How to Travel and Make Money: Your Ultimate Guide to Funding Your Adventures

Getting Paid to Travel the World

Travel is an incredible experience, a dream for many, but often the first question that pops up is: “How can I afford it?” or even better, “How can I travel and make money at the same time?”. For years, people have been asking me these questions, especially after witnessing my decade-long journey around the globe. So, let’s dive into the detailed answer of how you can actually get paid to travel the world.

The Dream of Getting Paid to Travel: Is It Really Possible?

As a professional travel blogger and photographer for many years now, I can tell you firsthand that turning your passion for travel into a career is not just a fantasy, but a very real possibility. It’s been a dream come true after years of dedication and consistent effort.

I completely understand the curiosity. Seeing someone seemingly always on the move, exploring breathtaking destinations from the sunny beaches of Costa Rica and the blue-washed streets of Morocco to the icy landscapes of Antarctica, the stunning ice caves of Iceland, and even the remote mountains of Afghanistan, it naturally raises the question: “How is this lifestyle funded?” It might look like a perpetual vacation from the outside, but behind the scenes, there’s a lot more involved in making this sustainable. Yes, somehow, I need to make a living while constantly exploring!

So, how exactly do I make money to support my travels? Do I have sponsors lining up to pay for my adventures? Who is actually paying me to travel the world?

It might sound too good to be true, but it’s not only possible, it’s a reality for many, and I’m about to reveal the strategies and methods that make it happen.

Funding Your Wanderlust: More Than Just a Dream

There are numerous pathways to get paid to travel the world. In my case, my primary income source is this very travel blog you’re reading right now, which I started over a decade ago. It has evolved from a hobby into a full-fledged business that supports my adventurous lifestyle.

However, it’s important to understand that travel blogging is just one avenue. Later in this guide, I’ll also share a variety of other travel-friendly jobs and income streams that can help you finance your explorations.

My income sources aren’t static; they evolve and change from year to year, and some are definitely more intricate than others. Trying to explain how I get paid to travel in a casual conversation often turns into a long discussion. To simplify things, I often just say “travel writer” or “photographer” – essentially, I’m a full-time digital nomad.

But because this is the question everyone is eager to know the answer to, I’m finally going to clarify the details for you today.

You’re about to learn exactly how I’ve funded my travels for the past 10 years – and how I leverage my blog to get paid for traveling around the world.

Start A Blog

Saving to Travel: The First Step

It all began in 2009 when I first started seriously planning to leave my 9-to-5 job and embark on a journey of travel. My inspiration came from two friends who were already traveling extensively on a tight backpacker’s budget, spending far less than the average cost of living in the United States.

I was captivated by their photos and stories from incredible destinations around the world. They introduced me to inspiring travel books and quotes, and I was instantly hooked on the idea of long-term travel.

At that time, the concept of budget travel was completely foreign to me. I had no idea that you could travel long-term for less than $1000 a month!

My friend Ferenc was backpacking through Southeast Asia, generating income by displaying Google Adsense advertisements on his photography website. Meanwhile, my friend Katie was working as a chef on private yachts, island hopping around the beautiful Caribbean and Mediterranean.

Seeing their examples, I realized that if they could make money while traveling in these ways, so could I!

Earning While Exploring: Side Hustle to Full-Time Income

Saving Money to Travel

My background wasn’t one of privilege. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, and I certainly never had a trust fund. By US standards, I was lower-middle class, a single guy in South Florida working two jobs and earning around $30,000 a year.

Saving enough money to travel the world for a year seemed like an insurmountable challenge on that income.

The solution was to drastically downsize my lifestyle and learn to live on even less.

I had just finished paying off my car, so I made the decision to sell it. I canceled my car insurance, gym membership, and even my Netflix subscription. To get around, I invested in a used bicycle, a rain poncho, and a bus pass.

I sold almost everything of value that I owned. Saying goodbye to my DJ turntables, stereo system, and sports equipment was tough, but necessary.

I also cut out all unnecessary expenses like going to bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. My diet shifted to a lot of pasta and rice cooked at home, and I made my own simple sandwiches for lunch.

For accommodation, I rented a small room for $400 in a two-bedroom house I shared with two roommates in the suburbs.

These simple, albeit somewhat boring, actions allowed me to save approximately $7000 over a year. It demanded discipline and wasn’t always “fun,” but it was a means to an end.

READ MORE: 40 Best Travel Jobs To Make Money

While I was diligently saving money for my initial 12-month trip through Central America, I was also dedicating all my free time to developing a side hustle to generate extra income that could help sustain me while traveling.

