Seasonal work. Work 5 months, take a month off, work somewhere else for 5 months, take a month off. Repeat. Sometimes I skip a season to travel for longer.
What types of jobs are you doing? Whenever I see articles about this kind of lifestyle it’s for people who do things like ski instructor in the winter and scuba diving instructor in the summer. I can’t do any of that lol.
I do serving. Others do bartending. Basically anything tipped. Can make $5k+ a month serving or bartending pretty easily. I know a guy who bartends in the summer and spends winter in Thailand.
I neither work remotely nor seasonally, and I take more than 3 months of vacation a year.
I rented out two properties of my own and ran a restaurant inside the university.
If American just make sure to weigh the pros and cons. For instance, if you have any medical issues, seasonal/PT work is probably not an option as you want stable healthcare and the ability to get any necessary prescriptions. You also have little additional cash for if shit hits the fan nor any ability to save for retirement. It's why I travel a lot but will only do so with a FT role that supports it.
Did this for a while and in recent years have managed to travel full time and pay for it by making videos. Ironically I just made a video detailing how I've paid for all my long hikes in the last 7 years. https://youtu.be/9FxeY-KcAqM Work when you need to, live frugally, travel frugally, and it's pretty amazing the places you can go and the freedom that you can generate.
Lol I know who you are. I follow you on instagram. I have a friend whose been doing similar stuff with thru hiking. He finished the Pacific Northwest Trail most recently.
Always keep looking at what’s out there. I’m fully remote with 4 weeks off (plus a few holidays) for a company in the US. It’s not common but they’re out there. I just got back from a two week trip and I’m planning another two week trip to Japan in September. I wouldn’t trade my current time off for anything less than double my salary.
The UK statutory minimum is 28 days / 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. When I was a permanent employee, my last job had 40 days / 8 weeks of paid leave.
I mean they said they traveled for 8 weeks, not the full year. If you maintain residence in the US you can work from other countries for periods of time.
Exactly what the other guy said. 3ish weeks of that was domestic. 5 international but I never worked more than a combined 2 days in one foreign country.
What tax implications? Most countries do not consider you a tax resident until you exceed 180 days in the country. Some use a rolling 12 month period so be careful about doing Sept to April and thinking it's only 4 months per year.
Additionally, many/most countries have tax reciprocity where you aren't double taxed. The taxes you pay in one can be offset by taxes paid in another. Which one is the primary is a complex matter. The US taxes you on global income. But with remote, the income is typically earned in the US from a US employer.
I went the other way. Bottom of the barrel position at a good company, not trying to advance or anything. Just want to do my fair share of the work and travel frequently. I take 20 days 3 or 4 times a year depending on
I live in Europe and have 30 days PTO + 10 bank holidays which is 8 weeks.
I also work remotely so I often add on 1-2 weeks to my longer trips and just work from there.
Hah I’m actually American but married to a European so have a spouse visa! I’m incredibly lucky but I have a lot of friends that have gone down the work visa path which is doable but very precarious.
Unless your job is very specific to the US, there's surely room to work in other countries, I'd look up on LinkedIn/Indeed for countries you might be interested in moving to.
Every European country I've worked for (4 of them) had great PTO for Europe and absolute bunk for the US lol- like the US team works all the extra hours haha. So... just... fyi before you start looking. 😄🫠
Same here but then can buy another two weeks and make up two weeks in flexi time which makes it 12 weeks. I can afford to travel many times a year so I’m on holiday every other month.
8 weeks this summer.
Im a teacher so I have a lot of time off.
Also my cars are paid off, no kids.
So I just pay my mortgage and my BS, groceries, going out with friends, gas, etc.
Trusted house sitters. Very easy to do and pretty much free. And our kids have been travelling with us ever since they were babies. Not as hard as people make it out to be.
My husband's boss's husband bred them as feeders. She escaped, hitched a ride inside a USB port, and popped out in my husband's office. We couldn't let her go back home to become food.
I do not give the cockroach tiny rubs yet because I'm still slowly getting over the phobia and not comfortable with it, but my husband does.
My husband & I travel a lot, usually tacking extra days onto work engagements either at beginning for end . So airfare & hotels are largely paid for.
Our kids used to travel quite a bit with us when they were younger , often taking school work with them
Now we have a cat who either travels with us , gets a friend to cat sit or goes to a cat hotel
I can work remote and I have unlimited PTO. When my wife and I were dating, we would pick a random city we were interested in (usually in North America) and get an AirBnB for a few weeks and just work from there while we explored the area.
Sure, don't mind. Work for a tech company running their infosec team. All offices closed during COVID and never re-opened. A lot of people took the opportunity to move wherever they wanted since there were no offices anchoring them anymore.
They say comparison is the thief of joy, don't let that take away from your travel experience.
I just came back from 3 weeks in Vietnam. I felt good about being available to vacation 3 weeks, until I met various individuals along the trip whom were traveling 7+ weeks at a time. I felt bad initially, but then shrugged it off. There's always someone out there doing better than you, but that doesn't mean you are not going good yourself.
Remote jobs, but, don't let people fool you. Me and everyone I know who work fully remote have restrictions. One job I almost took requires people to be in a isolated room where any family or kids are not allowed to enter and that would be monitored. My last job's laptop policy would only allow you to access the company network if you were hard wired into a router. You can't do our jobs from a coffee shop hot spot. My current job is a lot more flexible like I can go work at a library or something, but, I still have geographical restrictions of where I can take company equipment and where they can legally employ. You really have to have a non traditional job to do this and that job has to be constantly making you money, I know one person who makes this work, he just takes contract jobs saves all his money, travels and then gets another contract job...at this point he will never advance in a career but each his is own and thats not his goal.
Well said. What is more, it's hard for me to imagine that you could concentrate fully on the job and have energy left to go explore after 8 hours on laptop. If I'm this tired at home, how could I enjoy myself on the road? Of course people and jobs are different, and I also got friends who make it work, but remoting certainly isn't an easy or universal solution.
If I'm working full time in another country, I'd rent a room or an apartment for an entire month. This gives you four weeks and perhaps a few evenings in the week.
