Work Your Way Around the World, 10th ed [Paperback]

Distributed title (Author)

Book Description

Series: Work Your Way Around the World | Publication Date: March 29, 2001

Compact, authoritative guides for the working traveler.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The budget globetrotters bible".
--The Independent

"Packed with ideas and all-important contacts".
--The Sunday Times

"Good, practical advice on a wide range of issues".
--Lonely Planet's Western Europe

"Want to travel but unable to finance a long trip? For almost 20 years Work Your Way Around the World has been helping travellers to overcome this problem...[the book] aims to enable those with little money but plenty of motivation to have a great time abroad while working their keep. It blends anecdotes with information to build up a picture of the possibilities for the working traveller across the globe".
--The Guardian

"Packed with useful information that will steer you through the whole process¿ a mine of information that you won't want to be without".
--Global Adventure Magazine

"Good, sensible advice on seeking work".
--The Times

"The essential starting point for planning a working holiday".
--The Observer

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

The idea of going all the way around the world holds more than a touch of romance. From the early heroic navigators like Ferdinand Magellan to the fictional traveller Phileas Fogg, circumnavigators of our planet have always captured the imagination of adventurous souls. More recently Michael Palin's globetrotting television series and award-winning travel blogs like twoguysaroundtheworld.com attract huge audiences, perhaps because so many of us relish a chance to imagine ourselves - impossibly ambitious as it sounds - as round-the-world explorers.

Nothing can compare with the joy of the open road. The sense of possibility and adventure brings feelings of exhilaration, long submerged in the workaday routines of home. Cheap air travel has opened up parts of the globe once reserved for the seriously affluent. When travelling in far-flung corners of the world, you can escape the demands of modern life in the Western world, the chores, the clutter, the technology. Whatever your stage of life, travelling spontaneously means you have the freedom to choose from an infinite spectrum of possibilities. Those who have experienced independent travel normally catch the bug and long to visit more places, see more wonders and spend a longer time abroad. Today trekking in the hinterland of Rio de Janeiro or diving in the Philippines can be within the grasp of ordinary folk. The longing might stem from a fascination left over from childhood with an exotic destination like Madagascar or Patagonia.

The motivation might come from a friend's reminiscences or a television travelogue or a personal passion for a certain culture or natural habitat. At some point a vague idea begins to crystallise into an actual possibility.

That is the point at which the purple prose of brochure-speak must be interrupted by hard-headed planning. The first question is always: how can I afford such a trip? Magellan had the backing of the King and Queen of Spain, Phileas Fogg was a gentleman of independent means and Michael Palin could call on the resources of the BBC. How can ordinary people possibly move their dreams on to reality? The conventional means to an exciting end is to work and save hard.

A grim spell of working overtime and denying yourself a social life is one route to being able to join a safari in Tanzania, a water sport instructor's course on the Mediterranean or a bungee jump in New Zealand. But what if it were possible to skip this stage and head off towards the horizon sooner than that? Instead of trying to finance the expensive trips advertised in glossy travel brochures, what about trying to find alternative ways of experiencing those same places at a fraction of the cost?

The catchy phrase `work your way around the world' may contain the answer to the thorny question of funding. Picking up bits and pieces of work along the way can go a long way to reducing the cost. Even if it is unrealistic to expect to walk into highly paid jobs in Beijing or Berlin (though they do exist), other informal ways exist of offsetting the cost of travel. Work-for-keep arrangements on a New Zealand farm or Costa Rican eco-lodge will mean that you have to save far less than if you booked a long-haul package holiday to those destinations - in some cases little more than the cost of the flight.

Short of emigrating or marrying a native, working abroad is an excellent way to experience a foreign culture from the inside. The plucky Briton who spends a few months on a Queensland outback station will have a different tale to tell about Australia from the one who serves behind the bar in a Sydney pub. Yet both will experience the exhilaration of doing something completely unfamiliar in an alien setting.

Anyone with a taste for adventure and a modicum of nerve has the potential for exploring far-flung corners of the globe on very little money. In an ideal world, it would be possible to register with an international employment agency and wait to be assigned to a glamorous job as an underwater model in the Caribbean, history co-ordinator for a European tour company or snowboard instructor in the Rockies. But jobs abroad, like jobs at home, must be ferreted out. The hundreds of pages that follow will help you to do just that. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 531 pages
• Publisher: Arco; 10th edition (March 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854582518
• ISBN-13: 978-1854582515
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,033,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than excellent, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Work Your Way Around the World (8th ed) (Paperback)

This book changed my life.

