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What are some good careers for people who know they love to travel and live in new places?

I aspire to lead an adventurous and creative life, and I find that many careers out there follow the "traditional" format for a career (meetings, working on a computer, etc.) I have been involved in many community service organizations that have allowed me to travel to places in South America like Costa Rica and Guatemala. I am also inspired by a blog that follows a family traveling in their car through South America and the dad does artwork to support himself and his family. I'm not artistic, but I have a passion for traveling and working with different groups of people and I'm curious what types of jobs are out there for people who want to do something really unique with their life. I know this is a very broad and difficult question, but comment if you have any ideas of programs or companies that may fit something I'm interested in. #travel #creativity #service

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Saman’s Answer

It depends on what exactly you're looking for but to me in reading that I think that you would be great in working for some sort of non-profit that has you travel to different parts of the world. Something like http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ seems like something that would be right up your alley, in regards to travel and giving back.


Another option for you would be to work in a field like hotel management. Here are the top 20 Hotel Management programs http://www.thebestschools.org/blog/2012/01/20/20-hospitality-programs-united-states/. Hope this helps a little bit!

Thank you comment icon Thank you! I have been looking into possibly working within non-profits because I work with those types of organizations often with my volunteer work. I'm looking more into interesting non-profits that would fit my interests and allow me to travel. Aliza
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Lou’s Answer

If you have a propensity toward writing, you might also want to look into becoming a journalist - there are dozens of magazines that employ writers who travel around the world writing about their experiences (food, travel, sports, anything!). You could also consider becoming an on-air reporter covering different events internationally.


You can start by getting involved in your school's newspaper (or start one if there isn't one already), or starting a blog of your own (try WordPress, SquareSpace, Tumblr, or Blogger). From there, I would reach out to people that are doing interesting things and ask to interview them for your blog (or newspaper). In college, you can take journalism classes, or also work for a local newspaper.

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Alice’s Answer

This depends on how much you want to move, and what you'd like to do in a place. If you're ok with a new town/country every few years, here are some things you could consider:


1) Journalism. It's hard to say what journalism is going to look like in the next 5-10 years, but certainly the willingness to travel, learn, and meet new people will get you interesting places.


2) Diplomacy. The US Foreign Service always needs good translators, diplomats, analysts, experts of various kinds etc., at different embassies and locations all over the world. (http://careers.state.gov/work/foreign-service/officer)


3) Military. The military moves people to different bases and postings every 3-4 years, though you don't have a lot of control over where you go (it depends on your skill set and where the military needs you). But it won't be boring, and the better you are at adapting to new circumstances and people, the higher you'll go.


4) Various kinds of civil engineering. People who build infrastructure often move to where the project is, on a 18 month - 5 year timescale, depending on what the project is. "Infrastructure" is a big category, by the way; some of the most reliable move-every-few-years jobs I know is oil services.


There are probably tons more that I'm not thinking of. In general, there are a lot of jobs, particularly with multi-national corporations, where it's an advantage to be willing to move around and work at different locations/divisions, but fewer where you'll be guaranteed to move every few years.

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Thomas’s Answer

In many ways, I’m in the same boat as you, so to speak. I grew up in a relatively small town and wanted to break free from the mold. I ended up joining the military which, in many ways, put me deeper into the mold. Though I do not regret my military service at all, as it gave me great experiences and allowed me to see over a dozen foreign countries, I too have always wanted to live an “adventurous and creative” life. Through travel I have tried to network and discover the type of jobs that would allow me this type of lifestyle. I don’t know what stage you are at in life, but it seems to me, due to your desire to work with different groups, that humanitarian service is definitely a good fit for you. I’m sure you have heard of organizations like the Peace Corps where you can travel the world and work with many different ethnic groups, however, one less commonly known avenue of work and travel is to teach English as a foreign language. There are many inexpensive teaching certifications available even online and ones that do not require expertise in the “local language.” For example, to teach English in Guatemala, you would not need to speak a single word of Spanish (though it would probably be desired for out-of-work communication.) I’ve found that because of the flexibility of these job’s duration (3 months to multiple years) one can really experience a culture as long as they want to. The teaching can also be geared towards adults, or teens, not only children, so one can experience many different levels of culture. Again, I do not know if you’re even interested in teaching, but I’ve found teaching as a great way to experience and integrate into a culture. It also allows you to network with locals and other foreign travelers while in the country to open the door for future opportunities. I hope this information was helpful at all, proud of you for wanting to experience the world and affect people’s lives. Sorry for the long reply

Thank you comment icon Thomas, thank you so much for your response! I am in a very similar situation as the one that you grew up in. Although I'm not interested in the military, many of the other suggestions you gave me were all things that I have considered going into. I am pretty confident that I want to do work with the Peace Corps. Ironically, another one of my passions is education as well. I considered teaching before and I was considering studying it in college (I'm a high school student). Thank you for all your kind words and inspiration! Aliza
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Nicholas’s Answer

Outside of whats already been discussed, I'd say that being a photographer would enable you to travel and freelance on your own. Once you get trained and get yourself a good portfolio of your work, you could be self employed taking family portraits, weddings, or possibly journalistic photos.

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