So many people like myself are young with a gap year of college and having a severe case of wanderlust, or in some cases you are just a young adult wanting a different life with a different culture.

There are a few ways to fix this like backpacking around Europe and living in tents or you can go the rout of being an Au Pair. I am here to tell you almost everything you need to know.

What is an Au Pair?

An Au Pair is a cultural exchange program for young adults and being an Au Pair is when you go to another country and basically live with a host family and being their nanny. Most of the times its you being around the host kids and picking them up from school, helping them with homework and all around all the work will be around the kids. In some cases you will be more like a maid and will be cleaning more then being a nanny. Every Au Pair will have a different family and have a different set of needs. Most Au Pairs get money a month for example in Denmark its around 4050 kr a month which is around 567 usd a month. You also get your own room and food is usually included.

How do I become one?

It sounds really complicated and hard but it isn’t. There are usually two ways you can become one.

1.   Going with a company
2.   Doing your own research

Now going with a company is usually the safer way but it is usually the more expensive way and sadly for people outside of the USA planning to Au Pair in the USA going with a company is the only way to Au Pair in the USA. For US citizens going to Europe there are sites like https://www.interexchange.org/au-pair/ this site makes things a little less stressful and has smaller risks. A down side is you are paying for that security and you are also limited on the countries you can Au Pair in. Basically the main process of being an Au Pair is getting a host family to host you.

The seconded way is basically doing your own research, this is the way I went but this wont be for everyone. The best way to find a host family and get started is this site https://www.aupairworld.com/en its like online dating for finding Au Pairs and a Host Family. It is really simple all you do is sign up and fill out your portfolio because host families will be looking at that and then you can start looking for a family for you in any country you want.

The next step is when you find a family or a family finds you is make sure there are no red flags with the family and that its is exactly what you want, my advice is that if you feel there is something off with the family DON’T TAKE THAT FAMILY. You need to feel 100% in your gut that the family you found is the one for you.

Now if you did this on your own another great tip is to do your research! Go one the governments migration page for the country you want to go to and make sure you meet the requirements for an Au Pair visa.

For example, some countries demand documents like a document of good health, birth certificate, High school diploma and maybe some other documents. Another thing to keep in mind is that most Au Pair visas have age requirements and most have a requirement that you can not be married with kids. Every country is different with different requirements and wait times.

Happy travel!

(This is my 1st post on being an Au Pair so stay tune for more)