I have always loved to travel. I took a gap year off before college to go on a trip to Latin America, and I just did a study abroad in Europe last year. I even did it during spring semester so that I could work on organic farms through WWOOF this summer through Eastern Europe. I guess you can see where this is going: I really, really want to make this my job. But you can’t just WWOOF your entire life — I get that. How can I maybe make a livelihood out of traveling?
It sounds like you are the adventurous type! We think that everybody would envy a life that is so fancy-free, and certainly, as you face down your next steps it makes complete sense how you might be interested in transforming that passion of yours into something more. How do you do it, and what types of jobs are available.
To get one thing out of the way: you can try to become an influencer, but becoming an influencer relies on luck. You are at the mercy of an algorithm, subject to the black-box whims of tech companies. And it seems that you can not go a day without hearing a story about an influencer being banned from some hotel or another. It is worth it to find a more sustainable career.
If you really love to travel, the live entertainment industry is built on the road. Bands often tour for six months or more, and traveling musicals can run as long as a year. You don’t have to be a star of the stage to experience the lifestyle: musical acts need tour managers, and touring musicals need company managers. These are both detail-oriented careers, great for somebody who likes to plan travel for others and ensure that everybody gets from one venue to the next safe and sound.
They are also great professions if you are into music or theater, since you get to see a new performance every night and build connections in the showbiz industry. However, these management roles are responsible for payroll, merchandising, and budgeting, so they require math skills. Whether your band is playing in a 50-person club in rural Kansas, or rocking an arena with overflow tickets going for four figures on a site like Turn Up Tickets, you will be responsible for making sure the performers get in, rock out, and get out, all in time for the next gig tomorrow.
If life on the road does not appeal to you, you can also work in marketing. Those ads you see of perfect beaches and fancy hotels? They need to be made, and you can be one of the people to make them. For example: 929Media is a creative video agency that caters to the property owners of hotels and resorts. They are focused on producing quality video, and their storytelling prowess is second-to-none.
However, behind all of those pretty pictures is a team of people ensuring that the light is just right, the camera is just focused, and the shots are what they need to be. They are a group of adventurous people making adventurous content, and hotels and resorts will pay a premium for that ingenuity.
You will need storytelling skills, and a strong technical knowledge of cinematography and the working of a camera, but the work is rewarding, exciting, and memorable. On top of that, you are not constantly on the road. Most of your time will be in the office (and likely in the editing both), but web-based video content is only poised to grow, and you will be on the cresting edge of a wave. No matter what path you choose, turning a passion for travel into a career has never been easier.
