Cruise Half Year - Work Half Year?

[Wainui]

I am in the Concert Lighting Industry. I try to pick a 3 to 10 month tour with a good band. Long hours but hotels, food and chicks for free. No need to spend my own money and get paid to travel. Not for everyone but suits me
Mark

[dtstines]

Originally Posted by windsaloft

I like this forum because it is exploring questions that we are trying to answer --- not having the full cruising kitty plus retirement $$ stashed, how do we get out and go while not draining our savings fully?

What are some work areas that would support seasonal employment -- work tons for 6 months, as a couple, and then cruise for 6 months?

My work is possibly compatible with this, although there are some details to work out in terms of currency and other things --- I could see trying to figure out a gig to fly helicopter fire or utility work during the summer tourist or fire season in N America, then try to go sailing during the winter. At first blush, this sounds ideal, but has a couple of tradeoffs that are hard to work around --- first, work like that takes me away from home/family for 6 months at a time, and then the other 6 months my partner and I disappear cruising -- so in short, there isn't "home time" built in, as well as extended absence from my primary partnership, not my ideal (we cruise together b/c we like spending time together....)

So, I think about things like:
- Getting my RN in a one year program, then working as a traveling nurse for 6 months, then being on the boat. Possible? Are there licensing and currency issues that would stop this?
- Construction trades in the Rockies with an on and off season?

What other ideas have folks come up with, and anyone doing them successfully?

There is always the "what do you do with the boat for the 6 months you are gone" question.........

For those with a bachelor degree in any field, there is an accelerated RN program at Western Carolina University. It is a one-year program that does not require having an LPN license first. Western Carolina University - Home Google accelerated RN programs and you will probably find more. I work in the OR and am beginning my research of travel RN jobs. I am very excited!

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by dtstines

I work in the OR and am beginning my research of travel RN jobs. I am very excited!

I have a friend who has done it and met others doing it at the same time.

Researching the job takes only a few minutes.

Getting it takes days or a couple of weeks of faxing etc.

You will have a job long before you are able to sail to it.

[dtstines]

I know...I can't wait! I am just beginning to look at all the companies that offer travel nursing. There are many out there from which to chose.

[ribbony]

We manage a ski lodge for 5 mths a year then are footloose and fancy free the other 7mths. Work the butt off in those 5 mths though, cooking, cleaning, maintaince, accounts, etc, etc. Not to mention lots of xcskiing !!!

Seasonal jobs are great for that and are there every year to establish some regular pattern. We have done it for over 20 years.

[S/V Antares]

Good ldea to work on your own turf and then cruise as many countries will not let you work there without endless permits. Three years into it now and it is not so easy to get back on the horse.

[hydrogonian]

I have to throw in another recommendation here as an alternative to nursing.

If you already have a Bachelors Degree, you can go for a Masters Degree in Speech and Language Pathology. It should take you about 3 years, everything included. You can do the prereqs online.

It pays more than nursing.

There is no contact with body fluids (your working cognitively).

You can get the same temporary travel and contract assignments that nurses, OTs, and PTs get. (Its categorized within the rehab professions, with PT and OT.)

Its easier coursework than PT, with roughly the same pay.

There are a lot of different populations that you can pick and choose to work with.

There are tons of jobs in every city.

I'm in my first semester of prereqs now.

[jm21]

Originally Posted by ghostwriter247

So this is pretty much what ive done for the last six years. Not as a nurse or as a sailor but more as a vagabond.

Here's the seasonal site for work all around the country

CoolWorks.com - Summer Jobs and Seasonal Jobs in Great Places

Its mostly outdoor hospitality guiding etc, but any time you want work there they are. They have a Help needed now section that can get you a job in an instant. If ya want to stay employed you chase whitewater and then switch to skiing.

Check out seasonal pros. They are higher end jobs. Alot of people in whitewater save and spend the other six months down in SA. Unless you have some serious qulaifications you can expect minimum wage to maybe 10 an hour.

On Mt rainier our "Medical Officer" was an EMT. Things to look for are provided or subsidized housing, and hourly wage, dont take salary, you will get worked to death.

