How to Travel Full Time with No Job?

Updated: March 31st, 2023 | Posted by: Grace Kim

How to travel with no income cover photo

Learn how to travel the world without a full time job

First of all, is it possible to travel without no persistent time? How do people survive traveling for so long? What are the risks involved?

Let’s talk about how people travel with no income yet travel for months at a time. Is is possible? I’m sure these type of questions have run through your mind a couple of times before landing on this blog post. Trust me. I’ve asked the same type of questions as you are and it just never made sense in my head. Initially, I thought people were able to survive this type of lifestyle because they were hot models. But after doing some research, I was totally wrong. So let’s dive into how you are able to travel with no income… or no consistent income.

Let’s be real here. Most people have some money saved up before they decide to travel full time. Some may have more money saved than others but for the most part, we’re all scraping for survival.

When I say scraping, I literally mean scraping.

Some people are more strategic than others about how they want to save and spend their money long term. As I am not one of those people and support the yolo life, I left my entire life behind me to travel. Even knowing that I was going to take the biggest risk of my life, I only know that I’ll financially be okay for another month or so. I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to financially support myself for the following month but that’s okay because it forces me to find ways to start making money in ways I’m not familiar with. Which is what lead me to write this post.

Many have been asking me to write about how I’ve been able to support myself while traveling and although I’m still figuring it out, here’s what I have so far.

What Type of Traveler Are You?

During the first full week of traveling, I was being extra frugal. Extra frugal because I was riding solo. Yet, this was also when I knew that I was going to have the most money. I don’t normally like to come off as cheap, but I was being really cheap and to be quite honest, it was annoying. I couldn’t do things because I was on a ‘budget’. I couldn’t go eat at certain restaurants because I was on a ‘budget’.

Then I thought about it, again.

I quit my job to travel the world and experience what each city has to offer. Not for me to sit back and continue to wish that I could afford those activities while being present. I also choose to visit certain destinations to experience the best nature, hikes, restaurants, museums, coffee shops. I wanted to learn why some choose to live in cities they’ve grown up in for years. Not because I just wanted to check off every single city off of my bucket list.

So in order for me to experience the fullness of each destination, I had to find ways that would allow me to do so. Honestly, I’m still figuring it out as I go, but I’ve been able to scrap things here in there that’s allowed me to survive while I’ve been away from home.

One thing you must have in mind, though, is that not everyone travels the same way. There are things that may work for you that I will never understand, vice versa. Ask yourself, what type of traveler are you? Are you a budget traveler? Luxury traveler? Someone in between? Are you more of a city person or a nature gal? Do you like fancy restaurants or hole in the walls? Do you need your own space in a private space or do you want to meet people in hostels? The reason why I ask this is because if you’re more into budget traveling, you’re probably not even spending a fraction of what a luxury traveler may spend in a month.

So if you’re the type of traveler where you need to book every night in a hotel and have no steady income coming in, I hope you have a lot of money saved up. Because if not, traveling with no job can dent your wallet quickly.

Set Yourself up for the Best and the Worst

Before I quit my job, I did my best to set myself up for the best and for the worst. I made the conscious decision to quit my job and travel during Spring of 2019. I always loved traveling and picked up a passion to start writing. So I thought about how to mesh these two passions together.

Eventually, I decided that my end goal was to become a travel blogger, so I reached out to a lot of successful travel bloggers who are currently living the life that I want to live. I asked a lot of questions and as I was getting to personally know these bloggers, I was also researching different ways to make money online. I got a lot of my inspiration from Anna Everywhere, a travel blogger who didn’t necessarily quit her job, but took the leap of faith to pursue her passions and travel the world. I’ve adopted some of her key points that have slowly opened up doors and options for me to start making a little bit of money while traveling.

Along with following the footsteps and reaching out to a lot of these bloggers, I was also getting in touch with a bunch of digital nomads on Instagram. Curious what a digital nomad is? I define what and how to become a digital nomad in 2020, and if becoming one is a potential fit for you.

