This is a short brief on jobs that involve traveling. Some of you have expressed negative opinions on being tied to an office for 40 hours/week. I've had 3 jobs that involve travel and can provide some information that might be of use.
My first job that required travel was with Southern California Gas Company. Needless to say the Gas Company services a large region with millions of customers. The company had many offices, payment centers, monitoring stations, etc. across Southern California. My job was an IT contractor and I had to drive a LOT all over the place. The up side was that I didn't have to stay in an office all day, the down side was that I had to be on the road a lot. If you enjoy driving around fixing stuff, this type of gig is not hard to find.
My second job that required travel was with a Fortune 500 company with offices abroad. I was responsible for supporting the Asian-Pacific offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Usually I stayed in the office in California & worked as sys admin, but every few months I had to fly to Asia for meetings and train the local staff. Because I had some experience teaching 5th grade, they decided to make me a trainer. This means I had to learn a lot of different software, write documentation (customized to the company and its operations), develop training programs, train the desktop support staff, then work as level 2 support for them from California.
The assignments were usually no longer than a week, but I piggybacked my vacation and stayed for up to a month. I spent most of my time in Singapore office because it made more sense for them to fly the staff from Tokyo and HK office to SG and have everyone together for training class. The up-side was that I got to fly to Asia at company expense, the down-side was the 18+ hour flights and having to work after-hours, because Asian office time = >4pm PST. I did this for about 4 or 5 years before being assigned to another position at the company. By then I could tell you the best places to get Bak Kut Teh in SG. >_> Don't take this kind of jobs unless if you're OK with getting phone calls at 2am from someone in Tokyo office who isn't fluent in English. Hai...hai... chotto matte, let me put my pajama on... That's in addition to working 8-5 on salary with no overtime, mind you. My coworker was smarter and got posted to the Geneva office for 2 years.
My third and current gig is with a MRO (maintenance, repair, operations) company. When I was looking for a job back in Feb this year, I clicked on "yes" for traveling in the on-line job search services. In this position I do a lot of support work from the office, and fly to various States in the US and provinces in Canada to perform field service and training. Usually this means fixing minor problems, re-calibrating machines, and so on. I'd prefer China assignments to Shenzhen but I rarely get them. Over the past month I was sent to North Vancouver, then across Alberta to Edmonton, Fort McMurray, and Calgary. In 2 weeks I'll be in China then few days in Taiwan. Afterwards I think I need a friggin break. WARNING: Northern Alberta can get down to -50 degrees in Winter, accidently locking your car keys in the car could be fatal.
When I fly out to do field service work, the company typically wants me on-site for 2-3 days, plus travel. Flying to the customer site is 1 day, and flying back is 1 day. So the trip could be 4-5 days total, plus weekend if I choose it. The reason for the 2-3 days is so that if I need replacement parts, they can send it Fed Ex next day air to me on-site, and I can install it before leaving. But usually I can fix the problem within first hour, and I get the rest of the trip to drive around and go sight seeing.
Obviously, since your work is paying for the airfare, you can't fly to wherever you want, but there is wiggle room. For example, if I wanted to visit Vancouver, I can schedule the flight with 8 hour stop-over in Vancouver or Seattle on the way back, and as long as the ticket price isn't much higher the boss is usually OK with it.
What are the benefits? You don't have to be stuck in an office all day. Your work pays for your flight, hotel, meals, mileage, rental car, gas, airport parking, cell phone, internet, and all related expenses. Just don't abuse the system and your boss will pay the bills. I save $$ when I go on field assignments because the company pays for everything, then I spend the $$ to buy gifts and assorted junk to bring back. Always bring omiyage (edible gifts) back to the office, so your coworkers will think "hey if we send momo he will bring back maple syrup flavored cookies".
Now, how to get a traveling job. When you go to job search sites (monster, careerbuilder, etc) some will have a check box that asks "will you travel for work" and "will you relocate for work". You can also search with "traveling" in keyword and look for the jobs. Find something you like and read the job requirements. You may have to start at entry position or work locally to acquire some skills before you'd qualify, so think of it as an investment. Also, do your research on job avail, benefits, and pay. You want the salary gigs where the company pays for all days, instead of temp contract gig where they only pay for days you actually worked on-site. Natural resource extraction industry (mining, oil) is cash rich right now and will pay big $$. Global warming is good business for the great white north.
Another consideration is that you want to live near a major airport hub. Since I live within driving distance to LAX, it's much cheaper for my boss to send me instead of someone else in Ohio. So if you want to be considered, you need to live near a major airport where flights are cheap.