HOW TO TRAVEL THE WORLD IN 4 EASY STEPS
How to travel the world in 4 easy steps…
I’ve spent the past 5 years traveling the world. A lot of people have been asking me how I do it; specifics like how I can afford it, which countries I prefer over others, etc. So I thought I’d just answer everyone’s questions by giving you folks step by step instructions on how you can achieve everything I have… IN JUST 4 EASY STEPS! Ready? Buckle up, turn your electronics to aeroplane mode, hold on to the sides of your seat, and let’s go!
- Invest in an international TEFL & TESOL certification course. These courses train you to Teach English as a Foreign or Second Language and the demand for English teachers just never seems to wane. I took my course with TEFL Online Pro, but there are also hundreds of other programs out there to choose from. Just make sure that the course you choose is Fully Accredited and stay away from the dirt-cheap courses because those won’t do jack squat for you.
- Do some proper research and choose a country where you can gain some teaching experience. A country where you won’t feel too out of depth. You can start off in the deep end of the pool, but my advice is to play it safe with your first country of choice. Mine was South Korea. I applied for the EPIK program and taught in Seoul for one year. during that time, I honed my teaching skills and got used to living in a foreign country. South Korea is an East Asian country which feels at the same time very Western.
- After my year teaching English in Seoul, I decided to take it up a notch and accepted a teaching English job position in Bangkok, Thailand. My teaching salary in Bangkok was nowhere near as good as the one I had back in Seoul, but it’s cheaper in Thailand so you don’t notice the salary drop off so much. Why did I choose Thailand? I love Thai culture and the food scene, etc., but the main draw for me was its central location in SouthEast Asia. From Bangkok, you can fly to Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, and Indonesia in just a few hours and if you book ahead the flights are ridiculously cheap. When I taught in Bangkok, I took a flight out of the country at least once a month. In that time, I saw the temples at Angkor Wat, did some crazy river tubing in Vang Vieng, ate copious amounts of bowls of pho in Hanoi, etc.
- When the pandemic hit, I thought the gravy-train life was over, but it actually presented another, even better, opportunity. Teaching English online! Now, when folks ask where I live, I reply that I’m a digital nomad. I teach for three separate online companies and I can do this work literally anywhere in the world with a good enough internet connection. So instead of being tied down to one country for a year, I’m now always on the move and earning money as I travel. I must admit that teaching English online can be more demanding than teaching at a regular school because of the time zones thang and how exhausting a computer screen can be on your eyes, but there are far more benefits to it than being stuck in one place. I’m writing this Medium article from Perth, Australia. I’ve got friends here and a place to crash and I’m teaching my schedule in exactly the same way as if I were in Bali or Brussels.
I remember a friend buying a van when I lived back in the States because he wanted to live the life of freedom. Turned out it was a real bummer with all the repairs and finding safe places to camp for the night. Teaching english for a school in a country is a bit like that. Teaching English online is more like having a private jet that takes you wherever you want to go and you never have to stay in that new place for any longer than you want or need to.
The question you have to ask yourself is do you want to live this life?
Or, do you want to settle for this life?
My name is Josh and I am a TEFL Online Pro graduate and a digital nomad.
