Is it possible to travel for free?Can you really spend a week in Morocco, bargaining with Bedouins, exploring the casbah, and wandering ancient caravan roads -- without spending a single penny of your own money? Can you fly off to London at a moment's notice, take tea, see a show, and go on a shopping spree at Harrod's -- while someone else picks up the tab? In a word, yes.
The answer is that it takes a bit of creativity, a dose of old-fashioned ingenuity, a little leg work, and, most important, a great deal of reliable information.
You'll have to come up with the imagination. And you'll have to invest the time and energy. But we have provided the information. With this information, you have everything you need to know to travel wherever your dreams may take you...without ever worrying about the cost. In fact, you may even be able to make money on your next trip.
Following are just a few samples of many techniques from The Offshore Entrepreneur. The books include many more strategies, such as group tour leaders, cruise ship companions, air couriers, and much, much more.
- Be An Air Courier
- Finders Fees -- The Easiest Money You'll Ever Make
- Be A Travel Agent
- Go Do It
- The Offshore Entrepreneur
Fly Free: The Courier Route
Did you know that international corporations will pay for you to fly to Zurich...or Paris...or Rome? All you have to do in return is agree to carry time- sensitive business cargo (it could be files or computer discs, for example) to your destination. You may never have to touch, let alone actually carry, the bags. Representatives of the firm that has hired you will take care of all the dirty work. All you have to do is check the cargo as your luggage.
It's called traveling as an air courier. And it's perfectly legal. Thousands of travelers do it every year. As an air courier, you fly like any other passenger on the plane, enjoying the same comforts and amenities. There are only two differences. First, you don't have any checked luggage (just your carry-on bags). And second, you don't pay full fare for your ticket. In fact, you may not pay anything at all.
But more than that, there is something exciting, even romantic about traveling as an air courier. You can be called up for duty with little more than a day or two notice -- like a foreign correspondent or an international spy. What an adventure, to receive a telephone call asking if you can leave for the Far East in 24 hours...or if you're interested in flying to London in the morning.
Of course, it can be much less spontaneous, if you prefer. Some courier services allow you to make reservations weeks or months in advance.
Making The Connection
You want to fly to Sydney, Australia, and then take off for a grand adventure Down Under...exploring Queensland's rain forest...sailing the Great Barrier Reef...maybe traveling northwest from Sydney to Mudgee, a little, undiscovered town cradled in the Cudgegong Valley on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, where you can visit stud and sheep ranches, go prospecting for gold, and marvel at Frog Rock (a huge sedimentary amphibian that crouches beside the road)...
But the cheapest round-trip ticket to Sydney you've been able to find costs US$1,500 -- considerably more than your pocketbook can afford.
Don't give up on your trip. Pick up the phone and call a courier service. Explain where you want to travel and when and ask if the service has any packages going to that destination at that time. Most services require that you call not more than 60 days in advance of your trip.
If it is your first time looking for work as a courier, it might be better to make the initial contact by letter rather than telephone. Tell the service a little about yourself, include a resume, and assure them that you are flexible, available, eager to travel, and accustomed to packing light (remember, you'll only be allowed your carry-on luggage). Then follow up on this letter with a phone call, requesting a specific assignment.
But before you accept an assignment, verify the terms of the arrangement. Some services no longer offer free tickets to their couriers; some offer only deeply discounted tickets. In fact, as the occupation becomes more popular, it is becoming harder and harder for couriers to travel free. Years ago, courier services not only provided couriers with free airfare to their destination, but they paid them a fee as well. Today, this is unheard of.
It is still possible to get free airfare, though, but you may have to shop around. And you probably will have to settle for a last-minute booking. Even if you can't get your ticket for free, you will be able to get it for about 70% less than you could buy it anywhere else.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you can bargain for a fare. If you're interested in flying in two months to Buenos Aires, you may not be able to find a free ticket. (Remember, free tickets are usually associated with last-minute bookings.) But neither do you have to settle for the first fare quoted you. Haggle. Bide your time. The closer it gets to the date of departure, the more eager the courier service will be to make a deal.
The only red tape involved is an application form that the courier service will ask you to fill out. Some services also charge minimal annual registration fees.
The reason for couriers
More and more businesses are using courier services. The reasons are simple. First, nearly all major businesses now operate internationally. When someone says, "I want it on my desk by 9 a.m.," he doesn't care that the person he's speaking to is halfway around the world. If packages or documents are shipped by traditional methods, they can take hours, even days to clear customs. Not so with material shipped with a courier. It clears customs within minutes of landing at the airport, just like any other passenger's luggage.
Second, material shipped with a courier flies on a scheduled airline, and, because of that, it usually flies on time.