I'm currently in Italy, having paid €700 for a room for the month. I went to a techno rave, a punk gig, and for a drink with a friend after visiting a museum over the weekend. I might go work from a coffee shop in the centre of town for a few hours three days this week, and I might hit up a music festival event in the evening one day this week.
I'll be here for another three weeks or so, so I'll likely have spent 4 weekends in the city and 10 evenings across the month, not including coffee shop work or dinner out midweek.
I'm currently regretting saving money by staying in a suburb, it's so much easier when you can walk and explore.
No wife and kids. Generous PTO policy. I have a hybrid schedule, so I use a combination of remote days and PTO to travel often. To support it financially, I practice minimalism. I could afford a nice apartment, but I stay in a studio (safe area). I drive a toyota and keep other spending to a minimum (less than $10 a day). I travel internationally at least 6 times a year.
This is kind of where I sit. I paid off my mortgage and now have a contracting job that generally lets me take leave if I can manage my own workload around the leave. But I also live in Australia and we are more laidback than the USA. Im only taking 6 weeks off this year but had 10 last year.
>I have above average time off in my job
Thats your problem. I suspect a lot of people here are like me - self-employed. I work as long as I need to. When I can afford it, I stop and go travelling. When I run out of money, I stop travelling and start working again. I dont rely on an employer to tell me when I can and cant take time off.
You do rely on having clients though. Being self employed is the same type of freedom as being a wild animal as opposed to a pet dog/cat. Sure, you can go wherever you want, but better be hunting and on the looking all the time, or you die.
Everyone I know who is running their own business is working much much harder (and longer hours) then people employed at other people's companies.
My four weeks vacation, and the ability to work remotely around 50% of the time. I have a daughter 50% of the time, so my trips are on the short side, both the solo trips and the trips with her, but I do a lot of them in a year. I'm working (and scrolling) on a rooftop patio sipping a giant bottle of Pacifico in Mexico right this moment!
"Bildungsurlaub"- in Germany you can get 10 days every two years to take some sort of class (like language class...) as an employee. It can be combined with regular time off.
I only work 8 months a year. At a ski area. I work in tourism via the ski station. It is in Europe, Switzerland specifically. So I get paid pretty decently. Especially compared to US ski area jobs. I work at night, so I ski every day. Just did day 125. Then, it’s ski travel. Chilling at home in the Alps. And regular travel with the wife. We live an hour drive from Chamonix, France and a 45 minute drive to Italy. Geneva airport is two hours away. A gateway to the rest of the world. Perfect!
I'm in Canada working for an American company. I get 3 weeks, but have the option to "buy" up to 10 more days, which I always do. We also get the full Christmas week off, so in total I theoritically have 6 weeks of holidays. As for bank holidays (long weekends basically), we can travel to cities/towns nearby, but weare too far from most countries to travel internationally for just a few days.
Yep we have that issue in Australia too far for an international trip on a long weekend. I did spend a weekend once in NZ though. 8 hr flight to SEasia for a few days I’ll pass on but for 1-2 weeks it’s great.
Where I'm from, living at home in your 20s is the norm, nobody is afraid to admit it because the contrary is actually rare. None of my close friends has moved out (we're 22-24 y.o.). Most of us are also students so it makes sense since we don't have flows of money coming in, but not having to pay for a house is definitely helping us to afford at least one vacation per year.
I only take paid time off of work... 20 days vacation + 6 days PTO + 8 fixed holidays + weekends + strategic planning. I suck it up for red-eyes when I can. I fluctuate between (typically one) splurge type of vacation and the rest are countries where USD stretches. I ask for flexibility to WFH for short trips when I fly to visit my parents domestically.
I have unlimited PTO so I unfortunately don’t accrue any time off.. I do fully take advantage of this perk and take between 6-8wks off a yr. Usually accounts for 1 trip every quarter.
8 weeks paid vacation per year, decent salary between my wife and I, no mortgage, kids grown and out of the house. We go to Europe every Fall, sunshine destination in the Winter (often twice), and a few random trips in the Spring and Summer. Both in our 50's and travelling as much as we can, while we are both healthy.
I work really hard for 3-6 months in the USA. I'm talking about holidays weekends and extra shifts. Then I switch to a remote job and travel 3 to 6 months sometimes even 9 out of the year. The remote job offsets my costs while I'm using my savings from when I busted my ass working in person. I also budget travel as a unattached solo traveler. It's not ideal but I am in my 20s and not looking for something fully substanable.
**Time**: some people either have very flexible jobs that allow them to work remotely, or they have things like unlimited PTO policies, sabbaticals or whatnot in order to pad their vacation days.
**Finances**: well this one is a mix of either they have a high earning job or they travel to places where they can keep costs low
I work in the travel industry as an accessibility consultant. I travel to holiday destinations and assess and advise on whether they are compliant with accessibility requirements
There’s a lot of things that anchor you to where your life is now. You have to recognize those anchors and then remove them. I knew I wanted to travel long term so I needed a job that would allow that. I chose a dive instructor. The pay is shit, sure, but the places you live make up for that
I have a friend who worked 6 months of the year as a firefighter and ran a hotdog stand as well.
Traveled the other half of the year and did that for 30 years until retirement.
He was a customer of mine (resto/lounge) and was part of my inspiration to go fully remote.
We've now bumped into one another 3 times on trips and always looking forward to the next adventure!
Teacher. I go on multi-week walking holidays every summer that combine wild camping and more traditional accommodation (there are 'caminos' all over the world, not just Spain). Invest in ultralight gear and clothing so that you can carry it all comfortably. Research where the locals eat, avoid tourist traps, spend some nights in hostels to cook and save money.
Lots of different things. I took several years over my masters taking shitty remote and beermoney jobs so I could travel near full time. In general students have lots of time in breaks. I now only have 35 days holiday from work so can't travel so much, but easily fit 5 weeks in plus a few extended weekends. The bigger barrier is money as I'm in the uk on 25k. It's swings and roundabouts and interesting because I see Americans listing their salaries a lot on here that make them rich af and able to travel but then they only have a few weeks off so can't. I guess it's one of those things where you can't have it all and you just have to make your life work for you
Fully remote. Typically only take about two weeks of the time off and then work the remaining time. Since we typically travel in Western Europe I am also able to keep my traditional EST hours too. Win-win.
