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Last updated on March 31st, 2024

If you’re someone who’s always wanted to travel the world, you should quit your job and do it now!  Traveling full time might seem like an impossible proposition, but it really isn’t. All you need to do is find more flexibility in your work. 

In this post, we explore freelance writing, teaching English, and travel blogging as three remote jobs and online career options that can give you the freedom and flexibility to travel the world without going broke.

A woman sits on a stone ledge over a canal alongside old, typically-German houses. She is facing away from the camera in a thoughtful manor, wearing a sweater, jeans and hiking boots. The text atop the photo reads "quit your full-time job to travel with these 3 careers, save for later." This is the Pinterest thumbnail

Note from Kayla: This is a guest post written by Aafeef Kabir from GAFFL. Guest posts on Writing From Nowhere help provide well-rounded advice and unique perspectives. I hope you enjoy it!

Have a question, comment or thought to add? Leave a comment at the bottom and I’ll reply right away 🙂

3 Careers That Can Allow You To Quit Your Full-Time Job And Travel The World

It’s true that any remote work or online business will grant you the freedom to travel the world, but there are 3 very common careers that people gravitate towards because of the flexibility.

1. Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is super flexible and generates a great work/travel balance that is entirely determined by you. As a writer on a platform like Upwork or Fiverr, you are able to set your hours of availability to very easily balance how much time you spend working vs traveling. 

To be a successful freelance writer, you need to have a grasp of grammar and style. If you aren’t confident in your grammar, you can invest in grammar enhancement tools like Grammarly. And, style is developed with time and practice.

If you aren’t a strong writer, training can also help you improve. You can take formal classes or just keep on persistently writing until you get better. There are also YouTube videos and many other free resources online that can help. 

In the beginning while you are still learning, you can lower your fee to build a strong portfolio. Once you become more confident in your writing and have a quality portfolio, you can then increase your prices.

For a lot of us, writing may seem simple, but coming up with enticing content takes more than just typing; you need to research first and clearly understand the market niche that you are writing for.

Being knowledgeable about a particular subject can be very impactful, and if you study your market or niche carefully, you can be at a great competitive advantage.

If you want to be a successful freelance writer, developing a great cover letter and profile is essential. Your profile is what clients will check first before considering you for their job. You become more marketable when you have more information about yourself, your credentials, work experience, and areas of specialty in your profile.

One last important thing to note with freelance writing: you need to be good at handling rejection. Not every client will be gracious and you will face a lot of disappointment, especially in the beginning.

You have to stay confident and remember that even professional writers have their articles rejected once in a while. With this being said, if you are persistently getting rejected, it could mean that you are writing in the wrong niche and changing up the topics you write about can help.

2. Teaching English

Teaching English is a job that any native English speaker is eligible to do. There are schools all over the world who are constantly hiring ESL teachers, and once you’re certified you can decide where you want to teach, and by extension travel. So for instance, if you’re teaching in China, between semesters, or during holidays, you can travel around the country or in neighboring countries. The international ESL teaching community is really big, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a travel companion for your adventures.

You can also teach english online and work remotely instead, giving you the flexibility to travel while you work.

In some cases, teaching ESL can pay extremely well. Depending on your experience, and where you are teaching, you can make between $20-$40 per hour.

Also, getting certified is fairly easy. You will need a TEFL or TESOL certificate and there are several accredited companies that you can get your certification through.

These companies vary in price because they offer different services. Some companies offer a full TESOL or TEFL course, either online or in-person, and they can help you find a job after you pass the exam. 

I did my in-person TESOL course through a company called Oxford. At the end of the course, I passed the certification exam and was eligible to teach, and they were able to find me a job through their many connections with schools abroad. 

There are also companies that just let you pay to write an exam. You will have to find a job on your own.

The course I took was about $800 USD, but I’ve seen some exam-only certifications out there for around $150.

3. Travel Blogging

If you’re going to be traveling the world, you might as well start your own travel blog. All you need to become a travel blogger is your own blog site and materials for shooting your experiences like a camera, phone, laptop, and editing tools.

The best thing about travel blogging is that anyone can do it. As long as you’re:

  • A true lover of travel that has a genuine curiosity to explore the unknown
  • Open to new cultures, languages, and customs
  • Equipped with great documentation skills
  • Able to learn how to use different blogging tools, such as WordPress
  • Comfortable learning as you go and sticking with it, even when blogging is tough

It’s not unlike the experience of traveling itself; varying and always keeping you on your feet! You can go from five-star hotels in the heart of Paris or New York, to shanty’s in rural India or Bangladesh, to campervans while you’re backpacking in Australia or New Zealand. 

Your salary as a travel blogger will really depend on your audience, as indicated by your Google rankings, reputation, and number of followers. The bigger and more engaged your audience is, the more money you can make from your blog.

Work on things like content syndication, improving your SEO rankings, strengthening your social media following to grow your blog readership. None of these things are easy, but with hard word, persistence, and some creativity, you will be able to grow your blog.

There are a few common income streams for travel bloggers include:

  • Affiliate links
  • Pay per click (PPC) marketing
  • Display marketing
  • Selling digital products such as travel guides

Famous travel blogger Nomadic Matt is a great example of turning a travel blog into a profitable platform. He even offers coaching to help aspiring full-time travel bloggers do the same.

If you focus on building a strong audience and invest a lot of time, all of these monetization strategies can become available to you.

Note from Kayla: blogging can be extremely profitable, but it’s a long-term plan. To get a clearer idea of the realities of blogging for money, read what I do in a day for my blog.

Conclusion: Careers That Can Allow You To Quit Your Full-time Job And Travel The World

Have you been inspired to try a new career that will grant you the freedom to travel? The digital nomad lifestyle is truly the most exhilarating way to live for travel-lovers.

Where will you go first?