The most common question about long travelling is about money: "How can I afford to travel like this? »
When you travel the world’s roads for a long time, you need money like everywhere else, but often far less than most non-travellers imagine. For most travellers who are used to long journeys, there are several solutions to provide for their needs during the big trip… or more simply to make it possible. Because, as you will see, some travellers don’t finance their trip, they make it. Here is a small, non-exhaustive list of possible solutions.
To travel, some have been saving for years
“I have worked hard and put money aside“. That says it all.
This is one of the most common plans, many of us have been dreaming of this trip for a long time. Somewhere they have a savings plan that they have put aside over years of hard work, or for birthdays, as Christmas presents or gifts.
You have a regular income that allows you to travel without working
If you are a pensioner, retired, receiving a pension of any kind or renting out your flat or house: you are very lucky and for the travelling community you win the jackpot. This is the easiest way to travel the world doing nothing but travelling without having to worry about your daily bread.
Work while you travel, it’s possible! What are the options?
Work and Holyday Permit
It is possible to work abroad with a WHV better known as the Working Holyday Visa. WHMs (workers) work on farms, picking fruit, but can also work in a company. This visa is usually valid for one year. After earning some (or a lot) of money, they usually continue their journey to other destinations where another WHV is waiting for them.
This type of visa is possible in a lot of countries but it depends of your nationality. The list changes, so it is recommended to go and see it directly on the site.
Be careful, there is an age limit. It is often only possible to obtain this visa until the age of 30. However, there is… Some countries are more flexible regarding age and accept adventurers up to 35 years old: Australia, Canada, Argentina…
The conditions differ from country to country, but it is usually a standard working visa. Make sure to find out beforehand, in Japan for example, the WHV does not allow you to work in a bar or nightclubs.
The number of weekly or monthly working hours also varies according to the destination.
The initial purpose of this visa is mostly dedicated to the “in-depth” discovery of a country while offering the traveller the possibility of financing the trip.
You don’t always earn a lot and often have to pay extra for accommodation and food. But sometimes the salary is very interesting.
WOOFING (Work On Organic Farm): working on organic farms around the world
Woofing is based on the same principle as WHV but it concerns exclusively organic farms as its English name indicates.
It is generally a daily work of 4 to 5 hours a day, spread over 5 days a week. Picking fruit, caring for animals, this work does not require great qualifications.
You have a job with a contract in a foreign country: you are an expatriate!
This is generally a job that matches your training or studies. This job is linked to a contract that contains the residence permit/work visa. You work in accordance with the country’s regulations, everything is declared, organised and signed.
But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Most countries favour their citizens. Sometimes the potential employer has to prove that nobody in the country is qualified or available for the job. This future boss will also have to pay extra charges. To get a job abroad, it is best to do your research before you leave.
If you have a very specific, highly technical training or are simply very much in demand in the country where you want to work, you may be lucky enough to land a great job in the country of your dreams. In this case, your objective will probably be to settle in the country for a while.
Financing your trip with odd jobs (cash-on-hand job)
Finding small contracts or jobs for a few weeks or months abroad is difficult. At least, it is possible to find them, but it is undeclared work. There is no insurance in case of accident, no guarantees to be paid, except the garantee that you will be caught during an inspection and sent back, manu militari of the country with the prohibition to return.
It is important to know that most countries, not to say the overwhelming majority, will give priority to their citizens before giving work to foreigners.
In this category, there are also those who make and sell, often on the sly, something, jewellery for example. The bulk of this category makes music in the street and lives on the generosity of music-loving passers-by.
There are also those who paint decorative frescoes in youth hostels in fashion: bed + food (a meal in general) + $5 to $10 a day.
Of course the list is not exhaustive, there are many forms of odd jobs.
I’ve met a lot of travellers who work this way. They don’t earn much but it’s enough for them to continue their journey.
Travelling while living on charity: begging for money
No, it’s not an advice, it’s just a list of the most exhaustive means of subsistence for travellers. This phenomenon is not uncommon, it even has a name: the Begpackers, a play on the English word to Beg and the 2nd part of the word backpacker. These travellers sit on the ground in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Delhi or Quito in front of a cardboard sign “Please Help me for my World Trip“. Sometimes they play music too, paint pictures, cards, but it is not for love of art that they do this…
This phenomenon has become widespread and the governments do not look favourably on these beggar travellers.
Volunteer work in organisations, families and communities
Everything is said: we work without earning a penny, but in exchange for housing and food. This allows you to immerse yourself in the country and… to spend (almost) nothing.
There are a plethora of websites that offer travellers the opportunity to come and work without pay in return. Sometimes it is a question of working in a hotel, hostel or youth hostel, or helping a family, looking after children, doing building sites in the house (painting, gardening), developing a local business, etc.
There are now a profusion of volunteer posts on dedicated sites in all countries. The most famous of these is called Workaway. Membership is paying and lasts only one year. You can find everything there. This site is open to everyone, even the elderly.
There are of course many organizations that employ volunteers for humanitarian purposes but beware of scam, they are commun!
There are of course many organizations that employ volunteers for humanitarian purposes but beware of scam, they are commun!
Working freelance with your computer: the new digital nomads travel while working and work while travelling
This option, extremely popular since the world has been connected to the internet, has found its own name: Digital Nomads.
These travelling workers just need a computer and an internet connection. They do translations, write content for the web, reference articles or sites for search engines, test websites, program, create sites, graphic design, etc.
