Top 5 Ways to Turn Vacations into Income

Traveling is a great experience. It gets you out of the routine of your daily life. It challenges you to learn and explore new things. It exposes you to different ways of living. It provides you with a break. But, of course, many people feel like they can’t travel as much as they would like to because it’s expensive to go on vacation. One way that you can battle the problem of a costly vacation is to use your vacation to earn some income. This allows you reap the benefits of traveling without having to sacrifice your life savings to do it.

Here are the top five ways that you can turn you vacations into income:

1. Purchase items for resale during your vacations. One of the most fun ways to turn your vacations into money is to use the vacation time to hunt for items that can be sold upon your return back home. This isn’t an easy business to get into but it’s one that can be highly rewarding and can even be very profitable. The great thing is that there are many different places where you can re-sell items that you’ve purchased on vacation. Examples include:

o eBay and other online auction sites. Many people resell items on auction sites. They also sell items on local ad sites like Craigslist.

o Your own blog or online souvenir store. You can create a blog around your travels and sell items on your blog. Alternatively, you can set up your own online store and sell souvenir items through that.

o Local consignment shops. Get to know the people who are operating thrift stores and craft stores in your area. Work with them to put the items you own on consignment in these shops.

o Your own antique store. If you really love traveling to find items for sale then you may eventually want to turn this passion into a business by opening your own antique store or thrift store.

o Yard sales. If you can get your hands on very inexpensive but nice items when traveling then you may be able to turn a small profit simply by having yard sales or selling the stuff at flea market.

Making money by doing this requires a true dedication to it. You need to learn to find saleable items for a low price during your trips. It’s best if you’re interested in traveling to places where the currency exchange is in your favor. This may not end up making you a lot of money but it can offset your travel costs.

2. Write about your travels. A lot of people dream about doing travel writing but don’t ever make the effort to actually do it. It’s a great way to make a living if you’re willing to put in the effort to make it work. The thing that you have to realize is that you don’t start off a career where you get hired to travel around the world and write about it. Instead, you need to start writing about the travels that you are already experiencing and putting them out there. The more submissions you make of this type of writing, the better your writing portfolio will be and the more likely it will be that you’ll make more money on your travel writing in the future. Some of the places where you might try to sell your travel writing include:

o Magazines. Many different types of magazines are interested in pieces about travel.

o Anthologies. There are anthologies published each year that share the stories of people and their travels.

o Blogs. There are numerous travel blogs out there as well as other blogs that may like travel pieces (such as food blogs). You also have the option of creating your own travel blog. With proper promotion and the use of ads and affiliate links your blog may end up making some money.

o Guidebooks. As you get more experienced with travel writing you’ll be able to apply for work as a guidebook writer for the areas that you know best.

You may not make a lot of money off of this at first but you can start to make a little bit here and there, reducing the cost of your travels by earning a bit of an income from them.

3. Create photography or other artwork around your travels. Writing isn’t the only form of self-expression that can be created around travel and then sold. Another top choice is photography. If you are skilled with a camera then you can take photos while on vacation and sell them when you get back home to offset the cost of your travels. You may sell your photos as framed prints at local art shows or even as microstock photography online. Another option is to create found art, collage art or crafts from items purchased at a low cost on your travels. For example, crochet artists sometimes get great yarn at low prices in foreign countries, craft their items and then sell them for a higher price when they get back home.

4. Work while you are on vacation. This option isn’t nearly as creative as some of the other options but it’s a really straightforward way to pay for the opportunity to travel. Simply get a job in the destination where you want to travel and earn money while you’re there. Popular options include teaching English in a foreign country and working as a nanny or au pair. However, you can get many different types of jobs in other destinations to support yourself while you travel.

5. Learn a skill that will boost your income when you return from vacation. Instead of getting a job while you’re on vacation, maybe you can take a class or do an internship. The trick to turning this into a moneymaking opportunity is to learn something that will increase your income back home. It may teach you a craft or skill that you can turn into a moneymaking side job. Alternatively, it may increase your earning potential at your existing job. Even going somewhere to learn a foreign language may increase your marketability in your existing field. The point is that you travel to enjoy the experience of learning in a new place and then take the skills you’ve gained back home to make some money off of them.