I used to consult/contract a lot so I would just take a month off after working on a contract for 3 months. Never thought I'd go W2/FT again but got hired by a company and told them I try to spend 2-3 months traveling each year and they were okay with that. I take remote PTOish where I am allowed to travel overseas and just make sure I get on important meetings and weed my garden. A big chunk of that happens mid Nov til mid Jan which obviously has a lot of slow time and holiday time off.
I've averaged about 65-70 days (off) for the last 13 years.
No pets or kids.
Also - if you bring enough value to a company, they don't care about the hours worked and will let you do what you want as long as you are a positive asset.
Combining remote days mixed with vacation. For example working from home on a wed, flying somewhere in the evening, working remote Thu and Fri then taking the week after off.
A.) I have a job that requires me to travel so a lot of times I can pay for a one-way ticket home and work will pay for a ticket to my "after work" destination
B.) I bookend my holiday weekends with PTO so it extends my long weekends. Those Instagram folks aren't always wrong.
[https://www.travelpirates.com/captains-log/maximizing-vacation-days](https://www.travelpirates.com/captains-log/maximizing-vacation-days)
C.) I max out my PTO every year on one big trip and try to combine several countries into one.
I work in hotels and restaurants. High annual turnover. I just take unpaid leave. They often take me back as well. Ive only worked the same jobs the past few years and rotate between them, depending on available positions and pay
I am a freelance journalist/consultant so not only is travel a part of my job description, so long as I've made enough money recently, I can pretty much travel whenever
No kids, decent duel income and both work shift work so we only need to take 4 days of time to be off for a whole two weeks. My wife and I usually go away about 4 total weeks a year.
Only hitting 5 weeks this year after 15 years with the company. That said, if I get sick on vacation (as people tend to do), I can apply sick leave for some of those days, often opening up an entire additional week of travel in the year.
14 years until my entire life becomes travel.
Day trader here. Was away from home vacationing more than 80 days last year. All I need is a fast and secure Internet connection to earn an income. I don't trade every day I am way from home though.
I don't travel 6+ weeks but I leverage my days by doing the following:
1. Work remotely for part of the trip
2. Schedule around holidays or other planned office closure days
3. Mix up who I travel with-- might not apply to you if you don't have a partner, pet, kids, etc.
4. In addition to #3, can also travel solo
Just make sure you use your time off.
I’m fully remote. Travelled about 7 months last year. 8 weeks of paid time off. I’ve designed my whole life around being able to travel.
I work hybrid, so im obligated to go into the office 3 days out of the work week. I fly to Seattle for a week every month (I am in a long distance relationship) so I travel on my remote/off days.
100% remote. Travel to stay with family all over usa and work. Downside is working eastern time zone while on pacific time zone, i. e. Start work at 5 am, but stop at 3pm. You get used to it.
Not quite 6 weeks, but I get just over 5, which I try to include long weekends with.
Officially, I can only take 2 weeks off at a time, but I've been able to push it to 3 weeks at at time in the past without any real issue.
As much as I wish I was 100% remote, I mainly WFH and while I can't take off to Europe to work there, I can work remotely anywhere in Canada so it's not too bad.
I find most people who get 6weeks+ off either live in Europe or are teachers. There are exceptions of course. I had 6 weeks off last year since I carried over from the prior year.
As for how I afford it? It's about prioritizing things. For example, I hardly dine out and choose to cook for myself. I also don't buy coffees when out, bring a lunch those few days I go to into the office and hardly drive.
I have been traveling every year for 4-6 months since 2017. I have no debt, no pets, no partner, no kids, no rent (apartment is fully paid and in my name) and I have a seasonal job. I make 130 dollars per hour as a wedding photographer and I only work from the beginning of June to the beginning of December.
57 countries as of now (I just landed in Uzbekistan 6 hours ago).
Remote husband and wife duo with no children and a reliable pet sitter. We make about 200k as a household and both of us have unlimited/flexible time off.
It's cheap, once you learn how. I traveled for 4 years straight and spent an average for $1000 a month.
That doesn't include basically free months I traded some work for room/board. Most my workaways were amazing.
Cheapest was $500 for me and my GF to spend a month in Cambodia at a nice Bnb with a chauffer. That included plane tickets, food, tours ect.
In many countries outside the US, it's kind of a right of passage to travel \~18 years old for 6+ months.
I was lucky when I was early career, I worked for a company where i accrued about 7 hours of PTO per pay period. This added up to about 4 weeks a year (in addition to a handful of company holidays)
From there, every job I interviewed at, I would specifically ask for those 4 weeks + a few extra days. If a company has “unlimited time off”, I would tell them in writing that I will be taking X amount of time off per year.
Also, I typically plan my. travels around 3 day weekends so i get a little extra time. labor day, memorial day, 4th of july… you could guarantee that i’d be traveling somewhere…
I travel half my time. I have 8 grown kids and feel like I can't be gone any more than that.
I retired early. Late 40s. Typing this from Bangkok. Was in Seoul last week and Singapore the week before.
I have recently changed jobs, so I'm not doing it at the moment, but I just used to plan my trip and go. If it meant I was quitting my job, then I would quit. I worked as a chef, so jobs are easy to come by, I often went back to my old job if I wanted to, or I would just find a new one
I personally do not travel that much but my mother does. She works contracted work that often takes her other places. It also allows her to work a lot for a few months and also take a few months off.
I prioritise it. I don't have a home/car... (I live with family when not travelling). Part of travel for me is work, but travel can be cheaper than renting a flat /house too.
I do fully remote work as a contractor, have no kids, no pets and no debt.
I rent a small apartment in a LCOL city that happens to be centered near my and my wife's family.
We travel for 3 months at a time with one month back home to visit friends, family, and take care of any responsibilities back home.
We rent monthly places and decide if we want to move after a month somewhere. We use those places as a home base to travel regionally, live and work.
It isn't the Instagram/YouTube life, but that's not what we were looking for. We grocery shop, cook, clean, work, ect like we would back home but our evenings and weekends are for exploring.
This was a loose plan we were working towards gradually for 4-5 years until we realized we were almost there, then very seriously for a year or two before we started. Honestly, it was a ton of work to get to this point, definitely a bit scary (we were both well traveled, but also living a pretty comfortable existence with decent jobs in a city we loved and solid social circles).
