Do you like to travel? You may want to make this career change

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It can open the door to more opportunities.

Main points

• Traveling can be an expensive prospect, especially when there is high demand.
• Adjusting your work schedule can make travel more practical and affordable.

Some people may be satisfied with just one trip a year. But for others, a once-a-year trip won’t cut it.

If you’ve got the travel bug, you probably yearn to get out and explore different corners of the country and the world several times a year. But there may be a few things holding you back – namely money and work.

The reality is that the trip can be expensive, especially if you do it when everyone else is there. And even if you have a good travel credit card, let’s be honest—those airline miles, hotel points, and cash back rewards only go away when you want to take more trips during the year.

If travel is very important to you, you clearly need to secure a job that pays well enough to make it possible. But you may want to make a different work-related change.

Go the distance

People who work remotely don’t miss out on doing their jobs. But they can do their work from anywhere. And if you like to travel, this can make a big difference.

Say you have to report to the office every day to do your job. That means you need to work your itinerary around that criteria. This can translate into more expensive time travel.

But if you’re remote, you get more flexibility. You can fly home on a Monday or Tuesday instead of a Sunday, when airfares can be much higher, and work temporarily from another city. If your tourism opportunities are limited to your evening and lunch breaks, you can pick up and travel to a new city during the work week if you are fine.

Another thing to consider is that many employers only give their employees a certain amount of vacation time. And that can put a damper on your travel plans. But if you get a remote job or can switch your current job to remote, this becomes less of a problem because you simply have the option of working from another location.

Freelancing is also an option.

While switching to remote work can make travel more practical, for more flexibility, consider becoming a freelancer. When you’re self-employed, you can set a schedule that allows you to work from anywhere and take time off as you please.

Of course, the downside to going freelance is losing benefits like paid health insurance and vacation time. And also, when you’re self-employed, you can’t always enjoy a predictable, steady stream of income, so you need a good savings cushion if you want to go that route. But it can be a worthwhile trade-off if travel is easy to accomplish.

There are many benefits to frequent travel, and you may find that taking more trips helps recharge and boost your mood. And if some changes to your work situation are what’s needed to make travel more feasible, those are the changes to pursue.