How to Travel the World Full-Time

Have you ever wanted to travel the world full-time, but you weren’t sure how to make it happen?

Maybe you’re sick of only having a few weeks of vacation to travel. Maybe you desire to slowly take your time traveling and not wanting to have to rush through your trip. Or maybe you desire traveling the world and seeing every country you’ve always dreamed of.

Whatever the reason why you want to travel full-time, I want you to know there are ways to make it happen.

A lot of times, people think they can’t do it because they can’t or don’t want to quit their job to travel. Although quitting your job is one way to do it, there are actually so many different ways that can allow you to travel full-time. There are endless ways and opportunities to turn your dreams of traveling the world into a reality.

Before we get into the different ways you can travel the world full-time, it’s important to know that you can achieve this type of trip however you want to. Sometimes people assume traveling full-time means taking a year off to travel. However, you can still travel full-time within 4 weeks, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, or however long you want to do it. It is your trip and it is completely up to you on how you do it and how you structure it.

As previously stated, quitting your job to travel the world is just one way to travel full-time. There are several different ways that will allow you to travel the world full-time and long-term. So let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

Take a sabbatical so you can travel full-time

A sabbatical is a great way to travel full-time and still keep your job. What?! You can keep your job and travel full-time and long-term? Yes! Amazing, right?

A lot of companies offer sabbaticals. Some companies offer a paid sabbatical which means you can still get paid while you’re traveling, and some companies offer unpaid sabbaticals where you don’t get paid, but you still get to keep your job and take time off to travel.

Each company offers different lengths of sabbaticals. Some vary from a month, to two months, to 6 months, and some even offer a year sabbatical. But a sabbatical is a great way to allow you to still travel full-time and keep your job.

Combine your vacation days for a longer trip

Combining your PTO (paid time off)/vacation days is a great way to travel full-time. You can combine your days off to take a longer trip abroad. Especially after the pandemic, you might have accrued a lot of vacation days that you haven’t used yet.

Going on a month long vacation to travel the world full-time is still a great and unique opportunity to do. It will still be a completely different experience and trip than a typical 1-2 week vacation that you’re used to doing.

I’ve met a lot of travelers while I was backpacking who were just taking a longer vacation trip. They combined their PTO and was able to take a month+ off to travel the world. It was still an amazing trip for them and was completely worth doing so that they can travel the world full-time.

If you don’t get a lot of PTO/vacation days, check out my other post on how to travel with a full-time job to get some creative ideas on getting more time off.

Take unpaid vacation time to travel full-time

Depending on your financial situation, taking unpaid vacation to travel is a great way to travel full-time. You can combine your PTO/vacation days and then add unpaid vacation time to create an extended trip. For example, when I went to Japan and South Korea, I used the last of my PTO and asked to take unpaid time off. Since I was able to do that, I was able to take about a month off to travel full-time.

It’s a great way to utilize your PTO, keep your job, and travel the world.

Work remotely while traveling full-time

Working remotely is a great way to travel full-time. You do not have to quit your job to travel the world.

A lot of companies went remote during the pandemic or have recognized that employees can still work productively while being remote. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of being able to work remotely and travel the world.

If you don’t work for a company that will allow you to work remotely, there are tons of different jobs and companies that will allow you to do that. Check out different remote job boards, network, or get creative on how you can work remotely.

Work and travel the world

If you don’t have a remote job, you can still work and travel the world at the same time. There are several different jobs you can do while traveling that will allow you to travel full-time. You can work at a hostel or hotel, work with travel brands, teach yoga, sell your photos, teach surf lessons, take care of animals, work events, and so many other jobs you can do while traveling.

You do not need to quit your job to travel the world. You can still work and travel the world at the same time.

Not sure of what type of job you can do? I have a free resource on how you can make money while traveling the world that will help you decide what type of job is perfect for you to do and provides 30+ different jobs you can choose from.

Take a career break to travel the world

When people think about “quitting their job to travel”, it can sometimes bring up a lot of fears that prevents them from traveling. It’s completely natural to have those feelings. However, it’s important to reframe your mindset around it. You are not quitting your job forever (unless you want to). You are just taking a break from your job to travel the world.

If it’s easier to reframe this trip as a “career break” or “gap year” or however you want to reframe it, then please do so.

Taking a career break is a great way to travel the world full-time and gain clarity. By taking a break from work, it allows you to come back to the workforce refreshed. You will come back as an even better employee than before.

Travel full-time in between jobs

Too often I see people get a new job and start their new job right away. They don’t give any time in between jobs to relax, travel, or take any time off for themselves. Unfortunately, they are missing out on a great opportunity to travel.

Before starting a new job, ask for a later start date. You can ask to start in a month or two months, or however long you want to travel for. I did this when I got a new job and it was a great way for me to travel for an extended period of time and not have to use any vacation days for this trip. I took about 3 weeks off to travel to Saint Lucia and Disneyland. It was a great trip and opportunity to do before I started my new job.

Having a later start date of your new job is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of your time and travel the world.

Travel full-time before starting a job or school

Society tends to plan our life journey – go to high school, directly after high school, go to college, and then directly after college, start a job. Although most people follow these steps (which is totally fine to do), I recommend veering off this societal plan and add traveling the world in between those steps.

For example, before going to school, travel full-time. Take an intentional break to travel the world. Or after you finish school and before you start a job, travel full-time. Again, it’s taking advantage of the perfect opportunity to travel the world full-time.

You have your whole life to grow up, to work, and to go to school. Do things that you want to do while you can!

Work a contract/temporary job so you can travel

Working a contract or temporary job is a great way to travel the world. If you have amazing bosses who allow you to travel, it’s a great opportunity to travel. Since you are a contracted or temporary employee, you typically do not get PTO/vacation days. So this is similar to taking unpaid vacation as you do not get paid while you are off.

If you financially can afford it, take advantage of working contract or temporary jobs to allow you travel. While I was a temporary employee, I was able to take more than a month off to travel because they did not have to pay me while I was gone. It gave me the perfect opportunity to travel full-time.

Learn how to travel full-time

Traveling full-time is one of the best experiences you can do. However, traveling full-time is a completely different experience than traveling on a 1-2 week vacation. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it, strategy, and a lot of things you don’t even know you have to do. Packing for full-time travel is also completely different than a short vacation.

If you want to learn how you can travel full-time and learn the complete A-Z roadmap on how you can make this work and plan your dream trip around the world, check out my signature program, Travel the World Academy™. In my signature program, you’ll learn how to budget, travel with little money, plan your dream trip, travel hacks to cut costs, and endless amount of travel tips to help you travel the world full-time and long-term. I would love to help you travel the world and help you turn this dream into a reality!