How to Profit from Trips to Exotic Locales

Many travellers aren’t interested in managing a blog documenting their adventures, but would still like to profit from their vacation.

Whether you’re travelling somewhere as remote as the Galapagos islands or as dense as the streets of Tokyo, even a small amount of income can alleviate the vacation expenses. Here are a few suggestions to put a perspective on profiting from your unique adventures.

Rent Out Your Stuff

If you’re comfortable with it and depending on how long the trip is, it’s an easy way to make some side cash while you’re away. For starters, your house. Instead of hiring someone to “house sit”, why not offset the cost of your trip by getting someone to pay you to keep your home occupied. Look into sites like Airbnb or HomeAway to connect with people who are actively looking for temporary housing and are willing to pay.

This one might hurt, but have you considered renting out your car? Most people either leave their car in the garage or pay to have their car sit at the airport until they get back. Depending on the year, make, and model of your vehicle, you may be able to rent it out to those who could use it temporarily (like other visiting travellers) through websites like Turo and HyreCar. Better yet, you could rent it out to whoever is renting out your house at the given moment.

Getting deeper into your assets, consider renting out your parking spot, especially if you live in a high traffic area in a city. This could potentially be a gold mine depending on how close your parking spot is to the city centre, train stations, or significant event happenings. This can easily be rented out through craigslist and parking spotter to eager travellers and locals that want good parking.

Sell Your Skills

Going to remote areas or third world countries poses an opportunity to make some money from your acquired skill set. If you’ve proven yourself to be a talented performer as a musician or a comedian, find where people gather and perform for live audiences.

If what you do for a living at home can be utilized wherever you’re travelling, consider bringing your work skills with you. If you work in the service industry, you will likely find a restaurant who could use an extra hand. If you’re a writer, there are a variety of freelance sites available to browse through. Nursing is especially useful when travelling remotely.

The University of San Francisco said “Nursing careers are in high demand”, especially with the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbug, bringing a nursing background to a remote country offers a chance to get paid to educate the health risks, costs, and solutions for people in that area. According to Scrubsmag you will need to have some experience working as a nurse in the US first and being able to speak the language is crucial, but if you can cross those hurdles there are some jobs in a variety of countries that could be applicable to your skill set.

Get Paid to Walk

If you plan on walking a lot during your upcoming trip, consider downloading Pact or Charity Miles on your smartphone. If you challenge yourself to hit 10,000 steps per day, and if you accomplish this goal, Pact will pay you five dollars per week. If you’re also in the giving mood, Charity Miles will donate 25 cents per mile to the charity of your choice. This may not seem like a lot, but the money adds up when you’re on vacation. For some travellers, every dollar must be carefully spent.

Also, if you have the extra income, investing in a GoPro or other travel proof cameras to document some of your experiences is a great idea. Putting in a little documentation effort can pay out through prize submissions and may be bought out by travel publishers. Following these simple suggestions can get your next vacation paid off before it even ends.