How To Actually Make Money Traveling Around The World

Unsplash/Capturing the human heart.

Calling all adventure junkies out there! Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to travel as part of your career? And no, we’re not talking about becoming a blogger or an Instagram influencer who gets paid to travel. We’re talking about old-school careers that are a little more mainstream and attainable, but still let you travel the world while getting paid. Without further ado, here are six jobs that allow you to travel, along with skills that are usually needed to qualify for each and average salaries.

1. Yachtie

Pexels/Bruce Mars

A yachtie is a person whose occupation is to maintain and navigate a luxury yacht. Yachtie jobs come in many different forms — entry-level yacht jobs typically include deckhand, stewardess or steward and onboard chef. As a deckhand, you basically need to make sure that the exterior of the yacht looks brand new at all times. You’re also in charge of any duties associated with leaving and arriving to port. As a steward or stewardess, your main responsibility will revolve around interacting with guests on the yacht. You’ll be in charge of serving food, drinks and making arrangments for any onboard entertainment activities. Additionally, you’ll be responsible for keeping the inside of the boat in pristine condition at all times. As an onboard chef, your primary responsibility will obviously be to prepare food for the guests as well as for the entire yacht crew.

Working on a luxury yacht basically allows you to travel the world for free. But don’t be fooled, yachtie jobs are anything but a piece of cake. Yachties get paid to work insane hours and to deal with often overly demanding guests. Although most Yachties are known to make a decent living, your annual salary will depend on many factors — like the size of the yacht that you work on and the size of the owner’s wallet.

Required skills and qualifications:

Deckhand:

• An awareness of maritime safety issues
• The ability to work well as part of a team
• Be physically fit (this job requires a lot of manual labor)
• Good hand-eye coordination 

Pay: $30K to $55K a year.

Steward(ess):

• Good service skills
• Attention to detail
• Discretion
• High-energy, outgoing personalities favored
• Ability to multitask
• The ability to work well as part of a team
• Previous experience as a server or a bartender at a restaurant or bar is highly favored
• Previous yacht experience is a plus

Pay: $30K to $70K a year.

Onboard Chef:

The required skills and qualifications for onboard chefs will depend on the caliber and the size of the yacht that you’re trying to work on. Having previous culinary experience and having worked as a chef or sous chef at a restaurant generally helps a lot. You’ll need to be flexible and work well under pressure.

Pay: $36K to $80K a year.

2. Flight Attendant

Wikimedia Commons

As a flight attendant, you’ll get to travel all over the world, essentially for free. Most commercial airlines pay for their crew’s accommodations and transportation during layovers. You’ll get to visit many places, all on your employer’s dollar. But being a flight attendant isn’t easy — you’ll often be working weekends and holidays. Plus you’ll have to deal with time changes and jetlag during international travel. But if you’re passionate about seeing the world, it might be worth it!

Required skills and qualifications:

• High school diploma or GED
• You must be able to pass a background check
• Some airlines have height requirements for flight attendants
• Appear well put together at all times on the job
• Have excellent customer service skills

Pay: The average base salary of a flight attendant is $53K a year.

3. Travel Agent

Unsplash/rawpixel

Although the bulk of the travel agent’s job is to arrange and schedule travel for clients, in order to make accurate recommendations about destinations many travel agents take advantage of free trips to luxury resorts sponsored by hotel companies. But this job isn’t as glamorous as it might seem based on Insta pictures. Travel agents get paid on commission, so they basically get paid a percentage for every trip or excursion that they’re able to book for their clients. Basically, you’re a salesperson with really good travel perks.

Required skills and qualifications:

• College courses in travel and tourism preferred
• Experience in customer service or sales a plus
• Knowledge of foreign languages a plus
• Excellent customer service skills and telephone manner
• Strong communication and sales skills
• The ability to prioritize and work under pressure

Pay: In 2017, the median annual salary for a travel agent was $36,990, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

4. ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher

Unsplash/rawpixel

If your English is good and you possess skills that make for a good teacher — like patience and good communications skills — teaching English abroad could allow you to explore and work in many different countries. Since English has become such an important language globally, local schools in various countries are constantly looking for more English teachers. While you likely won’t become a billionaire by teaching English, some countries pay decent salaries to English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, especially when you account for the cost of living in that particular location. Countries in the Middle East and in Asia, for example, are known for paying higher than average wages to teachers.

Required skills and qualifications: 

• A bachelor’s degree is usually required
• A degree in English or teaching is a plus
• You’ll need to have obtained an ESL teaching certification — like the TEFL certification
• Good communication skills
• A lot of patience

Pay: Your salary will depend on what country you choose to teach in and what level of English you’re teaching, but it’s not uncommon for ESL teachers to make between $2K and $5K per month.

5. Au Pair

Pexels/Daria Shevtsova

If you’re an au pair, you’ll be able to live in a new country for free in exchange for taking care of your hosts’ children and sometimes the hosts’ housework. Although you won’t be paid a salary, you will get paid a weekly stipend which will vary based on where you’re working and your responsibilities. Being an au pair is basically like working as a nanny in a foreign country, but unlike a nanny, you’ll be living directly in your employer’s home. That’s a lot more one-on-one time with the boss than we’d like, but it comes with the chance to explore a new country.

Required skills and qualifications: 

• Must have experience working with children
• At least 18 years old
• High School Diploma or GED recommended
• Driver’s license usually preferred
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Good time management skills
• Patience
• Good communications skills
• Good planning skills and attention to detail
• Good with kids

Pay: As mentioned before, au pairs aren’t typically paid a salary but they do get a weekly stipend by their host family. Pay depends a lot on the agency that you go through as an au pair and on the country that you’re working in. But most agencies will require au pairs to get paid a weekly stipend of at least $195.

6. Undercover Hotel Inspector

Pixabay

Become an undercover hotel inspector and get paid to secretly rate hundreds of high-end hotels, hotel restaurants and hotel spas all over the world. Sounds like a dream job, right? But it actually requires a lot more work than you might think. For starters, extreme attention to detail is a must to get a job as a hotel inspector — many companies require inspectors to answer more than a thousand different questions based on each hotel that they’re reviewing, plus an additional written narrative detailing specific observations about the property and its services. But we can admit, the job still sounds pretty great.

Required skills and qualifications: The skills needed to become a hotel inspector vary depending on the types of hotels that you’d be reviewing (chain or luxury) and the specific requirements of the company that you’re applying to. Here are some basic guidelines:

• Bachelor’s degree is usually required
• Having majored in hospitality management or a related subject is usually preferred
• Prior hospitality and/or tourism experience preferred
• Strong written communications skills
• Ability to work alone for long periods of time
• Excellent time management skills
• Willingness to travel frequently (duh!)

Pay: Your salary will heavily depend on the organization that you’re working for. To give you an example, the American Automobile Association, a common employer of hotel inspectors, pays its inspectors between 41K and 58K a year, according to Glassdoor.

RELATED

Yes, You Can Be Addicted To Travel And Here’s Why

WOW Air Will Pay You And Your Bestie To Move To Iceland And Travel All Summer

7 Inspiring Travel Instagram Accounts You’re Not Following Yet But Totally Should