4 Types of Long Term Travel You Need to Know About

So you’ve always dreamed of quitting your job to travel. What does that actually look like? You know you want more than a week or two of vacation before going back to a job that sucks the life out of you. But when you try to figure out how to plan long term travel or – gulp – where the money for it’s coming from, you keep getting stuck. Do you have to get a remote job first? Do you have to cut out all your fun money for three years? Is quitting your job to travel even possible without a trust fund or a million Instagram followers? You need to take a step back and get this whole long-term travel thing down to its brass tacks. In this blog post, I’m going to outline 4 types of long-term travel so you can ID the goal that’s actually best for you. (If you want the fun version of this, take my long-term travel quiz!)

Teach English Abroad

Teaching English overseas is one of the best gateways to travel for many young professionals, especially if you have prior teaching experience.

You’ll need a degree, a teaching certification, and a visa for the country where you’ll teach. South Korea has a particularly good program, because they’ll not only pay you a good salary, but also cover your room and board.

You’ll get to know your new city inside out, have opportunities to travel around the region in your time off, and because you don’t have to worry about rent, you can get a bigger savings fund together for traveling after your year of teaching is up.

If you don’t have a lot of money or savings capacity to quit your job and travel, teaching English is a great way to get started!

Become a Digital Nomad

This is the hot topic online these days: so many people will tell you if you want to travel, you have to be a digital nomad – that is, someone who travels full-time by working online.

You’re ahead of the game because by reading this post, you already know being a digital nomad isn’t the only way to travel long term. But it does deserve your consideration because it’s a great option for some travelers.

Becoming a digital nomad is ideal for young professionals who have creative, technical, sales, or business skills that translate well to working remotely. If you were a kitchen counter queen during the pandemic, there’s no reason you can’t do that same job from a cafe in Paris or a beach in Bali!

Digital nomads also benefit from needing less “start-up” money for their travels. You can count on your income from a remote job or your own online business, so you need fewer savings in the bank before you leave.

If you’ve got the skills and you don’t mind moving slowly to support yourself on the road, being a digital nomad could be the best type of long-term travel for you!

Get a Working Holiday Visa

A working holiday visa is a special kind of visa that allows you to take on short-term jobs while you travel.

If you’re an American under the age of 30, you can get a working holiday visa in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore, Canada, or South Korea.

You’ll need to apply for the visa and prove you have some money in the bank, but because you’ll be able to work while you travel you don’t need to have all your travel funds saved up in advance.

I hear all the time from young women who want to travel, but feel like they don’t have the skills to be a digital nomad because they work in childcare or the service industry. A working holiday visa is the perfect solution – you might work on a farm or in a coffee shop or take a temp job in an office. You’re seeking out more traditional jobs in your destination rather than trying to work online.

If you’re young, broke, and want to explore another country really thoroughly, this is a great starting point for your future travels.

Take a Round-the-World Trip

Can I let you in on a secret? This is my favorite type of long-term travel!

A round-the-world trip is just what it sounds like – it’s a trip where you go around the world, visiting several countries over the course of a few months to a year.

This one is for my Type A girlies who feel like they could never just sell their stuff, hop on a plane, and see what happens. You get a detailed plan and an itinerary together.

Round-the-world trips can be more expensive than other types of long-term travel where you offset your expenses by working, but they don’t cost as much as you might think.

If you want an actual break from work… if you have a bucket list that could cover a football field and just want to go everywhere… if you’re not afraid of saving money in advance for the sake of getting your actual dream travel experience… you want to take a round-the-world trip.

This is all just a basic introduction to the different types of long term travel! You can sort through the types of long term travel and figure out which option is best for you with my free quiz below OR you can click here to book a free call with me and pick my brain! I’m a round-the-world trip veteran, a former digital nomad, and general long-term travel geek with several years’ experience turning globetrotting girls’ biggest, scariest travel goals into detailed action plans. I can’t wait to help you on your journey!

Quiz: What Type of Long Term Travel is Right for You?

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