Should you quit your job and travel? It’s both a Yes and a No. Quitting your job to free yourself from the 9-to-5 disciplines, starting your own adventure to explore new land, new people and culture – what can be more exciting than that? But, I must say you can’t just quit and pack your stuff and go without a careful consideration of how to make money when travel or how to earn money without a job.
In case you don’t own a money-growing tree but still want to follow the urge of wanderlust growing inside your heart, I would like to help you clarify what you might encounter when quit your job and travel, what you need to prepare as well as how to earn extra money without a 9-to-5 job.
What is it like to quit your job and travel?
Is it an admirable glorious life style? Is it full of rainbows? Does it look like all of those beautiful Instagram pictures you’ve hit a thousand of Heart buttons on? Sadly, the pictures and the good stories you’ve seen or read on the Internet don’t reveal even half of the reality.
So, how will your life be after quitting your job to start traveling?
The good side
Freedom. No bosses, no daily tasks, no stress, no reports, no boring meetings, no fish-eye colleagues barely getting their days over. Just quitting your job already gives you a lot freedom and peace of mind. You are a free soul who can do whatever you want.
It’s also the same thing you’ll get when you go on an adventure. You have 24/24 hours a day of your own use and each day will start by a new exciting adventure ahead.
Make new friends around the world. Traveling helps you understand more about human beings in different races, cultures and religious. You will find out that no matter how many differences we have, we share many things together. That’s why you can easily make friends anywhere in the world, even when you can only communicate with each other by gestures not languages. Once stepping out of your conditioned living environment, you’re able to show other your “raw self” to accept other’s with honesty and willingness.
Get your eyes and mind open. Traveling opens your world. There’s an inspiring travel quote: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page”. So, the more you go, the more pages you fill in your life.
Change your life and how you see it. Life is a present. Traveling is one of the best ways for you to stay present and learn how to treasure your own life more. Plus, it lets you understand yourself better with all the newness in your life you picked up along your journey. The more you expose to new things, the more opened you are to see the world.
The not-good side
It costs. VERY MUCH MONEY. You can’t just quit a job and have all the money you need to travel. Even when you plan on a budget travel with cheap travel deals, traveling still costs you a quite a pile of cash; especially if you want to travel in a long time to different countries.
It might cost your relationships too. Many people think quitting job to travel is crazy. Irrational. Nonsense daydreaming. Out of your mind. Be prepared that not everyone supports your idea, even your loved ones. They might even be the ones who are against your idea the most. So, quitting job to live an unstable life and be gone for a long time may cost you your precious relationships – a boyfriend/girlfriend – just like that.
It’s full of risks. You won’t have a lifetime adventure and get back to your home with beautiful memories without a thoughtful plan for your adventure. There will be social crimes to beware of, the traffic jams, electricity cut, water shortage, accidents etc. Anything can happen as you live in a strange country. Learn about them as much as you can.
It could be boring. Your trip won’t always be fun, hectic and full of energy. There’ll be time when you’re tired. There’ll be time when lying on the sandy beach watching the clear blue sky is no fun at all. You’ll need to diverse your own schedule to dive deep the local life so there’s no dead time (tips: taking a job while travel is a great idea).
New friends are easy to make but not easy to keep. Having international friendship is awesome. However, to keep the connection with your overseas friends and turn your relationship into a lifetime friendship requires effort, especially when you’re not living at the same place with each other anymore.
What do you need to do to quit your job and travel
Those who quit their daily job to start a wanderlust traveler’s life is – surely – brave, but to do so they either have to save a great amount of money already or have a very detailed and practical plan to earn money while traveling.
Here’s a checklist for things you must do before actually quit your job and travel the world:
Save more money than you need to
Not only you need to save money for your trips but also you need money to get back to your normal life when all the trips are finished. The best ways to earn extra money when traveling is to have a work from home jobs or jobs with travel opportunities, or, apply for temporary job in the local place you’re staying.
Do research before you go
You need a good online research skill to find useful information of the places you want to visit and things you want to do. For example, if you want to visit the best countries to live in, you will probably want to know what make its worth-living in. That’s not all. Check if you need a visa/passport, check for the living expenses, ways to save money on the move, tips to find the best homestay, foods you want to try, etc. – everything you need for a life overseas. Books, best travel blogs, best travel sites… will help you a great deal.
Have a sit with your company’s manager and tell them your decision
Clean up your debts before you go
Make a detailed plan of things you want to experience on the move
Make a plan of how you will earn extra money on the move
List out things you will bring along with you
Find somebody to look after your house or plan to keep your possessions safe when you’re gone, especially for highly valuable things like your car
Get a travel insurance
Get emotionally ready to say goodbye to your family and friends
Best ways to make money while traveling
Now you might wonder: How to earn money without a job? Well, fortunately, there’re many ways you can earn extra money by work from home jobs. Check out this list of the best job when traveling so how to make money when traveling is no longer a hard math to solve!
Start a travel blog
Not many people in the world can do what you do – to bravely quit their job and start a terrifying adventure life. So, your experience will be very helpful for those who share the same dreams with you and it can be the inspiration for other wanderlust addicts too. Start your own blog – a simple WordPress website is not a hard thing to do. Things you can write about are various too – from the tourist attraction reviews, tour/hotel reviews, local life insights, etc.
Start your own travel channel
You can earn money from Youtube. Youtube viewers are always searching for new tips, lessons and reviews here so you can build your own channel to share your adventure lessons and tips. It’s a great way to get connected after a long day of self-exploration. If you’re good at Youtube marketing, you can make a good income from it!
Become a travel journalist
If you’re good at writing and can tell great stories with in-depth observation that travel guides or normal travel blogs don’t cover, apply for a travel journalist job for different magazines.
Be a travel photographer
You’re great at taking photos? You can take pictures that speak ten thousand words and amaze readers? You can sell your photos to save up to your travel budget. You can pitch your photos and sell them for newspaper or earn a more steady income by uploading your photos to premium image stocks.
Become a teacher
You can teach English as a temporary job in non-English speaking country if you can earn a certification (ESL/TEFL). The same goes to other global language like French or German, Spanish, etc. In South East Asia countries like Vietnam for example, the demand for native English/foreign language speaking teachers is always very high.
Take up freelancer work
Fiverr and Freelancer are two among the best freelance boarding sites. There are jobs from writing, video producing, translating, website building, graphic designing… You can find jobs from these sites with payment from $5 per simple task.
Open an online store
If you’re good at making beautiful handmade craft, you can open a store on Shopify or Etsy and sell things you made.
Become a street vendor
You can either open an online store or be a street vender to sell handmade stuff like accessories on the street.
A nomadic lifestyle is worth it, definitely!
Traveling takes work. If you have the heart to follow your wanderlust passion, get mentally and physically ready for what quitting job to travel costs. Make sure you have things neatly planned before picking up your backpack and saying goodbye. In the end, I believe that you’ll have your lifetime experience that no high-paid job can ever give you.