The Dos and Don'ts of work-camping
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ROVA MAGAZINE. To purchase a copy and/or subscribe, visit their website at rovamag.com.
There are two words many travelers have dreamed of saying since their very first taste of wanderlust.
“I quit.”
Whether we’re trapped by location-based work or working remotely and desiring more time freedom for adventure, being able to ditch the grind in favor of freedom is what we nomads daydream about during all-day staff meetings and heated email exchanges.
Especially when we see people online crisscrossing the country, somehow earning enough money as they go to sustain their lifestyle, and making it look like a breeze.
In the summer of 2013, my husband and I found ourselves unable to ignore the call of wanderlust any longer. Our kids were growing up too fast, and we wanted to explore the world with them. From our home in South Georgia, we started applying for jobs in far-flung places - Alaska, Montana, Colorado, the Florida Keys, even Norway. Time after time, we were met with the same response, “If you lived close and could come for an interview, that would be great, but. . .” We were stuck.
Until ads for work-camper jobs in a Florida Keys newspaper led us to a new path.
Three weeks later, we had left our jobs, bought a camper, signed up for our first work-camping positions, and become a full-time traveling family.
Three years, four state parks, one private campground, two Amazon stints, and one billionaire family hunting camp later, we’d experienced enough highs and lows for a lifetime, found the best and worst of the work-camping world, and were looking for a new way to fund our travels.
We had met salt-of-the-earth people in Maine and spent the most magical summer of our lives living by the ocean and exploring Acadia National Park with our kids. And we had been treated like servants and chosen to leave under the cover of night due to danger in South Texas while working for billionaires at their hunting camp (whose names we can’t tell you due to nondisclosure agreements).
Seven years and tens of thousands of miles later, if we could travel back in time to our former selves and share a few dos and don’ts, we would, and here’s what we would say.
DO:
1 – DO research thoroughly.
We found most of our work-camping jobs through workamper.com – the good ones and the bad ones – but it’s really the research you do after you find an appealing job that matters most. Discover all you can about the company and its managers. Look at reviews on TripAdvisor, Google, Campendium - everywhere. Follow their social media accounts and observe how they interact with customers.
2 – DO your best work.
Only the best workers get the best work-camping jobs, so brush up your resume, shore up your online presence, and get ready to work hard and bring your best self to your new employer.
3 – DO choose places you want to visit.
If you don’t like anything about a place and aren’t curious about what it would be like to live there, don’t take a job there. Start with places that make your heart sing.
4 – DO expect culture shock.
We knew culture shock was real from our travels abroad, but we didn’t realize working in other regions of our own country would usher it in. It does.
5 – DO talk to others who have worked there.
Once you find a job that looks like a good fit, locate others who have worked there and ask questions. If an employer doesn’t offer to help you with this, consider it a bright red flag. I wish we had taken this advice and avoided the rattlesnakes, border patrol, and spoiled billionaires in South Texas.
DON’T:
1 – DON’T be afraid to explore options with your current employer first.
Work-camping can be great, but it may not pay as much or offer as much freedom as you might expect. Before you take the leap, ask about working remotely with flexible hours or as an independent contractor.
2 – DON’T ignore your gut feelings.
If the pay is too high, the promises unusual for the area or level of work, or something about the listing is a bit off or seems too good to be true, listen to your gut. Our worst work-camping experience came from taking a job in South Texas that was offering high pay rates and making big promises. The reality was they expected us to be on call 24 hours a day and the working conditions were dangerous – something we couldn’t live with and had to cut our commitment short.
3 – DON’T be afraid to ask for creative arrangements.
If you have unique needs or kids, be up front about it in the interview process. Ask if it’s okay to have your kids with you while you work. If they’re hiring you and your spouse as a couple, ask if you can work separately if you need to, or if one of you can work more than the other.
4 – DON’T give up if you get a no.
A lot of the best work-camping spots have a long wait list. Get on the list. If you get a no, email again next season. Many of the best places can’t hire all who apply, and it speaks volumes to them when someone tries year after year.
5 – DON’T be afraid to start your own business.
Work-camping can be fun short-term, but it’s often a lot of work for little pay, and it may not be something you will want to do forever. If you find a great arrangement, hang on to it, but don’t let it keep you from starting your own business or launching something you have more control over. In my opinion, there can never be too many beautiful blogs and books and travel-related businesses out there creating good content. Start yours.
After a few years of work-camping, we discovered that while it can be a great funding strategy for some, it wasn’t a good fit for the way our family wanted to travel. So, we switched to a hybrid situation: one of us working online while the other did some creative work-camping to score free sites in our favorite spots. But we’re thankful to work-camping for being the glimmer of hope we needed to start our full-time traveling adventure, thankful for the seven years of travel it afforded us, and thankful that it introduced us to Acadia National Park, where we now hang our hats year-round until our next big adventure comes calling.
If you’re considering work-camping as a way to fund your travel dreams and none of the dos and don’ts above give you pause, you might ought to go for it.
Freedom and adventure really are out there when we look for them.
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Still have questions?
Come on over to the email group and ask away! Or, come tell me about your big dream & get some help stepping into it.