From an empty passport to 13 new countries in less than a year

I’ve always wanted to travel…

Ever since I was little, I remember walking to the travel agency in my little hometown in Minnesota to get brochures about London to cut up and make wall posters in my bedroom. (The child’s version of a vision board, ha! How fitting that my first international and solo trip all those years later was to London…) When it came time to take trips for school, I remember obsessively making packing lists weeks in advance out of sheer excitement & anticipation.

So why was I suddenly 26 and had never left the country besides one family trip to Cancun? I had a myriad of excuses- Not enough money, a stable relationship at home, a beautiful apartment…. I found myself auditioning for theater shows that would allow me to travel but ultimately was sitting in my apartment with an empty passport and strong desire to explore.

What was I waiting for?

Finally one day, I stumbled across some travel bloggers online. Girls who had made a career out of traveling full time. Girls who had been to all 7 continents before they were 30. And it clicked. If I wanted to travel, I should do it now. Starting immediately. There would always be a million excuses and reasons to not make it a priority. And from that moment I was fully committed.

So I got out of my lease + my job and began to travel.

Non stop.

It’s a beautiful thing how once you get clear on what you want with a hellbent passion, the universe delivers so many opportunities you didn’t know were possible…

Just to be clear, I’m not rich. I don’t come from money. I just have a strong willed determination to see the world. To wake up in new countries, explore new cultures and meet people from all different walks of life.

So I got to hustlin’.

There was I sitting on my couch, a glass of wine in hand, looking at my bank account discouraged … I had just finished my first trip since my new found decision to travel- we road tripped across Arizona, Utah, Las Vegas, Oregon and Seattle. And I had no intention of stopping and staying home. I wasn’t about to let a little thing like insufficient funds stop my dream.

While I absolutely loved all my trips around America the first 6 months, I was really itching to go on an international solo trip. But more exotic destinations meant it would cost more money.. that I didn’t currently have saved. But I knew there had to be away around that….

Finding jobs that pay you travel turned out to be easier than I thought!

So I began researching how to travel for cheap, how to find jobs abroad, what type of jobs pay you travel… well it turns out the tourism industry is massive and if you want to work in the travel field, you might not make millions but your life will be rich beyond belief. In the last year I’ve worked a month in Mexico, a New Year’s Eve festival in Scotland, Oktoberfest in Germany, a charity trip to Greece, volunteered teaching English abroad in Germany, took two trips through Italy, spent a month in Indonesia and have upcoming job offers in Egypt, Poland and a return trip to Mexico.

My life is different and exciting every day now and if you’re reading this -my guess is you want to travel too! Well you’ve come to the right place, I’m going to share the in and outs of finding travel jobs so you can start traveling today ☺️  

Information coming soon!

Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts on Finding Work in a Dream Destination, Short Term Jobs Abroad, and How to Get a Job Working Europe’s Best Festivals

If traveling long term isn’t your goal but you’d like to travel when possible- stay tuned for upcoming posts on budget travel, best hostels in Europe, how to earn free flights with credit card points and so much more! Let me know what your travel goals are and never hesitate to reach out with your questions, let’s start traveling (and working cool jobs!) around the world together!