Welcome to Live Work Play Travel!

First time here?
It’s great to meet you!

Hi! I’m Sharyn, I created my website to help people live, work, play, travel around the world. Here you’ll find countless resources designed to help you travel, live and work abroad. Get to know some of the ways my website helps travellers just like you below.

The concept for Live Work Play Travel is easy. I believe travel is a lifestyle. It is made up of all different things, not just one thing. So my website is about living, working and playing abroad. And together, they create a lifestyle. A lifestyle many of us want. 

Live: all about accommodation options and visas that allow you to live and work abroad.
Work: there are many types of jobs you can do as you travel, live and work abroad – both physical and online remotely or as a digital nomad.
Play: check out the destinations I play in, and where you could too. My 1 month itineraries will help you see the best bits of a country, so will my city guides.
Travel: discover the transport options to travel the world.
Tips & Stuff: get my best travel and lifestyle tips from my years of travelling around the world to help you travel better and longer. From travel gear and packing to eating well on the road to the best travel insurance, plus loads more.

Now if you are still reading and haven’t clicked away, get to know me and my travelling history: About Sharyn Live Work Play Travel (LWPT) – my Work Abroad, Work Online, Digital Nomad, Travel Itinerary and Lifestyle Blog.

Who is Sharyn Live Work Play Travel?

Sharyn McCullum of Live Work Play Travel enjoying a beer at one of her favourite watering holes – The Coldstream Brewery, Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia.

It Started with Family Holidays

Thanks for stopping. My name is Sharyn, and I’m the founder of Live Work Play Travel. I have been writing about working overseas on a working holiday visa and travelling the world full-time since the 1990s. Inspired from an early age, as I have travelled all my life thanks to my dad who worked for an Australian airline. This meant many family holidays (with dad, mum and sister) were spent travelling to different places in Australia and overseas. Hawaii was and still is, a favourite destination.

Solo Travel Abroad Begins

In 1988 I left Sydney, Australia and moved to the UK on a working holiday solo. I remember standing at Heathrow Airport with no friends, family, accommodation or work and wondered what to do next. At the time, I wished there had been a travel guide that would have told me what to expect about a UK working holiday. From how to find somewhere to live, backpacker jobs available and suggestions on how to enjoy myself. But I did find a place to live, got a job and began enjoying myself. It was still on my mind that a travel guide about a working holiday in the UK was needed.

And My Travel Writing Career Begins

While living in London on my working holiday I fell into travel writing after a local travel magazine called for submissions. I had recently returned from Turkey where I had been to ANZAC Cove for the 75th Anniversary of the landing of the ANZACs and wrote about it. The article was published and I earned 25 pounds. Was I hooked on travel writing and becoming a travel writer? You bet I was!

Honing my Writing and Proofreading Skills

After four years living, working and playing in London on my working holiday and travelling to Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, America and many other countries I returned home to Australia. Being a little jaded on my return, I did a travel writing course and began pumping out article after article. I also did a proofreading course which helped me proofread and edit my own writing. In the 1990s, you approached Travel Editors of magazines and newspapers in the hope they liked your idea for an article. And if they did, they would either pay for your trip to write about or if the article was already written, you got a sale of a travel article. My passion for travel writing exploded as I began to make an income from travel writing.

Writing Travel Guides Beckoned

I noticed there still were no guides in the bookstores about going to the UK on a working holiday. So I decided to rectify the situation. The biggest problem was the name. What would I call the book? I asked myself, what is the book about? My answer, a working holiday in the UK is more about just finding work, it is about living and playing in the UK also. Voila, my first travel guide Live Work and Play in London and the UK – Ultimate Working Holiday Guide was born. The first edition was published in 1993 by Kangaroo Press. It proved so popular I was asked to update it for a new edition. Which I gladly did as this gave me the perfect excuse to visit London and the UK again. The guide is now in its 5th edition. I publish it myself in an ebook format because this gives me the flexibility to update the information when I notice any changes.

Live Work and Play Publications is born

My English friends were very impressed with my first travel guide and suggested I write a similar guide to work and travel Australia. And so, Live Work and Play in Australia – Ultimate Working Holiday Guide was published. In 1995, after my publisher at Kangaroo Press retired, I established Live Work and Play Publications to publish working holiday guides. The range of ‘ultimate working holiday guides’ include:

• Live Work and Play in London and the UK
• Live Work and Play in Australia
• Endless Winter – Your Guide to Working in Ski Resorts Around the World
• Live Work and Play in Canada
• Live Work and Play in Japan
• Ready, Set, Go – Travel — A pre planning guide to travelling overseas
• Live Work and Play in Ireland
• Live Work and Play around the World
• Travellers Fare – Fast and Fabulous Meals for Travellers

Head to my bookstore to purchase a copy of your desired guide. Please note, I am currently turning them into ebooks so not all of the titles are currently available. Stay tuned though!

Some of my Live Work and Play Travel Guides

Live Work and Play Website is Created

I’ve had a website Live Work Play since the 1990s. Websites in the 1990s were designed to be informative and factual and most businesses had one. I introduced a section on my website called ‘Pack Yack – Tales from the Road’ and this is where I put travel articles. What I didn’t realise was, I was blogging without realising this is what I was doing. My website was voted the best website in 1995 by the Travel Editor of the Herald Sun (a major Victorian (Australian) newspaper). I sold this website. Possibly one of the silliest things I have done, but I did it because I had kids and got a great offer for it. I took a hiatus to be a mum, but travel writing kept calling me.

Travel Writing and Blogging Beckons Again

After years enjoying family life and holidays travel writing and blogging was calling my name. Once a writer, always a writer they say!. With the advent of the Internet and social media I decided to publish all my Live Work and Play travel guides as ebooks rather than printed books. This is so I can update the ebook instantly something changes. Thus keeping the guides up-to-date for those planning a working holiday abroad. Visit the store for the current range.

Live Work and Play Morphs into Live Work Play Travel

As well as the travel guides under the name, which is a registered trade mark, Live Work and Play, I have founded the website Live Work Play Travel. This website / blog provides tips, hacks and information on work and travel abroad, working online remotely and as a digital nomad. Plus there are detailed travel itineraries, my best travel hacks and tips and recipes.

Other Websites

I call my Live Work Play Travel website and blog my ‘mother ship’. I do have other websites.

• Discover Australia Now is my website for people who want to discover Australia. It is packed with posts to help you work and travel Australia. Not only for Australian residents but overseas visitors coming to holiday or work and travel in Australia on an Australia working holiday visa.
• Travellers Fare – is my recipe and food blog. Recipes here are easy, cheap, fast and fabulous recipes to make while you travel. Cooking while travelling can save you heaps of money. These recipes are for those people who like to stay in hostels, vans and tents who have limited utensils and ingredients available to them. I believe when you eat well while travelling, you travel better.

Live Work Play Travel Philosophy

I believe travelling is more than just travelling. My philosophy is ‘Live Work Play Travel – it’s more than a way to travel – it’s a lifestyle’.

So whether you are a single traveller, a couple, a group of friends or travelling with your family you will find information here to help you live work play travel around the world. Get city escapes and 1 month itinerary inspiration. Plus get the facts on living abroad as an expat, on a working holiday or as a digital nomad. So what are you waiting for? Come join me and be a live work play traveller.