How to Make Money While Traveling (2026)
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- By: Peter Orsel
How to make money while traveling isn’t a big secret. But it can take some time to get there. I’ve been earning money while traveling through stock photography, freelance editing, blogging, and a handful of other routes. Some of it worked well, some of it barely made sense.
This article covers all of it, the good and the bad. And nope, you don’t particularly have to be a content creator for this. Whatever skill you already have is probably enough to start.
In This Post
Here are the ways to make money while traveling covered in this article:
- Becoming a digital nomad
- Freelancing your skills
- Selling your travel photos and videos
- Starting a blog
- Teaching abroad
- Hosting group trips
- Volunteering, paid or in exchange for a free stay
The harsh truth about working abroad
Most people who live and work abroad, work incredibly hard. Content creators included. From the outside it can look like an endless holiday, it isn’t. Full-time travel and work means packed schedules, long days, and often traveling and working on the same day. I work harder now than I ever did in my old corporate job. But with the perks of living in the most beautiful places of the world. Here are the ways that pay.
Becoming a Digital Nomad
The most obvious way to make a living on the road is going full digital nomad: bringing your work with you instead of leaving it behind.
After the pandemic, companies realized they didn’t need a building to get work done. Bedrooms became offices, meetings moved online, and the daily commute disappeared.
That shift has partly reversed ever since, and a lot of companies have pulled people back into the office. That’s their call to make, it doesn’t mean you have to follow it. Remote-friendly employers and self-employment are both still options if this is the life you want.
Being self-employed makes this even easier. Skip clients who insist on face-to-face meetings, and you’re free to work from anywhere.
In what industries can you become a Digital Nomad?
Almost any industry works if you think beyond your current job title. Here’s where I’ve seen people build a remote career:
- Finance
- Real Estate
- IT: Software Engineers, Web Development and more.
- Teaching online
- Digital Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Virtual assistance
- Content Creation
- Consultancy
How much can you earn as a Digital Nomad?
It depends entirely on your industry and client base. Many digital nomads earn Western-level wages while spending at a much lower local cost of living. It works the other way too, I’ve met people from lower-wage countries earning solid income working for companies based in higher-wage ones. A great solution for both parties.
Digital nomad visas, if you want it official
growing number of countries now offer a dedicated remote-worker visa instead of relying on a tourist visa. Malaysia’s DE Rantau pass (their digital nomad visa) requires proof of at least $24,000 a year in income for digital and tech roles, or $60,000 a year for other professions. Indonesia’s remote-worker KITAS route asks for a similar income level, around $60,000 a year. In Europe, Portugal, Croatia, and Estonia all run comparable programs.
Freelance Your Skills
If you have a specific skill that works from anywhere, freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are worth trying. I’ve used Upwork from both sides myself, taking on projects and hiring people through it.
One of my longer-running projects was for a photo agency doing product photography, I edited the images they shot. On that project I could charge around $18 an hour. A decent number on paper, but getting there takes real effort.
Competition is enormous. A lot of freelancers come from countries with a much lower cost of living and can undercut you without much effort. Building a profile clients trust takes months and several completed projects, reviews and a track record matter more than your portfolio. In practice, finding the job often takes longer than doing it.
Freelancing through Upwork or Fiverr works best when you have a narrow, specific skill that’s hard to find elsewhere. A profile that says “I can do a bit of everything” gets buried in the results.
Hiring through freelance platforms
I don’t only take on freelance work myself, I outsource through the same platforms too. If a task costs me way more effort than it would cost someone else, I hand it off. Technical issues on this blog are a good example. I like writing, I like editing photos, but I’m not a backend developer. Optimizing page speed or fixing broken code is something I prefer to pay for and have solved within a day, instead of fighting with it myself for weeks.
One of the bigger lessons in trying to make money while traveling: don’t be afraid to spend money on outside help when you need it. Staying focused on the work you’re good at is usually what drives more income in the end.
Sell your travel photos and videos
If you take a lot of good photos or videos while traveling, selling them can be lucrative. It takes time to set up, once it’s running it becomes passive income. Drone footage especially is in high demand.
Not every photo sells. What matters is whether buyers want it. Liking it yourself doesn’t make it sellable.
In this blog I go into starting with stock photography and why it still works as a business.
How much can you earn by selling travel photos?
Based on a library of 5,000 photos, I average at least $250 USD a month, with my best month at $557 USD. That’s from photos and videos that were already on my hard drive. Read more about my stock photography income for the full breakdown.
The more I upload, the more I earn. My goal is a consistent $500 USD a month from stock photography alone. It’s passive income, which makes it my favorite way to earn while traveling.
Start a Blog
It’s still possible to make a living writing a blog, and in my opinion it became more valuable since AI entered the picture. Search results are now full of generic AI-written content that reads the same no matter which site you visit: no real photos, no specific dates, no prices you can trust, nothing a person couldn’t have generated from a search engine alone.
Readers notice, and so does Google. A blog built on things you did yourself, places you visited in person, and numbers that can be verified stands out because it’s harder to fake. This blog is proof of that.