It’s quite simple, you declare a company, you apply on dedicated platforms (UpWork, scriber, etc.), you work on projects and the site pays you (for a commission, it goes without saying).
If you’re already a freelance, then you’ll probably work with your own clients.
The higher the level of qualification (developers, animation specialist or complex and sought-after programs/language) the more lucrative the work will be and therefore the possibility to travel quite comfortably while working at your own pace. In other words, work when the need arises.
But if you are producing content for Amazon, the chances of making a living are like the salary: slim. A large proportion of digital nomads are content creators. Since the content of a website is a guarantee of its success, the demand for this profession has exploded. Beware, it’s not as easy as it sounds!
My point of view on digital nomads jobs: why not, but it’s quite badly paid, a lot of work for peanuts
In the worst case (unfortunately commonplace) the price per word is ridiculously low and drops up to 0.01€. That’s 7€ for an article of 700 words. Don’t forget to deduct the site’s commission, which is up to 20%. That’s about 5.60€ for a day’s work. Who can top that?
Many unscrupulous employers have understood the profits they can make from this type of worker. We see companies offering the complete translation of a website for 50€. This type of business works on a short-term basis. On a platform like Upwork, the more you work, the more you have the possibility of receiving ratings from the client. If these are good, we can reach the “5 star” level, which then allows to demand a higher remuneration. Many service providers are therefore prepared to do anything to obtain references and therefore a decent salary… which will surely never be reached. Behind you are thousands of digital nomads who are also waiting for their turn, paid at the lowest possible rate.
But in addition to a minimalist salary, other difficulties arise:
The offers are very random: sometimes the projects are in a hurry, sometimes there is a shortage.
The competition is important and the interesting offers are taken by storm. It will therefore be necessary to hunt for new clients and contracts regularly, to send many requests, to respond to advertisements: it take a lot of time.
Potential clients often ask for free writing tests. This is unpaid extra work that takes time and may not pay off.
In most cases the deadlines are very tight. You have to be very responsive and sometimes work like a donkey for 15 hours a day to deliver the work on time.
This solution deserves to be tested before you leave because if you have to spend 3/4 of the time on your computer running the stamp, the interest of the trip may quickly wane.
Travel free of charge, without paying a penny (or almost)
Yes, you have read correctly, it is the latest fashion, clearly visible on the canvas. It’s all about leaving with a tent, your little stuff and hitchhiking, camping, couchsurfing or staying with the locals.
It’s an extreme trip but not that difficult: you have to be good at relationships and have some nerve. The purists leave without a credit card, phone, camera, computer or anything expensive in the bag.
When it comes to transport, you’ll have to give up planes, trains and taxis. They hitchhike or negotiate free transport if it is public transportations.
For accommodation, no hostels, youth hostels or hotels. They pitch their tent in the garden, are welcomed in the house where a sofa, at best a cosy bed, awaits them.
For food, it is the generous locals who treat them. If not, travellers go round the restaurants to collect unsold items for free and it works very, very well.
Let’s go for adventure! These adventurers are often young, solitary or in pairs. They can be very well qualified (many engineers) and come from a good family. They can be found all over the world, but it is more a question of countries offering a real challenge like Mongolia, China or stan-countries.
They are in search of authentic adventures, far, very far from the beaten track. They want to change the world where everything is monetised, to find other paths, other social models.
It’s a fantastic life experience. Some make a film, a book or become stars on the net (Naked and cheeky). Bravo!
Do you want to act for the planet or for development? Beware of paid volunteering!
Many travellers are tempted to travel “useful”. They are often tempted by organisations that offer them to come and do voluntary work, but in addition to working without pay, the volunteer has to pay: to put it simply, you work for free, but you also give money. And the amounts demanded are not small: $2,000 or $3,000 for 2 to 4 weeks. Sometimes you have to provide for your own stewardship.
The offers are plethoric: maintaining a park, taking care of animals, looking after children in an orphanage, digging a well, the list is endless.
You can well imagine that the work offered must make you want to, Waahooouu, I’m going to go and look after elephants in Africa! And above all to give the impression of doing something big, beautiful, useful… Alas, one should not be under any illusions about the probity of this type of volunteering. It only aims at enriching the organisers and the elephants, the children or the village do not always benefit from it, it is even quite rare.
South Africa: Come and look after the animals in the park and help to preserve the wildlife (contact with the animals, maintenance of green spaces, etc.).
What awaits these good-hearted amateurs are poor housing conditions, out of order machines, unusable tools… and the wild animals are a few monkeys and 3 antelopes in captivity.
A simple calculation gives an idea of the good fortune that these generous volunteers represent: 12 volunteers at 600€ per week for 4 weeks: 28 800€ per month. Payment in cash. Yeeees. For South Africa as well as for Europe, these are colossal sums.
My point of view about paying for working
I am willing to work without financial compensation, but giving money for work, nope.
These lucrative volunteer work also has an important collateral damage: it captures donations that could be destined for respectable NGOs that are in great need and that really work for the common good.
This easy money for unscrupulous people also leads to a problem of trafficking concerning orphaned children who are not orphans at all but are abducted, used, rented or taken away from their families to make money. The phenomenon has become so widespread that NGOs such as the Red Cross now refuse to support orphanages. So, be careful and research a lot !
Travelling without breaking the bank is possible!
What are the tricks to travel far and long without paying a high price?
Follow these 11 tipps and save money on your travel budget !
Follow these 11 tipps and save money on your travel budget !
