I’ve been in Costa Rica for a week now; a few more days until I fly out.
Believe it or not, I came here for work. I spoke at a blogging workshop for the first five days, at the invitation of a publishing company. About a dozen attendees came to learn about blog writing and tour this beautiful country.
(True to my “one day of freedom for each day of work” philosophy, I decided that 5 days of speaking should be followed by 5 days of beach time. So here I am, literally writing this blog post from the beach.)
In speaking at this workshop, I fulfilled a decade-old ambition: I’m “getting paid to travel” for the first time.
My younger self would flip out if she could see me now.
When I was in college, I daydreamed about finding a job that would allow me to travel to exotic locales, spotting wildlife and sampling tropical cuisine.
Fast-forward a decade, and — voila! — that dream is now a reality. My 20-year-old self would be floored if she knew.
And I’m so grateful, so happy, so blessed.
And yet —
This experience confirms an idea that’s been kicking around in my head for years: “Get paid to travel” is the wrong dream.
In fact, “get paid to travel” doesn’t exist. It’s a myth. An illusion.
(But don’t worry — there’s a stronger, better dream that you can embrace, if you want to. One that’s more honest, more authentic. Read on.)
An Important Lesson I Had to Learn The Hard Way …
Let’s rewind for a moment.
During college, I was constantly scheming ways to travel.
I wanted to go overseas. The context didn’t matter. I was young and inexperienced, and had no grasp of “context.”
Like many students, I looked into study abroad. But those semester-long programs bore steep 5-figure price tags. Gulp!
Then I realized I didn’t want the “study” — I just wanted the “abroad.” It would be a LOT cheaper to just save enough to buy a plane ticket after graduation, live somewhere for six months, and find some odd jobs to support myself.
I told my parents, who asked a logical follow-up: “What would you do there?”
I shrugged. “Maybe bartend?”
As you can imagine, that answer didn’t blow over too well.
My dad said that if I really wanted to travel, I should look for a “professional” career that would allow me to live overseas.
So my senior year, I started browsing those opportunities: The State Department. International nonprofit work. News reporting.
The State Department seemed too bureaucratic, and the global nonprofit sector seemed too competitive, so I decided to foray into journalism, figuring I’d one day become an international correspondent. To break into the field, I accepted a job as a reporter at the local newspaper, figuring that it was the first stepping stone in what would become a long and illustrious career in print media. (Ha!)
But my timing was terrible. The newspaper industry was drying up. Jobs were scarce; my possibility of landing a staff position at a major-market daily seemed slim.
After a few years, I recognized the folly in waiting around for a White Knight (your boss) to make your dreams come true. I had placed fate into the hands of gatekeepers.
If I really wanted a freedom-soaked lifestyle filled with travel and adventure, I needed to knock down the gate.
So I quit my job in 2008, and the rest is history. I haven’t been employed since, yet my income has quadrupled. I make six-figures from my laptop and I’ve traveled to more than 30 countries, spending as much time in each locale as I want.
(Like I said, my 20-year-old self would totally. flip. out. if she could look into a crystal ball and see the future me. Life has turned out far better than I’d imagined possible.)
In the process of creating all of that, though, I forgot about my original scheme, the trigger which started it all — which was that College-Senior-Paula was plotting ways she could to “get paid to travel.”
I forgot that’s what I’d wanted — until it happened. This current trip to Costa Rica is the first time I’ve ever traveled overseas for work.
And it makes me realize: That whole idea is an illusion.
Nobody gets paid to travel. We get paid for the value we bring to the trip.
And that’s where our focus needs to be.
I’m not literally getting paid to receive a passport stamp. I’m here because — (hopefully) — I can impact others and change lives through writing, speaking and teaching.
There’s a famous quote by business leader Jim Rohn — “You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value that you bring to the hour.”
The same applies here. You don’t “get paid to travel.” You get paid for the value that you bring to the trip. (If you like that, Tweet it.)
Look for Freedom, Not Commands
But hold on!
There’s more.
If we’re getting paid for creating value — and if our work transfers across boundaries — then it doesn’t matter where we are when we create that value.
“Huh?”
Okay, hear me out:
On a day-to-day basis, I work from my laptop. I could be in Kuala Lumpur or Kansas City; my location is irrelevant.
And that flexibility — combined with a good income (and strong savings) — creates far, far more freedom than any other work arrangement.
In other words –
The goal shouldn’t necessarily be “get paid to travel.” Because that — by itself — doesn’t create optimal freedom.
If I had a boss telling me to fly to Egypt for a news assignment, he’d also tell me what to do when I get there. And when to fly home. And where to fly next.
I’d be living on his terms.
But if you change the goal to “earn money from anywhere,” the game changes. Now you have the freedom to call the shots.
Context matters.
I didn’t understand this when I was 20. I thought “travel” was the same, regardless of whether it was studying abroad, working odd jobs to support myself while backpacking Europe, or representing the State Department.