There are several ways to monetize one. With enough traffic, you can earn through ad platforms, affiliate links, or sponsored posts. Digital products work too, e-books, courses, whatever fits your niche.
Some popular blogging niches are tech, travel, photography, beauty, food or lifestyle. Pick one niche instead of combining several. Mine is travel and photography. What’s yours?
Affiliate Partners
My biggest income source here is affiliate links. GetYourGuide is one of the best partners for it, they offer tours in destinations all over the world, and their creator program pays 8% per booking. Sign up for the creator program here.
The other partner I recommend is Stay22. I’ve tried both Travelpayouts and Stay22, and Stay22 has been the clear winner for me. Here’s how switching to their platform skyrocketed my affiliate income. If you’re starting a blog, you can start earning through them right away. Sign up through this website as a travel blogger, or through this link for food & lifestyle content.
How much can you earn from a blog?
In 2025, this blog earned around $10,440 USD in total: $2,755 through Travelpayouts, about $1,730 through GetYourGuide, $2,359 through Stay22, $596 in ad income through Journey, and around $3,000 from other blogging deals like sponsor deals. That crossed into 5 figures, the goal I set for myself years ago.
All of this has been achieved with an average of 20,000 page views a month. Proof that you don’t need hundreds of thousands of views to make a decent living out of blogging.
2026 has been harder. My page views went down massively at the beginning of this year, and as a result my income went down too. It’s recovering at the moment, though probably not enough to match 2025. I’m sure 2027 will be a stronger year.
Become a teacher abroad
Teaching overlaps with the digital nomad path, but you don’t have to do it online. Most schools specifically want native English speakers. If that’s you, landing a job abroad usually isn’t difficult.
If you don’t have teaching experience yet, get your credentials first, a TEFL certificate is the standard starting point. Once you have it, you can start applying. I’ve met people teaching English in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia.
How much can you earn by being a teacher abroad?
Income as a teacher abroad depends on the country. Teachers in Taiwan and China typically earn $1,650 to $3,450 USD a month, in Thailand’s private sector closer to $800 to $1,200 USD a month. Wages abroad are usually lower than back home, but the cost of living is lower too. Read more about my cost of living in Bali for example.
Host Group Trips
Hosting group trips is another way to earn money while seeing the world. It helps to be well-traveled yourself first, so you have something worth sharing on these trips.
You don’t need to organize the full trip yourself to host one. Many companies hire hosts to join trips they’ve already put together.
What can hosting group trips pay?
This depends entirely on who you work for. Usually your travel costs are covered, plus something close to minimum wage for the days you’re on the trip. Not a bad way to keep traveling while earning something on the side.
Volunteer, but get paid
The last option here is volunteering, and yes, paid volunteering exists. With the right paperwork to work in a given country, you can apply for paid opportunities through platforms like Workaway. In 2023, when my income was low and my savings were about to run out, I applied for a few of these positions myself. They can be in high demand, and some still require a specific skill.
There’s a more informal version of this too. If you’re staying at a hostel and build a good relationship with the owners, ask if they could use a volunteer in exchange for a free stay. You’ll rarely earn lots of money this way, at best it’s tip-based, but it’s a solid way to stretch a budget and pick up some cash on the side here and there.
What does paid volunteering typically pay?
Most paid opportunities on Workaway offer close to minimum wage in the specific country. Accommodation is usually included, sometimes food too, which means you can save toward your next destination while you work. After all, I didn’t find the match I was looking for.
The not so shiny part: Taxes
Taxes are something I have to cover here, and want to. You can’t avoid them, and you shouldn’t try to. Before you start traveling, figure out how your work or business will be taxed. I’d personally recommend finding a tax advisor early on.
In my home country, I stop being a resident if I spend more than 8 months a year abroad, which affects my residency status and tax rules. Get informed about your own country’s rules as early as possible, so you can handle the legal side properly from the start.
FAQ about making money while traveling
How do I make money abroad without a local work visa?
Stick to remote or self-employed income: freelancing, selling stock photography, or blogging. Clients and platforms pay you from outside the country you’re staying in, so you don’t need local work authorization, just a visa that lets you legally stay there.
Can you travel the world and make money at the same time?
Yes, that’s the whole point of this article. It rarely happens by accident though, most people combine two or three of the methods above instead of relying on just one.
Is it possible to make money while living abroad long-term?
Yes, this is basically what being a digital nomad or teaching abroad looks like once you settle into one country instead of moving constantly. Visas and tax residency start to matter a lot more once you’re staying put.
Do you need to be a content creator to make money while traveling?
No. Freelancing, teaching, and paid volunteering all pay without you ever building an audience.
These are the ways I’ve made money while traveling. Some took years to pay off, some didn’t work out at all. Pick the one that matches a skill you already have, and start there.
More on generating passive income streams
About Me
Peter Orsel is a Dutch travel photographer based in Bali, specialized in drone and landscape photography. He has visited over 40 countries and writes detailed, no-nonsense guides based on firsthand experience.