Countless nights and weekends were fueled by coffee as I immersed myself in research, learning how to build a small online business by writing and selling digital guides, or ebooks. My social life took a hit because my focus was entirely on building this side business.

But pursuing my travel dreams was my top priority at that moment.

When I finally departed for Guatemala in November 2010, in addition to my savings, I was also earning between $1000 and $2000 per month from selling three different how-to guides related to the nightlife industry.

After a few years, my ebook side-income business started to decline, largely because my initial success was heavily reliant on Google Adwords advertising, a platform for displaying ads in search results. Changes in Google’s algorithm significantly impacted my business.

Fortunately, by that time, I had begun to diversify my income streams and was starting to make money from my travel blog. And this has continued to be the case ever since.

Getting Paid to Travel in Norway

Proven Ways to Make Money While Traveling: My Income Streams

Today, my travel blog generates income through various channels, allowing me to not only travel but also sustain a comfortable lifestyle. Here are the primary income streams that currently support my adventures:

1. Influencer Marketing & Brand Partnerships

Companies pay me to promote their products or services through my blog and social media platforms. This can take various forms, such as sponsored blog posts, features on Instagram, brand ambassadorship programs, or mentions in my email newsletter.

I’ve cultivated a large and engaged audience of people passionate about travel, and these companies want to connect with this audience.

Examples of brand partnerships include collaborations with respected names like American Express, Momondo, Citizen Watches, and Backcountry.

Transparency is key, so I always include a clear disclaimer whenever I’m partnering with a brand and I only collaborate with companies that I genuinely admire and trust.

HOW MUCH? Brand partnerships and influencer marketing can generate between $5,000 and $10,000 per deal, depending on the scope of work and deliverables.

2. Affiliate Marketing: Earning Commissions

Whenever I recommend my favorite travel gear, photography equipment, books, or online courses, I include special affiliate tracking links to those products.

This means that if you click on these links and make a purchase, I receive a small commission. Importantly, the price remains the same for you whether you use my affiliate link or not.

Examples of affiliate partners include Discover Cars, Get Your Guide Tours, Amazon, Backcountry, Booking.com, Airbnb, Adorama Photo, and many others.

There are also dedicated affiliate networks like Share A Sale and Commission Junction that represent a wide array of different products and services.

To see examples of my affiliate links in action, you can check out my Travel Gear Guide.

While individual commissions might be relatively small, my website receives over 50,000 page views per month. Many visitors click on these links and make purchases, which collectively allows me to earn a significant income and get paid to travel.

HOW MUCH? Affiliate marketing generates approximately $3,000 to $5,000 per month for me.

Making Money Traveling

3. Freelance Travel Photography: Capture and Sell

I earn income by licensing my travel photography for use in commercial marketing campaigns or for editorial purposes by media outlets. Tour companies, national tourism boards, outdoor brands, magazines, book publishers, and various other organizations purchase licenses for my images from time to time.

I’ve even had the honor of selling travel photography to National Geographic!

While selling travel photography prints is not a major income stream for me, most of my photography income comes from collaborating with brands, destinations, and media outlets who discover my work online.

HOW MUCH? For travel photography, I typically charge between $250 and $2,000 for an image license, depending on the intended use and scope.

4. Destination Marketing: Get Paid to Explore and Share

Occasionally, a country’s tourism board will invite me to visit and create content about my experiences traveling through their country.

In the past, these were often unpaid press trips, where flights, accommodation, and activities were covered, similar to traditional media press trips.

Now, I get paid to travel on these destination marketing projects. Usually, tourism boards reach out to me, but sometimes I also proactively pitch project ideas to them.

A typical destination marketing campaign involves creating a mix of blog posts, social media content, photography, and sometimes even video footage.

HOW MUCH? For destination marketing projects, I charge between $5,000 and $10,000 per project.

How I make money travel blogging

5. Display Advertising: Passive Income from Your Blog

Google offers an advertising platform called Adsense. By embedding a small piece of code on your blog, Google displays relevant ads within your site’s content.

You earn income every time a reader clicks on one of these ads. This can also be integrated into YouTube videos, which is how many vloggers monetize their content.

If your blog attracts significant traffic, premium advertising networks like Mediavine generally offer higher rates than Adsense. Rates can vary from $2 to $40 per 1000 views, depending on your niche and audience demographics.

HOW MUCH? Display ads on my website generate between $4,000 and $6,000 per month in passive income.

6. Paid Public Speaking: Share Your Expertise

As a blogger, you can also get paid to travel by speaking at conferences and events around the world related to your area of expertise. In my case, I’ve been invited to speak about travel photography and lead photography workshops.

