Although it’s quite popular in Europe and Down Under, it’s a dream many Americans don’t pursue: Backpacking the world for months or years at a time. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been taught that you go to school and then get a job so you can buy things. What if we take a break for a while from our fast-paced lives and voracious consumer appetites and live with only what we can carry on our backs?

That’s what my sister and I did. We sold everything, bought airfare, traveler’s checks, and wandered around the world for a year and a half. Of course, we blew through our money faster than we had expected. Wanting to stay on the road for as long as possible, we came up with some ideas on how to make money while traveling.

1.   Submit your photographs to stock photography websites.

You’re taking photos anyway of everyone and everything you see. Why not upload them to several of the major stock photography websites and earn money? They pay you on consignment for each photo someone purchases for reuse in books, brochures, websites, etc.

2.   Become a seasonal fruit picker.

These jobs don’t pay very well, and it’s hard labor but at least you’re outdoors with other travelers getting in shape and earning money. The jobs are usually plentiful, depending on the season.

3.   Become a ranch hand or do odd jobs.

Such jobs are usually found just by word of mouth or calling ranches. Sometimes you can find jobs in a local newspaper, but usually you need to ask around about temporary work in whatever locale you happen to be in.

4.   Teach English.

Like fruit picking, these jobs are plentiful but do not pay very well. But sometimes they provide living accommodations and it’s a great way to get to know the local culture and make friends.

5.   Become a freelance travel writer.

Write articles and submit them to magazines. If accepted, you will usually be paid per word. You can also write articles and submit them for free to article marketing websites. You’re allowed to put a link in the resource box at the end of the article to your personal website (see #6 below.) This helps drive traffic to your website. These articles spread virally through the Internet and are reprinted in blogs, ezines, and other places.

6.  Design a website with affiliate programs.

A great way to stay in touch with friends, family, and new friends you make while traveling is to set up a travelogue website where you display photos and stories about your travels. On such a website, you can get a little entrepreneurial. If you know that most of your friends like to shop at a certain online bookstore, for example, then sign up for that bookstore’s affiliate program. It’s fairly easy to do as long as you have a website building program that allows you to cut and paste an html link. After you sign up for an affiliate program, just cut and paste their affiliate link or banner into your website on a “resources” or “links” page. Then ask all your friends and family to click on that link the next time they wish to purchase something from that online store. You will get paid money each time someone clicks on that link and purchases something, and it won’t cost your friends and family anything extra. There are all kinds of products you can sell on your website. Generally, the more expensive the item – such as seminars, CD programs, or services – the more money you will earn.

7.   Become a WWOOFer.

It’s an international program that stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. You choose an organic family farm you’d like to visit, make arrangements with the family, work all day, and, in return, you get free meals and lodging for each day you work. It’s a wonderful way to learn about organic farming and the local culture.

The key is to be open and creative. Making the time to step out of your normal life tends to foster creativity and frees the spirit. You are only limited by your work visa and your imagination. Maybe host a brainstorming happy hour at a youth hostel to get some help from your fellow travelers. Other backpackers are a wealth of information. During your travels, remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

Katie B. Marsh is author and publisher of the Books for Sharing series of Life-Changing Workbooks Bringing People Closer Together. If you are looking for the perfect gift for a loved one who is elderly, pregnant, or a new parent, then go to http://BooksForSharing.com/. The Parenting Game Plan – Negotiate, Compromise and Explore the Parenting Journey Together. A Unique Workbook to Help New and Expectant Parents. The Birth of Dying – A Sensitive Workbook to Help You Broach and Explore End-of-Life Issues with Your Terminally Ill or Elderly Loved One. Free gift wrapping available!

(c) Copyright – Katie B. Marsh. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Katie_B._Marsh

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Plastic surgery has never been particularly taboo in Lebanon, and now the east Mediterranean country is capitalising on its popularity as a venue for lovers of sea, sun and scalpel.

A cosmetic surgery tourism initiative, launched by a private company under the auspices of the tourism ministry, includes post-operation rest and recuperation in stellar resorts and even summer camps for patients’ children. The Dubai-based firm Image Concept handles all bookings and accommodation for tourists seeking cosmetic surgery in Lebanon, which is famed for its skilled yet affordable surgeons. Nicole, a native New Yorker of Lebanese origin, recently saved US$7000 (A$8600) by having a nose job in Lebanon. “In the States it would cost me about $9000 to have rhinoplasty, but in Lebanon it cost me only $2000,” said the 21-year-old law student. While surgery was not her only motive for a holiday in Beirut, Nicole admits that being in Lebanon was a decisive factor. “I was not for it at all at first,” she said. “My extended family here convinced me. Spending summers here, one of the first questions people would ask me is ‘when are you going to do your nose?’. “I did a bit of research and I saw this well-reputed doctor’s work was pretty natural, so I went for it,” she said. Nada Sardouk, the tourism ministry’s director general, believes the programme is both “innovative and promising.” “Cosmetic tourism is a widely recognised and appreciated concept, and we are very hopeful that this initiative will contribute to our economy,” she said at the launch of the scheme in June. Local banks have also played their part, with many offering low-interest loans for beautification procedures. Estimating how many nip-and-tucks will take place this summer is difficult, but a handful of top surgeons said they each had hundreds of operations scheduled for August alone, many of them clients from the oil-rich Gulf. Nour, a 26-year-old Kuwaiti, is taking full advantage of her holiday in Lebanon and readying for rhinoplasty and surgery to remove a small scar.

– ‘A national duty for women to look the best’ –

Although both she and her surgeon agree that neither surgery is “necessary,” she said she wanted to look better for her job at a bank. “I come to Lebanon anyway every year for vacation,” Nour said at the Hazmieh International Medical Centre, which employs an army of more than 50 cosmetic surgeons and is still expanding. “All doctors here are skilled, the prices are moderate and it’s not a taboo any more,” she said. Surgeon Elias Shammas, who heads the Hazmieh centre and is affiliated with Image Concept, says Nour is one of many patients of all ages and genders who brave the knife to be “fashionable.” “And Lebanon has always been famous for medical tourism, way before the civil war” from 1975 to 1990, he added. “The only thing that stopped people coming here was the political situation.” Men and women from the Gulf states have long come in droves for augmentation and reduction in Lebanon, but they kept their distance after political turmoil and violence rocked the country for four years between 2005 and 2008. Tourism was particularly badly hit by the 34-day summer war between the Shiite Hezbollah and Israel in July and August 2006. But the industry made a dramatic recovery last summer with the arrival of 1.3 million visitors and, after a peaceful general election in June, Lebanon hopes to host two million tourists by the end of the year, the tourism ministry says. Nader Saab, surgeon to the stars and a jury member on the Miss Lebanon beauty pageant, says three quarters of his clients in the summer season, which is already fully booked, hail from abroad. Men are increasingly seeking cosmetic surgery, but Saab says it is still mostly women who feel the need to “compete.” “Aging is coming, and a woman is aware that she might be replaced by another woman,” he said. “We live in a society in which appearances are very important.” A popular model among women opting for plastic surgery is pop star and sex symbol Haifa Wehbe, surgeons say, and many young ladies leave clinics looking uncannily like the dark-haired, voluptuous siren.

Haifa Wehbe

What women want generally is “a sexy body — a good silhouette and beautiful boobs,” Saab added.

And according to Shammas, “It is a national duty for women to look the best they can.”