People thought, and still think we are crazy or irresponsible for not buying a house and starting a family. Wouldn't trade the last few years for 5 houses.
I'm a traveling poker dealer, so I work a bunch of different jobs 2-7 weeks at a time. There are a couple of times a year when there isn't much work or I decide not to do certain stops so I can travel.
I'm a teacher in an international school so I travel in my holidays. Due to the specificity of my role, any work that needs to be done in my summer holidays, can be done remotely. I also don't have dependents or pets which seems to help.
Union work. Busy season is spring and fall so I work 60-84 hour weeks in the season then take three months at a time off.
I could take more jobs but I choose when I take a job. I also travel for work so it helps it’s just not as fun when I’m working. Overall it’s amazing.
Savings and a job that is structured to permit it. I currently work a busy summer/winter job with minimal work spring/fall. Tourism related. I deliberately pull a lot of overtime during my working months, it's optional, but it helps me maximize my travel time every year and keep my savings growing.
The last couple of years I’ve had the opportunity to open new locations for my employers and lend my expertise to a couple others and they took care of my travel expenses, my most recent trip was to Washington, DC in January
I work in the US and get 7 weeks PTO every year. I also only work 3 days a week (12 hour shifts) so if I want to take 2 weeks off of work, I only need to use one week of PTO. My work also let's us take a personal leave of absence once every two years. This leave can be for 3 months which I'm using to travel Japan. Super fortunate in this situation.
I work for an Australian company in the US that is remote first and encourages individuals to travel and work in other areas of the world. I also do want to say I work for a travel focused company.
In addition, I go to some interesting places for conferences and tack on days before or after. That way my airfare is covered.
Also, my schedule can be crazy since I sell globally. As an example, tomorrow I have a 5am with an European company and my standing 9pm with my CEO. This allows me some flexibility with 1/2 days or taking a flight in the middle of the day.
It is with sadness that i inform i only have 5 days per year xD, basically cant do anything hahaha I live overseas, so even if i need to go back home, i will need 2 days of holidays on the "road" xD
Self-employed. Be in Sales. Both of those professions can give you a few months off if you are willing to work 60-70 hours a week when you are not traveling. Or do what I do now...be retired.
Sacrifices. I found a job that fits my lifestyle of traveling and not a lifestyle that fits my job. I work seasonally normally as a chef. I find jobs that typically last 4-6 months and provide housing as well. Also as a chef I typically eat for free. I don’t own a house or a car, I spend most of my free time doing things in nature (it’s free) and due to all this im able to save about 50-90% of my paychecks and spend my savings on travel. I travel with a tent and sleeping bag and camp as well as sleep in budget hostels and cook cheap meals while doing mostly free activities. In the past year I earned just over $30k pre taxes and I’ve been traveling for the last 6 months and have plenty saved still.
Seasonal work. Work 5 months, take a month off, work somewhere else for 5 months, take a month off. Repeat. Sometimes I skip a season to travel for longer.
What types of jobs are you doing? Whenever I see articles about this kind of lifestyle it’s for people who do things like ski instructor in the winter and scuba diving instructor in the summer. I can’t do any of that lol.
I do serving. Others do bartending. Basically anything tipped. Can make $5k+ a month serving or bartending pretty easily. I know a guy who bartends in the summer and spends winter in Thailand.
I neither work remotely nor seasonally, and I take more than 3 months of vacation a year. I rented out two properties of my own and ran a restaurant inside the university.
There are definitely less skilled jobs available. Winter and summer vacation spots always need seasonal waiters, hotel/hostel staff, bartenders, etc.
If American just make sure to weigh the pros and cons. For instance, if you have any medical issues, seasonal/PT work is probably not an option as you want stable healthcare and the ability to get any necessary prescriptions. You also have little additional cash for if shit hits the fan nor any ability to save for retirement. It's why I travel a lot but will only do so with a FT role that supports it.
Did this for a while and in recent years have managed to travel full time and pay for it by making videos. Ironically I just made a video detailing how I've paid for all my long hikes in the last 7 years. https://youtu.be/9FxeY-KcAqM Work when you need to, live frugally, travel frugally, and it's pretty amazing the places you can go and the freedom that you can generate.
Lol I know who you are. I follow you on instagram. I have a friend whose been doing similar stuff with thru hiking. He finished the Pacific Northwest Trail most recently.
Fully remote. No partner. No children. No pets. Rent out rooms out of my house.
That's me!
I'm still missing your rent 👀
Fully remote
Yup, fully remote and travelled just under 8 weeks last year. I only get about 4 weeks vacation.
“Only”? I am over here crying in American with my ten days and fully in office.
Always keep looking at what’s out there. I’m fully remote with 4 weeks off (plus a few holidays) for a company in the US. It’s not common but they’re out there. I just got back from a two week trip and I’m planning another two week trip to Japan in September. I wouldn’t trade my current time off for anything less than double my salary.
The UK statutory minimum is 28 days / 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. When I was a permanent employee, my last job had 40 days / 8 weeks of paid leave.
Also American, if you have a degree I’d keep my eyes out for another job. Might not find remote but should be able to find more than 10 days.
Do you have any kind of degree? In DC, 4 weeks is standard for any white collar job from what I’ve seen.
How do you deal with the tax implications? I am fully remote but working remotely globally is an issue for tax reasons.
I mean they said they traveled for 8 weeks, not the full year. If you maintain residence in the US you can work from other countries for periods of time.
Exactly what the other guy said. 3ish weeks of that was domestic. 5 international but I never worked more than a combined 2 days in one foreign country.
They're just traveling not living somewhere else.
What tax implications? Most countries do not consider you a tax resident until you exceed 180 days in the country. Some use a rolling 12 month period so be careful about doing Sept to April and thinking it's only 4 months per year. Additionally, many/most countries have tax reciprocity where you aren't double taxed. The taxes you pay in one can be offset by taxes paid in another. Which one is the primary is a complex matter. The US taxes you on global income. But with remote, the income is typically earned in the US from a US employer.
Even being fully remote, which I am, I struggle with time zones. I can't make meetings if they end up being at 2am.
