[.ca] Work Your Way Around the World, 11th (ISBN 1854582747)

Good resource for Europeans, not Americans:
As an American student looking to find work in Europe, this book was absolutely no help to me at all. It is published in Great Britain, and probably 95% of the addresses she gives are in the UK. I found a couple of interesting ones in the U.S., but all the good ones were not American. Also, prices are in pounds, not dollars, which makes it difficult for an American to fully comprehend without a calculator and info on exchange rates. If you are British, this would probably be a great book for you! Another thing which I found not very helpful is that the book is targeted to people who want to just want to hop from place to place, hence the title. It is geared for the vagabond worker, and assumes that these people will settle for whatever job it takes to stay travelling. What really turned me off was that the book highly suggested hitchhiking as the primary mode of transportation, and spent a great deal of space discussing the beneftis of hitchhiking. Any other travel book strongly discourages this! In a nutshell, if you are not British and you do not feel comfortable with hitchhiking, do not buy this book!

Best all-around guide and fun to read:
While this book is written from a British perspective, it is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to travel around the world on limited funds. The author relies on "been there done that" travelers to supply information and anecdotes from the road and I can vouch from experience that those nuggets show up in revised editions. I bought this book before my first trip around the world and it led to my first English teaching job--in Istanbul, Turkey. (Griffith's Teaching English Abroad title is a good guide for the teaching path specifically). This is also a good book to read when deciding what you're NOT willing to do. Comparing some of these jobs to working another few months at home instead to save more money puts things in perspective. Understand that this is a guide to short-term work opportunities, so it does focus on ways to make enough to get to the next destination. It's not an international career guide, but rather an inside scoop on where to get paid while you travel. It's an entertaining read and a good investment for shoestring travelers. Tim Leffel author, The World's Cheapest Destinations

It lets you know what is possible:
I was introduced to an early edition of this book by a couple of English blokes I lived with in Minneapolis in 1989. Above all, it made me realize that travelling around the world for a working class fellow was a realistic option. It gives a lot of specifics on how to find work in different parts of the world. I have seen no other book that comes close to providing the information that a working traveller needs. Being in its tenth edition shows that many others have found it valuable as well. I spent a year working and travelling in Europe and Africa. Working your way around the world is a good way to educate yourself.

Focuses on EU citizens; unrealistic/useless for most others:
Well, I'm one of those Americans who has been there, done that and still doing it...and it wasn't because of this book. Ten years ago when I first went to Europe with the intention of finding work, short-term or long-term, my brother's girlfriend gave me this book as a gift because she found it useful. Let me say right off that I had no clue about traveling abroad or what was possible, even in a pre-9/11 world. But it seemed to me that the book concentrated heavily on Brits and Europeans and gave mostly common sense advice I could glean from my head (or a friend or successful expat, if I was clueless) and come up with the same or better info if I searched the Internet; plus, the author is an EU citizen, so what first hand experience does she really have in regards to non-EU citizens? The updated version hasn't changed that much, and I'm puzzled by the fact it's in its 13th edition, when most people can find better information online without spending a dime. I'd also like to add that my brother's girlfriend (now ex) who loved this book, never found work abroad in her 5 years, lived off her father's money and told me I would never make it either. I told her I wasn't her, left the book behind and never saw it again. I first found a series of short-term jobs that I can only describe as experiences I can laugh about now. Then I built a life from literally nothing that has led to living and working in Europe for 10 years (and counting). It is true that Americans have a more difficult time finding work in Europe simply because of EU citizenship requirements AND the world has changed significantly in that there are an abundance of Eastern European workers willing to work for cheaper than Americans/Canadians/Australians would and they're legal EU citizens. Still, showing up at the right time (and there ARE right times) and looking a certain way will more likely get you a summer job than sending a CV/resume, making calls or wasting time on placing ads or trolling forums. I don't know any employer who has hired anyone on paper or over the phone, even if you're already here in the country. My best friend was placed in Poland, well-paid and provided housing for 2 years teaching English without any experience, certification or previous interview. He had a great time. The next year, he took a stint in Turkey during his vacation under the same circumstances. There are also plenty of opportunities, different and sometimes better, in very beautiful places outside of Europe. Another friend landed in South America with no intentions of staying and worked there happily for 3 years, learned to speak Spanish, gained experience that gave him an advantage in his flourishing career now located in Washington DC. Buying and reading this book, however helpful it is in small ways, is not enough. Sometimes, an adventurous attitude, thirst for experience and willingness isn't enough...sometimes it's just lady luck smiling on you. In some countries, it's strictly about connections. I'm sorry I can't be more positive because I know it's tough to write a book and there are people out there searching for some assistance. But I think it's equally important to be honest.

Funny:
So far I've only read Teaching English Abroad. I'm hoping this book is just a current version of that book, because TEA is phenomenal. BTW, I am American, and the paragraph about Americans not finding work only concerns Saudi Arabia. Those Americans who don't find helpful info in this book couldn't shoot fish in a barrel with a shotgun. I'm glad I read the reviews for this book, as I got a chuckle from the English Teachers (I suppose) who write "wanderlust" as "wonder lust," and write, "if you have few money."