Now I understand how different each of those experiences would be.
Context matters.
The old notion of “getting paid to travel” is premised on the assumption that someone else issues the command.
Don’t make that your sole goal.
Command yourself.
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I was fortunate to have a job right out of grad school that did send me to Europe regularly. The first trip there taught me that I wasn’t getting paid to travel. While there, they maximized every waking minute from me. Work days started at 7am and ended around 9 or 10pm. If the company was fronting the expense of sending me across the world, they wanted to make sure it was productive. Even my free nights were not free. In Madrid, the client I was travelling with (I was a consultant) made me go shopping with her so I could translate. Now, I work for myself. When my wife goes to Lithuania in September for work, I’m tagging along because I can work from anywhere.
I’m curious Brian,
if you do not mind sharing… what is it that you do?
I am currently 26 yrs old, an engineer working for a very large multi-national company and thinking about making a career move (I still have no idea what that could be)
Thank you
Nice article! The way I have found to get paid to travel is to join the military. lol. It may not be the best way, but it works. Also, I am working on my blog so that once I am out of the military, I can produce enough income to travel and work on my blog anywhere in the world.
To this day I am thankful for my mothers 26 year military career. Every day I used the social skills I learned along the way, the great medical and dental benefits. I received a ton of college scholarship due to her career and traveled/lived in Alaska, Tennessee, Texas, Maryland, Alabama, NORTH CAROLINA. My lucky brother 8 years older than me got Germany, Italy and South Korea. Pick a useful MOS and stash away some of that money. Thank you for your service.
I just got sent on my first paid work trip and learned the same thing. We stayed in a $$$ hotel, ate amazing food, everything was paid for…but the whole time I would have rather been home. The whole point of travel is freedom, not being at someone’s beck and call.
Beautifully said, Emma! And I’m glad you’ve learned that lesson now, rather than later, when you can still incorporate it into your life …
I have traveled a fair share for work bouncing between our plants across the world. Every trip would have extra days, before or after the assignment, for exploration of the given place. Usually, local employees would give me good tips where to go or stay away from. In South Africa, I took an extra week off to explore the bush. Brazil, been there three times, but on my second trip got almost robbed at gunpoint just 2 hrs before my flight home. Still happy to experience it all and be able to talk about it 😉 In Mexico instead of a local connecting flight, I took a bus across the country. That bus had better reclining seats than cattle class on any airline. The most expensive part usually is the flight. Why not take the opportunity and explore? You don’t have to stay in the same hotel or eat at the most expensive restaurant.
I think it’s great when you are young and able to travel for work/school, but as I get older and have more things I care about closer to home like my wife, family, and my dog, traveling for business doesn’t appeal to me as much as it used to.
That’s cool, too! At the end of the day, it’s all about having choices, options and freedom. Once you’ve got that freedom, you can choose anything you want …
I agree, while travelling for business (as an employee) you are not really fee to what you like to do in your spare time while being in another place of the world. Yes you come to a lot of places in the world but starting catching an early flight, being at the plane for hours, get to the hotel late, leave early for appointments the next morning, get back to the airport in time, spending hours on airports and taxis doesn’t mean you have a lot of time to spend on your own being in another town or country. Most of the time you are glad to use spare time to relax a little bit from travelling or maybe having dinner with friendly customers and or colleagues who joined a meeting at that location. But sometimes one cannot do without it, conference calls need face to face meetings occasionally.
Awesome that you are doing what you love! I like what you said about, “We get paid for the VALUE WE BRING to the trip.”
Thanks Dave! 🙂
I was hoping that was your point when I read the headline. I’ve been paid to travel often, but it was specifically because of an “assignment.” I’d prefer to be paid to not travel and work from anywhere, as you suggest.
@Joe — Me too! 🙂
Excellent post! You make such a good point. Right now my hubby gets paid to go on trips once in a while, but he is kept busy by his employer the entire time! I’m working hard on my blog so that one day hopefully I may be able to work from anywhere!
@Dee — Good for you for building an online business! There’s a TON of opportunity on the internet, and I love that you’re working hard. Rock on!
Thanks for a great article – it is always about the value we bring and the steps we take to share that value (http://herdispala.com/great-steps-to-take/)
So from what I’ve read you worked at an “ok” job as a journalist and retired and made more money somehow? Strictly through real estate or what?
@Ricky — I quit my journalism job in 2008, traveled for a few years, then returned to the U.S. in 2010 and became self-employed. As my client base grew, self-employment transitioned into business ownership, as I started hiring assistants and morphing from a solopreneur to an entrepreneur.
I save 50 – 77 percent of my income and invest it into real estate. This creates an additional stream of passive income.
Yes, working in a different location is usually just that “working” …not enabling very much travel. I like your 1:1 idea. Also, congratulations on getting the speaking gig! I hope that you enjoyed it.
