Working abroad for over 40's - advice

$40's? Still youngsters!

You don't say enough about your skills, experience and education for us to give you much direction.

If you both have degrees then teaching English is an option. As you are still at the "curious and need some information" stage, you might try www.TEFLdaddy.com</a> which is a introduction to teaching English abroad and has about 94 pages of FAQ type information. It is a good place to decide if the occupation is right for you and gives some good detail about how to survive and thrive working abroad.

It is good you said WORK first as TEFL is work first and fun second.

A lot of people will disagree with me about needing a degree and in fact, there are quite a few places where you can teach without a degree. But - with no degree - you would always find yourself near the bottom of the food chain at a time when competition is increasing. The high unemployment in the UK and USA means a LOT more college grads are heading overseas as they can't find decent jobs when they get out of school.

TEFL is always a back-up plan which almost all non-English-speaking countries are hiring and no extra skill needed. But I do agree with zzark that since most TEFL works don't require a degree, they are mainly volunteer works which you have to pay to go. I'm not saying that it's bad. It's just wouldn't be my first choice.

You should tell us more about your area of interests and budget considerations. General international volunteer jobs include education(like TEFL), healt-related, community development, and caregiving (care in orphanage or for elderly). I'm not sure about paid jobs, though. It would also be helpful if you tell us what are the budget considerations (e.g., you work along the way to earn your expenses or you don't care about money cause you already have plenty).

I only know about volunteer works, but here's a website if you're interested: http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/

But I do agree with zzark that since most TEFL works don't require a degree, they are mainly volunteer works >which you have to pay to go

That's not at all what I said.

In fact, MOST TEFL jobs around the world do require a degree and many of those pay quite well. I've been working abroad since 1989 and the great majority of that time was spent teaching English, saving good money and seeing a good part of the world at the same time.

In Korea, EFL teachers can easily save US$1000 a month, in the Middle East savings can be even more than that. Most places you can live VERY well on the local economy.

Places where a degree is not required usually pay very poorly, but people still make a go of it and live reasonably on the local economy.

It would be a RARE TEFL job where you would have to "pay to go" and I would not recommend anyone take such a post.

This a good option if want to be somewhere, experience local culture, invariably eat good food and, crucially, spend virtually nothing... http://www.wwoof.org/

Otherwise, as said, you might just be up against it unless you have something up your sleeve. Being over 40 might however mean you do have a lots of skills and experience but trust me, you will not want to work in a bar or take on stuff that will seem demeaning yet which a 19 year old eager-beaver will do for peanuts.

If you are interested in spending some time in Ubud, Bali, there's a charity I've just volunteered for for 5 months who don't charge you any money and they also help you with very cheap accomodation. It's volunteering, so it's not paid work, but expenses are minimal. I slept for free in the charityshop for a week, then moved into a room in a house, that cost only 800000 Rupiah/month (US$80).
BARC is Bali dogs adoption rehab centre, the mostly need volunteers for their charity shop. I think they might also be looking for a fundraiser who would get to keep a small procentage of funds raised.
www.freewebs.com/balidogs

I might travel for some time between March and June 2011 and would like to have someone keeping an eye on my guesthouse.
Cannot pay but offer accommodation in a great place! If interested, have a look in (www.jeriathome.com) and-or drop me a line (jeriathome@gmail.com)

Thanks everyone for getting back to me....taken a bit longer than planned...but hopefully the ball should be rolling from mid July this year.....first stop Thailand.....