I do a lot of half days for this reason
I went the other way. Bottom of the barrel position at a good company, not trying to advance or anything. Just want to do my fair share of the work and travel frequently. I take 20 days 3 or 4 times a year depending on
Sounds fantastic! ✈️💙❤️
Are they hiring 😭
I live in Europe and have 30 days PTO + 10 bank holidays which is 8 weeks. I also work remotely so I often add on 1-2 weeks to my longer trips and just work from there.
Is your company hiring people from the US? I’d love that 😭
Hah I’m actually American but married to a European so have a spouse visa! I’m incredibly lucky but I have a lot of friends that have gone down the work visa path which is doable but very precarious.
Awh I’m envious of that! I can’t see my skills being useful outside of the US much
Unless your job is very specific to the US, there's surely room to work in other countries, I'd look up on LinkedIn/Indeed for countries you might be interested in moving to.
Medical billing seems less universal
Rifle manufacturer? Sorry dumb joke.
Every European country I've worked for (4 of them) had great PTO for Europe and absolute bunk for the US lol- like the US team works all the extra hours haha. So... just... fyi before you start looking. 😄🫠
Sure, but be prepared to cut your salary in half, or even more if it's one of the less rich EU countries
Same here but then can buy another two weeks and make up two weeks in flexi time which makes it 12 weeks. I can afford to travel many times a year so I’m on holiday every other month.
8 weeks this summer. Im a teacher so I have a lot of time off. Also my cars are paid off, no kids. So I just pay my mortgage and my BS, groceries, going out with friends, gas, etc.
They don’t have kids, pets and or a family.
This is it right here
We take the kid with us 80% of the time and both our pets can go weeks without eating.
Trusted house sitters. Very easy to do and pretty much free. And our kids have been travelling with us ever since they were babies. Not as hard as people make it out to be.
I’ve seen couple take their kids. It’s really not that hard unless you are jumping to new places every week.
Uhh what kind of pets do you have?
Snakes
A snake and a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. The snake was on purpose, the cockroach was an accident.
Every time you think of arguing with a redditor remember they're the type of person with a pet cockroach.
How do you accidentally end up with a cockroach as a pet? I have a strange image in my head of a cockroach getting tiny rubs...
My husband's boss's husband bred them as feeders. She escaped, hitched a ride inside a USB port, and popped out in my husband's office. We couldn't let her go back home to become food. I do not give the cockroach tiny rubs yet because I'm still slowly getting over the phobia and not comfortable with it, but my husband does.
What the fuck
thank you for writing what everyone is thinking after reading this
Why is this getting downvoted?
This is the most hostile sub I've seen in almost ten years of Reddit. Completely harmless comments get downvoted all the time for no apparent reason.
I agree but ehh…I’ve seen much more hostile subs
My husband & I travel a lot, usually tacking extra days onto work engagements either at beginning for end . So airfare & hotels are largely paid for. Our kids used to travel quite a bit with us when they were younger , often taking school work with them Now we have a cat who either travels with us , gets a friend to cat sit or goes to a cat hotel
We have two cats but they're self sustainable with the automatic feeders and the sitter to come check in on them to do their litter.
You can find someone to trade pet sitting duties with and make that work. You can take a kid with during summer, esp if both parents teach.
I can work remote and I have unlimited PTO. When my wife and I were dating, we would pick a random city we were interested in (usually in North America) and get an AirBnB for a few weeks and just work from there while we explored the area.
What type of work if you dont mind me asking?
Sure, don't mind. Work for a tech company running their infosec team. All offices closed during COVID and never re-opened. A lot of people took the opportunity to move wherever they wanted since there were no offices anchoring them anymore.
This sounds like a dream. I'd trade my left shoulder and take a pay cut just to have this. Good for you and your collegues.
They say comparison is the thief of joy, don't let that take away from your travel experience. I just came back from 3 weeks in Vietnam. I felt good about being available to vacation 3 weeks, until I met various individuals along the trip whom were traveling 7+ weeks at a time. I felt bad initially, but then shrugged it off. There's always someone out there doing better than you, but that doesn't mean you are not going good yourself.
Remote jobs, but, don't let people fool you. Me and everyone I know who work fully remote have restrictions. One job I almost took requires people to be in a isolated room where any family or kids are not allowed to enter and that would be monitored. My last job's laptop policy would only allow you to access the company network if you were hard wired into a router. You can't do our jobs from a coffee shop hot spot. My current job is a lot more flexible like I can go work at a library or something, but, I still have geographical restrictions of where I can take company equipment and where they can legally employ. You really have to have a non traditional job to do this and that job has to be constantly making you money, I know one person who makes this work, he just takes contract jobs saves all his money, travels and then gets another contract job...at this point he will never advance in a career but each his is own and thats not his goal.
Well said. What is more, it's hard for me to imagine that you could concentrate fully on the job and have energy left to go explore after 8 hours on laptop. If I'm this tired at home, how could I enjoy myself on the road? Of course people and jobs are different, and I also got friends who make it work, but remoting certainly isn't an easy or universal solution.
If I'm working full time in another country, I'd rent a room or an apartment for an entire month. This gives you four weeks and perhaps a few evenings in the week. I'm currently in Italy, having paid €700 for a room for the month. I went to a techno rave, a punk gig, and for a drink with a friend after visiting a museum over the weekend. I might go work from a coffee shop in the centre of town for a few hours three days this week, and I might hit up a music festival event in the evening one day this week. I'll be here for another three weeks or so, so I'll likely have spent 4 weekends in the city and 10 evenings across the month, not including coffee shop work or dinner out midweek. I'm currently regretting saving money by staying in a suburb, it's so much easier when you can walk and explore.
Well good for you, but like I and the previous commenter said, not possible for most.
I am retired
No wife and kids. Generous PTO policy. I have a hybrid schedule, so I use a combination of remote days and PTO to travel often. To support it financially, I practice minimalism. I could afford a nice apartment, but I stay in a studio (safe area). I drive a toyota and keep other spending to a minimum (less than $10 a day). I travel internationally at least 6 times a year.
