Travel & Work

Not really the sort of post I’d see myself doing or attempting but I thought this might help some of you.

Diving right into this, I thought I’d supply my ideas and advice on working while you are on holiday. I know personally, I’d much rather be lazing on the beach, eating delicious food at fancy restaurants occasionally and of course shopping for amazing clothes! But, reality I am not at that stage yet… YET. It will happen. Haha.

Jacob and I found ourselves officially booked for four months in Europe before going. We knew this would be a working holiday, though we still spent literally nearly all our waking hours working and saving money, so when we got to Europe we could just enjoy it for a couple of months before we started looking for work over there. Here are some of my first choices of places to look for work.

• Bars
• Restaurants
• Hairdressers/barber shop.
• Hotels
• Local stores.

Bars. Everyone in the world recommends working in a bar, its not unheard of. I think because while working in a bar isn’t really for me (Never made a beverage in my life lol) It’s a great way to meet people and everyone pretty much everywhere goes to their local pub or hopping place to enjoy a drink, so naturally there is a need for people to help in bars. Even just clearing tables and so forth.

Restaurants. Just like bars, everyone likes to eat out, especially if you are travelling to high tourist areas that get packed with tourists. Of course a helping hand never goes astray. Restaurants might also be a good option if you can’t speak the language. I know its not great or even appealing, but where there are people eating delicious foods there is also dirty plates to be washed. My thoughts on this are that there is a high chance they will probably feed you as well as the pay.

Hairdresser/Barber shop. I know not all of you will be specialized hair cutters but even if you are just alright at it. I knew a friend who travelled Europe and made money while staying at hostels cutting peoples hair. She made a lot of friends. The further she travelled, the more hair she cut, the more friends she made and the more places she could stay, sometimes for free!

Hotels. All hotels have a restaurant, sometimes a bar as well. Maybe you have experience doing reception work. Brilliant! Even if you can’t speak the language, you can get a job at a hotel just helping to clean rooms. Even if it’s only for a couple of days a week, its still a little bit of money towards you staying in Europe a bit longer.

Local stores. I went to Lipari, a very high tourist area with gift shops, clothes stores, jewelry stores, tour company’s and hotels that where all looking for people to hire to help them out in the peak summer season. (July to end of September) That is three months in a holiday destination making some money every couple of days and exploring the area, becoming a local nearly.

With all these recommendations in mind, a thought to consider is that it’s up to you if you want to be upfront to the owner on your availability to work.

How long will you be in the area? What sort of hours you want to do? More or less hours? How many days a week do you want to work? Are you flexible with any of these answers?

Jacob and I tossed up a lot of things on what to say what not to. How much were we willing to sacrifice for money, because at the end of the day we wanted to enjoy our holiday exploring and having fun. That’s why anyone goes traveling, not to work 7 days a week.

All that said and done, which places have you tried or would you recommend applying for work when traveling? What are some more jobs you can try for where language isn’t a barrier? Let me know in the comments. 🙂

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