Best Jobs In Travel

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30 Jobs for People Who Want to Travel
Why Do You Want a Job That Requires Traveling?
Where to Look for a Job That Requires Traveling
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For some people, the question “are you willing to travel for this job” induces fear and panic, or simply doesn’t fit with their lifestyle. However, if you’re reading this article, you’re likely to be in the subset of people who dream of being in this position one day.

Traveling and experiencing new places and new ways of life firsthand is an incredible experience. It’s no surprise that many people not only look for travel opportunities in work, but also for ways that they can integrate travel into their everyday life and profession.

Look below for some tips on how to land a travel-heavy job and for a list of some of the best options for jobs that require travel.

30 Jobs for People Who Want to Travel

Bartender
Average Annual Salary: $23,000

Bartending is a job that exists (and is in high demand) in nearly every country, city, or area you might want to travel to. Whether at a bar, restaurant, or club, bartending can make you a good living depending on where you choose to serve.

Higher-end bars, busier bars, and bars in touristy areas will have the most potential for earning a high income. However, certain locations, especially more remote or rural ones, may be a bit rougher in terms of the payscale.

Wherever you choose to bartend, just be sure you speak the native language at least at a basic level to best serve patrons (and spare yourself lots of confusion).

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ESL Teacher
Average Annual Salary: $49,000

ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers are in high demand all over the world. If you consider yourself a mentor or instructor type, taking a job as an English teacher overseas is a great way to travel while building your professional skills.

In some instances, all it takes is a proficiency of the English language, but it is, of course, best if you have a passable knowledge of the native language. Most of the time, a TEFL certification (teaching English as a foreign language) is required for jobs abroad. You also have the option of teaching virtually.

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Flight Attendant
Average Annual Salary: $30,000

Flight attendant is perhaps the first job that comes to mind when people think of travel-heavy professions. A flight attendant helps to keep airplane passengers comfortable and safe throughout a flight.

It’s not always the easiest work, and the hours can be anything but predictable and strain relationships, but the chance to experience cities and sights all across the globe is unbeatable to some. You also get the perk of free or heavily discounted rides for yourself and your family.

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Au Pair
Average Yearly Salary: $24,651

An au pair is someone who acts as a live-in nanny in a foreign country for a year or more. As a nanny, you’ll be taking care of a child or a group of children as well as doing household chores for your host family. In exchange, you receive pay as well as a free place to stay.

Families choose au pairs to help their children learn about new cultures and new languages, and they are in demand all across the world.

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Freelancer
Average Annual Salary: $55,020

Many different varieties of freelance work are available depending on your skill set, including writing, graphic design, programming, and more.

These jobs don’t necessarily require travel (unless your title is something like “freelance travel writer”), but they make it possible for you to work from anywhere with internet access. Because they don’t require the necessary in-person interaction of traditional jobs, these gigs are perfect for travel lovers.

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Social Media Manager
Average Annual Salary: $59,000

Quickly becoming one of the most sought-after jobs for millennials and Gen Z, social media influencers profit from online popularity. With good marketing, photography, or videography skills, and the right niche, you can earn unlimited amounts.

However, don’t think it’s going to happen straight away, or even any time soon. It takes years to build an online following for the vast majority of people, and even then, it’s no guarantee. But, for those who can crack the secret code, this can become a serious source of income.

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Tour Guide
Average Annual Salary: $33,000

Being a tour guide offers you a great opportunity to both travel and see the best of what your locale has to offer. You can work as an independent tour guide, for a local company, or even for an international tour company.

Tour guides help visitors find the best spots around town, whether that’s restaurants, hiking trails, or historically significant places. Working as a tour guide can be one of the best ways to indulge your love of seeing the world.

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Retail Buyer
Average Annual Salary: $53,000

Retail buyers are responsible for monitoring a store’s inventory, and they’re expected to be knowledgeable about the latest fashion trends.

Retail buyers spend a great deal of time going to vendor meetings, conferences, and trade shows to determine what products a company should sell. Depending on how large your employer is, you may even be traveling across the globe.

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Musician
Average Annual Salary: $70,000

Whether you’re busking (performing music on the street) or playing a paid gig at a venue, the musician’s life has been known to go hand in hand with some heavy traveling.