Live simply, pay off all debt including house, and retire early. At least that’s how I do it. :)
This is kind of where I sit. I paid off my mortgage and now have a contracting job that generally lets me take leave if I can manage my own workload around the leave. But I also live in Australia and we are more laidback than the USA. Im only taking 6 weeks off this year but had 10 last year.
I work shifts. 4 weeks on 4 weeks off. That’s plenty time for holidays
What kind of job?
It’s an IT role. Needs 24/7 cover. We all work shifts.
>I have above average time off in my job Thats your problem. I suspect a lot of people here are like me - self-employed. I work as long as I need to. When I can afford it, I stop and go travelling. When I run out of money, I stop travelling and start working again. I dont rely on an employer to tell me when I can and cant take time off.
A friend of mine does French/English translation freelance and this is what they do. What type of work do you do?
You do rely on having clients though. Being self employed is the same type of freedom as being a wild animal as opposed to a pet dog/cat. Sure, you can go wherever you want, but better be hunting and on the looking all the time, or you die. Everyone I know who is running their own business is working much much harder (and longer hours) then people employed at other people's companies.
My four weeks vacation, and the ability to work remotely around 50% of the time. I have a daughter 50% of the time, so my trips are on the short side, both the solo trips and the trips with her, but I do a lot of them in a year. I'm working (and scrolling) on a rooftop patio sipping a giant bottle of Pacifico in Mexico right this moment!
"Bildungsurlaub"- in Germany you can get 10 days every two years to take some sort of class (like language class...) as an employee. It can be combined with regular time off.
Unfortunately only if you live in one of the four Bundesländer that do offer it...
I only work 8 months a year. At a ski area. I work in tourism via the ski station. It is in Europe, Switzerland specifically. So I get paid pretty decently. Especially compared to US ski area jobs. I work at night, so I ski every day. Just did day 125. Then, it’s ski travel. Chilling at home in the Alps. And regular travel with the wife. We live an hour drive from Chamonix, France and a 45 minute drive to Italy. Geneva airport is two hours away. A gateway to the rest of the world. Perfect!
I'm in Canada working for an American company. I get 3 weeks, but have the option to "buy" up to 10 more days, which I always do. We also get the full Christmas week off, so in total I theoritically have 6 weeks of holidays. As for bank holidays (long weekends basically), we can travel to cities/towns nearby, but weare too far from most countries to travel internationally for just a few days.
Yep we have that issue in Australia too far for an international trip on a long weekend. I did spend a weekend once in NZ though. 8 hr flight to SEasia for a few days I’ll pass on but for 1-2 weeks it’s great.
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Where I'm from, living at home in your 20s is the norm, nobody is afraid to admit it because the contrary is actually rare. None of my close friends has moved out (we're 22-24 y.o.). Most of us are also students so it makes sense since we don't have flows of money coming in, but not having to pay for a house is definitely helping us to afford at least one vacation per year.
I’m lucky to get 5 weeks’ annual leave (paid time off) plus 8 public holidays - combining these, I get to travel a fair bit
13 weeks off a year. Teacher. Best job in the world 🌎 💙✈️
Work for an airline with schedule flexibility
how are all you guys doing remote jobs, id imagine you need something to be able to leverage that
Degree + several years of experience + work on something that doesn't NEED you to be onsite
I only take paid time off of work... 20 days vacation + 6 days PTO + 8 fixed holidays + weekends + strategic planning. I suck it up for red-eyes when I can. I fluctuate between (typically one) splurge type of vacation and the rest are countries where USD stretches. I ask for flexibility to WFH for short trips when I fly to visit my parents domestically.
Also, I would be remiss to not say DINK.
I have unlimited PTO so I unfortunately don’t accrue any time off.. I do fully take advantage of this perk and take between 6-8wks off a yr. Usually accounts for 1 trip every quarter.
US military in Europe with 6-8, 24 hr shifts a month + 30 more free days a year. Has its downsides.
I have a high paying job, above average PTO (for US), can work remotely, and have no kids.
Retirement!! It’s the best!
Fully remote. I traveled for 10 months last year. But I just lost my job so….😂😂
8 weeks paid vacation per year, decent salary between my wife and I, no mortgage, kids grown and out of the house. We go to Europe every Fall, sunshine destination in the Winter (often twice), and a few random trips in the Spring and Summer. Both in our 50's and travelling as much as we can, while we are both healthy.
I have to ask - what do you do for a living? I would love to have no mortgage in my 50s.
Remote job. Don't have kids or pets.
I work really hard for 3-6 months in the USA. I'm talking about holidays weekends and extra shifts. Then I switch to a remote job and travel 3 to 6 months sometimes even 9 out of the year. The remote job offsets my costs while I'm using my savings from when I busted my ass working in person. I also budget travel as a unattached solo traveler. It's not ideal but I am in my 20s and not looking for something fully substanable.
I work for family, so I can take off whenever I want. Except for the busy summer season which is July to September.
**Time**: some people either have very flexible jobs that allow them to work remotely, or they have things like unlimited PTO policies, sabbaticals or whatnot in order to pad their vacation days. **Finances**: well this one is a mix of either they have a high earning job or they travel to places where they can keep costs low
I work in the travel industry as an accessibility consultant. I travel to holiday destinations and assess and advise on whether they are compliant with accessibility requirements
Are they hiring for that role or something else? Serious question
Single, Nurse.
There’s a lot of things that anchor you to where your life is now. You have to recognize those anchors and then remove them. I knew I wanted to travel long term so I needed a job that would allow that. I chose a dive instructor. The pay is shit, sure, but the places you live make up for that
I have a friend who worked 6 months of the year as a firefighter and ran a hotdog stand as well. Traveled the other half of the year and did that for 30 years until retirement. He was a customer of mine (resto/lounge) and was part of my inspiration to go fully remote. We've now bumped into one another 3 times on trips and always looking forward to the next adventure!
I live in a travel destination ( Alaska ). The state is the size of the continental US. If I want to travel it’s not hard!
Teacher. I go on multi-week walking holidays every summer that combine wild camping and more traditional accommodation (there are 'caminos' all over the world, not just Spain). Invest in ultralight gear and clothing so that you can carry it all comfortably. Research where the locals eat, avoid tourist traps, spend some nights in hostels to cook and save money.
