The jobs I’d do for free have a lot in common with how I already choose to spend my time. If I could spend a few years doing exactly what I wanted, I’d travel, eat and tell people about it. I’d try different cars along the way, and I’d definitely make time for some races.
I wish I’d figured that out in my late teens or early twenties. I was already planning weekends around restaurants, looking for something new to taste and asking questions about what I was eating. I just never thought about where that interest could take me.
A trip to São Paulo in 2024 finally helped me connect all of it.
I’m a Finance Director in the automotive industry. I have a full-time job, a budget and a limited amount of vacation time. There are more places I want to visit than I can fit into that schedule, and more restaurants than I can reasonably afford to try.
But if you asked me how I’d choose to spend my time, these would be the jobs I’d do for free. Getting paid would be welcome, too. I’d like to make a living doing work I already enjoy this much.
The jobs I’d do for free
After high school, I took my high school girlfriend to one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants for her 19th birthday. Looking back, the signs were there.
I started going to the New York City Wine & Food Festival in its second year, 2009. I went for the next three years, then returned a few more times after that. I also attended the Manhattan Cocktail Classic for two or three years, roughly between 2011 and 2013.
I wasn’t working in restaurants or behind a bar. I was an outsider who wanted to taste more, ask questions and understand what people were making.
When I wasn’t going into New York for the weekend, Harvest in Closter was my go-to. I still remember their oysters and pearls, which reminded me of The French Laundry’s dish. Years later, that meal is still in my head.
I visited plenty of Zagat-rated and Michelin-recognized restaurants without thinking to document any of it. I wish I had more photographs and notes from those years. Then I bought a farm in 2013, and my attention went elsewhere.
São Paulo brought me back to this in 2024. I enjoyed the research almost as much as the trip: finding restaurants, figuring out where to stay and learning about places I’d never heard of. Once I got there, the food and the people gave me even more reasons to keep exploring.
Now, some of my friends in São Paulo ask me where they should go. They live there, but they know how much research I do before a visit and how much I keep doing between trips.
I’ve also become friends with people in restaurants, hospitality and mixology. Sometimes they tell me about somewhere that has quietly opened, before a ranking or a trend brings it much attention. Just good food, good service and someone saying, “You should try this place.”
I love that. I wish I’d understood sooner how much I’d enjoy sharing what I find.
1. Motorsports reporting
Working at Ferrari got me interested in Formula 1. Traveling for races made it a much bigger part of my life.
I care about what happens on the track. I want to understand why a strategy worked, why a driver struggled and how a team found something everyone else missed. Between Formula 1, WEC and IMSA, there’s always something to follow.
I’d love to get closer to those stories and talk to the people doing the work, including the crew members whose names rarely make the headlines. Their preparation and decisions matter every weekend, and I’d like to understand more of what goes into them.
I also enjoy writing from the perspective I already know: being a fan at the circuit.
My São Paulo Grand Prix travel guide comes from attending Interlagos in 2024 and 2025. It covers what I learned by being there, including choosing a grandstand, dealing with rain and getting back to the hotel with enough time for dinner.
With more freedom to travel, the race calendar would absolutely influence where I went next.
2. Car reviews
Cars are still part of my working life, and I still enjoy them. Ferrari is part of that history, but my interest goes well beyond one badge.
Give me time with an interesting car and I’ll want to understand what makes it worth driving. That could be a vintage Porsche, a McLaren or a sedan that looks ordinary until you get behind the wheel.
The specifications are a starting point. I want to know how it responds, what it sounds like, how comfortable it is and whether I’d look forward to driving it again.
I’d love to try different cars as I traveled and tell people what I thought. Some would be cars I’d dream about owning. Others might surprise me simply by being enjoyable to drive. There would always be another one I’d want to spend time with.
3. Travel writing
Barcelona gave me a good example of what I want more of.
I went in June 2026 for the Grand Prix and spent the rest of the trip exploring the city and its restaurants. Mont Bar was my favorite meal there. The food, wine and relaxed service made it an evening I wanted to talk about afterward.
Disfrutar was a very different experience, more theatrical and technical. I enjoyed having both on the same trip.
