How can you afford to travel? Travel bloggers will tell you all the secrets!

Were you ever interested if it is possible to travel and earn money at the same time?

I know many of you are! That is why I decided to ask my friends-travel bloggers who make stable income online to tell you all their professional secrets!

I asked each of them if it is difficult for them to travel all the time, what mistakes did they do along the way and how exactly do they make money from their blogs.

So, if you are tired of daily 9 to 5 race and think about changing something, these guys really know what they are talking about! Interested? Read on.

I interviewed 7 travel bloggers, each of them told me how they can afford to travel full-time, their fears and mistakes. And here is the result:

Keep Calm And Travel

Clelia (Cle) is such an inspiration for me (just all these travel quotes)! She started her blog www.keepcalmandtravel.com 2,5 years ago and is definitely already “making it” in this business. She calls her adventures “disasters”, which I find really funny. Cle loves her home region- Sardinia, blogs a lot about it as well as her SE Asian travels.

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

Becoming a long term traveler was the best choice of my life, but that obviously doesn’t mean that everything went smoothly. There have been many difficult moments, probably the toughest one was in Myanmar where I had to sleep using all my clothes and 3 blankets because I didn’t have a proper roof on my head and the temperature during the night drop to 6 degrees. I was literally freezing. Other than that, I accept the stress of traveling, the misadventures, the scorpions crawling on my legs as part of the experience!

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

Yes, it is possible, but it’s not an easy path. Whoever tells you that you can make money easily, traveling or not, it’s lying. It took me more than 1 year of hard work to be able to monetize my blog, but after countless sleepless nights working, my website is now my full-time job. I make money mostly through the affiliates and a few good partnerships with brands that are closely related to my brand and travel niche. I wrote a detailed  article on the topic and I’ve been interviewed several times to help other wanna-be travel bloggers in the process.

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

You know what? I wouldn’t really change anything. I believe that the mistakes I made both as a traveler and a blogger are all part of the process and made me a more patient and strong person. I always take my time in doing things and I never compare myself to other people. Ever. The only person I compare myself to is… me. I look back and I try to remember where it all started and how far I’ve come and I’m more than happy with the results!

Expert Vagabond

When I met Matt on a travel bloggers’ conference called TBEX, I could physically feel vibes of good energy coming from him. Matt has a very cool blog called http://expertvagabond.com where he write about all his adventure travels, and he has done many!

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell to us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

Getting sick with Dengue Fever in Mexico wasn’t fun (http://expertvagabond.com/dengue-fever-mexico). When you travel by yourself, sickness in a strange place sucks and can be pretty lonely. Having my laptop computer stolen in Panama was difficult, especially when I run my business from it! (http://expertvagabond.com/tracking-stolen-laptop/) Always back up your computer, and carry insurance for your gear.

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

Yes, but it’s different for different people. Making money from a travel blog is possible, but takes a few years of very hard work with little reward. Only the most dedicated will succeed. The key is building an audience first. (http://expertvagabond.com/professional-travel-blogger/ )Once you have a lot of people reading your site, the money actually comes pretty easy. Companies come to you. The hard part is building that audience.

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have started traveling (and blogging) earlier, and kept better notes while I traveled. I’d learn as much about SEO as possible. I would have spent more time on my YouTube channel, making more videos, and learning about video editing. Video and social media is the future. I was a photographer before I started traveling, but that’s important too. Strong visuals that will entice people to click through and actually read your posts.

Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler

And here is Alex from www.crazysexyfuntraveler.com. Well, can I describe her better than her blog name? That is pretty much it. 😉 She is a yogi, a vegan, and just a great traveler!

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

The very first difficult moment was when my laptop was stolen in Mexico from my friend’s house together with the rest of my money and some chargers. The worst thing about it was that it happened exactly when I went to the neighbor town to buy an external hard drive to copy all the photos and articles I’ve been preparing for almost 3 months traveling around Mexico. After losing all that work I felt like crying for a few days.

