Travel and Earn

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No matter who you are or how minimalist your traveling style, getting from point A to point B requires money. Most of us spend considerable time months or even years in advance of departure saving up funds for traveling and budgeting our costs to ensure there is enough left over at the end of our journey for the return ticket home. Yet a variety of work experiences are available to help defray the costs of travel abroad—so you can go sooner and stay longer. Unless you have exceptional skills that happen to be in high demand at your destination, you will probably not be making money hand over fist—or even returning home with more than you started out with. Quite often, you will be trading your time, sweat, and talent for tangible goods such as three organic meals a day, boat travel and accommodations, etc. Still, as the well-traveled Benjamin Franklin observed: “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Below are some ideas for subsidizing your trip either by sparing yourself major expenses (such as boat fare or a hostel bed) or by bringing in cold, hard currency.

Take to the open seas

If you’ve ever longed to cruise through the Panama Canal or drop anchor off the coast of Thailand for a quick dive, consider joining yacht, cruise, or other boat crew teams. Conditions for hiring, payment, and accommodations vary widely. In some cases—particularly jobs that require little to no previous experience—you may be paid only “in-kind” (i.e. free room and board while working on the boat), while in others—particularly jobs that require previous experience or involve the delivery of a yacht from one port to another—you may be paid a flat salary or an hourly rate for your work onboard in addition to subsidized food and accommodations. The size of the boat also determines how many and what type of positions are available. On a larger yacht, you may be able to choose between working as a deckhand, a stewardess, a chef, etc. On a smaller yacht, there may be only two or three crew members who divide up the workload and a wide array of tasks. For more information about crew jobs and listings of available positions, visit websites such as Float Plan (http://www.floatplan.com/) or Seven Knots (http://www.7knots.com/).

Try your hand at street performance or “busking”

Success in this field definitely requires a courageous and outgoing personality. No wallflowers need apply. Even if you have loads of confidence and talent, it can be a very difficult way to earn extra money. You will need muscle, people skills, and—quite often—paperwork. First of all, you’ll be carrying around all the materials necessary for your act in addition to your other bag(s). Secondly, you may have to negotiate with the regular street performers in the area for a good spot and be on your best behavior. If you make an overly aggressive entrance, local performers may go to extremes to steal your audience away or even threaten violent retaliation. Best to be polite, then. Lastly, you may need permits to perform in certain cities. The best way to stay on the right side of the law is to check the local government websites for regulations in advance, and try to choose a location that will not block traffic or put pedestrians at peril by forcing them to walk out into the street once an audience has gathered. All that being said, this is a great way for the talented extrovert to meet people and to subsidize traveling costs. In fact, street performance festivals in large cities are a growing trend—no matter what your mother tongue, that translates into larger crowds and more significant donations from listeners. For more tips on street performing abroad, check out The Performer’s Network (http://www.performers.net/).

Fall back on the familiar

Think about it: where would you look for part-time work or one-off jobs if you were in your hometown? Most of us would head for the nearest laptop and check out old, reliable websites such as Craigslist for job listings or to post our availability and skills. Why not do the same in Amsterdam or Palermo? A recent Craigslist search through major city job listings in Europe revealed that there is demand for part-time, English-speaking tour guides in Rome; an opening for a short-term, part-time, English-speaking driving instructor in Brussels; and several positions open for anyone willing to do post-concert cleanup in Aarhus for a tidy sum of 500-800 Danish kroner (that’s 97-155 U.S. dollars, not bad for one night’s work).

Put your green thumb down, and join WOOF

Visiting London? How would you like to spend your stay in a spacious Victorian home less than half an hour outside the city center? For free? If you were a WOOFer, you could receive room and board there in exchange for a few hours’ work creating and sustaining an organic garden. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, (WOOF), has been around since 1971 linking organic farmers with international travelers (also known as potential farm hands). Although locations and job responsibilities vary, most WOOF positions are to be found in or near small villages or rural areas and typically involve tasks such as weeding, picking berries, training or caring for animals (from horses to sheep, to bees, to chickens), building, painting, or repairing fences or outbuildings; and sometimes cooking or hospitality work when the hosts own and operate bed and breakfasts or restaurants. More typical than the suburban London scenario are opportunities to feed reindeer and make hay in Finland or helping to pick, process, and package fair trade coffee on a plantation in Tonga. Although most WOOFing positions pay only “in-kind” (i.e. accommodations, food, and sometimes classes or training), this is still the eco-friendly traveler’s dream job. For more details and a complete listing of WOOF hosts, visit the official WOOF site (http://www.wwoof.org/).

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