UPTOURIST

I would have to say that about 90 percent or more of people who say they’re too poor to go backpacking are (very) sadly mistaken. It’s an excuse that keeps people cramped up in their house night after night, watching mindless television every evening and dreaming of all the places they’d visit if they were “rich” enough to do it.

How then has backpacking tourism become so popular over the last two decades? Most backpackers are the epitome of budget-savvy travelers. They don’t own 5 homes on every corner of a globe, with Ferraris and Porsches in storage somewhere, or a fortune 500 company running on autopilot and feeding them an endless supply of traveling cash.

No, the truth is that there are certain sacrifices you will have to make, but you don’t have to sit around and wait for a lottery ticket to finally come through for you; nor do you have to save thousands and thousands of dollars to embark on your journey of world discovery.

Literally visiting all four corners of the globe!

All you need is a mindset that stretches beyond the borders of wherever you’re living right now.

The information I plan to share with you in this post is quite literally going to blow your mind, if you’re the nay-saying type who just doesn’t have the cash to travel.

I may extend this post at a later date with cash saving tips and tricks, but this post is all about how you can MAKE MONEY while you see the world.

5 Popular Ways to Make Money While You Backpack the Globe:

1. Travel Blogging

I personally can’t say that I have personal experience with this particular money-making method, but there are tons of people, just like you, who want to learn about traveling and be inspired by the adventures of those who’re out there doing it. This isn’t an immediate method to start making money. It’s something you want to start as a passion project and let it start paying dividends after you’ve traveled for a while. This isn’t easy to do and it’s time-consuming, but it can pay off big if your blog takes off.

2. Teach English

Many people I’ve talked to have looked at teaching English overseas as a great way to start traveling, but you have to understand how it works first. If you’ve ever been drawn in by a TEFL advertisement, only to find out that you need a university degree, you know how easy it is to be dissuaded by these opportunities. Korea is perhaps one of the pickiest countries when it comes to selecting their English teaching staff. However, you’ll find that many places outside of Korea; like Thailand, Russia, Mexico, South America, and the Middle East are crying for English teachers! You can easily find short term opportunities while you travel, or sign on to English teaching schools for longer term employment that usually includes free accommodations, a great salary and a slew of other perks.

3. Timeshare Salesperson

This is a goldmine of an opportunity for people with basic people skills. You’ll find timeshare sales jobs in nearly every tropical locale on the planet, which is great if you’re looking to travel in these places. Think Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, Greece, Italy, Hawaii, Thailand. These jobs are flexible and the skills very transferable making for a great way to make money while you backpack. Since foreign, English speaking North Americans and British expats are their target customers, you can imagine that these companies prefer to hire salespeople who can relate to them best.

4. Hostels and Resorts

While these two types of places are very different, they both need the same types of workers. Kitchen, front desk, cleaning staff, management, etc. Hostel work is great for backpackers as you’ll find many places will offer you free room and board, and possibly free meals in exchange for work. Some of the larger ones will offer a salary too. Resort work is available all over and obviously pays well, though you’ll have to stay in one place for longer periods of time, in contrast to hostel work where the employer will expect that you’ll be moving along sooner rather than later.

5. Fruit/Vegetable Picking

This kind of work is super easy to get and also lends itself to the traveler whose looking for fun, sun and sand. You’ll find these jobs all over the tropics, but Australia and New Zealand are great places to start if you’re interested in the Land Down Under. The pay’s much better there and most jobs tend to pay by the weight of the fruits and veggies you pick, meaning you can worker harder potentially less often, to free up more time for sightseeing and other types of fun.

Give it a Go!

While you might be looking at the above jobs like you’ll be sitting in one place, most are season or short-term contract type jobs. You can work, earn some fast cash, then travel to a completely different place and do the same thing elsewhere, or find something completely different to do.

The great thing is that once you build a relationship with one employer, you can come back again and again whenever you need money to fund your travels!

Feel free to share your favorite traveling jobs in the comments.

Image Courtesy of BizBuilder