How These 6 Millennials Travel The World For A Living
Since I left New York City six months ago to circumnavigate the globe by couch-surfing through my social network, I have learned that I am not alone in my venture to become a digital nomad and an income-earning female traveler. There are many women out there who have similar dreams – and more importantly, are acting on them.
I’ve had the good fortune to meet a few of these women throughout my travels and learn about how they’ve become full-time travelers while supporting themselves on the road.
Meet Andrea Valeria, Selena Slavenburg, Phoebe Escott-Kenny, Kelsey Vaughne, Arianna Esposito, and Rena Ayoubi. Here's how they manage to make money while traveling and the best advice they have for those looking to follow their footsteps.
Photo Credit: Andrea Valeria
Andrea Valeria
Age: 28
From: Panama City, Panama
Before She Hit The Road: Living in Hawaii working full-time at a photography company with an income in the mid five figures.
Currently: Working as a freelance travel video blogger for “It’s A Travel O.D.” from Playa del Carmen, Mexico
What precipitated deciding to travel for a living? Did you do any prep?
My motto has always been to “do what you love,” and my true passion is vlogging. When the opportunity to work remotely in my position came about, I got rid of most of my belongings, packed what was left in a suitcase and carry-on, and left.
There was no prep. Buenos Aires, Argentina, came to mind during dinner with a friend and two weeks later, I was there.
How are you making money on the road?
I began focusing on my vlog, It’s A Travel O.D., about six months ago while working my regular job remotely. I also run a cleaning business in Panama with my mother.
Once the groundwork for my travel vlog was done, the next logical step was transitioning my full-time position to part-time to focus on the vlog. This gave me more time to reach out to potential clients and work on these new projects, which resulted in my first two sponsored vlog clients within the first week of taking that step. Additionally, I’ve landed steady freelancing opportunities in video, social media advising and digital content creation.
How much money are you now making, and what are your future business plans?
Since switching to part-time, I’m making almost the same as I was before in my steady, corporate, full-time job. The current projects I’m working on involve affiliate marketing partnerships (which, done right, could result in a small stream of passive income) and social media advising for hostels/hotels in exchange for accommodation, which saves me money on housing.
My next project is to grow my Instagram account, @itsatravelod, which in this day and age is crucial for gaining partnerships and other business opportunities.
What advice do you have for other women looking to leave behind their 9-to-5 in exchange for a more nomadic lifestyle?
The idea of “quitting your job and traveling the world” is not as easy as it sounds. My advice is to be practical and think strategically. For most people, it’s not realistic to amass $30,000 in savings and embark on this marvelous journey, so don’t think that’s the only solution.
Think about your passions and hobbies, how you can turn them into profitable ventures, and put in the hours to make it happen. Could you transition your current job to being remote (even if the duties and salary would change)? Can you replace nights out drinking with staying in and doing the work (creating your website, booking small clients, working on your personal branding, etc.)? Also, always take risks. Know that every single person that you see out there doing something similar to what you want to do took risks and left their comfort zones. Success doesn’t happen overnight and patience is key to living your dream life .
Photo Credit: Selena Slavenburg
Selena Slavenburg
Age: 26
From: Palo Alto, California
Before She Hit The Road: Working as a marketing manager in Los Angeles.
Currently: Traveling the world, most recently through the Balkans, Morocco, and Hungary with her fiancé, Jacob Taylor. Recently moved to Amsterdam to have a home base.
What precipitated deciding to travel for a living? Did you do any prep?
I grew up traveling, and it's always been a dream of mine to travel and move abroad. After experiencing the L.A. lifestyle for 5 years, I was ready for a change – I was entering my mid-20's, and it finally hit me that I just needed to go for it.
I save by habit, and maybe more than I should! In L.A., I couldn't justify buying $16 glasses of wine at dinner with friends or spending money on unnecessary clothing anymore. I saved the extra cash once I started thinking about the trips I could put that money towards.
