Do you dream of a life of travel? Would you love to criss-cross the globe, exploring and experiencing new places? Is the thought of staying in the same place your whole life too much to bear?
If so, it sounds like you need a career where traveling is built into the job description. But let’s go one step further; you want a job involving travel that pays well too.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at six careers where frequent travel is common:
Airline Pilot
Few professionals travel as far and wide as airline pilots. While entry-level aviators aren’t paid particularly well and don’t get assigned the best routes, those who stick it out long enough and establish themselves as highly qualified pilots will see their situation improve dramatically. After several years of incident-free flights and thousands of hours logged in the cockpit, you’ll be on your way to exploring the world and getting paid six figures to do it!
Travel Nurse
Nursing doesn’t sound like a career involving lots of travel. But due to a global shortage of nurses, hospitals and other medical facilities are paying a premium for RNs willing to travel for work. The resulting uptick in travel nursing jobs is a great opportunity for those interested in helping others while also exploring different places. The typical travel nurse will work in the same facility for several months before moving on to the next one.
Hotel Manager
Most major hotel chains have locations in every major city on the planet, with new ones constantly being built. As a hotel manager, you may be asked to travel to other locations around the world in order to train staff or oversee change. Hotel managers may also need to travel in order to observe new systems already being implemented in other hotels. That way, once these systems are installed in their location, they’re ready to hit the ground running.
Industry Consultant
Stick around in a specific industry long enough, and there’s a good chance you can become a consultant. From finance to technology to transportation, industry consultants are typically asked to travel great distances in order to meet clients and help them with their problems. With this in mind, those with substantial industry experience and networking skills should consider getting into consulting. Not only is it a great way to travel, but it also lets you be your own boss and make your own schedule.
Civil Engineer
The world of engineering is vast, with many different disciplines all falling under the category of engineering. Civil engineers are tasked with overseeing the construction of major infrastructure, such as airports, bridges, tunnels, and dams. Since these and other major infrastructure projects are happening all over the world, civil engineers often travel long distances to reach the construction site. What’s more, modern civil engineering is increasingly occurring in relatively remote parts of the world, requiring engineers to operate far off the beaten path. The result is the potential to see parts of the world you didn’t even know existed!
Sales Director
As the job title suggests, sales directors oversee teams of sales personnel and guide their actions in hopes of helping them sell more products and services. Generally speaking, the best salespeople wind up working as sales directors. These folks are often asked to travel to regional offices in hopes of training sales personnel in those places. While the tasks of a sales director can be conceivably achieved via video conferencing, there’s no replacing the power of face-to-face eye contact as well as a firm and hearty handshake, especially in the sales world!
Are you one of those people who want to travel for a living? If so, you probably wouldn’t mind a decent salary to go with it. Consider pursuing one of the career options mentioned above. Each one offers plenty of opportunities to see the world and make good money at the same time. What’s not to like?
Julie Steinbeck is a freelance writer from Florida. She enjoys covering topics related to business, careers, and travel.
