UPDATED FEB 2020. How can I travel as much as you? I’ve been asked this a fair amount but it’s a question that makes me uncomfortable so I’ve always been hesitant to talk about it here. I have tips that I feel are useful though, so I got my thinking cap on and reframed the question to share these tips for how to travel more with a full time job. Despite what the social media clickbait travel influencers will tell you, you don’t have to quit your job and travel. There’s no such thing as that anyway because unless you’re a rich kid everyone is working. You can still work hard in a career you love, have a home base, and follow your travel passions. Here are my tips to help you find that balance.
How To Travel More With A Full Time Job- 10 Strategies That Work
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Why the question makes me uncomfortable
I travel a fair amount. But it’s not for leisure, it’s what my work is based on.
I’m a travel writer. Without traveling, I don’t have a blog, I don’t have work to do.
I am uncomfortable with the idea of people comparing the number of their holidays to my work because they are so different.
More importantly, it’s unfair on you if you’re doing that to yourself.
If you take leave once a year and go on a planned out trip that creates memories to last a lifetime – amazing. It’s about the memories, not the amount.
I also never wanted to create clones.
I want to inspire people to live a full life they are head over heels in love with – whatever that means for them.
If you use the things I talk about with overcoming challenges and being disciplined to save up to buy a house – I’m giving you a hi-5.
Or if you use what I talk about with body positivity to look in the mirror and say something nice to yourself – slay queen, I’m giving you a hi-5 too.
Travel is what this community is based on but there is more to the message and it’s overcoming hurdles, living on your terms and working your ass off to achieve your goals.
But…
With that in mind, I do have some tips for helping boss babes to travel more.
1. Take leave when others don’t
This may or not be possible depending on your job and situation, but one thing I used to do was to take leave when others didn’t.
For example, I would always work through holidays like Christmas and Easter while everyone else took leave and then take my leave in the off times.
This can help to reduce travel costs because any travel around peak holidays is always hiked up.
Also, since you’re taking leave when there is more coverage at work, you’re more likely to be approved to take more or not have to compromise the dates around everyone else’s leave.
Like I said, this really depends on the job but it’s something I’ve found useful.
2. Maximize your leave
Another one of my tips for traveling more even though you have a full-time job is to maximize your leave time by adding some annual leave on either side of a public holiday.
This way you can get more time off without cutting into the annual leave bank as much. Each day saved matters!
Perhaps look at a calendar of the public holidays of the year and see where there are a couple close together and see if you can make a strategy to take leave around those.
3. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice
Anything worth having is worth sacrificing for. End of story.
If you really want to add more travel to your life, start sacrificing life’s daily luxuries.
Think micro.
Live poor, travel more.
Give up the coffee shop coffees, going out for lunch, shopping every sale – do you really need it?, gym membership, cable TV, beauty services – start DIYing it’s easier than you think and reign in your social outings.
If people invite me out to stuff that costs money, I almost always say ‘no’ and offer a free alternative.
“Do you want to go out for lunch?”
“Nope, I’m saving money for [insert next trip]. But do you want to workout outside/go for a walk/go to the dog park/hang out at my place..”
Start getting serious about sacrificing life’s daily luxuries and watch those dollars that don’t seem like much at the time add up in your travel fund.
This was my first movie at the cinema in 4 years while traveling in Sweden. Think about the things you can sacrifice to save money for travel.
4. Use your weekends
Each week we get two full days off that could be used for local travel trips.
Obviously, you’re not going to want to do this every weekend because we need rest.
But, it’s reasonable to think that once a month or every other month you could plan a local weekend away, even if it is a getaway to a town nearby.
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5. Take a group tour
If you are want to go on a trip but don’t have time to do all the planning and research, consider joining a group tour.
This way a big chunk of the planning will already be organized and you’ll have a lot less on your to-do list.
6. Think local
Sometimes when we are thinking up travel plans, we think big.
We think global.
We think epic.
But with that comes high cost, more planning, and fewer chances to execute.
You know I’m a dreamer AND a do-er so I say if you have a big travel dream plan, go for it and jump all in to plan it.
But, if you’re just trying to figure out how to travel more with a full time job, don’t take your local area for granted.
Start thinking about what is nearby where you live that might be worth a visit.
If you have been wondering how to travel more with a full time job, being flexible can really help.
7. Set price alerts
If you have a job with a bit of flexibility to your leave dates, one way to jump on some good deals is to set price alerts.
With this, you can search flights you are interested in and set the alert then if there is a price drop you will get an email or notification.
Then you can jump on the deal if it suits you before the price goes back up.
Some airlines offer this like JetStar and Emirates for example and you can also set price alerts with flight search engine sites – Kayak has a great option for this.
8. Talk to your boss
Communication always helps when it comes to any goal you have.
Perhaps try sitting down with your boss to explain your interest in creating work-travel balance and that utilizing your annual leave is important to you.
Together you will be able to see what options are available to allow your boss to help make it happen.
At the very least, having the conversation gives your boss the chance to be able to support you in having a balance with work and personal life.
If they are a good boss, they will make an effort.
9. Be flexible
Again, depending on your job and situation, it’s not always possible but, if you can, then anytime you can be flexible with your traveling plans, it’s going to make it easier to do more often.
Let go a little and be a little less rigid with your dates and destinations and see if that helps make more travel dreams a reality.
When you are searching flights with rigid dates it is usually more expensive than when you search with flexible dates or look at flights on the days around when you want to travel.
10. Find accommodation deals
Accommodation is one of the biggest expenses in travel so anytime you can find a good deal is a win in my book.
Since I love a good hotel and am not really a $10 hostel kinda gal, I love to use Booking.Com to search for great deals.
It’s really easy to find good discounts especially if you look last-minute.
This can be a little hard for us go-getter women who rock career and travel because we tend to be a little more on the planner side but trust me it can help.
Of course, you want to keep an eye on it in the lead up to the trip so if availability starts running out, you might need to book earlier but I’ve always been able to find AMAZING last-minute deals on Booking.com.
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