At NOC on staff we had a former CFO and Medical doctor among many others as well as some part timers out of atlanta that had some high powered jobs. They might work out if you are simply looking to replenish the kitty.

Good luck.

Has this really worked? I saw the post and checked into some jobs in Alaska. I thought it would be pretty sweet to work the summer in alaska for about 6 months then take off the rest of the year...during the rest of the year I would move to someplace warm and cheap, either on a boat or living like a local...SE Asia or maybe South America. During that time I would probably work on creating an online business with the goal of eventually being free to travel whenever/wherever I wanted and still have a stable income.

It's better than flipping burgers, but the wages seem like a pittance. I'm seeing about $8-9/hour and $0-400/month for subsidized housing/food for summer jobs in Alaska. So that's about $1,560/month-~$200 for taxes/SS/medicare-($0-$400) for housing/food. That's about $960-1,360 per month cash in pocket. That's $5,760 to $8,160 over a 6 month period. You might as well stay a few extra days and get AK residency which would add another maybe $1,000-2,000 per year from the dividend fund...so that's maybe $6,760 to $9,160 per year.

I think I'll pay more than that in taxes this year...

Just hard to imagine living off that. You'll probably have a couple hundred per month expenses during that period too, so maybe $6-8k to survive off of the rest of the year. I guess you could survive but certainly nothing going into retirement and you'd want to be very close to debt-free. You could put any student loans on an income sensitive plan to put the payments off.

If it was a couple who were both committed to the idea and could get jobs at the same place it seems much more doable. But if you had children it would be basically impossible (subsidized housing options don't seem to allow for children).

Are there some better paying seasonal jobs that would make this idea more plausible in the long-term? Or some sort of side-benefit I'm missing? Some jobs mention an end of season bonus if you fulfill your contract but no indication of how much that is.

It seems like you'd make more getting a 6-month TEFL contract in S. Korea from a financial perspective, though from an enjoyment perspective it might not be as desirable.

[osirissail]

I think you would be extremely hard pressed to find any countries outside your home country that would let you work without complicated work permits (a few specialized skills like medical exempted).
- - The "summer jobs" and such things work just fine - but - for different age groups. Young and healthy people with no "ties" like kids, houses, etc. can float from one part of the world to another and get these "summer/seasonal" jobs and have a blast. Their living costs rarely exceed food to eat, beer to drink and a place to crash for the night.
- - As you add age in years and accumulate "baggage" like kids and houses and medical considerations you need to gravitate to the upper level skill jobs which pay thousands of dollars where the young persons job pays hundreds. Education and years of experience in a skill field can command such higher pay rates. And that experience in a skill field can be gotten through the young person's entry level summer/seasonal jobs.
- - As you enter the "senior years" then you really need to be positioned to do specialized technical/managerial/consulting short term jobs/contracts that pay tens of thousands per contract. Personal investments along the way from youth to senior becomes your basic living income and the high level seasonal jobs/contracts provide the income boost to allow you to be comfortable and content during the "in-between" periods.
- - So, it all works and progresses from the youth orientated low pay seasonal jobs to the intermediate and senior highly technical/skilled big bucks job opportunities.

[jm21]

I'm not that old (28) and still hard to imagine living off that kind of money. I could do it, and I'd probably have a lot more fun in many ways compared to my current high-stress job...but you'd never really get ahead. The management positions just paid a little bit more and were salaried (so no overtime pay). Maybe it's just the hospitality industry doesn't pay well until you get pretty far into the management level, at which point it probably wouldn't be seasonal work. Just seems like summer hospitality gigs cap out at a pretty low wage/salary. Maybe as a chef you could pull something off, but it seems like cooks/chefs don't earn much unless they open a successful restaurant.

[Doodles]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned (I didn't read the whole thread) but with a good internet connection there's lots you can do. I'm a semi-retired CPA and I can still do tax consulting and preparation from the boat, and of course its very seasonal. I also use to employ a bookkeeper/tax preparer who lived aboard and cruised full time. During tax season, they stayed at the local marina and she commuted to our office every day. Once tax season was over, they took off again.