How are you making money on the road?
I originally started our Instagram account, @finduslost, as a way to share our travels with friends and family, but it quickly grew into much more. We currently have 19,000+ followers, and it's growing by a few hundred each day. People started asking us to share travel tips from each destination we visited, and we were enjoying the photography aspect so much that I decided to start our blog, Find Us Lost, too. I wanted to create the kind of travel guides that I've always looked for in my own travels. Now through paid partnership and collaboration opportunities, we're starting to seriously shape our lifestyle around travel.
How much money are you now making, and what are your future business plans?
Before leaving I secured a remote work opportunity as a part-time marketing consultant through connections in L.A.
I'm making roughly half of what I used to before I left. In the past few months, I've used my free time to teach myself basic HTML, SEO, Lightroom, Photoshop and WordPress.
It's my dream to continue traveling and working from abroad. I'd love to expand our brand and build a travel community. I think some people believe our generation is unrealistic because they just want to travel without responsibilities, but I disagree - really, our generation is driven and unconventional.
What have you learned about Millennials around the world?
The travel community is incredibly supportive and genuinely interested in your adventures. I've made more meaningful connections abroad in seven months than I have in the five years I lived in Los Angeles. It's not just the people - when you shift your lifestyle in such a drastic way, you can't help but open up your own world.
Photo Credit: Phoebe Escott-Kenny
Phoebe Escott-Kenny
Age: 28
From: Queensland, Australia
Before She Hit The Road: Teaching English in Germany for nearly two years.
Currently: Privately teaching English while blogging and traveling the world. Just in 2016, she's been to 16+ countries across Europe, North and Latin America, and Asia.
What precipitated deciding to travel for a living? Did you do any prep?
I first left Australia for Germany back in 2011 with nothing but $3,700 back in 2011, with no plans on staying for longer than six months. After arriving, I began to learn German at a language school and that's where I got my first taste of the language-teaching world. I initially came to Germany because my boyfriend is German (I use Frankfurt as a base).
Soon after, I was able to get into private English training, securing jobs around the world and blogging about these destinations as I go. My blog, Kaptain Kenny, became just as much of a job as my English training business. My Instagram, @kaptain.kenny, is currently sitting on 13,900 followers, which has also helped to give me exposure and credibility in the travel industry, especially when contacting boards and companies for press trips. Overall, it's helped generate a lot of interest in my blog.
How are you making money on the road?
My two businesses have complemented each other nicely: I book work around the world for both my English training and travel blog. For example, this year I was a guest English lecturer at a university in Vietnam and was able to use that experience to write a lot of content on Vietnam. I also work with hotels and resorts — helping to train their staffs while also taking photos of my experience and writing about that destination on my blog. To make direct money from my blog, I focus on receiving invitations from tourism boards, hotels, municipalities and tour companies in exchange for my travel pieces.
How much money are you now making, and what are your future business plans?
I'm lucky that I have two business avenues, which can work separately or together to yield income since I can either get booked locally for English lessons or abroad on a travel assignment.
I know the stability of a regular income suits other people but for me, I cannot imagine having an ordinary 9-to-5 job with a boss. I'd rather wake up every day and have 20 different things to do. From a personal development perspective, I’ll be happy so long as I can support myself financially and continue learning languages.
What have you learned about Millennials around the world?
I think people of my generation are particularly good at making money in fields that never previously existed. I'm constantly learning from and am inspired by people who utilize social media to promote their business in an authentic way and I can only hope to project the same image!
Photo Credit: Cameron Vaughne
Kelsey Vaughne
Age: 23
From: Virginia Beach, VA
Before She Hit The Road: Working as a full-time nanny while pursuing a Master’s degree.
Currently: Recently left home to build a business and become digitally nomadic with her husband, Cameron Vaughne.
What precipitated deciding to travel for a living? Did you do any prep?
