Work and Travel

Combining work and travel is a great way to maximise your gap year. If you work and travel at the same time you won't need to save up as much spending money before you depart on your year out. Also, once you're travelling, if you find yourself low on funds taking a job can literally mean the difference between being able to carry on travelling or having to take an early flight home.
 
Aside from the more obvious money-earning benefits of combining work and travel, you also benefit from the experience in that you'll inevitably meet other backpackers who are also combining work and travel on their year out. Work and travel is also a brilliant way of getting to know local people in the country you're working. If you spend time with locals on a day-to-day basis as you work and travel you tend to get a much better feel for a country than someone who is just passing by as a tourist.
 
If you want to work and travel at the same time there are loads of options you can consider for your gap year. The traditional stereotype of a backpacker combining work and travel is that they simply wander from place to place picking up the odd bit of bar work or fruit picking whenever the opportunity presents itself. Taking a year out - and combining work and travel at the same time - is such a popular concept these days, however, that there are all kinds of jobs you can do. Work and travel on a gap year could involve anything from teaching English in Brazil to working on a ranch in the Australian outback. What's more, quite a few work and travel options can be pre-arranged before you depart, eliminating the stress of wondering whether or not you'll be successful in finding work once you're away.
 
If you're aged 18 to 30 Australia and New Zealand are excellent places to head to for work and travel as you can apply for a working holiday visa for these two countries. Australia and New Zealand are also both logical places for work and travel for anyone travelling on a round the world ticket as they are approximately half way. If you're low on funds from the travelling you've done do far you can settle in one place for a while, do some work and travel afterwards before moving on to your next destination. One thing you need to bare in mind if you are considering Australia or New Zealand for work and travel is that you have to apply for your working holiday visas before you leave the UK - you can't get them once you've arrived. Also, the New Zealand government limits the number of working visas it gives out each year - so you're not guaranteed to get one. With Australia there's no set quota, so as long as you meet all the qualifying criteria you're almost guaranteed to get one for Australia.

Work and travel doesn't have to be restricted only to English speaking countries either. A brilliant way to find work in countries throughout the world is by gaining a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate. There are loads of opportunities to teach English when you're travelling, from numerous countries in Asia to Latin America. For this work and travel option you don't need to be able to speak the language of the country you're teaching in either. All kinds of colleges and educational establishments offer TEFL courses, (either over a long period of time or on intensive courses if you're in a hurry). If you don't have the time or money to do a TEFL course, but really fancy this as a work and travel option, then it is possible in some countries to teach without a TEFL certificate. Teaching English can be a really rewarding work and travel choice for a gap year and all sorts of countries have vacancies in this line of work.
 
If you're a student and just want to do some work and travel over the summer holidays, then an excellent option is to work and travel in the USA as part of the Student Summer Programme. This work and travel scheme is only possible if you're over 18, in full time education and will be returning to full time study after the summer break. As long as you fit these criteria there are a good choice of summer jobs available all over the States, with accommodation usually provided as well. Once you've finished whatever job you're doing there's plenty of opportunity to travel around the States with the money you've saved before returning home. The USA is a notoriously difficult place for which to obtain a working visa so this is a really worthwhile work and travel opportunity if you fancy seeing another side to American life.

Combining work and travel definitely doesn't simply have to involve working in boring, menial jobs as a means to an end whilst you're backpacking. If you put some careful thought in to what you want to do and prepare thoroughly there's no reason why work and travel shouldn't be both fulfilling and pay a decent wage.


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