When it comes to travel and opportunities to get abroad, my mind is always churning for ideas. I enjoy soaking up all the ideas and opinions out there on how to make it as a mobile expat. After 5 years of searching around, I’ve seen quite a lot, and still find myself a bit confused as to how to make it abroad.

So. For both your and my benefit, I’m going to lay it all out there and give you your ONLY realistic options outside of serendipity to make it as an expat living abroad for a decent amount of time. If you have any other reasonable options, please leave a suggestion in the comments and I can hopefully update the post.

1. Teach English

I purposely put teaching English as #1 to be annoying, and I’m already annoying myself looking at it. But (more…)

Maybe you have a large inheritance or you invented YouTube or are a really skilled poker player. Probably not, though. If you were, you wouldn’t be reading this. You’d be busy buying stuff. For the non-trust fund babies among us, travel is a major investment. There have been times in my life when I’ve worked for four months so that I could save to take a seven day trip.

It took time for me to realize that I didn’t have to be a slave to the routine of working a lot and traveling a little.

Working to pay for your travels while you are on a trip is easy (sometimes). Here’s my two cents:

1. Teach English. If you are reading this, then chances are you have a decent command of the English language. Teaching English has to be the number one job for travelers out there. In many countries, there are few (if any) qualifications for native-speaking teachers. A month long TEFL course might help land you something with a bit more pay.

2. Write. Easier said than done, right? Not these days. Travel communities are springing across the web. Some (like Cosmotourist) pay for guidebook style articles from travelers. Granted it’s not great pay, but enough to keep you on the road for a few months longer than you budget might previously have allowed. (more…)

Traveling abroad, while padding your bank account (a little), is possible by teaching English as a Second Language abroad. It is not a new phenomena in the budget travel world, however, it is a rewarding, interesting, and affordable way to live abroad.

Today, there is a large demand for ESL teachers is in Asia (China!!). ESL teachers can also find oppurtunities throughout Latin America and Europe, but the European oppurtunities are usually taken by those from the UK.

First, a brief vocab lesson.

• ESL: English as a Second Language
• TEFL: Teaching English as a foreign language. - Training
• TESOL: Teaching English for speakers of other languages. - Higher Certiciation

So what do ESL teachers do?

ESL teachers teach English (more…)

As I have explored in previous posts, working vacations are a great way to finance your travels abroad. Previously, I noted Help Exchange and WWOOFing as options for working abroad.

I recently ran across Michael Page recruitment, which covers everything dealing with working in the UK. It’s a helpful resource that is a great starting point for researching jobs and careers in the UK. The site has a focus on careers instead of working as a laborer. The site has listings for bankers, engineers, accountants, IT Professionals, and many others.

What sets Michael Page apart from other working vacations is the professionalism of this this way of traveling abroad. Michael Page Recruitment is more of a career first, travel second type of option which can appeal to anyone looking to travel while advancing their career.

Michael Page International also offers consulting and information dealing with everything necessary to live in the Uk, like Visas, bank accounts, and everything else imaginable.

So if you cannot afford to take a sabbatical to travel, consider working professionally in the UK.

Alot like my previous post on WWOOFing, I found another site called helpx.net (help exchange) which offers pretty much the same programs as th WWOOF sites do, but on a smaller scale. Help exchange is another way to gain free accommodation and meals while traveling abroad.

One difference between WWOOFing and going through help exchange is that HelpX does not limit its work to only organic farms.

… an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&B, inns, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation (board and lodging)…

So if you were intersted in WWOOF, but the whole organic lifestyle would not fit, HelpX can offer you a different type of working holiday for travel.

WWOOF’ing is a new travel idea that I just ran across recently. It allows travelers to obtain free accommodations, and also food sometimes, in thousands of destinations accross the world. No, this isn’t a scam, because you do pay for your stay in ways other than the local currency.

WWOOF stands for World Wide Oppurtunities on Organic Farms or Willing Workers on Organic Farms. The name is pretty self explanatory, but in a short description, travelers are expected to work in exchange for room and board.

WWOOF.org is the official site online for people who may be interested. They have links to 24 national WWOOFing organizations, and to independent hosts in 50 other countries. The national WWOOFing organizations require its members to pay a membership fee, but the independent hosts do not.

A picture of a WWOOF farm in New Zealand, from WWOOOF New Zealand