WOW Air Will Pay You And Your Bestie $4,000 A Month To Travel The World
Iceland's budget carrier WOW Air lived up to its name today by launching the WOW Travel Guide competition. Touted as "the best summer job ever," the airline is seeking a "fun pair of individuals who are able to think big" to move to Reykjavik for the summer and travel the world for free.
"We are now accepting applications for a 3 month paid summer job, where you will move to Iceland and travel the world with your best friend," reads the text on the airline's brightly colored contest page. "Your mission will be to explore some of WOW Air's 38 destinations and document your travels to create a complete digital Travel Guide."
Contest winners will each receive a monthly stipend of $4,000 per month, and will share an all-expenses apartment in downtown Reykjavik, the airline's base of operations.
The apartment will serve as home base for the duo's travels, which will be determined by the travelers themselves from among the destinations that WOW serves. The lucky winners have 38 destinations across Europe and North America to choose from, including Barcelona, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and New York, as well as Iceland to explore. Transportation and Iceland tours are also part of the winners' package, while additional travel and living expenses will also be paid by the airline.
In exchange for the monthly stipend and free room and board, the contest winners will document their trips as brand ambassadors for WOW Air, capturing social-friendly videos and writing posts, including travel tips, for the destinations they visit. The completed content will be featured under the Travel Guide section of WOW Air's website. Some of WOW's suggested categories for coverage include:
EXPLORE...
- Food: Find out the local secrets
- Culture: How to act like a local
- Nightlife: When and where to go...
- Nature: Wildlife, parks and beaches
- Transport: Uber, metro or bike?
- Budget: Discover ways to stay on budget
CREATE...
- Vlogs showcasing each destination
- Instagram stories with handy travel tips
- Photographs that frame your experience
- Any other form of creative media you can think of
- A complete digital travel guide to the destinations
ENJOY...
- Moving to Iceland with your best friend (June 1st - August 15th)
- Living and working in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland
- Flying out to explore new countries all summer long
- Sampling the best each destination has to offer
- Earning money while doing it
The contest is open to applicants 18 years of age or older, from anywhere in the world. In order to apply, candidates must submit a two-minute clip offering travel tips for their hometown by May 14, 2018. A panel of judges will select and announce the winners via social media on May 18. The adventure will begin just two short weeks later on June 1.
For those who like to know all the details, the terms and conditions page indicates that the winners can expect:
- Weeks of travel with flights, hotels, activities and travel allowance all paid for by WOW Air. Travel Guides will also gain social media exposure and hopefully some priceless memories.
- Accommodation in Iceland: Travel Guides will stay at a furnished apartment in downtown Reykjavík, while in Iceland.
- Hotels: WOW Air will be taking care of choosing, booking and paying for Travel Guide hotels or other overnight accommodations when they are traveling on behalf of WOW Air in connection with the Travel Guide project.
- Flights: Flights will be provided by WOW Air from and to WOW Air's destinations of the summer of 2018. If the Travel Guide's domicile isn't in one of WOW Air's destination cities, then Travel Guide is responsible for all travel expenses for the journey to the nearest WOW Air destination.
- Travel allowance: Payments made in accordance with regulations of Iceland.
- Travel Guides will take eight trips to random WOW Air destinations from Iceland. Each trip will last for 2-4 days. Travel Guides will also take at least four domestic trips in Iceland. All trips will be taken over the course of 10 weeks during the summer of 2018.
WOW Air's contest is the latest from a long line of brands getting increasingly creative with their travel budgets. In October 2017, The New York Times posted an open call for a travel writer to visit the newspaper's 52 Places to Go in 2018 – and write about them. The media company received more than 9,000 applications (including one from yours truly), ultimately going through a second round of finalists before choosing Jada Yuan, an experienced travel journalist who has already hit up 14 spots on the 2018 list.
And just last month, European travel company Busabout offered to a free tour of Europe – plus pay – for four "travel addicts" to spend three months documenting their travels across Europe. Busabout's contest ended last week on April 17, so the winner should be announced sometime in May.
Even cities are getting in on the idea: Last November, Cancun offered one lucky traveler $10,000 a month for a six-month brand ambassadorship.