Here is my little research about funding a journey before and in the moment of trip. No need to mention good old “work hard@spend less”, this is obvious. during my studying different forums and travel logs I saw these options:
1. Sponsors. Simply and obvious. If you can find any sponsors – at least part of your journey provided with money. But everything is not so simple as it seems or there would be hundreds of RTW travelers roaming the world instead (dreams, dreams..). A bunch of cons: a lot of sponsors prefer to supply you with things (gadgets, gears etc.) instead of direct money; you have to be popular and famous; you should be interesting to sponsor; sponsor’s budget must have free funds to put in pledge. Long story short: generally you have to sell yourself to sponsor (kind of work). Someone okay with that, someone not.
2. Crowdfunding. The idea looks shiny fancy great, but in real life… See below posts :D
3. Rent out your own house\flat. Not available for most young people (they don’t have their own, or don’t want to fall in mortgage with our horrible bank rates). Strongly differs with price based on place and living quality etc. But great help in journey budget and\or great backup option. With some good fares even could fund RTW by itself! Cons: you’ll need a friend to watch out for house; losses of converting to dollars (exchange cost deviations); possible disasters (floods, earthquakes etc.) which can ruin journey based only on this type of funds.
4. Remote jobs, freelance etc. From programming to rewriting. Does not fits all, even if this type of job is general in everyday life for you, because cons: qualyfied job requires a lot of time and time punctuality; un-qualyfied job had a lot of competitors more time-free than you.
5. Online Poker. Suddenly, but it works for someone. Cons are obvious.
6. Work on the trip route. Greatly depends on places and traveller’s skills. Mostly do not requires any qualification and should be easy to find at developed countries. Otherwise could be hard to find at developing countries (local people mostly unqualified, so you’re stealing their jobs!). According to my research there is also a lot of exclusions – it depends on your luck and being at the right time at the right place. Cons: job is not guaranteed; employer could cheat you; local laws restrict foreigners to work without proper visa.
7. Youtube monetization, advertising, site banners etc. It brings you something valuable only if you have a lot of people audience. Cons: you have to be interesting to everyone; you have to work on your video and media-content; you have to show interesting (not for you, but for people) things.
8. Shatterstock and other stocks. Selling your mediacontent like photos to someone interested. Like journals, print shops etc. Cons: you have to be skilled photographer; you have to see a good shots; you need a goooood camera.
9. Painting, playing guitar (or other musical instruments). Could be a good funding help if you became popular. Cons: skills required.
That’s all for now. As we could see there is a lot of options. Almost 10! So I guess combining these different options there is a lot ways to fund your travel. And that’s what I have to test in my journey, hehe.
As usual – any comment is appreciated!
P.S. Beg pardon for my weird English! I’ve had a lot of work today so I am too lazy to bring up dictionary :)