Since making the decision last year of becoming digitally nomadic with my husband, we spent all of our free time researching ways to monetize our blog (The Wanderful Lyfe), social media and freelance services (photography, videography, social media growth and management, etc.), while also brainstorming how we could help people in need along the way. We maintained our current full-time jobs, saved and worked 60+ hours per week before announcing our decision to travel full-time in September.
How are you making money on the road?
It all started with the growth of our Instagram account, @thewanderfullyfe, which is currently generating an average of 150 to 200 followers per day. After having several companies inquire how we were growing so quickly, we realized that we could convert our unique methods for organic social media growth into a paid service, while also providing professional quality media content showcasing their products and/or services in beautiful destinations around the world.
It's through the application of these services as well as through promotional sponsorships, writing competitive reviews on destinations/accommodations/restaurants/apps/etc., that we were first able to monetize our overall web presence.
How much money are you now making, and what are your future business plans?
If for some reason we find ourselves in a situation where our blog isn't generating the necessary funds for sustaining this lifestyle, then our focus will remain primarily on the freelance services we provide, such as social media growth/management, photography and videography, amongst other things.
Although our current income doesn't reflect that of what we were previously making (it’s about half), we end up saving much more due to the drastic cut in bills and “necessities” which have become irrelevant whilst living on the road. In addition to living minimally, we hope to show the world what we’ve learned is the most important and beneficial “travel hack” - that you can live almost purely off of human connection!
What advice do you have for other women looking to leave behind their 9-to-5 in exchange for a more nomadic lifestyle?
My only advice would be to set aside everything you think you know about the world and the people in it. Really...wipe the slate clean! Making the most out of living nomadically means truly allowing yourself to remain completely open-minded while forming well-rounded, multicultural and truly intellectual perspectives on the world that we live in.
Photo credit: Arianna Esposito
Arianna Esposito and Rena Ayoubi
Age: 20
From: Manchester, UK, and Italy
Before They Hit The Road: Working a few small waitressing and bartending jobs to save money for travel.
Currently: Traveling around the world together through New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Canada while building a travel blog and social media presence.
What precipitated deciding to travel for a living? Did you do any prep?
We didn’t actually intend to! We met a travel vlogger in a hostel who showed us what they did and introduced us to the lifestyle. It all just snowballed from there.
We managed to save about $12,000 each from our jobs and we set out with only the first few nights’ stay sorted. From then, it’s been a pretty spontaneous ride.
How are you making money on the road?
We started writing for travel sites and getting paid per article, and eventually moved on to creating our own blog, LandRoamers. Once our Instagram, @landroamers, got bigger (currently, it has 7,500 followers), our site got more hits and we used this surge to reach out to businesses for sponsors. We’re currently working with two companies and the future looks promising!
How much money are you now making, and what are your future business plans?
As we’re only six months into our journey, we’re making low figures, but it’s coming along well and our savings are holding. When necessary, we pick up small jobs on the road, which is pretty common for most travelers.
We’re lucky enough not to need a stable job for now, but we spend several hours a day on our blog and Instagram; however, this hardly feels like a job compared to a 9-to-5!
We’re aiming for a fully paid travel lifestyle, hopefully by building onto more social platforms such as YouTube so we can tell our travel story through a different form of media that’s more popular and easier to monetize. We’re also hoping to use our influence to reach out to people about important subjects that we’re learning about on our travels, for example, NGO work that we’re proud to support.
What advice do you have for other women looking to leave behind their 9-to-5 in exchange for a more nomadic lifestyle?
Take the plunge! Working in the travel business is very much about putting yourself out there and trying new techniques and ideas; opportunities come to those who ask, and you can’t be disheartened if something doesn’t work out . We’re lucky to be part of such a huge and supportive network of travelers. Once you start experiencing new cultures, you begin to see that the cliché "work to live" is actually one that makes for a happier person; we’ve seen children in villages who don’t even have shoes on their feet but who have the happiest smiles you’ll ever see, and it really does put things into perspective.
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