How I can STILL afford a life of travel

What?! I can still afford this?!

I recently stumbled upon an article I wrote in 2014 entitled, How I can afford a life of travel and it gave me a few insights on how my life changed after three years.

Sure, I am still doing the same things (traveling and working as a preeminent fact) but I realised how much I grew and changed my income streams.

In reference to the post mentioned above, these are the things that I don’t do anymore:

• Online job (as an employee)
• Teaching English
• House Sitting
• Au Pairing
• Couchsurfing
• Translating files

I might not be doing the above anymore but I still have at least 10 income streams because it’s what sustains me on the road. However, in this post, the things I do now are more mature (*applause!!!*). 

I still don’t know how to save money, by the way. You will not see money saving tips in this post, I’m sorry. Money in my bank account come in and out frequently but now that I am 28, I am slowly journeying that path.

“Look mum, I’m a grown up!” I’m getting paid to see the world and I really love what I am doing!

Since I shifted to professional travel blogging, many components of my life have changed and I worked double. I had no idea how I am able to afford living in Tel Aviv (the most expensive city I have ever lived in) so I had to do a few reality check. Seriously, Trisha, how the feck can you still afford a life of travel?

I really hate it when people think I am just sitting down on my laptop everyday thinking I am posting on social media endlessly and chatting with my friends but to tell you honestly, it takes me three hours to come up with just one post: writing, images, post formatting – these things are not easy at all! Okay, to be fair, travel blogging is not recognised as a career yet but really, this is the job! This is what I (we) do!

I am writing this today to give you an idea on how exactly I am making money (thanks to you, btw. You’ve always been supportive of my blog) so this career idea will stop being blurred to you.

It takes a lot of time, effort, patience, energy and enthusiasm but I swear, you can do it, too! Anyone can take this road!

How I can still afford a life of travel

#1: Destination Marketing

“I’m a fixer” is what I tell people when they ask me about what I do for a living. I am continuously improving my writing (I read a lot, too!) and this skill led me to the career of convincing people to visit a country.

Tourism boards hire travel bloggers all over the world to create content for their tourism campaigns. The trip is always all-expense-paid and on top of that, we get a daily stipend for the duration of the campaign.

#2: Brand Consulting

Through my blogging experiences, I was able to understand the behavior of readers very deeply. I always think about what I content and don’t just post whatever.

This entails analyzation of how your readers respond. This opened my horizon to do brand consultation for companies and advertisers who are still struggling in this big social media terrain.

Nowadays, brands and advertisers overpay and underpay Influencers at the same time because they don’t have any means of measuring the relationship between the Influencers and their audience. Buying followers has become very rampant so it has been really hard for them to quantify.

#3: Brand Ambassadorships

I receive a lot of emails about this but I barely choose any of them because I want to work with someone I truly believe in. I don’t want to mislead my readers to “buy this product” if deep inside my heart, it’s a brand that is shitty as feck.

Thanks to you, I am really proud to say I was able to create a close-knit community that have been supportive of what I do. I will never ever journey into something I am not sure of just because of the income it may bring.

#4: Speaking Engagements

This is probably one of my favourites. Often (especially when I am in the Philippines), I am invited by organisations, Universities to talk about a myriad of things.

The topic covers mostly travel, life and dreams but I’ve had more talks about life. I also discussed blogging once. My most recent talk is by the prestigious TEDx. You can watch the video here!

Making a speech/workshop requires work, too. You don’t present anything just to say something. It should be well planned and efforts should be exerted in order to make it sensible and smooth. I did my speech for TEDx for almost 2 months!

#5: Travel Coaching

I owe the success of this blog to my readers and followers so I vowed to myself to be always generous with information with them.

Those who were curious have signed up for my Travel Coaching Programs where I talk to people one-on-one via Skype on what they want to know about (mostly on how to afford a life of travel).

Each human is different so I wanted to give a personal touch to the coaching sessions. I always try my best to give what fits best on the individuality of the client as not all methods apply to everyone. When I am staying in a city/country for a long time, I also hold travel coaching sessions for groups which are held in cafes or bookstores. The idea of interacting (in person) with people who read your stuff makes me super high!

If you are interested to know what other people think about this course, you can check this link.

#6: Volunteering

I think this is something I will never outgrow. I still do this all the time! My journey and belief in Girl Rising, a groundbreaking film and organisation that uses the power of storytelling to share the simple truth that educating girls can transform societies.

This thing, this love – it completely changed my life. The way the Universe has lead me to this strong feeling about women, girls and gender equality is such a gift. This thing makes me sane!

In this light, I would like to encourage you to take a step: don’t just fight for what you believe in by posting on social media.

Make a move. Travel the world with a deeper understanding and contribute to its goodness. Don’t just travel for the sights: find your purpose.

How do I manage to do all these?!

I have no idea! The lifestyle I chose means that I should always be able to afford a life of travel. It may appear to you that I am just traveling but seriously, this is the job.

Every day is a hustle because this kind of work does not have a stable income (I can have $10,000 USD this month and $350 the next). It really depends on how you hustle.

It requires hardwork, a constant update on technology, long hours on the laptop, no working hours (24/7) but despite all these, I am really happy with what I do. I am really happy with my job!