Try booking some shows at local venues, or even just setting up camp in a touristy area. Just keep in mind that some cities require a special permit to perform on the street.

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Stage hand
Average Annual Salary: $26,576

This is the perfect job for those who love music and travel but would rather work behind the scenes. A stagehand for a concert or a theater production has the opportunity to go on the road with different acts or work for a specific venue.

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Truck Driver
Average Annual Salary: $59,000

If you love driving (and you’re a good, safe driver), becoming a truck driver might just be the best travel job for you. With this job, you’d be responsible for driving goods all across the country.

To have this job, you should be good at meeting delivery deadlines promptly and ensuring no damage is done to goods along the way.

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Chef
Average Annual Salary: $47,000

Chefs get the opportunity to travel often simply because every culture in the world has its own unique cuisine. Kitchens across the globe are always looking to hire great chefs, and some positions even pay for you to travel and hone your skill.

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Athletic Recruiter
Average Yearly Salary: N/A

As an athletic recruiter, you travel around the country searching for the right candidates for your college or professional sports team. Recruiters know every facet of their sport of choice, and they know what makes a great player. This is an excellent choice for sports fans with an analytical eye.
Virtual Assistant
Average Annual Salary: $38,000

Personal assistants help with all sorts of tasks, from customer relations to calendar and social media organization, and more. In this day and age, personal assistants can do all of these tasks online.

Businesses and individuals are increasingly hiring virtual assistants due to the reduced cost of hiring remote employees. With technological advancements increasingly adapting to remote work styles, this is a quickly-growing and in-demand profession.

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Yacht Captain
Average Annual Salary: $58,000

As a ship captain for commercial or private boats, you get paid to sail the open seas in luxury. Well, sort of. While you have several essential responsibilities, and you’re going to have to hold back on most boating festivities (e.g., the drinking), this is a dream job for many.

You get paid to sail to beautiful, exotic locations with free food as well as room and board. Even if you don’t have experience sailing, you can still apply for entry-level positions such as deckhand.

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Diving Instructor
Average Annual Salary: $23,600

In cold climates, hot climates, and everything in between, exploring the ocean through diving is a sport that’s popular worldwide. As a diving instructor, you help people have a fun and safe diving experience while showing them some of the best sites.

All you need is a certification and some good experience, and you could be paid (quite well) to explore aquatic life and environments with others.

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Translator
Average Annual Salary: $45,000

If you speak two languages fluently, you may have the opportunity to work as a translator. You’d be responsible for translating various documents or audio files from one language to another in this job.

Translator jobs are available worldwide (though it may depend largely on your spoken languages), but they are also increasingly available online.

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Event Coordinator
Average Annual Salary: $42,000

As an event coordinator, you’ll be traveling between various events to conduct the duties of your jobs. Because of this, being an event coordinator is a great job for lovers of travel (and parties).

Event coordinators help to balance budgets and make arrangements according to their client’s wishes. This is an excellent choice for people who are organized and know how to throw (and plan out) a grand bash.

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Consultant
Average Annual Salary: $89,000

A consultant is a specialized position that helps corporations or individuals with varying issues. Because consultants have such a specialized, specific knowledge base, their work often requires travel to many different locations to meet with clients and maintain client relations.

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Foreign Service Officer
Average Annual Salary: $98,534

The U.S. government maintains over 250 embassies around the world and is frequently looking for U.S. citizens to staff these positions. As a foreign service worker, you’ll be an agent of the U.S. Department of State, helping to facilitate meetings with foreign governments.

If you’re advanced in your career, you could work as a U.S. diplomat, but there are plenty of positions and career tracks available to aspiring foreign service workers.

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Peace Corps Volunteer
Average Annual Salary: N/A

If you want to travel and contribute positively to the places you end up through humanitarian efforts, consider signing up to be a Peace Corps volunteer. These positions involve healthcare, economics, education, and development, and they generally last for about two years.

