Traveling ways

This Is How I Get Paid To Travel The World

ravel Tips

After 7 years of traveling the world, the most common question I get is: “how do you make money traveling?” or “how do you get paid to travel?” Well here’s my answer.

Working as a professional travel blogger has been a dream come true after many years of hard work. But I completely understand your curiosity. How am I getting paid to travel so much?

From the outside it must look like I’m just always on vacation traveling around, having a blast — but there’s a lot more to it than that behind the scenes. Somehow I need to make a living!

How exactly do I make money? How do I fund my travels? Do I have sponsors? Who is paying me to travel the world?

To fund my long-term travel lifestyle, I make money different ways.

These sources are constantly changing from year to year. Attempting to explain how I get paid to travel in casual conversation usually takes a while.

Often times I’ll just throw out “travel writer” or “photographer” to avoid a lengthy discussion.

However because this is the big question everyone wants an answer to, I’ll try to clarify this burning query for you today.

You’ll learn exactly how I’ve funded my travels for the past 7 years — and how I’m able to get paid for traveling around the world.

Get Paid To Travel The World?

It was 2009 when I first began planning to quit my job and travel the world. I was inspired by two friends. Both were traveling very cheaply, on a backpacker’s budget, living on less than it takes to live in the United States.

I was completely enthralled with their photos and stories from exotic destinations around the world.

At the time, I didn’t realize you could travel long-term for less than $1000 a month! Budget travel was an entirely new concept for me.

My buddy Ferenc was backpacking through Southeast Asia, making money advertising with Google Adsense on his photography website.

My ex-girlfriend Katie was working on private yachts as a chef, island hopping around the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

I thought if they could travel like this, so could I!

Saving Money To Travel

My family isn’t wealthy, and I’ve never had a trust fund. According to US statistics I was considered lower-middle class, a single male living in South Florida working 2 jobs that earned about $30k per year.

How could I possibly save money to travel the world for a whole year living on that?

The answer is I downsized my lifestyle to live on even less.

I’d just finished paying off my car, so I decided to sell it. I canceled my car insurance, gym membership, and Netflix subscription. I purchased a used commuter bicycle, a rain poncho, and a bus pass to get around.

I sold off almost everything of any value that I owned. Goodbye DJ turntables, goodbye stereo, goodbye sports equipment.

I stopped going out to bars, restaurants, and nightclubs too. I cooked a lot of pasta & rice at home. Made my own cheap sandwiches for lunch.

I rented a small room for $400 in a small 2 bedroom house I shared with 2 other people in the suburbs.

These simple (but boring) actions allowed me to save about $7000 over the course of a year. It required discipline, and it wasn’t exactly “fun”.