So, when a marketing manager in Des Moines wants to send the results of his most recent studies to his affiliate in Hamburg -- and ensure that they reach their overseas destination by 9 the next morning -- he picks up the telephone and calls an international air freight company.
The major freight companies, such as Federal Express and DHL International, fly their own planes and therefore have no need of couriers. Smaller operations, however, must rely on courier services to arrange for the transport of their parcels. These freight companies contact a courier service, which in turn tries to find a free-lance courier who wants to fly -- immediately -- to Germany, for example. If you happen to call the courier service that same afternoon, you're on your way to Europe.
For your part, the work involved is minimal. Always check in the day before you are scheduled to depart to make sure the time or the flight or the carrier has not been changed. This is not a formality; it is a safeguard. It is not unusual. In fact, it is common for courier flights and times to be changed at the last minute.
Once you're sure of your flight, simply arrive at the airport about an hour ahead of your departure time. A representative from the freight service will deliver the material to the airport and check it in as the baggage for your ticket. You'll then be given the ticket, the baggage claim check, and a form detailing the contents of the baggage.
When you arrive at your destination, another representative from the freight service will meet you at the airport, where you'll retrieve the baggage, clear it through customs, and then take off to enjoy your trip. The service is responsible for making sure that the contents of the baggage are as they should be and that they are delivered where they are supposed to go. Your only responsibility is walking the parcel through customs.
The courier service will have given you a sheet with instructions for your return flight. Don't lose it. And the day before you are scheduled to return home, again check in with the courier service to verify your flight time.
Finding a service
Two recent books on the air courier business are Air Courier Bargains and Courier Air Travel Handbook.
Did you know one of the richest men in the world started his business career as a finder and, even today, earns millions of dollars each year in finder's fees? In a television interview, Adnan Kashogi was asked how he had started in business and made so much money. Although Kashogi was from a middle class family, he had attended school with the sons of oil-rich sheiks. By simply listening to his school pals, he learned who's father was looking for what and who's father had what available.
Finder's Fees -- The Easiest Money You'll Ever Make By simply matching the wants and availables of his classmates' fathers, he asked for, and was paid, a "commission" for introducing the parties. As he grew older, the men who had paid him commissions (and their sons with whom he had attended school) remembered him and asked him to find more and bigger things for them -- such as oil field equipment, aircraft, armaments, ships, etc. -- paying him bigger and bigger fees.
For more information see Finder's Fees.
One of the best ways to travel free is to become a travel agent. My first acquaintance with the business was while I was still a junior in high school. I became a commission agent for a local travel agent and sold the high school Spanish club on a trip to Mexico. Not only did this get me a free trip to Mexico with the group, but enough of a commission to have money on the trip and some left over for my college savings. My senior year I sold two charter flights to Europe to our state university students' association, earning a commission in the thousands of dollars. Not bad for part-time after school (and this was in 1964 dollars).
Be A Travel Agent Another reason I like the travel business, as discussed in depth in my book The Offshore Entrepreneur is that the opportunity to travel can become the key to many other business opportunities.
For some recommended books on how to get into the travel business see The Travel Careers Bookshelf.
Consider what your world might be like should you be given the power to do exactly what you wanted to do with your life. Expand your personal horizons to include all the world and all its infinite possibilities.
Go Do It This report is just a small sample of the information in the author's books
Adam Starchild can occasionally be persuaded to take time off from his private entrepreneurship activities to write. During these interludes he has written over a dozen published books and hundreds of magazine articles, primarily on international business and finance. His articles have a appeared in a wide range of publications around the world.
Recently published by First Street Press is The Offshore Entrepreneur. According to Adam Starchild, author of The Offshore Entrepreneur, when anybody talks about "offshore" opportunities, all they ever talk about is tax avoidance. That's fine and dandy but what if you don't have enough money to worry about avoiding taxes? In this new book, Starchild reveals the multitude of tried and proven paths to the creation and protection of wealth in foreign countries. The book details how to unlock profits because neither profit, nor opportunity, have any borders.
The Offshore Entrepreneur Although tax avoidance is not the subject of the book, most international (offshore) business is tax free. And, as Starchild points out, "your money can grow much faster if you aren't paying out an average of 40% to a government somewhere." The Offshore Entrepreneur is available through bookstores. It may be ordered by mail for $15.95 (including shipping & handling) directly from the publisher:
- First Street Press
- P. O. Box 3453A
- Dalton GA 30721-0453
You can also order this book on line through Amazon.com.
Copyright © 1997 by Adam Starchild
The Travel Careers Information Center has reprinted this article with the permission of the author.
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