(Picture taken in Cusco, Peru)
The last two years for me have been spent on the road constantly meeting new people and places. To say the least, this experience has proved to be a constant learning opportunity. Perhaps that's all life is. Without getting too philosophical on you, today I wanted to share 5 methods that I constantly hear budget travelers like myself discuss in an effort to help anyone who dreams of traveling, but is worried about money.
1. Workaway
This company allows you to connect with people who have property in a country you want to visit and work for them (about 3-5 hours a day) to receive free accommodations. Typically, this means you will stay at a hostel. However, hostels can be some of the most beneficial learning experiences for yourself. You will meet people from anywhere in the world, and hear their stories. Here is an example of a daily experience you might find yourself in. In the below picture (taken in Morocco), there is a person representing all continents of the Earth minus Antarctica. You can see me in the orange shirt repping North America.
2. Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing, like Workaway, has a cult of users who solely use this site while budget traveling. Best of all, it is completely free to use. This website allows you to connect with locals in any part of the world who want to help budget travelers. There are even listings in the middle of the Sahara Desert in Morocco, which means the odds are you will be able to find free accommodations wherever your wanderlust is leading you.
3. Upwork
As much as it pains me to add competition on my main source of income the past two years, transparency is important. Upwork is one of the many different freelancing websites that many travelers use for income. If you are reading this, you are skillful enough to work on Upwork. Typically, I will spend 3 - 5 hours a day working to generate a $1000/month income. This means you can pack your bags today and guarantee that you will be able to find income as soon as you arrive in a foreign country without a work visa. All you need to do is set up a profile (example below) and you can immediately start applying to jobs which fit your skills.
4. Kindle Publishing and CreateSpace
These sites are another top source of my income the past two years. If you are like me and don't mind spending some extra time writing, you will soon find that you can create books that people will pay for on auto-pilot. You don't have to publish a book over 100 pages long (like my guide to Peru's ruins). In fact, my top selling book is only 19 pages long. It took me less than 6 hours to write and publish it. This number of pages, by the way, is more than half of what the book looked like on Microsoft Word.
First, make an e-book with Kindle publishing, and then use Createspace to publish a paperback. CreateSpace gives you the benefit of expanded distribution (AKA more sales).
5. Amazon Affiliate
Disclaimer: there are no affiliate links in this article. So click away. This option is for people who are capable of creating a website. Even if you are a complete web design newbie, platforms like WordPress allow any average person to create a website. However, this is only half of the struggle for turning this into a source of passive income.
To be a successful Amazon affiliate marketer, pick a niche that you don't mind writing about. Then, find products on Amazon that you (ideally) are passionate about. For best results (example below), pick products which have a high amount of sales. Here is a successful Amazon Affiliate website that I helped create. Technically, you could try to post affiliate links on social media, but people tend to block you when you do this. Just make a website.
Lastly, the most important thing you need to travel the world is sacrifice. I couldn't even begin to tell you the things I have lost because I decided to travel the world. My car, my apartment in Denver, countless possessions, and even myself. Travel is truly something that changes your perspective on a lot of things. However, if you are willing to cut back on unneccessary luxuries, anybody can travel the world while broke.