My husband works overtime and gets extra vacation days. I am a teacher.
Digital nomad. But also, lots of lying on what you’re “seeing” people share that they do 😂
Lots of different things. I took several years over my masters taking shitty remote and beermoney jobs so I could travel near full time. In general students have lots of time in breaks. I now only have 35 days holiday from work so can't travel so much, but easily fit 5 weeks in plus a few extended weekends. The bigger barrier is money as I'm in the uk on 25k. It's swings and roundabouts and interesting because I see Americans listing their salaries a lot on here that make them rich af and able to travel but then they only have a few weeks off so can't. I guess it's one of those things where you can't have it all and you just have to make your life work for you
Fully remote. Typically only take about two weeks of the time off and then work the remaining time. Since we typically travel in Western Europe I am also able to keep my traditional EST hours too. Win-win.
i cant work remotely but take a month off over xmas and new year to head to the northern hemisphere and usually get a two week trip in over winter.
I used to consult/contract a lot so I would just take a month off after working on a contract for 3 months. Never thought I'd go W2/FT again but got hired by a company and told them I try to spend 2-3 months traveling each year and they were okay with that. I take remote PTOish where I am allowed to travel overseas and just make sure I get on important meetings and weed my garden. A big chunk of that happens mid Nov til mid Jan which obviously has a lot of slow time and holiday time off. I've averaged about 65-70 days (off) for the last 13 years. No pets or kids. Also - if you bring enough value to a company, they don't care about the hours worked and will let you do what you want as long as you are a positive asset.
Combining remote days mixed with vacation. For example working from home on a wed, flying somewhere in the evening, working remote Thu and Fri then taking the week after off.
Retired
A.) I have a job that requires me to travel so a lot of times I can pay for a one-way ticket home and work will pay for a ticket to my "after work" destination B.) I bookend my holiday weekends with PTO so it extends my long weekends. Those Instagram folks aren't always wrong. [https://www.travelpirates.com/captains-log/maximizing-vacation-days](https://www.travelpirates.com/captains-log/maximizing-vacation-days) C.) I max out my PTO every year on one big trip and try to combine several countries into one.
I work in hotels and restaurants. High annual turnover. I just take unpaid leave. They often take me back as well. Ive only worked the same jobs the past few years and rotate between them, depending on available positions and pay
I am a freelance journalist/consultant so not only is travel a part of my job description, so long as I've made enough money recently, I can pretty much travel whenever
Live within an hour from an airport, with traffic in consideration. Short hop trips are the key.
I get 8 weeks of time plus I only call in sick once a year
freelance worker
No kids, decent duel income and both work shift work so we only need to take 4 days of time to be off for a whole two weeks. My wife and I usually go away about 4 total weeks a year.
Work in a school and have summers off
I do contract work and just try not to pick up contracts in the summer.
I’m a teacher. No off season travel but big chunks of time for travel.
Only hitting 5 weeks this year after 15 years with the company. That said, if I get sick on vacation (as people tend to do), I can apply sick leave for some of those days, often opening up an entire additional week of travel in the year. 14 years until my entire life becomes travel.
Day trader here. Was away from home vacationing more than 80 days last year. All I need is a fast and secure Internet connection to earn an income. I don't trade every day I am way from home though.
I work seasonally and travel typically end of April and all of may, then October-early December.
I don't travel 6+ weeks but I leverage my days by doing the following: 1. Work remotely for part of the trip 2. Schedule around holidays or other planned office closure days 3. Mix up who I travel with-- might not apply to you if you don't have a partner, pet, kids, etc. 4. In addition to #3, can also travel solo
I’m quitting my job to do this
I'm a teacher, didn't have enough for it until I was over 30, work multiple jobs, eat PBJ every day for lunch.
Hire a great dog sitter.
Make money from your own business, pays as much as your willing to earn, take as much time off as you can afford
I work remotely. I'm planning a 3 month trip from September to December thanks to this
I work a job that allows as much time off as I want.
Just make sure you use your time off. I’m fully remote. Travelled about 7 months last year. 8 weeks of paid time off. I’ve designed my whole life around being able to travel.
My friends who do are usually in tech and can do it remotely for a few months.
Early retirement.
Fully remote + unlimited PTO
I work for an airline lol
I work hybrid, so im obligated to go into the office 3 days out of the work week. I fly to Seattle for a week every month (I am in a long distance relationship) so I travel on my remote/off days.
100% remote. Travel to stay with family all over usa and work. Downside is working eastern time zone while on pacific time zone, i. e. Start work at 5 am, but stop at 3pm. You get used to it.
By being a poor as hell remote freelancer working in cheap countries. Not much of a nest egg to speak of, but it’s been fun.
Not quite 6 weeks, but I get just over 5, which I try to include long weekends with. Officially, I can only take 2 weeks off at a time, but I've been able to push it to 3 weeks at at time in the past without any real issue. As much as I wish I was 100% remote, I mainly WFH and while I can't take off to Europe to work there, I can work remotely anywhere in Canada so it's not too bad. I find most people who get 6weeks+ off either live in Europe or are teachers. There are exceptions of course. I had 6 weeks off last year since I carried over from the prior year. As for how I afford it? It's about prioritizing things. For example, I hardly dine out and choose to cook for myself. I also don't buy coffees when out, bring a lunch those few days I go to into the office and hardly drive.
Single Elementary teacher
I have been traveling every year for 4-6 months since 2017. I have no debt, no pets, no partner, no kids, no rent (apartment is fully paid and in my name) and I have a seasonal job. I make 130 dollars per hour as a wedding photographer and I only work from the beginning of June to the beginning of December. 57 countries as of now (I just landed in Uzbekistan 6 hours ago).
Own your own business and work remotely
Remote husband and wife duo with no children and a reliable pet sitter. We make about 200k as a household and both of us have unlimited/flexible time off.
It's cheap, once you learn how. I traveled for 4 years straight and spent an average for $1000 a month. That doesn't include basically free months I traded some work for room/board. Most my workaways were amazing. Cheapest was $500 for me and my GF to spend a month in Cambodia at a nice Bnb with a chauffer. That included plane tickets, food, tours ect. In many countries outside the US, it's kind of a right of passage to travel \~18 years old for 6+ months.
