The romance of the sea. The exhilaration of flight. The thrill of conquering the rapids.
Who hasn’t dreamed of a travel gig, with its inherent glamour, excitement and seductiveness? While the reality of low pay and rocky career paths can be more of a turnoff than a turn-on when it comes to some of these jobs, there’s no denying their sex appeal. The ability to live or spend time in exotic or remote locales and maybe even get paid to do what some think of as play rather than work is built right in.
Here’s a look at 10 hot travel jobs and some spirited men and women lucky enough to have them.
Antarctica field station worker
Hilary Oliver, Denver
Job description: Oliver spent a season working as a janitor at the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo research station in Antarctica. She got the gig through Centennial- based Raytheon Polar Services, which offers a variety of Antarctica jobs, from scientists to construction workers to hairstylists. If you don’t have a special skill, there are three options: dining room attendant, janitor or general assistant. Unskilled workers put in 10-hour days, six days a week and are housed in dormitories. The season runs from October to February.
Qualifications: Vary, depending on the job. All workers must pass a background check, drug test and comprehensive physical and dental exam.
Competitiveness: Moderate to tough. Raytheon posts jobs on its website and holds a yearly job fair, usually in April, attended by people across the country. Although there may be hundreds of applicants for each job, people drop out or fail their exams, opening up last-minute opportunities.
Getting the job: View postings at .
Pay range: Oliver took home $377 a week, almost all of which she banked. “Your room and board is paid, so the only thing to spend money on is at the station store, bar or coffee shop,” she says. The job also includes paid transportation to and from Antarctica. Oliver took a five- week vacation in New Zealand on the way home; others cash in their return airfare for a round-the-world ticket and spend their Antarctica salaries on travel.
Pros: “Being in a place where most people you meet will never go. Every single day I was amazed.”
Cons: “Boring, hard work.”
Cruise ship dance host
Ken Feller, Loveland
Job description: For more than a decade, this retired IBM programmer has spent about 150 days a year as a floating Fred Astaire. Feller is required to attend any onboard dance classes, and each evening he spends an average of three to five hours dancing with passengers. He generally shares a cabin with another host and is forbidden from gambling on the ship or romancing any of his dance partners.
Qualifications: Dance hosts need to be male, at least 40 years old and proficient in a variety of dance steps. But more than that, they need an outgoing personality. “You can’t show favoritism and dance with only one lady, so you need to be able to ask questions, show interest in people and draw everyone out,” Feller says.
Competitiveness: Moderate to tough. Most cruise ships have dance hosts on their longer cruises, but there are only a few agencies that provide hosts. It took Feller a year and a half to get his first gig after he filled out an application with an agency. Feller estimates there are about 2,000 to 3,000 dance hosts overall.
Getting the job: Apply with
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Pay range: Dance hosts not only don’t draw a salary, but they have to pay $25 each day they cruise. In return, they get free room and board, free airfare for cruises longer than 28 days and free shore excursions, provided they serve as ship representatives.
Pros: “You meet all kinds of interesting people – not only the ladies you dance with, but people from all different walks of life. Plus you get good exercise and travel to a lot of nice places.”
Cons: “Some people can get grouchy and in a bad mood.”
Hot-air balloon pilot
Jeff Meeker, Boulder
Job description: For 29 years, Meeker has piloted hot-air balloons, leading hour-long pleasure tours. He is owner of Fair Winds Hot Air Balloon Flights.
Qualifications: Hot-air balloon pilots must be FAA-certified, which includes passing written, oral and flight tests. For commercial pilots, that usually translates into a minimum of 35 hours’ experience in the air. Meeker says the best way to get that experience is through a hot-air balloon flight school. The closest are in New Mexico, Utah and California, and tuition is about $2,000 to $3,000 for a one- to two-week course.
Along with the technical expertise, Meeker says a hot-air balloon pilot needs good people skills. “You’re a tour guide, psychiatrist and entertainer.”
Competitiveness: Tough. Meeker says there are 6,000 to 10,000 hot-air balloon pilots in the world, but “10 percent of them do 80 percent of the flying.” He says most tour operators want a pilot with at least a few hundred hours’ experience, and the average commercial hot-air balloon pilot has a minimum of 1,000 hours of experience.
Getting the job: One way to get your foot in the door is to crew at a company like Meeker’s, working your way up to pilot.
Pay range: $40,000 to $50,000 for the season, which usually lasts from May to December.
Pros: “For 90 percent of the people we take up, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we get to provide that.”
