in Africa, trekking the Himalayas or sunbathing in Goa and so on.
- Experience Everything. To appeal to a wide audience, you need to cover all types of subject matter and content. This includes sites, food, culture, festivals, historical monuments, modern places worth visiting, history, natural beauties, nature, nightlife, places to stay or any other travel related topic that you want.
- Take Good Notes. You got to take copious notes on the details that others will want and need to know for their trip. Think about if you were going to send your grandmother on your same trip, what would she need to know in order to have a good, safe time? Your audience will reward you with readership, and that readership will help you get paid to travel.
- Write Articles. You get paid to travel by writing stories, articles, and reports about the places you visit. The more articles you write, the more money you can make. So many things will inspire you to put a pen to paper or put your fingers to a keyboard. As you go through your daily routine, put yourself in the shoes of a guidebook author. Your job is to report about the places you visit so that others can rely on your words in planning their travels.
- Distribute your Content. Once your ideas are organized into well written and informative articles, your next job is to find a home for your writing. There are many places online and in print that are looking for unique, well thought through travel content like what you have created. For instance you can write for BackpackForever.com and get paid to travel. Many newspapers want travel articles for their Sunday and human interest sections. Other places to shop your content include travel agencies, travel guides, book publishers, magazines. You could even start your own website or blog to house all your travel writing and get paid to travel.
- Gain a Following. As you write you will gain a following of readers who are interested in your content and interested in your adventures. It is this following that will allow you to truly get paid while traveling. Gaining a following involves optimizing your content for search engines such as Google.com and Bing.com. It also involves promoting your content throughout social media outlets such as Facebook.com and Twitter.com.
- Get Paid to Travel. In order to get paid to travel you must now monetize your writing. This involves placing advertising on your website or blog (such as Google Adsense or Avantlink Affiliate Network), selling your content to content aggregators, or accepting freelance writing work based on your portfolio of work and your knowledge of the world.
Tips
- Being a travel writer offers the freedom to live wherever you want and to get paid to travel. As you learn the ropes, stay on budget, and learn tips and tricks along the way, you will find the freedom most only sit and their office and dream about.
Things You'll Need
- a passport
- a backpack
- a laptop (optional)
- a pad to scribble
- a digital camera
Related Articles
Sources and Citations
- BackpackForever.com - The Backpack Forever Travel Community provides opportunities for budget travelers to earn extra income while traveling around the world.
- Upwork.com - A resource for freelancers to connect with buyers and business owners.
