Want to see more of the world, while earning a decent living? It’s possible – and you don’t have to be a travel writer to do it. Here are 10 unusual jobs for people who love travel…
- Safari guide
Do you have a passion for the outdoors, a love of wild animals and a calling for adventure? If so, becoming a safari tour guide might just be the job for you! The demand for well-trained safari guides is growing all the time, as more African countries become able to support tourism. While Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania are already well known as safari hotspots, a number of new countries are beginning to offer alternatives – Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana to name just a few.
- Sommelier
You probably know that a sommelier’s job is to be an expert in fine wines and serve it to customers, often in fancy restaurants and hotels. But what you may not know is that a big part of the sommelier’s job is to travel around the world, tasting new wines and attending food and wine conventions to make sure they know all the latest great new wines and trends in the industry. What’s more, the field of wine is huge and always popular, so there’s no shortage of opportunities to find work.
- Pearl diver
Whether they are hunting valuable oysters in the wild, or diving in farms where oysters are bred to create pearls, becoming a pearl diver is a job that calls for not just travel to remote lakes and shores, but nerves of steel, too. The work can be dangerous, but divers are well compensated, with day rates coming in at as much as $500 (£330) per day overseas. Another way of making a living in this line of work is teaching tourists to dive and collect oysters themselves. You need to be qualified, though, and happy to travel to far and distant locations, from Japanese lakes to Caribbean tropics.
- Ski writer
We’ve all heard about the perks of travel writing, a dream job for many people. The difficulty, though, is getting into it as a profession – which is why taking a specialist area, like skiing, could be the ideal route in. So if you’ve got a passion for the slopes and are able to come up with plenty of new ideas for ski-related stories, this could be the perfect job for you! There’s a host of ski-related blogs, magazines and websites out there – all needing content written by specialist ski journalists. Ready to join them?
- Bollywood extra
If you fancy heading to the colourful explosion of Mumbai and earning a bit of extra cash while you’re there – how about starring as an extra in a Bollywood movie? Foreigners are always in demand for films to play tourists in street scenes – in fact, if you walk around Mumbai for a couple of days, you’re almost certain to be approached by a film scout. Now and then, a more exciting position comes up, too – like pretending to be an international film star. Bollywood fame beckons!
- Organic farm worker
You can make a difference to a local community, learn new skills and travel to a completely new destination, as a worldwide organic farming volunteer (or, if you like, a WWOOFer). You can expect to live with a local host and join in with the day to day activities. While you’re not taking away a salary, in most countries, you’ll get a full day’s accommodation and food for up to six hours helping. The sort of tasks you’ll help with include gardening, sowing seeds, making compost, milking, feeding – and even cheese making!
- Hotel inspector
There are some serious perks to working as a hotel inspector. The obvious ones are staying in some glorious hotels in glorious locations, eating wonderful food. The downside – the days when you hit a hotel that’s below par. You’ll need a passion for food and travel for this job – and to be happy without job security, as you’ll most likely need to work as an independent contractor to get work.
- Coconut safety engineer
It’s no joke – this is a real job! And unlike some of the other travel-related jobs we’ve looked at, this is one line of work that doesn’t need much training or special skills at all – just the ability to swing a very big stick. On tropical paradise islands like St Lucia and the Virgin Islands, hotels and resorts hire these engineers to spot any dangerous-looking coconuts in trees and whack them to the ground. They do it to protect guests from injuries (a falling coconut to the head can be fatal) – and also to protect the resort from a costly law suit, of course.
- Dog surf instructor
Yes, you read that right: surfing is no longer just for humans. At beaches all over the world, you could be teaching man’s furry friends to ride the waves. There are resident dog surfing instructors at destinations from Byron Bay in Australia to Orange County in California. Apparently, a low centre of gravity is what helps our mutts to feel most comfortable in the water – meaning they can usually surf as well as their human guardians. The idea is growing in popularity, too, so there’s likely to be more opportunities soon.
- Conservation worker
Part and parcel of the role of a conservation worker is the opportunity to travel to places that are off the beaten track – places that only a handful of tourists may ever have visited. From wildlife sanctuaries in Asia to game reserves in Africa, this career could take you anywhere you want. The opportunities, too, are varied and numerous, from developing conservation schemes in local communities, to working on sustainable policies with the government. This is inspiring – and adventurous – work.
This article was written by Ian Crawford, of all-inclusive holiday experts Holiday Hypermarket
Images via creative commons: lynx, wine, dangerous coconut trees