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

It is definitely possible as I have been living out of my travel blog for more than 4 years already. There are many different ways of making money on the road and even every blogger does the things differently as not everything works for everyone, that’s for sure. I also teach some yoga and help others with a healthy lifestyle (I’m a certified fitness health coach, too.)

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have saved more money and also would have started straight away with the newsletter to get emails from all the people interested in my travels.

Subscribe here to get up to 35% off your accommodation for your next trip!

Nomad Is Beautiful

Possibly, if I wouldn’t meet Gianni at some point in Chiang Mai, my blog would never be at the level it is now. This guy knows a lot about the profession! Thank you, Gianni! 🙂 He and Ivana, they have been traveling around the world for over a year after they stopped smoking and quit drinking! And they seem to really enjoy their life! Their site is http://nomadisbeautiful.com

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell to us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

Last March in Myanmar, we had a hard time there due to air pollution and heat. We were also slightly disappointed by our experience. Prior to our journey to Myanmar, everybody had been suggesting us to visit the country because of its uniqueness, but we saw that the tourism industry evolved too fast and took not the best direction.

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

It’s definitely possible, but as in every kind of business, you need to love your job firstly and be willing to invest your own money into it (for your travels, tools to work efficiently online, for additional online courses, outsourcing). Consider your blog as your business and not a hobby. Work hard every single day and the results will come. We started to monetize our blog only after the first year through affiliates and some advertisements on the site.

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

We’d have started our travel blog already while having our regular jobs while we were saving money for our nomadic lifestyle smile emoticon

Nomadic Matt

Matt Kepnes from www.nomadicmatt.com is one of the most successful travel bloggers in the world, he has been an inspiration for not only me but literally thousands of people! He was among the first travel bloggers who started back in 2007. If someone knows how to travel long term and be able to finance it, that would be him.

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

I’ve been pretty lucky as I haven’t had any major accidents. There’s always minor screw-ups: I’ve gone to the airport on the wrong date, I’ve booked flights for the same day without realizing it, I’ve taken the train to the wrong town – things like that. But I think of that as all part of the journey so I don’t view them as “difficult” moments. I’ve gotten sick before and that sucks but people get sick all the time and after close to ten years on the road, it’s bound to happen once or twice!

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

Yes, it is. Personally, before I started traveling, I worked a desk job at a hospital and saved all I could (more here: http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/cut-your-expenses/).  Once I reached my monetary goal, I took off on an adventure.  I picked up odd jobs and English teaching jobs (https://www.nomadicmatt.com/teach-english-around-the-world-rk/) while I was beginning my blog.  Now my website and books are my full-time job!

You can teach English (or any language really), get seasonal work at a ski resort or beach club, work on a cruise ship or yacht, become an au pair or scuba diving instructor, work in a hostel or restaurant, become a bartender or tour guide, volunteer, work online, start a website or blog, or pick up odd jobs as they come to you.  The possibilities are really endless, especially with all of the online resources we have now.  You can find ways to fund your travels overseas here: http://thoughtcatalog.com/matthew-kepnes/2014/03/15-ways-to-work-overseas-and-keep-traveling-the-world/

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

If I could do one thing over again in blogging, it would be to start my email newsletter from the beginning. I didn’t start my newsletter for years after I started my blog and it was a huge mistake. That’s where a lot of the best engagement is and by not having it, I lost a lot of subscribers over the years.

The Points Panda

Freddy, who considers himself more as a former backpacker and current luxury travel and travel hacker, runs PointsPanda – a travel hacking blog that focused on US credit cards and the US frequent flyer market. He’s been traveling and living abroad since 2010 and has been to over 65 countries and has flown on many $10,000+ first class using credit card and airline points including Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Emirates and others.

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell to us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

I used to do a lot of adventure travel to dangerous destinations and the scariest situation I was in was when I went to Caracas, Venezuela in 2015. I had arrived before the rest of my tour group, and after I went to immigration there was a man who kept pestering me while I waited at the airport saying he was from “Interpol” but I felt he was a common thief and didn’t believe him, so I walked and then ran away. As I was running away I swear on my life I got American football style tackled by 2 soldiers, who then took me to be interviewed by “SEBIN” which I later found out is basically the KGB for Venezuela. 

