The Life Of The Digital Nomad
There are a lot of ways you can get paid to travel the world in modern times; you’ve just to be clever enough that such methods can be discovered. This may require a little work on your part—anything worth doing is worth doing well, and anything worth doing well is often something you’re going to have to work toward.
However, technology today makes it so that working isn’t the same as it used to be. A great comparison is the life of the travel writer, and the life of the coal miner. The travel writer will likely make more than the coal miner for work that is relatively less intensive.
Granted, both are skilled occupations; not anyone can just be a writer or a miner.
That said, the needs of many travel blogs pertain to the readers of those blogs. Sometimes it isn’t so necessary to be excellent at writing as it is to be excellent at reaching your target audience. To whom are you writing? What are their interests, and what will make them come to the blog you’re published on more often?
Winnebago Dreams
A great example of successful digital nomads would be the writing couple who has managed to secure a deal with a company like, say, Winnebago. Imagine you’ve got a month-to-month payment plan on a new RV from this well-known motor home company. Now imagine you’ve got enough of a writing history to secure a blog deal.
You may be able to get paid not just for your ownership of the RV, but for travel as well. $2k a month will cover your mortgage payment, plus gas, plus food. If you’re remunerated at an average of just 3 cents a word, that comes out to 2,151 words a day (give or take a few) per 31-day month. Make that 4,300 words for 15 days, and you get half the month off.
At 537.5 words an hour, you’re looking at 15 eight-hour days of writing. That comes out to 120 hours. Even if you cut it down to three 40-hour weeks, you still get twelve full weeks off a year; and just through blog-writing. Furthermore, Winnebago is a staple of virtually any RV campground, and most of those are touristy.
There is a continuous need for travel writing which takes into account local conditions, amenities, and attractions. New writers continuously must enter the scene as new travelers begin looking for information.
The Resort Angle
Now that was just one example of the digital nomad. If you’ve got two writers—a couple, perhaps—doing the footwork, each may only have to work 60 hours a month to travel all over the world, get paid to do it, and even have a little extra cash besides. Additionally, you’ll likely be able to get free parking at certain parks through promotional solutions.
If you don’t like the “road” lifestyle, you might do the same kind of thing for popular resorts. You’ll need some writing samples, and it’s good to have a bit of a following if you can swing it. Then you’ll need to know about high-paying local attractions, and have the skill requisite to engage said transactions and write about them.
Golfing, for example, is a great kind of high-class entertainment that requires top-tier, educated writing on a regular basis. The kind of people that golf are also the kind of people that read, and they know that which is questionable and that which is trustworthy when it comes to varying kinds of prose.
So if you were in LA, for example, you might go check out popular golfing destinations. Write well enough and the club will treat you like royalty, you won’t have to pay a cent to enjoy the course, and when you finish what you’ve written, the publisher will pay you.
In the OC, or Orange County, there is exquisite golfing; according to VisitTheOC.com, courses are designed by pros: “Golf course[s] in Orange County offer picturesque courses and year-round perfect weather! You’ll find challenging courses for all skill levels throughout the county with exciting championship, links-style courses designed by Payne Stewart, Ted Robinson & Cal Olson.”
Writing For A Specific Traveling Audience
Of course, not everyone golfs. There are a great deal of resorts with other concentrations defining their amenities. Sometimes it’s the quality of the hotel itself which most recommends it to prospective travelers. Play your cards right, and you could be paid to stay in a resort town like Ocean City.
The premier resort of Ocean City, Maryland can be explored at PrincessRoyale.com; according to the site, this resort offers: “…a variety of accommodations from spacious two-room suites with fully equipped kitchenettes directly overlooking the beautiful Atlantic Ocean, to suites overlooking our indoor heated swimming pool, hot tubs, saunas, and four-story glass oceanfront tropical atrium.”
Another way to get paid while you travel is to work with a publication providing information for travelers about popular destinations during peak seasonal dates. Holiday travel requires some learning, and you can provide a great service for many cities, organizations, townships, and centers of commerce by enabling tourists to travel with greater ease through information.
The key to getting paid for travel is finding a niche, and fulfilling it. Granted, the examples of paid travel here are often geared around writing jobs. There’s a great need for travel writers of varying kinds out there. But you don’t have to be Stephen King to prolifically write about topics you know. You just have to resonate with an audience.
The High Seas
Still, there are other ways. For example, if you have a naval history, you can sign onto a merchant marine vessel as a deckhand, and that will pay your passage from port A to port B. Many sailors do this, and continuously live on the high seas while traveling to ports of call around the world. Such solutions are a bit more lonely, though.
You’re not likely to have a significant other who is also a qualified mid-shipman! Then again, you may have just such a situation on your hands in 2017. The point is, find that which you’re good at, and identify where your skills can fulfill a need on “the road”. Do that, and you’ll be able to travel across the planet without paying a dime.