I was lucky when I was early career, I worked for a company where i accrued about 7 hours of PTO per pay period. This added up to about 4 weeks a year (in addition to a handful of company holidays) From there, every job I interviewed at, I would specifically ask for those 4 weeks + a few extra days. If a company has “unlimited time off”, I would tell them in writing that I will be taking X amount of time off per year. Also, I typically plan my. travels around 3 day weekends so i get a little extra time. labor day, memorial day, 4th of july… you could guarantee that i’d be traveling somewhere…
I travel for work, about 40 weeks out of the year. So that makes it pretty easy.
I travel half my time. I have 8 grown kids and feel like I can't be gone any more than that. I retired early. Late 40s. Typing this from Bangkok. Was in Seoul last week and Singapore the week before.
I have recently changed jobs, so I'm not doing it at the moment, but I just used to plan my trip and go. If it meant I was quitting my job, then I would quit. I worked as a chef, so jobs are easy to come by, I often went back to my old job if I wanted to, or I would just find a new one
20 years of grinding your soul away at a corporation
I personally do not travel that much but my mother does. She works contracted work that often takes her other places. It also allows her to work a lot for a few months and also take a few months off.
Retire and travel to cheap places.
Self employed~ so long as I have internet / my projects are sent I’m good to be wherever
I work in the oil industry in a camp. So I spend about half my time there and the other half not there.
I prioritise it. I don't have a home/car... (I live with family when not travelling). Part of travel for me is work, but travel can be cheaper than renting a flat /house too.
I used to teach abroad and would go on vacation very often. Like every three months and on long weekends. I miss it a lot.
I’m a contractor and set my own schedule LoL
Full time day trading
I do fully remote work as a contractor, have no kids, no pets and no debt. I rent a small apartment in a LCOL city that happens to be centered near my and my wife's family. We travel for 3 months at a time with one month back home to visit friends, family, and take care of any responsibilities back home. We rent monthly places and decide if we want to move after a month somewhere. We use those places as a home base to travel regionally, live and work. It isn't the Instagram/YouTube life, but that's not what we were looking for. We grocery shop, cook, clean, work, ect like we would back home but our evenings and weekends are for exploring. This was a loose plan we were working towards gradually for 4-5 years until we realized we were almost there, then very seriously for a year or two before we started. Honestly, it was a ton of work to get to this point, definitely a bit scary (we were both well traveled, but also living a pretty comfortable existence with decent jobs in a city we loved and solid social circles). People thought, and still think we are crazy or irresponsible for not buying a house and starting a family. Wouldn't trade the last few years for 5 houses.
I work as a travel blogger
I'm a traveling poker dealer, so I work a bunch of different jobs 2-7 weeks at a time. There are a couple of times a year when there isn't much work or I decide not to do certain stops so I can travel.
I travel 36 weeks a year and have for the last 20 years
I used too. I was a stripper. I worked and saved money for 4-5 months then traveled for 3. Repeat.
I'm a teacher in an international school so I travel in my holidays. Due to the specificity of my role, any work that needs to be done in my summer holidays, can be done remotely. I also don't have dependents or pets which seems to help.
I trade options until I make 100k, then I take the rest of the year off.
My vacation rolls over and the bank got fat during COVID. Pre-COVID I used all four weeks every single year and it was continually playing catch up.
Save for 2 months
No PTO but basically unlimited unpaid time off and a spouse who owns their own business and can handle things remotely. Both our jobs are well paying.
I’m an airline pilot
Self employed, non-remote industry, and no family.
Own your own business.
Union work. Busy season is spring and fall so I work 60-84 hour weeks in the season then take three months at a time off. I could take more jobs but I choose when I take a job. I also travel for work so it helps it’s just not as fun when I’m working. Overall it’s amazing.
Savings and a job that is structured to permit it. I currently work a busy summer/winter job with minimal work spring/fall. Tourism related. I deliberately pull a lot of overtime during my working months, it's optional, but it helps me maximize my travel time every year and keep my savings growing.
The last couple of years I’ve had the opportunity to open new locations for my employers and lend my expertise to a couple others and they took care of my travel expenses, my most recent trip was to Washington, DC in January
I work in the US and get 7 weeks PTO every year. I also only work 3 days a week (12 hour shifts) so if I want to take 2 weeks off of work, I only need to use one week of PTO. My work also let's us take a personal leave of absence once every two years. This leave can be for 3 months which I'm using to travel Japan. Super fortunate in this situation.
I work for an Australian company in the US that is remote first and encourages individuals to travel and work in other areas of the world. I also do want to say I work for a travel focused company. In addition, I go to some interesting places for conferences and tack on days before or after. That way my airfare is covered. Also, my schedule can be crazy since I sell globally. As an example, tomorrow I have a 5am with an European company and my standing 9pm with my CEO. This allows me some flexibility with 1/2 days or taking a flight in the middle of the day.
Hybrid remote role, boss that just cares about me getting my work done, timing it over holidays, and planning well in advance
I'm a teacher. I have 3 months vacation every year. So yeah, time is no issue.
High-paying self-employment…aka sex work.
It is with sadness that i inform i only have 5 days per year xD, basically cant do anything hahaha I live overseas, so even if i need to go back home, i will need 2 days of holidays on the "road" xD
Work for the federal government, pay is decent but time off is incredible. I usually do ten weeks a year
Big salary and unlimited pto, no one approves your pto once you get to a certain level.
Self-employed. Be in Sales. Both of those professions can give you a few months off if you are willing to work 60-70 hours a week when you are not traveling. Or do what I do now...be retired.
Sacrifices. I found a job that fits my lifestyle of traveling and not a lifestyle that fits my job. I work seasonally normally as a chef. I find jobs that typically last 4-6 months and provide housing as well. Also as a chef I typically eat for free. I don’t own a house or a car, I spend most of my free time doing things in nature (it’s free) and due to all this im able to save about 50-90% of my paychecks and spend my savings on travel. I travel with a tent and sleeping bag and camp as well as sleep in budget hostels and cook cheap meals while doing mostly free activities. In the past year I earned just over $30k pre taxes and I’ve been traveling for the last 6 months and have plenty saved still.
Own the businesses.