How To Travel With A Full Time Job

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How To Travel The World With A Full Time Job

If you’re anything like me then you love travel but often wonder how you can travel more, especially if you’ve got a full time job. Most of us work because we need money to live. You know, for food and stuff. And if you enjoy your job as well then that’s just an added perk. But when it comes to living life to the full work can feel like a restriction. It limits the time we can take to enjoy travel.

Find The Time To Travel

Staying within the confines of annual leave can feel like one of the biggest restrictions. With only 4 weeks for most of us actually finding time to travel can be a problem. 4 weeks, especially if you want to do any longer haul trips which take best part of a day to get to, really isn’t very long. So here’s some tips for making the most of your time:

Use Your Annual Leave Wisely

Use your annual leave sparingly. I did well this year just gone, meaning I spent every single day of my annual leave either abroad or on a plane. Try not to take days to recover, try not to take any time off to run errands that you could do at other times, and take half days if your employer allows and it fits with your travel plans.

Make The Most of Your Weekends

It’s easy to fill up weekends doing the food shopping and odd jobs around the house. Instead, dedicate a certain number of weekends throughout the year to travel. I recently spent the weekend in Venice. We booked flights three weeks in advance and got return tickets for £40. We booked an Airbnb for cheap accommodation and fully made the most of our weekend. A thousand times better than a weekend spent at home and all arranged on a budget too. Weekends away don’t have to be expensive.

Use Bank Holidays

In England and Wales you get eight bank holidays throughout the year. New Years Day, a couple over Easter, two in May, one in August and a couple over the Christmas break. You could use these bank holidays for a long weekend away, or alternatively, if you book a longer trip over a bank holiday you will use less of your annual leave. For example, over Easter you can take the week before off and the week after off, totalling sixteen consecutive days off using only eight days annual leave.

Travel Close To Home

Travelling doesn’t just mean jumping on a plane to a destination a couple of hours away. Travelling can be done on your doorstep. In fact, most of us have never seen some of the bucket list destinations that are closest to us. We’re all guilty of it.

I live in Southern England and have never been to France or Snowdonia in Wales. Mad I know! Both high on my bucket list but because they’re so close they’re easy to forget about.

Make the most of the opportunities around you. Take day trips or spend one night away somewhere. This year I’ve done lots of day trips and taken advantage of staying with friends around the UK.

I spent a day hiking at the Valley of the Rocks on the North Devon coastline. It might not be travelling very far for me but it’s a beautiful location that lots of holiday makers and travellers make a beeline for.

Take Advantage of Budget Travel

So you want to know how to travel with a full time job and be able to afford it. Well travel doesn’t have to be expensive. Shop around for last minute deals, take advantage of cheap flights and consider cheaper forms of accommodation such as hostels and Airbnbs.

Travel With Work If Possible

Not every job will have this luxury but if you do travel at all for work see if you can extend your trip by a day or two. Or use your spare time such as early mornings and evenings to sight see.

Don’t Be Afraid To Travel Solo

Sometimes, if you want to travel with a full time job you’ll come up against other restrictions as well, like trying to fit your schedule with someone else’s. If you have to wait for others to book the time off work or find the money, you might be waiting forever, especially if you’re trying to organise a larger group. If you really want to travel more then try travelling solo. My first solo trip was a daunting but amazing experience. Your time off is precious so why not maximise your freedom and choose to travel alone? Do what you want to do, when you want to do it.

Travelling With A Full Time Job

Have you got any tips on how to travel with a full time job? Let me know in the comments section or message me on one of my social channels!

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