When I tell people I need to travel, they look at me like I told them I need to eat diamonds for breakfast. Sadly, traveling has this reputation for being luxurious, out of reach even. Something you do when you’re young and stupid or old and retired.
Yet I bet you have a long list of places you want to see before you die.
What would it feel like if you built your life around being able to hop a plane and explore the world anytime you wanted to?
Sound impossible? Spoiled? Ridiculous? Dangerous even?
Yeah, I get that a lot. Pretty much every time I take off on a journey someone tells me I’m being selfish, childish, or irresponsible.
It’s usually the same people who tell me I need to stop being a writer and get a “real job.”
But screw those guys!
How many things have you missed out on in your life because someone told you doing it would be selfish, childish, or irresponsible?
Get out a piece of paper right now and make a list.
I’ll wait.
Now try this: Make a list of all the things that people told you was selfish, childish, or irresponsible but you did it anyways.
I love this list of mine, it has some of my greatest life accomplishments on it, including going to law school, starting a writing career, and traveling around the world. It even includes quitting my job to move back home when my brother got cancer, something many people advised against but was one of the best decisions of my life.
People are always going to try to stop you from doing what you love.
Because someone has stopped them from doing what they love.
We live in a world where doing what you love is seen as a luxury none of us can afford.
But you can afford to write and travel!
I know loads of people who do it, myself included.
The key is figuring out how it’s going to work specifically for you.
How to know if you can afford to travel as a writer
To figure out what kind of travel you need, ask yourself this:
- Am I a five-star hotel kind of gal or do I like to rough it?
- Do I want to go on a vacation to relax or do I want to have a wild adventure?
- Am I looking to visit a location or to live there?
Chances are, you’re somewhere in between these extremes.
To help you figure out what you need to quit your day job and travel as a writer, plus some tips for doing that, I’ve created two free tools for you.
Click here to get my free Financial Plan to Quit Your Day Job spreadsheet plus The 3 Things Every Writer Needs to Make Money PDF.
How to get paid to travel the world
While I have lived in three countries and been to almost twenty others, I would not consider myself an expert in travel. Which is why I’m bringing in Vagabrothers Marko and Alex to help me with this post.
I have a special place in my heart for Marko, he was one of my brother’s closest friends from college and they traveled together all over Spain right before my brother was diagnosed with cancer. It’s coming on five years since my brother died and in that time I’ve watched Marko go from an English teacher living in Spain to a wildly successful travel vlogger.
Alex and Marko’s videos (and now movies too!) are well researched and spectacularly made, so I’m deferring to their expertise on this one and sharing their video on how to get paid to travel the world.
How to save money to travel the world
Want to figure out how to save the money you need to travel and write? Check out this video from On She Goes, a digital travel platform that helps women of color travel more confidently, more adventurously, and more often.
So you can travel and be a writer! I promise you can! You just have to make it a priority in your life.
How to know if you can quit your day job to travel and write
How much money do you need to travel? How much do you need to charge to make that? What can you sell to charge that?
These are all important questions you need to answer if you want to quit your day job to travel and write. That’s why I created a plug-n-play spreadsheet to help you answer those exact questions.
Click here to get if for free.
