As I've mentioned, we can look at big pay offs in travel as investors and entrepreneurs but what about making just a bit of extra cash? Maybe enough to pay for the vacation.
The Mule
No, I don't mean a drug mule (that does pay but the risks are too high and the ethics extremely dodgy). My buddies love English chocolate (Cadburys). To buy it here is very expensive. So what I do is every time I go to England, I bring back chocolate and then resell it to my buddies. I do this at cost (trading for favors) but others I know make a profit.
The Travel Blog
I have a travel blog where I post my tips and my photos. I have Adsense up on it. It doesn’t make much money (no real traffic yet) right now, only enough to pay for the domain name ($10 a year). That might be because I don't promote it (just a guess). However, other travel blogs do quite well.
Writing Articles For Magazines
This is why most of my travel buddies make their money. They write freelance articles for magazines, newspapers, and blogs. Before traveling, explore what these different media want (resolution on photos, subjects, etc).