The Peace Corps provides housing, healthcare, and even student loan help to its volunteers and is an excellent opportunity for anyone looking to travel while making a difference. Just remember that this is a volunteer position, so it won’t be bringing in the big bucks any time soon.
Traveling Nurse
Average Annual Salary: $82,000

As a traveling nurse, you’ll be moving between temporary positions at hospitals across the country. Positions like this exist to help bring quality healthcare to places that need it most, like remote areas or areas with a high volume of clients.

For this position, of course, you’ll need the proper nursing credentials, such as an RN license.

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Traveling Festival Work
Average Yearly Salary: N/A

If you’re a festival-lover, you can score free tickets, accommodation, or even pay by working at festivals across the globe. These jobs include serving, vending, installation, stagehand work, and more.

If you’re truly passionate, you can even alternate between countries depending on when their peak festival season (typically summer) occurs.
Ski Instructor
Average Annual Salary: $36,259

This is the perfect profession for anyone who loves skiing and other snow sports and is eager to help others learn.

Ski resorts all over the world look for great instructors during peak season and even after that at indoor ski resorts. With great charisma, you may even be able to make some great tips off wealthy ski travelers.

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Travel Agent
Average Annual Salary: $31,000

Okay, so this profession may be on the rocks due to the increasing preference for online services, but if you can find your niche in the market, this is a fantastic choice for travel-lovers. Travel agents plan and sell vacations to people looking to skip the headache of trip-planning.

As travel agents need to be decently familiar with the places they’re trying to market to their clients, this job involves a lot of travel. At many agencies, these trips are paid for as a work expense.

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Photographer
Average Annual Salary: $36,000

If you have creative talent, a serious investment in equipment, and photography know-how, you may be able to make money as a traveling professional photographer.

Whether you’re uploading your photos online for clients or being paid to photograph events in different locations, this is a perfect gig for traveling artists. You may even be able to make money teaching others about photography.

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Construction Manager
Average Annual Salary: $85,000

This can be quite a lucrative career for anyone with great leadership skills and experience with construction projects, with an added bonus of being travel-heavy.

Construction managers are in charge of every aspect of construction projects. They often travel between the various construction sites they manage to oversee the work and perform their job duties.

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Airbnb Host
Average Yearly Salary: N/A

This isn’t likely to be a full-time job for you (unless you own and rent out many properties), but becoming an Airbnb host is one of the fastest-growing ways of supplementing your income.

If you rent out your own space, this job will require traveling at pre-arranged times to allow guests to stay in your home. So you’ll be able to make money while going on vacations of your own.
Seasonal Associate
Average Annual Salary: $30,000

This is a broad category that includes any type of temporary work that only operates in specific seasons. Seasonal workers either take jobs during peak seasons and travel during off-seasons or continuously travel to new locations to pursue temporary work.

There are an innumerable amount of seasonal jobs out there, all depending on your skill set. Construction workers often work and travel seasonally, depending on the site location.

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Working Holiday Visas
Average Yearly Salary: N/A

This one is sort of a bonus entry on this list because it’s not a job title in and of itself, but it is a great way of finding work while traveling.

Working holiday visas allow travelers (typically between the ages of 18-30) to take on small jobs to make an income while traveling. It’s a great way to gain professional experience in your younger years while exploring the world.

Why Do You Want a Job That Requires Traveling?

Before you try and find your perfect jet-setting job, consider the reasons you might want a job like this.

You may find yourself using all your PTO (and a big chunk of your income) traveling and wondering if there’s a better option. Or, you may simply be wanting a job with more flexibility in scheduling and location. In these cases, you may want to see if working remotely at your current position is possible.

You might also be in the position of being a recently graduated college student, a student on a gap year, or someone who hasn’t established their career yet. These are all great times to travel, and there are tons of entry-level options for supplementing your trips.

Where to Look for a Job That Requires Traveling

To find jobs that require traveling, you’re most likely going to have to use the same methods you’d use to find any other job. Online searching will be your best friend, especially online job boards (such as Zippia).

If you are looking for volunteer or work away positions, there are plenty of sites dedicated to posting them exclusively for travelers. The same thing goes for freelance jobs.

If traveling comes first for you, and the job comes second, you may even consider networking with the people you meet to find temporary positions and work that isn’t listed online.

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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