Many veterinary professionals share the dream of travelling the globe.
But in the real world, most of us have responsibilities and financial commitments to consider- whether it be a mortgage or student loan repayments. Its just not realistic to leave our full-time salary, or take on unpaid volunteer work so we can experience international travel.
Did you know there are ways for vets to travel WHILE they are still earning a full-time salary? And that applies to vet nurses, RVNs and vet techs too!
Here are 5 ways I’ve found to travel while earning a full-time salary- along with tips on how to get started!
How to travel as a vet while earning a salary:
1. Become a Locum Vet
Also known as a relief vet or traveling vet, locums are veterinary professionals who work across many different clinics, filling in absences due to staff illness, maternity leave or holidays.
As a locum you can travel to work in different clinics across your state or country. You might spend just a few days, or many months in the same clinic, depending on what is required.
Locums control their own schedule. This means that if you line your work up right, you could choose to be working in a clinic near the mountains one month, and by the seaside the next- leaving your weekends free to explore new places.
For example- see that photo at the top of the page? That’s me on a whale watching tour on K’gari (Fraser Island), on a Saturday afternoon, during a 3 week locuming block at a local clinic. I booked the work specifically because I wanted a beach holiday, and the work paid for my trip!
If you’d like to become a relief vet or traveling vet, you must be a qualified vet, registered in the area you’d like to work, with some clinical experience to back you up. From there, start enquiring at local clinics about vacancies. Or sign up to an agency to get some help finding work.
2. Consider Shift Work in an Emergency Vet Clinic
Animals don’t wait for business hours to be unwell, so most cities have at least one 24hr emergency vet practice. And these practices need vets and nurses to cover shifts every day of the week, especially the dreaded night shifts!
Because these shifts are long, and at unsociable hours, many emergency clinics will offer really great shift patterns to vets and nurses who work full-time night shifts. Here’s a couple of examples:
“…The out-of-hours teams … work a 7-night on, 14-night off schedule. Alternative working patterns can be arranged for suitable candidates”
Excerpt from recruitment advert for practice in Derby, UK
“…Hours of work will be 76 hours (7 shifts) per fortnight- 7 days off per fortnight! “
Excerpt from recruitment advert for practice in Sydney, Australia
Imagine how much travelling you could get done if you had 2 weeks off every month!! You could fly to Europe in that time, all while still earning a regular full-time salary.
If you’d like to explore emergency clinic work, search your local veterinary classified pages for emergency roles.
3. Take a working holiday overseas
Moving overseas temporarily might seem like a scary thought. However its actually quite common for young vets to spend a year or two in a different country, earning money while travelling.
As long as you commit to staying for a year, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a permanent job as a vet, nurse or tech. Especially in in countries like Australia, The United Kingdom, the USA, or many European countries. And then you can fully immerse yourself in a new country and new culture while working and living abroad. You’ll earn a salary in the local currency, which can then be spent enjoying the new country.
You could also consider taking on an internship at a local practice to improve your skills. Most internships last one-two years, and its common for vets to come from overseas to complete them.
I’ve written guides to how to move overseas to work in Australia, the United Kingdom, as well as covering vet experiences in many other countries. (Follow these links to read more about working overseas as a vet). Please note, you will need to arrange a working visa, and register with local veterinary bodies to work overseas, so do make sure you follow all immigration and veterinary body guidelines.
4. Take on a Regulatory or Inspection Role
How can a regulatory role help a vet to travel while earning a salary?
Some full-time veterinary jobs naturally involve a lot of travel. For example, inspection roles in the agriculture or aquaculture industry, or regulatory roles for government.
For example, imagine if you became a vet for a fish farming company. Part of your job would involve travelling to different coastlines (perhaps even internationally). You would inspect the fish and carry out disease surveillance and implement vaccination protocols.
If you worked for a government food inspection agency, you might be sent around different regions of your country to inspect farms or slaughterhouses.
With these jobs, travel is a key part of your role. Its a great way to see new places within your companies’ working area.
And there are many other similar roles for vets in government or industry. Keep an eye on the job pages for when they pop up!
5. Specialise and Teach
The final way to travel as a vet earning a full-time salary is simply- become the best!
If you specialise to a high level in one skill, or one species, then your skills will be in demand! And people will pay you to visit their practice or farms to use those skills.
For example, its common for GP clinics to have visiting specialists, who might visit one day a fortnight or month to see relevant cases. The clinics pay these specialists to visit, including the cost of their time, food and accommodation when they travel. In my time, I’ve worked with visiting (or ‘perpatetic’) surgeons, ultrasonographers, dermatologists, ophthalmologists and equine medicine specialists.
I’ve even worked in places where clinics will pay a specialist to fly in from overseas on a regular schedule to help with their technical surgeries.
The other option open to you as a specialist is- consider teaching.
If you can offer lectures and classes teaching your skills, you can attend conferences and workshops and get paid for it! So its a great way to see new places while getting paid!
Further Information on Travelling as a Vet while earning a salary
Would you take up one of the above jobs to travel as a vet while earning a salary? Let me know in the comments.
If you’d like to learn more about working overseas as a vet, check out the related posts below
You’ll find a whole series of posts about working as a vet in the UK, or you can read the stories of vets who have worked internationally here.
Or head back to the Working Overseas page to see the full range of articles.
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