Cons: Because balloons need to fly in the morning when winds are most calm, “my alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. every day,” Meeker says.
Fishing guide
Courtney Wiedel, Silverthorne
Job description: For seven years, Wiedel has been a member of Cutthroat Anglers’ guide staff, leading singles or small groups on daily fly-fishing expeditions. His compatriots oversee fishing jaunts in destinations as varied as Chile, Belize and the Bahamas.
Qualifications: There are fishing guide schools, but Wiedel says it takes more than that to be a good guide – at least five years’ experience, along with “a good couple years of local knowledge of different rivers and fishing at different times of the year.” But that doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be a Class A fisherman. “What you really need is a lot of patience and the ability to relate to people at all different levels of fishing. Most of the clientele are beginners,” Wiedel says. First aid and CPR certification are also required.
Competitiveness: Very tough. Not that many fishing shops employ guides, and those that do have little turnover.
Getting the job: You can freelance, but you need federal or state permits to fish most waters. Fishing shops that use guides already carry the permits, so your best bet is to hit up the shops and hope for an opening.
Pay range: Wiedel says a guide can make $1,500 to $2,000 a week during the height of fishing season, between July 4 and Labor Day. Many fishing guides work as ski patrollers during the off season, while some opt for South American guiding jobs.
Pros: “Our job is better than most people’s vacation.”
Cons: “There is some pressure to produce a fun-filled day for clients even when the fishing is horrible.”
International house-sitter
Annette Perry, Lafayette
Job description: Perry is a pet-sitter and house-sitter who so far this year has scored gigs in Honduras, Ireland and Virginia. House-sitting stints can last from a weekend to several years and may also include property maintenance.
Qualifications: “You have to know what you’re doing and be oh-my-god responsible and conscientious,” Perry says. Many clients will ask for references; some require bonding.
Competitiveness: Very tough. Hundreds of people may apply for one house-sitting gig advertised online. “You have to be really good at conveying yourself through e-mail; your subject line has to pop. I use ’30 years’ professional experience.”‘ Perry says because house-sitting is “an incredibly personal thing,” she tries to make the e-mail as specific as possible. “I mention their dog’s name or things I know about where they live.” A skill such as carpentry or pet-sitting can help, as can a willingness to take short assignments.
Getting the job: A variety of websites post house-sitting requests and run house-sitter ads for a fee of around $30 to $40. Perry likes.,. and
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Pay range: Usually your only compensation is a free place to live. However, Perry says if she house-sits regularly for a client, she asks that her airfare and food be paid.
Pros: “You get to travel.”
Cons: “If you’re really successful, you live out of your backpack.”
Tour company program director
Mike Kenney, Hudson, Wis.
Job description: Kenney travels the world designing tours for seniors – doing everything from hiring the motor coach driver to deciding if a hotel really deserves its four-star rating. Once the itinerary is set, he goes on the first tour to make sure everything runs smoothly. This year, he’ll take six trips, including London, Costa Rica and Peru.
Qualifications: Major people skills. Not only do you need to get on well with your tour group, but you also need to cultivate relationships with suppliers. Being detail-oriented is a must, and a college degree helps, particularly in tourism management.
Competitiveness: Very tough. First of all, you have to find a travel agency that designs its own tours and is large enough to employ a program director. Then you need to wait for a vacancy. Kenney started out leading backpacking tours at a California agency and was recruited to his present position two years ago. “I honestly don’t know if I could find a job like this again. You’re not going to find it in the want ads,” he says.
Getting the job: One option is to start out as an assistant to a program director. “It’s a lot of monotonous details, but if you’re competent, you can advance,” Kenney says.
Pay range: $30,000 a year and up.
Pros: “It’s hard to believe I get to go to all these places – I pinch myself every day.”
Cons: “There’s always someone who will complain about something on a tour, and it’s hard not to take it personally.”
Travel photographer
Louie Psihoyos, Boulder
Job description: Psihoyos, who was named one of the top 10 photographers in the world by Fortune magazine, travels six months a year, taking portraits of everything from Bill Gates to dinosaur fossils. He began 27 years ago as a National Geographic staff photographer and now freelances.
Qualifications: Beyond the obvious photography skills, “I live, breathe and am obsessed with making images that will live beyond my lifetime,”
Psihoyos says. “If you lack a strong work ethic, think again, because there’s somebody who can do it better waiting in the wings.”
Competitiveness: Very tough. Psihoyos was the first photographer hired at National Geo in 11 years, and it took a college photographer of the year award to get him in the door. “An editor there told me there are 30,000 photographers working in New York alone – all of them good enough to work at the magazine.”