They searched by bag, and since I’m a bit of a photography geek they found all these cameras and lenses and accused me of being an “American journalist.”  I thought for sure I was never going to see the light of day again. After a few hours of interrogation though once the rest of my tour group showed up and claimed for me, they let me go.

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

Of course, there are more ways than ever to make money while traveling. Anything you can do on your computer you can obviously do any place you have internet, which can include freelancing (you could get started on Upwork or Freelancer), starting an online business, poker, any form of stock, and crypto trading. One smart thing to do while you’re getting started, which I did, is if you are tight for funds, try to get a job at a hostel, many of the shifts are just sitting around a front desk or bar or even waiting at a bus station to drag people to the hostel. 

During this downtime you can work on your internet business or freelancing and you have:

1. a free place to stay and some meals in exchange for some very light work 
2. exposed naturally to foreign languages,
3. able to work on your business while on and off the clock at the hostel (though I definitely wouldn’t mention your plan to #3 to the hostel manager!)

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have ignored 100% of the advice my parents gave me, instead of only 75-80%, mainly wasting 4 years of going to college for a worthless degree and another 1-2 years of getting fired from corporate jobs when I knew from the beginning my intuition was telling me this was not the right path for me. If I did that I’d be 5 years further ahead and my career as an internet entrepreneur.

The Travel Tester

Nienke, the founder of www.thetraveltester.com was a speaker on a talk about Pinterest, where she has over 500 000 followers already! At the same time she is such a down-to-earth lovely person, I simply fell in love with her and her unselfish readiness to help people.

1) You have traveled a lot and I am sure you have a story to tell to us. Can you describe a difficult moment of your travels, what made it so difficult?

The most difficult moments on my travels are when something bad is happening at home (people sick or accidents and such) and I can’t be there for the family. When I was living in Sydney (for 2 years), my grandmother had a hemorrhage and had to be lifted from her home by firemen. Then you realize that living at the other side of the planet is really, really far away! Luckily everything went well in the end and we celebrated her 95th birthday a while ago.

2) Is it possible to make money while traveling and if yes, how do you do it?

There are many ways to make money traveling and especially if you’re away for a long time you probably have to. I’ve worked in hostels and as a travel agent, for example. There is so much you can do! Actually I wrote a whole post about creative ways to make money while traveling a while ago: http://www.thetraveltester.com/ways-to-make-money-travelling/

Now I work fulltime as a travel blogger and I get sometimes paid to travel to places in campaign-style, but making money as a travel blogger is really hard work! I won’t recommend it to anyone unless they are really passionate about not just travel, but also about marketing and content creation. I’d say 20% of my work is travel, but 80% sitting behind a computer!

3) If you would have to start all over again, what would you do differently?

I don’t really believe in making wrong choices, because even from the choices that you didn’t like so much in the end, you will learn something. I’ve traveled my whole life and it looks like I will still be doing it for many more years, so I cannot complain at all 🙂

 

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A huge huge thanks to all the people who took their time and answered my questions, I know how busy these people are!

Many people, many different stories, but all of them, they followed their passion and made it possible.

As the interview showed, there are tons of different ways to make money while traveling the world (does not have to be a blog by the way).

So, if that is what scares you the most, it should not. There are other difficulties that people above also mentioned. But it is much more interesting than to sit on your couch watching TV, right?

Life is short so go for whatever makes you happy. It does not have to be traveling, it can be cooking or dancing or whatever. What I was trying to show by this article is that everything is possible and that if these people do it is not that easy sphere, so can you!

If you like this article, please do not forget to share it and comment with your thoughts below. I simply love hearing from my readers!

P.S. This post was mainly inspired by my subscribers on Instagram and Facebook who were constantly asking me the questions I asked in the interview. If you want to reach out to me, subscribe to my social networks and don’t be shy to ask me questions there!

Yulia

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