What career would let me travel to many different countries?

Hi everyone, I've been reading this site for along long time, but only just decided to make an account. I'm only 16 and was wondering what all you guys do as jobs, I would love to have a career that would see me traverse countries and continents all in a weeks work. Thanks!!

Hi J21,

A job with lots of travel can be interesting, with lots of variety, but post 9/11 it can also be a pain if you are going through numerous airports. I did a huge amount of travel in some jobs and found the more you do, the less you enjoy it. Somewhere in between is probably best. Now that I have retired I truly enjoy travel because I can decide where and when I go!! Good luck with your career.

J21, travel for work seems at the start great, glamourous, interesting and an adventure, but after 6 months it becomes a drag, painful, boring, and travel days between airports just like travelling in a bus.  I been travelling for 10 years, starting of with 4 weeks travel a year and last year I did 30 weeks. You miss home and your family. 

J21 - Travelling for work always looks better from the outside than the inside. Don't get me wrong... It can be great but regular overseas travel becomes quite tiring and you miss out on so much at home because you are always away. I would be aiming for a job that enables me to earn enough to be able to take decent holidays each year. You will see so much more of the world that way and enjoy it so much more.

if you're looking for a career that involves lots of travel/flying...be prepared for a job with many 'unpaid' work expenses and a close 'relationship' with your tax accountant to claim back those 'work expenses'

lmao what

My father used to work such a life. It's brutal, and some people thrive on the cheap sushi and digital juice dispensers, but some find a few days away from loved ones kills them.

You can go into a field where you'll have a high chance of travelling frequently for work, but you won't know what it's like until you get it - if you get it.

I'd suggest that pilots and airline crew are most likely career options to visit 'several countries' in the course of your working week or week-and-a-bit, and it's not an easy job. The crew often get very little time to enjoy whatever city they're in, it's can be a day and a night and then they head back.

A better option would be a job which lets you travel for work but lets you spend more time on the ground in each city/country, especially if you can add a little holiday time in any destination that you fancy.

And as much as I love travel, it is pretty wearing and it can be quite relentless at the busiest of times... even that busy-ness is fun of course, but at the end I love being back in my own pad, in my own routine, with my cat and my cafes and the other markers of my life.

Anyway, journalism is certainly one job where you can travel, but not incessently (unless you're a madly busy in-high-demand travel writer for a highly valued mainstream outlet or a super-busy freelancer). Doesn't just have to be travel writing of course, many specialist writing fields come with a share of travel (eg tech, motoring)... but you still need to be bloody good at your job and represent 'high value' to the vendors who send you, so on the whole, you become a writer because you want to do that job, and the trips are a bonus – you cetainly don't become a writer for the trips.

I'd recommend focusing on something you enjoy doing and subsequently doing it well enough to make a living from it. That way you can both travel for pleasure and for work (if you have domestic/international clients).

More often than before, businesses are employing people under temporary contracts. So use this to your advantage rather than being subject to it. I'd highly recommend reading up on Location Independent Professionals and Geographic Arbitrage.

Aircraft crew. 

I'm an accountant cadet in my dad's firm. At first traveling was great, however the only locations I end up going to are Sydney, Melbourne, Mackay and Canberra. The days are pointless given I arrive in the morning, and depart in the evening and rarely get to experience anything any of the cities have to offer. I am a gold member, and that's kinda cool but the novelty has quickly worn off. My partner hates me travelling as I am away alot. I'm over it personally. 

I'm a seaplane pilot. Although whilst having a base during work, it has seen me work in Cairns, The Gold Coast, Whitsundays and Sydney. Always great around twilight, seeing either the Whitsunday islands, or th Sydney harbour. 

As others have said. Do what YOU want to do and will enjoy!

hello J21.  My advice would be to aim for a career in the oil and gas industry.  Any position will do.  You have good prospects in Brizzy with Santos, British Gas (BG) and Shell (Arrow) all having mega projects on the go in Qland.  Oil and Gas is an international business and one that can take you anywhere in the World if you're good at what you do.  It's up to you to work hard and show what you can do.  It offers careers in Engineering, environmental sciences, geology, safety, finance and all sorts of other disciplines.  I'm a safety guy (HSE) and worked on 5-contintents iver 20 years.  QF Platinum for 11 years on the trot.  Lifetime Gold on One World. Only sit at the front end when flying overseas.  A great life!  good hotels and well looked after on the in-country security front.  So go for oil and gas and get into Shell, BHP, Shell, Exxon, etc would be my advice.