Why the service industry is the best for travelers

Great effort can produce great reward. That’s where having fun and being a great host can really pay off.

The service industry is cold, hard and ruthless.

Yeah, we take care of the masses, who could typically could give two shits to notice our efforts.

Whenever there is any fun to be had, we sling food and drinks while our friends enjoy themselves. On our days off, we tend to keep the party going or spend our days off recovering from the previous shift.

Yet, as someone who is used to the thankless efforts of the service industry, I can honestly say it’s nice in a lot of ways.

Here’s a few reasons why the service industry rocks, especially for travel.

Time off is easy

Getting time off in the service industry is simple. If you budget correctly, through the peak season, you can open a lot of doors for vacation time in the off season.

You can be a shift whore.

There is at least one in every bar or restaurant.

Pick up shifts at any and all times, keep those favors as well as your tips in your pocket and live frugally. If enough people owe you for covering their shifts, a month off in the slow season is more than possible.

If you play your cards right, the world is yours.

Work is seasonal

Be a loner, a rebel! Save when it’s busy!

Most service industry employees spend their money as fast as they make it. If it’s slow season and shifts are scarce, your less responsible coworkers will be more than willing to pick up in hopes to make a buck when rent is due.

We’ve all been there.

So if you put enough away while business is booming, you can let your coworkers work the worst times of the year while you galavant around the world.

Cash comes fast

In this day and age, nobody gets a vacation, they earn it. The time and effort happen somewhere else in order to foot the bill. So while you are racking up favors by covering extra shifts, use the money from these shifts to help foot the bill to send you where you want to go.

2 birds, one stone.

It’s really this easy. You just have to be willing to work on a day off, work doubles and go home prematurely when you get off early.

Think about the end game.

You can work as a side gig

I have a friend who is a flight attendant and a bartender. She flies the friendly skies full time and when she is home for a few days, she picks up shifts at the pub. Due to the perks of both jobs she has found a nice way to show her daughter the world on a budget.

Free flights, quick cash…smart thinking.
A+ for creativity.

A great source of information

Bartenders and servers know just about everybody.

If a job needs to be done, we probably know somebody. There is always someone out there has done what you want to do, or been where you want to go. Ask around. Just like anything else, the answer is out there if you look hard enough.

Information opens many doorways and the service industry offers a lot of it. Between this and time off, hospitality is great for travelers of all sorts.

Some people love to ask when I’m going to get a real job, but I’m not making fake money and I’m not taking fake vacations.

So to those people, I say enjoy your cubicle bitches.