How to travel while working full time: my best tips

I get many questions from my lovely readers asking how I plan my travels. I mentioned in the past how I used to travel while studying and working at the same time. Now I am not restricted so much by work, but I still use the techniques I learned in the past. Finding the time to travel when you have a professional commitment is incredibly hard, but, despite that, here are seven ways you can make travelling happen while working full-time.

Use my favourite travel resources to plan your dream trips

Booking.com for searching best prices on accommodation.
Discover Cars is a great website as they search both local and international car hire services, so you can choose the best deal for yourself. Make sure though, that the company has a good reputation and reviews.
Get Your Guide is my place to go for searching and booking tours and excursions, especially when I travel solo.
World Nomads travel insurance. I like them because they have quite extensive coverage of different activities.
Jack’s Flight Club is a service that can save you hundreds of dollars on flights, it works especially well in Europe.
Trivago where you can search and save on hotels.
Go City is a perfect site for booking bucket list experiences and attractions all in one to avoid paying for multiple tickets. Easy and saves money.
Trip Advisor– amazing for good quality recommendations.
Skyscanner is a perfect website for searching flight routes and comparing prices.

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Plan ahead

If you think it through a little while before you’re intending to set off on your adventures, you should be able to smartly plan the time around how much leave you have left. If we don’t have much time to go anywhere we want at the time we want, traveling requires a little bit more planning gymnastics. It is doable though. I promise. I had been doing this for years.

Okay, things always pop up out of the blue which might scupper that schedule somewhat, but ultimately you should be able to work out roughly when you’re going to need the days off for your holiday and take them accordingly. Also you can benefit from early bird offers.

Maximize travel on budget

I am subscribed to Jack’s Flights Club that sends me weekly flight deals, some of which are really amazing.

I also use Skyscanner to search for any route any time of the year. Basically, I am ready to book the cheapest flight that is available.

Another great way of saving some money on travels signing up for different reward and points through hotels stay and credit cards, for example Hilton Rewards.

Try a weekend escape

Who says you need to take an entire week out to have fun? Many people I know travel taking advantage of long weekends and visit one place at the time. It is actually fun, I’ve done that too while still being at university. The New York Times dedicated a column to spending 36 hours in different European cities for years – and have now turned it into a book – so you can clearly get a lot done in that time.

Simply fly out directly after work to your destination of choice, spend all of Saturday and Sunday afternoon there, before travelling home Sunday evening. It is actually doable and makes a nice break from a normal weekend routine. When I still was a student (and while working full time), this was most common travel break I could manage to organize. I could not sit still for more than 4-5 weeks, so in between proper travel escapes, weekends in different cities were helping me to stay sane.

Who said that amazing adventures have to be far away?

Try to alter sleep patterns

Never let it compromise your performance at work – but it might be worth trying to get your sleep patterns into a rhythm which allows you to take a trip where you’ll be sleeping on the plane out and back.

Doing this means you’ll be able to enjoy more of your holiday when you’re there (particularly handy on one of those aforementioned short weekend stays) and will also serve to completely eliminate the symptoms of jet-lag on vacation.

Have a word with the boss

If you feel like you haven’t been given enough time to get everything you want done on your holiday, why not ask your boss for a little more leave?

You can either ask for the next year’s holiday ahead of time, or even go as far as to suggest you’d take a few unpaid days out. It’s always worth asking. Now, it is more common and possible than ever to work remotely. Ask your boss if that’s possible at all in your job. It might be, you never know. That way, you can work and still have time during the day to explore a new place.

Be smart about national holidays

Remember – a national holiday means you’ve got a three-day weekend on your hands to begin with, so why not book two to three days away on top of that? This requires a bit of planning ahead. Every time some extra free days are coming up, I try to use them without sacrificing too much of paid leave days.

Mark your calendar with public holidays to help you plan.

Doing this will provide you with a six-day break, but means you’ve only actually used up three holiday days for the entire year. Clever time-management to say the least.

Use layovers

You might not want to consider layovers because they make the travel time longer, but some places are really good for long layovers. For example, if you travel through Qatar with 6-hour long layover to your final destination, you can see this place so easily for a little fee. Some airports even offer it for free.

Here is a list of airports that offer free (or for a little fee) layover tours:

Incheon International Airport (ICN) – Seoul, South Korea
Changi Airport (SIN) – Singapore
Hamad International Airport (DOH) – Doha, Qatar- book a transit tour here
Istanbul Airport (IST) – Istanbul, Turkey
Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) – Taipei, Taiwan
Narita International Airport (NRT) – Tokyo, Japan
Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) – Singapore (offers both free and paid tours)
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) – Helsinki, Finland
Reykjavik-Keflavik International Airport (KEF) – Reykjavik, Iceland

These airports provide layover tours as a complimentary service to passengers with extended layovers, allowing them to explore the city’s highlights and attractions during their transit. However, it’s essential to check with the airport authorities or tour desk for availability, booking procedures, and any eligibility requirements.

50 amazing things to do in Qatar (2024 guide)

Use national holidays, weekends and leave days for longer trips

If you are dreaming of a long trip somewhere far away, it is still possible with a full-time job. Be smart with utilizing all the options and plan longer adventures around the biggest public holidays, so you save some vacation days for another trip.

Choose direct flights from nearby airports

Some travelers opt for multiple connecting flights, inconvenient flight schedules, or distant airports to save money. As mentioned earlier, if saving money is your priority, it’s a viable option!

However, if you aim to make the most of your travel time, it’s often worthwhile to invest a bit more for direct flights, convenient flight times, and airports closer to your origin and destination. In this case, I recommend monitoring flight prices to identify the most favorable travel days while still staying within your budget.

Use Skyscanner to search for flights with convenient filtering options.

Don’t be afraid to travel alone

A huge factor in full-time workers failing to travel is that they don’t want to do it alone – with other people in their age-group also working most of the time.

It’s important to brave it alone sometimes, as it will not only give you a lot more freedom in regards to dates, but also when you’re actually there to do whatever you want. There were many instances that I wanted to find a travel buddy for short escapes, but it was so difficult. My friends either had different priorities or simply did not like traveling as much as I did. I just started to travel alone. Sometimes I wished I could share every moment with someone, but quickly I realized that it is so much fun to travel alone. Not only it made me more independent and confident, but I could enjoy every place with my own speed, which seems at times to be too slow for my travel companions.

13 best countries for first female solo travel

Work trips

Some people work in environments which require them to travel for business. Whether you’re heading to the other side of the county or half way round the world, make the most of this.

Obviously your work is the top priority, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself when you get a couple of hours spare in a foreign location. I know many people who stay a day or longer in a place, if possible, to do some tourism and combine work with pleasure.

Working full-time is a hindrance to travel goals, but it doesn’t have to be an outright killer. I know that many of you make traveling a priority, but also many of you find it difficult to organize traveling while working full-time. Believe me, a while ago while still studying full-time and working at the same time to support myself, I had to do a lot of brain acrobatics to plan my travels. Whenever I could I was organizing weekend escapes and, of course, any extra day off was worth a million. Now, with a little bit of more freedom I can plan more adventures…feeling so privileged about it.

What about you, guys? How do you organize your travels?

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