The Reality of Working on the Road

By Christine Garvin On March 29, 2010 · 15 Comments

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It takes discipline and knowing yourself well to successfully work while long-term traveling.

After I landed back in San Francisco last week, more than one old friend asked me, “so where exactly have you been since you left?”

Yeah, I’m not the best at always being clear to others about my projects and travels. Even if you closely follow my Facebook status updates, I enjoy occasionally being vague. Even Ian asks me sometimes, “um, where are you again?”

What can I say? I’m a bit of a spur-of-the-moment gal. Problem is, trying to build a steady career while spurring-off here and there.

I would imagine that most of you who read BNT and Matador at one point or another have longed to take on the open road and somehow make a career out of it. Whether that means through writing about your travels, vlogging about your spiritual experiences, or even consulting in your chosen field in different countries, the balance of exploration and work is never an easy one.

I took off last July, planning to make my way around the US with a car that already had 170,000+ miles on it, and no real plan other than to contact people on Couchsurfing.org at least two days before I landed in a place. What I quickly realized is that there is a balance of give and take that is necessary when you try and combine work and travel.

Something’s Gotta Give

Longtime Matador contributor Turner Wright just wrote a piece over at Vagabondish about this very subject entitled, Are You a Victim of Travel Writer’s Catch-22?

He asks:

Did I ever cut a traveling experience short by the subconscious need to get the most recent one on paper before I began anew?

Though he specifically talks about the perils of balancing travel writing and enjoying the place in which he finds himself, the same is true for any career we decide to take on while being on the road. Sometimes it means giving up fully enjoying, or getting to know, the place you’ve landed.

Making a living this way takes discipline, my friend. And it takes being honest with yourself about what type of person you are.

It takes being honest with yourself about what type of person you are.

What I figured out over the first couple of months of my trip is that I needed to stay in one place for at least a month at a time (that hardly precluded weekend trips to nearby destinations). One or two months at the same destination meant I could have the time to get to see a place AND work the hours needed to pay for living in that place.

Since that time, I’ve spent one month here, several months there. That works for me. Some of you might be better at handling a week or two in one place and getting your work done like a champ. But it is worth thinking about your personality type, how schedules work for you, and any underlying emotional agendas before embarking on this work lifestyle.

But when the world calls you, what else are you going to do?

What are some tips for balancing work and travel? Share them below!

Community Connection

Interested in learning exactly how to go about making a career out of travel writing? Then check out MatadorU, where you’ll not only get the writing skills, but you’ll become part of a community that helps with the ups and downs of working on the road.

About The Author

Christine Garvin

Christine Garvin is a certified Nutrition Educator and holds a MA in Holistic Health Education. She is the founder/editor of Living Holistically...with a sense of humor and co-founder of Confronting Love. When she is not out traveling the world, she is busy writing, doing yoga, and performing hip-hop and bhangra. She also likes to pretend living in her hippie town of Fairfax, CA is like being on vacation.

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http://matadortrips.com/ Hal Amen

It’s definitely a different form of travel. I spent last year in South America, and lots of people I met were put off by how I didn’t have as much free time as they did. Being in new and exciting places and yet having to spend 4-6 hours a day on the computer is a hard state of mind to get used to. You have to shed the “vacation” mindset and create a new one, one that works best for you.
http://www.sierrasurvey.com David Page

Yep. Here’s from my notebook a few weeks back: “Tonight my four-year-old is going to bed in a full leg cast on the other side of the mountains, while I eat fast food and poach Wi-Fi in a Days Inn parking lot on the south end of Fresno. This is the real deal: all-pro travel writing.”
http://www.beatravelbee.com Joya

Thanks for sharing. Definitely something to think about as I would like to start a travel writing career.
http://onceatraveler.com Turner

Yeah, and we’re dealing with lighter stuff – just imagine LP guidebook writers.
http://www.happenchance.net/ Seth M. Bakker

This post has inspired me. Working and traveling has always been the ideal balance. Especially when traveling in the U.S. everything is expensive, you have to plan ahead. I think you are right to plan on staying in a place for at least a month. Not only do you have the time to do some work, but you also get to enjoy new parts of the country. Keep up the good work.
http://www.greenygrey.co.uk Marc Latham

Yes, it can be hard working on the road, but also not like work at home; the upside is that even if you’re in a regular job you still feel like you’re doing something different each day, and free to leave at any time, so that kind of makes it a bit special.
aadil elgadiri

thanks for sharing =)
http://on-common-ground.com Roldan @ on-common-ground.com

thank you for posting this. even at the age of 38 i feel like a chick about to leave the nest with plans to leave what has been my somewhat comfortable habitat (Atlanta, GA) to venture into the greater unknown. i plan to write an vlog about my journey and see where the high (and low) roads take me. whether it’ll turn into anything i can base a living on will remain to be seen… but it’s the journey anyway. for me it’s always been about the journey… so we shall see. great food for thought as i prepare to embark. =)!
http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Wanders