Sir Victor’s rooftop became a daily stop. After being out in the city, I liked coming back, sitting down and having a drink. I also wanted to understand more about the food and wine, the neighborhoods and the history behind what I was seeing.
Peru belongs in this story, too. Walking through Machu Picchu was as much a reason to travel as a restaurant reservation.
In Lima, my research led me to Maido. I ate there in May 2025 and was home by May 15, before it was named The World’s Best Restaurant 2025 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants that June. It was pretty cool to see a place I’d just experienced receive that recognition.
I also came home thinking about what I’d missed. I wasn’t persistent enough about getting a reservation at Central. Around Cusco, I was so concerned about altitude sickness that I didn’t give the food research the attention I normally would. MIL is one of the places I wish I’d looked into properly.
Eventually, I want to go back. That’s part of travel for me: enjoying what I did, learning from what I missed and thinking about the next visit.
São Paulo keeps giving me reasons to return. I think about the view from Hotel Unique, the people I’ve met and the dinners I want to plan before I’ve even booked the flight. My São Paulo travel guide grew out of those experiences.
It’s also what I enjoy about Formula 1 luxury travel. I can combine a race with a city I want to explore. I’d love to stay longer because I’m enjoying myself, without counting the days until I have to be back at work.
4. Food and restaurant reviews
I don’t need a vacation to go looking for a good meal. I regularly travel more than an hour into New York City to try a restaurant. Sometimes dinner is the entire reason for the trip, and I’m perfectly happy with that.
Put me at a chef’s counter with a tasting menu and a thoughtful wine pairing, and I’ll spend the evening paying attention. But wine isn’t always my first choice. Sometimes I’d rather have creative cocktails, especially when someone behind the bar is doing work as interesting as what’s coming out of the kitchen.
I wish there were more cocktail tasting menus like Carnaval in Lima. I enjoy giving the drinks that same attention: what’s in them, how they’re presented and why those ingredients work together.
With food, I want to understand what the chef is trying to do. I’m also noticing the service, the pace and whether I feel comfortable in the room. Those things affect the evening just as much as an impressive plate.
Evvai is my favorite restaurant in the world, partly because I enjoy being there so much. The cooking gives me plenty to think about, and the illustrated course cards explain the ideas behind the food while adding personality to the meal. It’s ambitious, but it’s also fun. That matters to me.
Those are the details I want to share in my food and drink writing. What did I like? What surprised me? Would I go back? Was the evening worth the trip and the money?
An expensive menu doesn’t get a free pass. A simple meal can be worth recommending without dressing it up as something more.
What I’d like this work to make possible
I’d love to find out what I could learn if this became my full-time work. How many places could I discover? Who could I meet? What could I introduce people to if I had more time to research, travel and write?
I’m working toward making a career out of some combination of this website, travel consulting, a travel agency or a concierge service. I haven’t figured out exactly what that will look like yet. But I know the work I want to spend more of my life doing.
Once I make that transition and can afford to do it properly, I’d also like to help people travel who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.
Maybe that becomes a charity. Maybe I quietly organize a couple of trips each year. I picture taking a group of 10 to 14 people who have never had a real vacation: single parents with their teenage kids, or families working hard just to keep up with everyday life.
I’d want to give them the chance to see somewhere new, try food they’ve never tasted and spend time together without worrying about what the trip costs.
I’d love to see their reactions. Maybe one meal or one conversation would introduce a kid to something they’d never considered. They might discover an interest in cooking, travel or writing. Maybe there’s a future chef in that group who just hasn’t had the opportunity to find out yet.
That’s something I’d like this work to make possible.
I can’t go back and figure this out earlier. I can keep moving toward it now. For the moment, that means fitting trips and meals around my job and budget, doing the research and sharing what I find.
I know what I’d choose with more freedom. I’m already doing as much of it as I can.
What job would you do for free?
For more on how I put these trips together, read how I plan every trip. My Barcelona travel guide goes deeper into the restaurants, hotels and neighborhoods from that visit. You can also read my original Peru trip plans to see what I had in mind before visiting Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu.
Completely Unnecessary. Absolutely Worth It.