World travel as a lifestyle?

Like CathyG recommended, I had a friend who worked for a year at an insurance company, living Very Frugally. He then took off with the ~$15k he saved and traveled the world. Every once in awhile he worked under the table, but he was still traveling years later. With your skill set, you should be able to work until you have savings, then go.

Seconding what Gringos Without Borders and bluedaisy said. I'm not IT but I am Foreign Service, and absolutely love it so far. If the Foreign Service lifestyle appeals to you, the easiest way in is probably as a specialist - the starting pay is higher than you'd get as an FSO and it seems like there's less competition in the hiring process. Lots of info out there (including many blogs about the hiring process, lifestyle, etc) if you want to learn more...

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/about.shtml

http://careers.state.gov/specialist/career-tracks#it hires IT specialists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uf-5zWGV0I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvrieTE6IWM an entry position as a seismic observer typically requires a technical degree and involves working one month onboard a ship and then one month off with enough cash to travel anywhere you want.

There are lots of computery-types traveling around the world off of freelance dollars - that is, they work on the road. Most of the terms for this are pretty obnoxious but you might try googling 'digital nomad' or 'location independent' for a taster. The folks I've met have, by and large, arranged their own contracts through their network in the industry. It's certainly doable with a little resourcefulness!

I can't suggest how to do this but I can tell you what will make it impossible. Debt. So...that said....avoid all debt. Happy New Year!

This is a bit different than what you are talking about, but have you considered working for the US State Department as a http://careers.state.gov/officer? Most postings are for two years at a time, and while you'll be back every few rotations to work in DC, typically you'd spend most of your career overseas. You won't be doing this in a year, but you could, for example, try to travel or work overseas and in the meantime be applying to the State Department. You wouldn't have total control over your career and postings, but you would have some input into where you'd work, plus the good benefits and pay of the federal government. If you are at all intrigued, they have a http://careers.state.gov/officer/is-the-foreign-service-right-for-you you can take to see if this kind of job might be a good fit.

Develop an expertise, find something that you can do that is in demand wherever you want to go. Teaching English is a great way to get your feet wet in a country, and I have a lot of friends who used it as a way to transition into something more "real". When I taught in China, I worked around 15 hours a week, 9 months out of the year. I only made $600-1200 a month, but with free housing that was enough to do a lot of traveling with the off time. And don't worry about your age, time slipping away, travel being for the rich, etc. When I was your age, I had only been only a plane about 3 times and had been in maybe 6 US states. I've been to 21 countries now, and until two years ago, I had never made more than $20,000 in a year.