This is so true… after traveling for 2 years, I knew I needed to find a way to work on the road so I didn’t keep having to go back home. I’ve finally found a few jobs online, and it sure does take discipline. It’s even harder when you meet cool people who are only in town for a few days and you want to hang out with them, but you’re bound to the job. Waking up early to get some work done helps me, or skipping a breakfast that normally turns into a 2 or 3-hour event. I also prefer to stay in one place for longer if I like it, that way I’m traveling more as a short-term expat as opposed to a backpacker. Certainly not as glamorous as it seems!
http://metalchick.net/travel Lindi

Christine,
This is so true. Thanks for this article. As a consultant, I spend copious amounts of time working in locations without taking the time to really enjoy my surroundings before I’m off to another location again. It’s finding that balance that truly helps enjoy the travel experience. This rocks. Thanks for the reminder!
http://nextflighthome.com Pete

A month per location? Cut a new experience short to write about the one most recently passed?

Holy cow, what am I reading?

I’m a business traveler. I’m not particularly brave, or new, but I do spend 240 days a year on the road, so I’m definitely a traveler. Oh yeah, and a travel writer to boot: http://nextflighthome.com just celebrated it 6 month anniversary.

Most of my trips, and I’d venture 99% of the traveling public’s are of a weeks duration or less. I’m not saying I wouldn’t enjoy spending a month on Kauai to really get into the spirit of the place, but it’s just not going to happen.

And as for working “the hours needed to pay for living in that place,” well that’s all part and parcel of business travel. I’m really lucky if I can eke out a few hours a day to explore the city I’m in, but there’s never a shortage of hours spent working to pay for the place I’m living.

You’re really lucky to have the lifestyle you do, I suppose, though it’s not for everyone. I don’t think I would do well with it personally. I’m too type-A probably.

Happy travels!
Andreas

Great Post.Well im planning, to make an around the world trip in two years until i finish my current studies, i will stay a month in every place that id like , that the meaning of traveling sataying where you like , knowing its culture, its people…….
http://www.lifeasatrucker.com commercialtraveler

Nice website. Great writing Christine! I too am a traveler but the travel is by default due to the nature of my job but choosing this job was intentional because of travel being one of the benefits. I am a truck driver.

What you were speaking of is so very true about choosing certain things in life in general and absolutely includes a traveling job. Being self aware and truthful about what you know about yourself can save you a lot of unnecessary stress. Loving an idea about something does not make it right for you.

I love driving because of the traveling. Because i also write, although it’s not about travel but about trucking, I can attest to your description of how important it is to have great discipline and dedication to follow through with the actions required to achieve your goals.To make your big picture a reality this is not an option.

To help with developing or maintaining that ability in yourself, I always say to expose yourself to positive materials that keep that thought pattern in the forefront of your mind that assists you. Find a motivational speaker to take along with you on CD to listen to as a break from the radio. Listening to this material will go a long way to build a subconscious mind preloaded with influence that helps you to be more able to make choices you don’t regret in regards to applying yourself in to complete work needed so that traveling works out and you desire. This mindset is of course also helpful to you while doing the rest of life too.

This being the case, having that mindset means that you will have more time to be happy with yourself so that you can enjoy your travels and your life. So relax, be honest with yourself and proceed as necessary. I have a feeling that Christina will provide that balance of positive thought and insightful outlook on life for your reading, based on what I have read in her post now find a cd you can listen to while you drive too! (Zig Ziglar, Stephen Covey are two great ones or listen to free American Family Radio for the spiritual component.

Have a great day!

thecrazytrucker

Have a great day!
Matt K.

Thanks for writing this, and for spurring all the follow-up comments. It’s really refreshing to see people actually out there doing what I think I want to do with my life and posting their thoughts on it.

I’m at a point in my life that similar to many of the ones already mentioned here. I’ll be a junior in college, studying in Spain (just for language proficiency) for three months, and later trying to get a job in diplomacy, journalism, or something else that uses a knowledge of countries and cultures.

And I honestly don’t know what to expect.

Questions keep floating around in my mind about how I’ll adjust, if I can handle a semi-permanently traveling lifestyle and if I’m making the right choices by choosing this path. As much as I love travel, I think I need a little stability, too.

But I guess the only way to find out if this life’s for me is to try it!
ana

you are so right, if you want to travel and do something to pay your expenses
you should have a balance between work and travel. I would like to do that, I’m in my senior year and I would like to figure out what can I do after I graduate before is too late and I finish in a cubicle and not able to travel whenever I want. Thanks for sharing

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