Ideas for working abroad/travelling?

[iLoveFoood]

I have such a hunger for travel lately, can I ask if you ever went away for a year or six months to work in a different country?

For example going to teach in a foreign country, or one where there may be more poverty (India, Africa) etc.

Or even going away to Spain for the summer to work in a bar?

Or off to NZ for a year,

Or did you ever travel to a different country for a year and just stay there in savings?
Did you have fun?

Can you please tell me your experiences? I'm weighing up the pros and cons of each place, when to go, how much spending money needed in bank account to go, how much time spent working/travelling.

We on a whim decided to go off travelling (with little money) we drove through France and stayed at a campsite in the south where we got a bit of work and ended up staying there 2 years! We then had saved enough to go backpacking around south east Asia for 6 months and then we worked in the Italian alps for a summer season for a kids adventure camp company.

Look at anyworkanywhere.com it has jobs all over the world that are seasonal/live in etc

Any kids, if so what age?
What skills do you have?
What passport do you have?
Commitments in the UK such as mortgage?

Travelled oz for a year at 20-21 years old. Didn’t work, was funded by parents.

Parents live in Dubai for 12 years, I was there a lot until I moved to oz ( Sydney) on a permanent residency visa in 2008/9 with then partner and our 3 year old daughter, lived there for about 3 years and came home for personal reasons.

Still travel lots on holidays and wouldn’t rule out living abroad again

I guess it all depends on what you want and what you’re prepared to put up with - when I was 19 I spent 2 years travelling and working in SEAsia and Australia & NZ had next to no money, worked in bars / low paid admin office jobs, stayed in hostels (10 / 12 bed dorms) had the most amazing time. When I was in my 30s I saved and saved and spent 5 months travelling round South America, nicer hotels, smaller dorm rooms, didn’t have to work, also had an amazing time.
Both totally different experiences, both right for the life stages I was at. Neither of which I would or could do again.
The next adventure, one day will be to travel with the kids. Now that will be a completely different experience!!

Hi all, thanks for replies. I'm a young woman, with a dp. I work full time in a permanent role, it's not my career though so I could easily just save up and leave.

I have a EU passport, I'm from and live in Ireland so suppose I'd have good access to many countries. I have no children.

@KennDodd no commitments, no children, mortgage or car or anything like that!

I've worked in hospitality for years and have skills as a chef and waitress so would go back to that if necessary I'd also work in a bar. I work in a call centre at the moment.

How old are you and what's your situation?

It shouldn't matter, but it does. I had a fantastic time teaching English in Asia for a few years, but I was mid-twenties and so was everyone around me. I'd hate to do it now. Ditto six months doing random work in New Zealand, which at the time was the best thing ever.

It was also great to work in America as a double-income-no-kids with DH, but when we started a family we knew it wasn't for us. I've worked a few years in Europe, too, and it was generally good fun, but the work (again EFL) had little chance of progression and eventually became very repetitive. It doesn't really add much to your CV, either, so you need a vague idea of when you're coming back and what's going to happen then.

I know this all sounds dull AF, but it will matter to you eventually and that's something I wish I'd kept in mind, instead of thinking 'ooh, new country!' every few years (which is a real possibility: it can be surprisingly hard to drag yourself home again).

I think living in a country for a year and not working at all wouldn't be as interesting as it seems, unless you're super rich. Watching your funds tick down to zero is quite stressful, and it's hard to integrate. Working is definitely the way to go, ideally in a role which involves lots of local involvement.

For sheer inspiring grab-your-bag enthusiasm, there's a book called 'Work Your Way Around The World', by Susan Griffiths. I hold it directly responsible for most of my life between the ages of nineteen and thirty, and I can't recommend it enough!

X-post!

Go crazy, then. Would DP come along?

I went for a summer and came home nine years later - I think it's really beneficial for most people, from a self-development perspective, but it helps if you have some kind of formal transferable skill, such as CELTA. Do it,OP - a lot easier to do it now,before you have children to add to the mix!

3.5 years teaching English in Cambodia. Went at 40ish. Bloody loved it. Really helped my self confidence and ability to be independent.

I can recommend teaching your way round. it gives you chance to get to know the place, the locals and other foreigners too. Just backpacking can get very tedious ("same same, but different").
As PP have said, getting an internationally recognised qualification like a CELTA course (beware of dodgy cheap imitation TEFL courses,) will make things so much easier. You can do the course in the country you want to start off in, meaning cost of living will be cheaper whilst you train, and you get an instant set of friends who can help you settle in. I've worked all over, loved Vietnam and am now working in Spain. Good luck!

Thanks for the info. Yeah I wouldnt fancy backpacking but deffo be up for going somewhere for a few months then onto somewhere else

When I was 23 I decided to do a season in Ibiza. I had the most amazing summer, met amazing people and 12 years later I'm still here. It really was a the best decision I ever made, never had any regrets and would highly recommend traveling/working abroad for a few months to almost everyone.

I moved to France for 6 months when I was 24...and ended up living abroad for 10 years! Best thing I ever did and I would leave UK tomorrow if I could convince my DP to come with me.

In those 10 years I lived in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and various parts of California.

I spent a year in Germany (aged 21/22) mainly living on a mountain working in a ski resort but also working in hotels - hard work but loved it - am encouraging my kids to do the same (take a year out somewhere!)

@Tootiredtosleepnow great story! Did you just end up staying there renting a house, staying working there? I would love this, I love the lifestyle in Spain. Such a laid back atmosphere

I know someone who works 2 jobs and loves to travel. They have been booking cheap flights to places like a city in Europe, then fly on to eg Israel for a few days. I know someone who paid for their own flights and received no salary whilst abroad, they lived with teachers and contributed to food and helped in the schools and in return learned about the local culture in Russia. I know a couple of people who work in ski resorts who have gained their ski instructor and also work in hotels. Personally, I've been able to take a month off work for the last few years and I've been to NZ, Asia, South America and short trips to Europe destinations & UK. You can get some real bargains if you book early flights or early train or Megabus. If you fly to say Bangkok or Singapore, flights to other destinations are cheaper from that base if you want to travel in that area. Having travelled a fair bit now, I thought my itch to travel would have passed, but I still wish to travel more and I still have places on my to do list ! I also wish to travel more when I am retired, so I have been making some plans. My top tips, travel insurance, save hard or find a way to increase your income to enable you to travel. Being away for a month and travelling around feels like a long time away, I would love to travel for a year ! Good luck

I think Irish citizens can do the Working Holiday Visa in Canada. That’s 24months. Not sure what the current age limits are (normally they’re 30). Lots of hospitality type work in Banff, Jasper, Whistler etc.