The ability to teach and inspire others through engaging and informative speeches is a valuable skill that many organizations are willing to pay for. As you build your online brand and establish yourself as an expert, companies will start seeking you out for these types of speaking engagements.

HOW MUCH? Public speaking gigs can pay anywhere from $500 to $3,000 per event.

Online Photography Classes

Other Lucrative Avenues for Travel Income

Besides the income streams I currently utilize, there are other ways to generate income from a travel blog and while traveling that I don’t actively pursue at the moment. Here are a few additional examples:

Freelance Travel Writing: Share Your Stories

In the past, I used to write travel articles for other websites. They needed content, and I had experiences and stories to share. TravelChannel.com was one of my clients at one point.

While it can be a decent source of income for some, for me, it was somewhat sporadic. These days, I can generally earn more by focusing on my own website rather than writing for others, so I don’t actively pursue this income stream anymore.

HOW MUCH? Travel writing can pay anywhere from $0.10 to $1 per word, depending on the publication and your experience.

Leading Tours & Workshops: Guide and Teach

Some travel bloggers and photographers organize and lead their own group tours or photography workshops to exciting destinations around the globe.

Some focus on budget travel, while others specialize in food tours, writing retreats, or photography technique workshops. Essentially, you’re guiding groups of travelers through an area you know well and sharing your knowledge and expertise with them.

Organizing a tour involves significant work, but it can also be financially rewarding. I once organized an adventure travel and photography tour to Russia, and while it was enjoyable, I’m not sure I’ll organize many more in the future – I’m not a natural tour guide!

HOW MUCH? Organizing group tours or workshops can earn an organizer between $2,000 and $15,000 per trip, depending on the duration, destination, and group size.

Selling Ebooks & Courses: Digital Products for Travelers

Selling digital products is another popular way for travel bloggers to generate income while traveling. These products can range from travel guides about specific destinations to ebooks on topics like budget travel, making money from a travel blog, improving photography skills, becoming a better travel writer, and more.

It’s somewhat ironic that I initially funded my first year of travel partly by selling ebooks, yet I don’t sell any currently. However, this might change in the future, as I’ve accumulated a wealth of knowledge and tips after doing this for so long!

HOW MUCH? Selling digital products can generate anywhere from $500 to $10,000+ per month for some individuals, depending on the product, marketing efforts, and audience demand.

Beautiful Beach in Greece

The Reality of Travel Income: How Much Can You Really Make?

I know what you’re really wondering: the specifics. How much do I actually get paid to travel?

Asking someone about their exact income is quite personal, and it’s not something I’m entirely comfortable disclosing with precise figures. However, I can give you a general idea.

This travel blog generates a healthy 6-figure income each year.

I’m not a millionaire, but I’m certainly not struggling financially either.

While I started from humble beginnings and still prefer to travel the world on a budget, I’m also able to save money these days. My wife and I own a house, and we can occasionally indulge in more expensive experiences.

Of course, running my business also involves various expenses, including website hosting, photography equipment, travel costs, and more.

For example, no one paid me to travel to Greenland or Antarctica, but independent travel to these kinds of destinations is also part of running a travel blog.

The reality is that even now, my monthly income can fluctuate considerably. It’s one of the trade-offs of being self-employed. In exchange for freedom and flexibility, you often sacrifice some degree of financial security.

But for me, freedom is always worth more than security!

Embracing uncertainty and risk in pursuit of doing what you love can be daunting at times – truly scary!

Hey, I know what it’s like to live in a cave if it ever came down to that. 🙂

I love what I do and I’m constantly learning new skills and working to make this travel lifestyle sustainable, or at least until I no longer enjoy it.

I firmly believe that anything is achievable with hard work, patience, and unwavering dedication.

And you also can’t be afraid to take some risks and embrace failure as part of the journey.

How I Make Money Online

Essential Resources for Aspiring Travel Earners

Camping in a Tent

I won’t sugarcoat it and tell you that making money while traveling is easy. In reality, it’s quite the opposite. I actually work significantly more now than I did when I first started.

This level of income didn’t materialize overnight; it has taken ten long years of consistent effort to reach this point.

I understand that these income figures can be surprising for those unfamiliar with how to blog for a living. Yes, blogging can be much more than just a hobby; it can be a viable and profitable business if you treat it as such.

However, like any business, it takes time to grow and become sustainable.

For the first two years of my blogging journey, there was no way I could have survived on my travel blog income alone.

But if you are determined to get paid to travel, here are some valuable resources that I highly recommend:

I hope this article has thoroughly answered your questions about how I can afford to travel so much (it’s because I’m also getting paid to travel!).

It’s been an incredible and wild journey so far, and I’m grateful every day for the amazing life I’m living. ★

Kayaking in Antarctica