How to Travel the World With a Full Time Job – Episode 1

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How to Travel the World With a Full Time Job

Get inspired to see the world without quitting your job, and learn how to travel the world with a full time job. In this episode of Bon Voyage Besties, Rachel and Rosa share practical tips on maximizing PTO, planning trips in advance, and balancing work and travel creatively … all while maintaining job security and enjoying your adventures.

Don’t worry. You don’t need to leave practicality behind if you want to travel. Both can exist.

Main topics:

• How to optimize your paid time off (PTO) and holiday schedules
• Early planning strategies for peak and off-peak travel
• Managing industry-specific work restrictions and remote opportunities
• Budgeting for flights and accommodation using apps and alert tools
• The importance of clear communication with employers about travel plans
• Myths about full-time travel and content creation
• Tips for traveling during busy seasons without sacrificing job commitments

• Google Flights
• Hopper App
• Skyscanner
• Travel Credit Cards with Price Guarantee

Episode 1: Important Takeaways

What You Need to Know About a Full Time Job and Travel

One of the biggest myths in the travel space is that the only way to truly explore the world is to quit your job, pack a backpack, and never look back. But here at Bon Voyage Besties, we’re here to push back on that narrative, because figuring out how to travel with a full-time job is not only possible, it’s actually something we both do all the time.

Including me aka Rachel!

Rachel is a high school teacher in New Jersey with a rigid school calendar. Rosa works in real estate development with a classic Monday-through-Friday office schedule. Two very different setups, and yet both of us manage to travel consistently, intentionally, and without burning our careers down. Here’s how.

Know Your PTO Inside and Out

This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t actually know the details of their own time-off policy. Rosa is lucky enough to have 30 paid days off per year, plus around 10 observed federal holidays: that’s effectively 40 travel days waiting to be used. And she uses every single one.

Plan ahead — especially during peak season

One of the clearest strategies for how to travel with a full-time job is to plan far in advance, particularly if your travel windows are fixed. Teachers, parents of school-age kids, and anyone who has to travel during spring break or summer are automatically flying during the most expensive times of year. The only way to soften that blow is to book early.

Rachel booked her hotel for an upcoming trip to Athens months in advance, not because she had to, but because she knows that waiting costs money. Rosa similarly booked flights to Belize for a March spring break trip back in November, as soon as her husband received vacation approval. By setting up Google Flights alerts and using the Hopper app to track price fluctuations, she snagged a solid deal before prices climbed.

And for attractions? Rachel actually built a spreadsheet to track and pre-book everything for a trip to Barcelona, reserving tickets months before departure. Her travel companion (love you Amy!!!) thought she was being a littttttttle extra. She wasn’t wrong, but they made it to every single site on the list.

Maximize your days with strategic timing

One of Rosa’s favorite travel hacks is piggybacking her PTO onto federal holidays. By tacking a few vacation days before or after a long weekend, she stretches a 3-day break into a full week abroad, while only burning a handful of paid days.

For those of you in the United States, with Memorial Day, Labor Day, the 4th of July, and Thanksgiving all built into the calendar, there are more of these opportunities than most people realize.

Rachel did this exact thing for an upcoming Greece trip, timing it around the 4th of July to give one of her travel companions, who works in industry with limited PTO, the best shot at a full week away without blowing her entire vacation balance on one trip.

Be a good colleague before you go

Here’s the part that nobody on Instagram talks about: how you handle your workload before and during travel matters. A lot.

For instance, Rosa is mindful of her team’s schedules and avoids taking time off during her team’s busiest periods: typically the first and last weeks of the month. She also makes sure everything is wrapped up and handed off cleanly before she leaves, so no one is scrambling while she’s at the pool.

Rachel does the same. Sub plans are done in advance. Co-teachers are looped in. The goal is to travel without leaving a mess behind, because if your coworkers dread your vacations, you’ll start dreading asking for them.

You don’t have to quit your job to travel well

Social media is full of creators selling the dream of quitting your 9-to-5 to travel full-time. And for some people, that’s genuinely the right path. But it’s worth being honest: full-time content creation is its own kind of grind. Algorithm changes can wipe out income overnight. There’s no safety net, no retirement contribution, no employer-covered health insurance.

Rosa creates content on her travels, but when she’s on a family vacation, she gets to actually be on vacation. She’s not waking up at 5 a.m. to capture golden-hour content for a hotel partnership. That’s a real difference in quality of life, and it’s one of the quiet perks of keeping your job.

Figuring out how to travel with a full-time job isn’t about hacking the system or going rogue. It’s about knowing your PTO policy, planning early, being strategic about timing, and showing up as a reliable colleague before you go. Do those things consistently, and the world opens up — even with a full inbox waiting for you when you get back.

Enjoyed this post? Listen to the full episode of Bon Voyage Besties on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart. Follow us on Instagram at @BonVoyageBesties.

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