I had to read this twice to really “get it.” And now I do. As a person who has worked in the same place for a long time the ability to work, add value, and do your thing from wherever you is music to my ears. Great post!
Thatis awesome, you are living the dream! I travel for work and I enjoy it because it is a chance to be in new places all the time instead of in my office all the time. It’s not really the same thing though because I don’t go anywhere a tourist would ever go.
I used to think business travel would be awesome until I had to do it myself. I was sent to Toronto for a week a few years ago for an auditing project. Fortunately I stayed downtown, so I was able to see some of the sites by default, but there were some late nights pulled in the office when I’d would have rather been site-seeing.
And catching an early morning flight in order to be back in the office by 9 is always a treat!
I went home for a vacation and added week to it. Many of my friends who started out with jobs that paid extremely well are worried all those days without work. I have to keep reminding them I am in real estate (apartment locating/home sales) and I bust my butt to invest the commissions in multiple streams and travel. In two weeks I wont die from lack of work or funds. Freedom is what people want, freedom to have flexibility with income, travel, and life choices. In the end people have to figure out what do they want, what kind of freedom are they looking for and how much income will it take to get there. Enjoy the posts it reminds me gotta take a leap of faith to get away from the EMPLOYEE mentality.
I’ve lived abroad a few times (Peace Corps in Eastern Europe, Communications Manager in an anglophone business school in Paris, and Communications Consultant in a UN Agency where the working language is English). It’s absolutely possible to ‘business travel’ especially if you get to live in that spot for a time!
One tip for Americans that want to live in Europe: look into your ancestry and see if you have European roots. Depending on the national law, you may be eligible for dual citizenship, which will make finding work and living in Europe much easier! I became a dual Irish-American citizen when I was 24 and it was the best choice I ever made. Now cities like Vienna, Rome, Paris, and Barcelona are actual options to live and work!!
@Kieran — Living somewhere is “Slow Travel” at it’s finest — you get to REALLY absorb the culture, language, and area. The Peace Corps is great for that, thanks to their 2-year requirement.
The problem that a lot of business travelers have, though, is that they’ll go overseas for only 5 days … and they’re in meetings the entire time. Bleh. No, thank you. Living overseas (or long-term, slow travel) is much better.
It really is about “creating value” leads to far better rewards. I learned that in my corporate world and now as an entrepreneurs. I used to think how awesome it would be to get paid to travel and I found myself working more hours traveling for work.
This is good. I noticed that I tend to work best when I’m volunteering, since my mindset is completely devoted toward accomplishing the goal, and not having to worry about all the bureaucratic record keeping stuff. This results in a task-oriented mindset vs a time-oriented mindset.
I would like to start a travel blog for my family. Thank you breaking the illusion of getting paid to travel. I think there are far too many over night successes crawling over the internet right now.
Paula, you have such an amazing and inspirational thing going on here! I cant express how thankful I am to have come across this blog. Every article I read I find myself thinking “this is exactly how I feel”, or “I have thought about doing that 100 times and had no idea where to start”. This blog, and all of the comments from other people joining the 9-5 rebellion are such a positive reinforcement that you don’t have to do things the normal way. Normal sucks! I bought my first home at 22, and 2 years later I have unintentionally flipped it and its value is higher than I ever imagined! I am finally taking the first steps in quitting the 9-5 and creatively paving my way to financial freedom. Thank you for sharing all of the good’s and bad’s of your incredible journey, and I am so excited to use some of your lessons to help in my own experiences!
Thank you so much, Bethany!! That makes me so happy. 🙂
Hi Paula,
I just wanted to say your quite an inspiration. I think I initially came across your blog and it didn’t stick but I’m glad I came back again.
This blog post definitely made ma ah ha! I always thought that would be a great thing to have business travel. But your right traveling on your own terms is the ultimate freedom.
As an auditor, my time is dictated during the work trip itself. However, in any location I visit, I have the option to plan some pretty epic vacation time. An audit in Algeria worked out to be a 5 day layover in Paris. I was in Trinidad during Carnival and I got to spend the weekend celebrating with the locals. Next month’s trip to Ecuador means a planned layover through Mexico to go to a friend’s wedding. No, I don’t have total control over where I go or when, but I’m in the fortunate position that I have a lot of flexibility, and the cost of my flights is covered by the Company. My goal is always to make the most out of each trip at the best value possible.
@Sarah — That’s awesome!! Sounds like you have a fantastic situation, and cheers to you for making the most of it!!
I recently left my job to pursue internet marketing full-time and have allowed myself the opportunity to travel for “work”. I love it. The problem as you get older though is all the responsibilities that you’re leaving behind adds more anxiety and stress than it’s sometimes worth.
If you’ve got a wife and kids (especially young ones), pets and a home to maintain getting away feels more like a self-inflicted guilt trip than a gleeful getaway.