It showed me one doesn't have to follow the route of college, then graduation, then job for life. I bought this book, then worked for three years in London, Spain, and Cairo in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I supported myself and even managed to save money.

While personally enriching, my experiences have impressed -- bar none -- every employer with whom I have interviewed over the past seven years.

Had I not taken time off, I'd be like many other adults who regret not taking advantage of their youth and lack of committments to explore the world and themselves.

If you have any desire to explore, do yourself a favor -- buy the book, then buy your plane ticket.

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best all-around guide and fun to read, January 1, 2003

By 

Tim Leffel "author, The World's Cheapest Dest... (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Work Your Way Around the World, 10th ed (Paperback)

While this book is written from a British perspective, it is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to travel around the world on limited funds. The author relies on "been there done that" travelers to supply information and anecdotes from the road and I can vouch from experience that those nuggets show up in revised editions.

I bought this book before my first trip around the world and it led to my first English teaching job--in Istanbul, Turkey. (Griffith's Teaching English Abroad title is a good guide for the teaching path specifically). This is also a good book to read when deciding what you're NOT willing to do. Comparing some of these jobs to working another few months at home instead to save more money puts things in perspective.

Understand that this is a guide to short-term work opportunities, so it does focus on ways to make enough to get to the next destination. It's not an international career guide, but rather an inside scoop on where to get paid while you travel. It's an entertaining read and a good investment for shoestring travelers.

Tim Leffel
author, The World's Cheapest Destinations

84 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Focuses on EU citizens; unrealistic/useless for most others, December 19, 2007

By 

KC (USA/Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Work Your Way Around the World (13th Edition) (Paperback)

Well, I'm one of those Americans who has been there, done that and still doing it...and it wasn't because of this book.

More than years ago when I first went to Europe with the intention of finding work, short-term or long-term, my brother's girlfriend gave me this book as a gift because she found it useful. Let me say right off that I had no clue about traveling abroad or what was possible, even in a pre-9/11 world. But it seemed to me that the book concentrated heavily on Brits and Europeans and gave mostly common sense advice I could glean from my head (or a friend or successful expat, if I was clueless) and come up with the same or better info if I searched the Internet; plus, the author is an EU citizen, so what first hand experience does she really have in regards to non-EU citizens? The updated version hasn't changed much, and I'm puzzled by the fact it's in its 13th edition, when most people can find better and more current information online without spending a dime.

I'd also like to add that my brother's girlfriend (now ex) who loved this book, never found work abroad in her 5 years and told me I would never make it either. I told her I wasn't her, left the book behind and never saw it again. I first found a series of short-term jobs that I can only describe as experiences I can laugh about now. Then I built a life from literally nothing that has led to living and working in Europe for more than 10 years (and counting).

It is true that Americans have a more difficult time finding work in Europe simply because of EU citizenship requirements AND the world has changed significantly in that there are an abundance of Eastern European workers willing to work for cheaper than Americans/Canadians/Australians would and they're legal EU citizens. Still, showing up at the right time (and there ARE right times) and looking a certain way will more likely get you a summer job than sending a CV/resume, making calls or wasting time on placing ads or trolling forums. I don't know any employer who has hired anyone on paper or over the phone, even if you're already here in the country.

My best friend was placed in Poland, well-paid and provided housing for 2 years teaching English without any experience, certification or previous interview. He had a great time. The next year, he took a stint in Turkey during his vacation under the same circumstances. There are also plenty of opportunities, different and sometimes better, in very beautiful places outside of Europe. Another friend landed in South America with no intentions of staying and worked there happily for 3 years, learned to speak Spanish, gained experience that gave him an advantage in his flourishing career now located in Washington DC.

Aside from Europe, there are very strict requirements in place in Asia and Africa as well. Even those seeking to skirt permit and work authorization for those continents via dual citizenship may find the requirements quite difficult. In short, you cannot simply work your way around the world even illegally, never mind legally, because of upped security measures and economic recession.

Buying and reading this book, however helpful it is in small ways, is not enough. Sometimes, an adventurous attitude, thirst for experience and willingness isn't enough...sometimes it's just lady luck smiling on you. In some countries, it's strictly about connections.

I'm sorry I can't be more positive because I know it's tough to write a book and there are people out there searching for some assistance. But I think it's equally important to be honest.