Network Like You’ve Never Networked Before

Connecting and asking questions with travel bloggers and digital nomads definitely brought ideas to mind on how to they’ve been successful on the road. Not only have they shared their success stories and showed their upmost support along my journey, but some have now become really good friends. I talk to some of them on a daily basis and have only been my bigger supporters along this journey. But if you’re curious on how some of them have done it, some of them created start ups abroad, some pick up local work, and some even monetize on their blogs and social media platforms.

Monetizing on a blog? That’s a thing? Yes. It is and you can make a lot of it too. How do I know if I don’t have an income coming off my blog yet? If you check, some bloggers are public about their income and expense reports from their blogs. How? Some of these ways are through running ads, creating sponsored posts, and earning commission from affiliate links just to name a few.

Find Side Gigs and Offer Your Services Online

Everyday is a challenge as a freelancer. Who knows what I’m talking about?! As I am continuously trying to find ways to monetize and grow traffic on my blog, I am also looking for side gigs that can temporarily support me.

What kind of gigs am I looking for? I’ve been looking for gigs that will allow me to practice and leverage my digital marketing skills. In the recent days, I’ve become obsessed with learning about SEO and Social Media Marketing that that’s the type of work I’ve been looking for online.

It only makes sense for me to look for those type of gigs, right? If you want to be good at something, you gotta continue to work on your craft. For readers who are figuring out their lives, I would highly recommend finding something that interests you. Think about something that you want to be an expert in one day. One thing that makes you super excited to work on and not look at it like a job. It could be anything.

>> Read More: What’s Your Why & How Do You Find It?

What Interests You?

For me, I delved into my interests in photography, videography, networking, digital marketing, e-commerce, and creating a business. I was doing my absolute best to learn the basics and the ins-and-outs of these crafts. Although I had a lot of background noise telling me to focus only on one craft, I don’t regret any of these interests that I’ve tapped into. Why? Even though I don’t have the bandwidth to practice all these crafts on a daily basis, I can now leverage my knowledge within these fields when pitching to potential brands to work with. Because once you pull the trigger and start freelancing for survival, it becomes a lot easier for you to leverage and monetize the skillsets you practice on a daily basis. Even if you don’t know what exactly interests you, that’s totally okay! Try out a couple of things out and see where you’ll end up.

If you’ve been able to find the skillset that can potentially take you to the next level, start looking for gigs and opportunities within that field. There are sources like Fiverr and Upwork where you can post your services online. These are great platforms that can keep you sane on your travels since you have the ability to provide your rates and the type of work you can potentially offer.

Is Traveling Possible with no Full Time Job?

If you’ve been following my methods listed above, I think we’re answering the wrong question here. Let’s rephrase the question and ask if traveling is possible with these types of jobs.

Think about it. You start off seeking out for gigs, but then those gigs turn into your full time hustle. About if you start off with one gig, there is a good chance that you’ll end up receiving more work through word of mouth. There is a good chance that the snowball effect will end up in your favor as it continues to amplify from there. What if your side hustle now becomes your main source of income and has opened up plenty of doors for you to continue to travel full time? Well, then the answer to your question is yes.

As long as you’re serious and want to continue your passion to travel the world, you will do everything in your power to let that happen. I’m sure that along the way of your travels, you’ll end up meeting people who will offer and compensate you for your work.

Consider following some of the ways that’s allowed me to travel for as long as I’ve been able to so far. At a point, you’ll realize that it all becomes a numbers game as the more people you reach out to, the more you’ll learn. The more you learn, more relationships you’ll build. The more relationships you build, more opportunities will be thrown at you. By the time you know it, you’ll be given so much work that you’re going to start rejecting certain jobs because you simply don’t have bandwidth.

All you have to do is to stay firm in your initial vision and stay consistent with your word. You may not be able to see it right now because the goal seems so far fetched, but you’ll figure it out as you go. I promise. There’s a difference between hearing stories and actually living up to your will. I had absolutely no idea that I’d have to hustle in the way that I’m hustling now, but that’s all because I’m that much more passionate about never giving up on my dreams.

Trust me. If I can eventually do it, you can definitely do it too. Follow your heart and your gut and hey, you’ll probably find even more ways of making money than I probably can. I believe in you.