Getting the job: Psihoyos started as one of the two summer interns National Geo hires each year. For those not so fortunate, “the editor told me the trick is to have ideas and bring them to the magazine for consideration.”
Pay range: For freelancers, $1,000 to $2,500 for a magazine cover, plus $500 to $1,000 a day.
Pros: “It’s fun and exciting, and I can’t wait to wake up in the morning to do it again.”
Cons: “When I started at National Geographic, there was not one photographer out of the 45 regulars on their first marriage. You miss quite a bit when you’re gone for months and the children are growing up.”
International flight attendant
Sally Hay, Washington, D.C.
Job description: Hay has been a flight attendant for 45 years and flies the Brazil, China and Europe routes for Continental Airlines. She usually works a schedule of three days on, four days off, with a 24-hour layover in an international city. “My No. 1 issue with my job is, ‘When am I going to sleep?”‘ she says. The Federal Aviation Administration requires a two-hour break during an eight-hour flight, which Hay spends sleeping in a curtained-off passenger seat. During layovers, she usually takes a nap before getting a full night’s sleep.
Qualifications: Hay says most international flight attendants have at least five years’ domestic experience before they’re promoted. Like all flight attendants, they need people skills, patience and a sense of humor. Stamina and good health are also key. Speaking a foreign language helps but isn’t required.
Competitiveness: Moderate. Surprisingly, not everyone jockeys for the international routes, Hay says. “It’s a long flight, and you’re gone a long time, plus you have to stay up all night – and then there’s the jet lag.”
Getting the job: Apply directly through the airlines.
Pay range: Varies based on experience, but for international routes, Hay says flight attendants generally make between $24 and $35 an hour, after the plane leaves the gate. The per diem rate – which is calculated for the entire time a flight attendant is away from home – ranges from $2.10 to $2.25 an hour. Perks also include free flight passes after 10 years’ service.
Pros: “The people I work with. They’re a fun, easygoing group.”
Cons: “Lack of sleep and long flights.”
River rafting guide
Janine Elliott, Coaldale
Job description: Elliott moved from Wisconsin earlier this year to take a job with Arkansas River Tours in Cotopaxi, leading whitewater rafting groups during the summer season. When the snow falls, she may resume her off-season career as an indoor rock-climbing instructor, or sign on as emergency medical technician at a ski resort.
Qualifications: Like many Colorado rafting guides, Elliott took a $500, three-week training course, where she learned everything from swift-water rescue to flipping a boat on the rapids. Many rafting companies offer their own courses, and require additional certification in first aid and CPR.
“The training is almost like a job interview. They check out your skills, but mostly it’s about your personality,” Elliott says. “You have to be able to handle everyone from beginners to experts, and people forget that the river is really wild and some level of safety needs to be imposed on them.”
Competitiveness: Moderate. “Some companies may take 25 trainees, and only 17 or so get in. We had 13 trainees, but two dropped out.”
Getting the job: Try going door to door to rafting companies.
Pay range: Elliott says first- year guides make $54 a day plus tips, while an experienced guide could make as much as $140 a day plus tips.
Pros: “Your job is kind of like requiring you to smile and have a good time. And I never get sick of the river – it’s always changing.”
Cons: “Sometimes you have to train average people off the street without much athleticism, and five minutes into the trip, you hit a Class IV rapid, and it’s, whoa! And then there are the people who think getting in a raft wearing a bikini is a good idea.”
Mountain bike patroller
C.B. Thomas, Dillon
Job description: As a member of Keystone’s bike patrol staff, Thomas spends his mornings building and maintaining bike trails and his afternoons patrolling those trails. In the winter, he and many of his cohorts work on Keystone’s ski patrol.
Qualifications: Excellent downhill mountain biking skills. “If you’re not the kind of person who likes skiing the backcountry and dropping off 20-foot cliffs, you’re probably never going to become a good downhill biker,” Thomas says. Bike patrollers also need trail-building skills, which include an understanding of water management. A semester-long course and medical certification in outdoor emergency care are a minimum requirement; some bike patrollers are also EMTs. Finally, you need what
Thomas calls “strong guest- service skills” when dealing with the resort’s mountain bikers.
Competitiveness: Moderate. Many Colorado resorts have bike patrols, and there are teams in other states and countries.
Getting the job: Apply at the ski area.
Pay range: $10 to $20 an hour.
Pros: “Being paid to be outside on a mountain bike.”
Cons: “Shoveling dirt.”
