“You must have rich parents in order to travel!”

I started traveling at the age of 21. Before I started to travel, I was studying in university and running my own small business – I lived a completely different life compared to today. The biggest dream of my life was to finish my studies and work as a business consultant for a big international company and spend 80 hrs per week to satisfy my boss. No desire for family, relationships or any recreational activities. Working every possible minute… Such crazy sheep behavior! Definitely one of my classic “What was I thinking”-Moments. My first “out of Europe” trip was a 6 months ‘study and travel’ trip to Australia. Australia showed me all the amazing sides of traveling and that was it:

I fell in love!

Since that moment, I traveled at least 2-3 times a year for at least 5 weeks. All my friends and most people I met on the go asked me “How do you finance all your travels? You are so young. You must have rich parents!”

Actually, no! My parents did not understand that travel business and did not support it at all. All I heard was: you are wasting your time & it is dangerous! Anyway, I loved it and I was going for it. I was saving all money I could, so I could go abroad and I always traveled on budget, booked the best flight deals and further I started to work while I traveled. I was young and still a student, so I had neither a successful blog nor a fancy online company. But at that stage I was managing social media campaigns for different small businesses for over 5 years, and I kept focusing on products/skills which I could offer online and worked on remote projects. All jobs which I could do from the lecture room at uni (typical student working behavior), turned out – it works for traveling as well!

So, I was managing website development projects online, social media campaigns, and as I had my own small promotion company, I still received commission for promotional staff, dancers, fire artists, and bar staff, which I was referring to projects and night clubs all over Germany. I offered to edit business assignments for students, review business papers, write business plans and just everything I could think off. Further, I always imported some stuff like clothes, dance costumes and home decoration stuff, so I could sell it on eBay or to friends. Every time, if something does not work out or I needed some money, I was creative and came up with a possibility to make money. This all financed my travels. I had all my life this friends who were saying “No, I cannot afford to travel.” My answer is always:

“Where is a will – There is a way!”

I can surely say that I have worked harder in my life than most people who regularly complain about that they have no money and time to travel. You know what? I tell you one secret: As older you get and less time you will have to travel! So, if you can’t do it today and don’t change your habits and thinking– you might never go and travel this beautiful world.

There is no top-secret about how to finance trips. It’s all about work, save money and to sacrifice – live in a smaller apartment or share flat (I only lived in temporary share flats (max. 6 months lease), no expensive pub/club nights, no fancy car (most travelers do not even have a car), no expensive designer clothes etc. Travelers rather spend $300 on a flight than a “Michael Kors” handbag.

If you really want to change your lifestyle and go traveling – all what I have done, you can do it too!

You will read on WorkWhileTravel.me about job opportunities, finance opportunities, business ideas and more. This will give you more ideas about how to finance your trips.

Further, stay tuned for my guide about “How to earn money while traveling”.