Top 10 Jobs With Travel Opportunities

Let me take a wild guess here; I suspect you like travel?

Well, you are reading a great website about travel, so I think I could be along the right lines. So why are you reading this blog? Are you also a traveler, do you just like the stories, or maybe you aspire to travel?

If you search the internet, you will find many travel blogs, often offering a unique and independent view of travel.

You maybe wonder how these people can drop everything and afford to travel. Maybe they have some wealth, rich benefactors, or there is something they are not telling you? Or, as in most cases, they are working whilst traveling.

This may sound great, but it is a daunting prospect. You want to go somewhere, but you need a visa. Yet you need some work lined up at your location to get the visa? Okay, but you can’t get the work until you are in the country, so you need a visa. Bit of a catch-22. Do you get my drift?

Well, here is an alternative solution. Rather than trying to get there or save for a holiday to the unknown only to be plagued with diarrhea, let someone else pay for you to go. Find a career and an employer who will send you places and pay for your travel. You can try all sorts of places around your country or the world, even ones you never considered visiting.

All your visas are sorted and plane/train tickets paid for. Even your accommodation and meals can be covered too. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, here I list my top 10 jobs with travel opportunities:

1. Travel Industry

Well, I suppose it goes without saying for the first one. If you want to travel, then work with travel. You will often receive discounted or free trips by working for travel agents. Maybe to fill a quota or try a place out so you can tell customers what it is like. Of course, the more glamorous option is to work for a company that travels. Say be an air hostess or pilot. Work on a ship or rail company.

You have to go to places to do your job, and you’ll need some downtime when you get there.

2. Auditor

Okay, so you don’t want to be as dull as dishwater and be a boring auditor. Yet is it all that bad? I know; I’ve been there. As an auditor, you have to go out and visit your clients, wherever they are. You don’t have to be a financial auditor either.

There are roles in Internal Audit too, where your skills, whether in IT, process, or Health & Safety, can be just as valuable as knowing how to read a balance sheet.

3. Engineer/Builder

Working in the construction or building industry can require going to the project’s location. Do you ever read of the construction boom in Dubai or China? Can you imagine getting a placement there as an architect or engineer on the project? Expenses paid, and you might be in a great climate to go with it. Even laborers and brickies could find opportunities within the building industry to be a long way from home.

 4. Consultant

Maybe you already have a particular skill? Do you want to be your own boss? Why not become a consultant in your specialist field? In 2000-01, I went from a consultant role to a position in the Middle East. This was a life-changing moment, and I’ve never stopped traveling the world since. Turn your current skills into a marketable strength. Whether you seek to go on long-term assignments or fly in to give a lecture or presentation, you could potentially cover the world.

5. Teacher

You surely have heard of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). It is a highly popular career choice for people who want to travel, particularly in their twenties. You don’t have to restrict yourself to English, though. You could almost teach anything. Ex-pat schools (schools for foreign children) exist in many places worldwide. You might also receive lucrative pay if you attend an established private school.

6. Translator

Rolling on from the TEFL theme, maybe you are strong at languages. There are always roles somewhere for someone to translate. You could work with interesting people in various businesses at home or abroad. Have you ever seen President Obama meeting foreign leaders? Look closely, and you’ll see some people hovering in the background. They are not all bodyguards, and some are translators. Okay, maybe you won’t get an assignment for the U.S. President, but there are many opportunities for translators.

7. Journalist

Writing is a skill, and so is reporting. Maybe you are a budding reporter in the making? Journalists can vary between moving from assignment to assignment or receiving a placement for a set period. If you watch BBC News, you often hear them interview their Middle East or US correspondent.

These senior journalists are often home-grown and work their way through the ranks. Then they receive that golden opportunity of an overseas posting.

Organizations such as TV News and print media like to send their people out when they can. They trust the quality of the reporting and know it is geared towards their audience. Don’t forget that journalism takes many forms. You don’t need a microphone in your hand; if you are handy with a camera, you could become a photojournalist.

8. Sales

I often refer to this job as “the gift of the gab,” but maybe I am being unkind. If you can sell, then why limit yourself to a confined market. My next-door neighbor is a salesman and pretty good at that, which is what he tells me. He has taken on numerous roles over the years and travels the world as much as I do. We are often comparing locations and seeing who has how frequent flyer miles.

 9. Actor

Thespians have long been a trade sought to entertain and enrich our lives. Whether on stage or screen, there is a host of opportunities. You can travel around with a theater company, musical production, or appear in TV dramas and films. My wife’s uncle is a well-established actor. He’s appeared in London stage shows and TV programs. He even went to America to appear in a film where you can see him sitting beside Demi Moore!

10. Volunteer / Charity Worker

This last option is probably the least lucrative yet rewarding in many ways. People always demand to go overseas and assist in projects with the less fortunate than ourselves. Whether it be a building project, a school or a village well, or even just helping in a local school or community project in a third world country.

This is undoubtedly a life-changing experience, and you will obtain firsthand insight into these people’s lives. If you are religious, your local church can direct you to religious projects overseas, or you can approach some big-name charities for a lead into a project for a good cause.

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So there you have my top 10 jobs with travel opportunities. Some are more achievable than others, I’ve got little chance of achieving number 9, yet all the others are not out of reach without some determination.

If you desire to find an interesting job that will allow you to travel, you should leave your comfort zone and start exploring our beautiful world.

Author: This article was written as a guest post by “The Guy.”

The Guy is a frequent international business traveler. He has been traveling with his various jobs since 1994. In 2000, he received a 17-month overseas consignment in the Middle East. Since then, he has traveled internationally almost every month. You can read about his travels and experiences on his travel blog, Flights And Frustration. You can also like his page on Facebook. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter or Google Plus. 

Do You have any other jobs to add to this list? I bet you do! 🙂