While almost any form of travelling is brilliant in our eyes, there's nothing like putting down some roots and really getting to know a place through working there. Whether you fancy teaching abroad, helping with animal conservation or just bartending in a new place, working while you travel will no doubt help you get to know it better than any guidebook ever could. We spoke to a few travellers who have done just that to find out how they made their working holiday dreams come true.

Adam Beach took a working holiday in Colombia, where he spent five months as an English teacher as part of an initiative led by the mayor of Bogotá to help kids in deprived areas of the city. "I was travelling in Colombia and fell in love with the country, deciding after three days that I wanted to spend more time there. The law firm I work for agreed to defer my start date, so I finished backpacking around South America, India and Nepal and returned to Colombia."

"Being abroad, learning another language and culture was a constant highlight. Two weeks of holiday from work is plenty of time to explore but living in a place really teaches you how people live day-to-day. I was able to travel throughout much of Colombia, seeing places that I would never have otherwise been able to see. I earned enough to live and travel but certainly did not work there for the money: I focused more on the experience and the place," Adam says.

Ros Walford took a year-long sabbatical and taught in Santiago de Chile. "On arrival in Santiago, I got myself an apartment with great views of the mountains and set about job-hunting," she says. "It took a little while to find a job, but I ended up working for a language school as a freelance teacher. Every day, I would travel out to the offices and homes of my students, or sometimes we’d meet in a café in the financial district. I taught about 18 hours of classes a week."

"I wanted to take some time out from my usual job and do something completely different. Although I love travelling, I wanted to experience a less transient way of seeing the world," Ros says. "By staying put in one place, I could get to know it well and make longer lasting friendships. I travelled a lot, too: before I arrived in Santiago I travelled around Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, volunteered at a nursery school and worked on an organic farm with the WWOOF scheme."

Gina Gerstein decided to do her working holiday in Ecuador, where she split her time between working in a school and volunteering with children whose parents worked in the local street market. "I have always enjoyed working with children, and knew I wanted to be a teacher," she says. "I thought it would be a great experience to go and do this abroad. I wanted to do something valuable and meaningful with my year off."

"The highlight was seeing the smiles on the market children’s faces when we would come and find them. They would otherwise sit with their parents at the market all day. They loved activities: for example, we gave them all toothbrushes and toothpaste and taught them how to clean their teeth. During the weekends, I travelled around Ecuador, in the school holidays I went to Colombia, and after I finished I continued travelling around South America."

Georgia Blevins opted for a conversation project, choosing to work with at-risk turtles in Costa Rica. "I patrolled beaches at night, waiting for and observing females nesting," she says. "I recorded information on the turtles, such as the shell length, whether they were tagged, the amount of eggs laid and the sector in which the turtle had nested. I collected eggs once they were laid and transported them to the hatchery."

"During the day and night, I checked for any hatchlings and released them safely into the sea. I also observed excavations during the day. I improved my knowledge of the threats associated with sea turtles and the exceptional hard work that goes in to protecting the beautiful species from extinction. It feels very rewarding to know that my help has made a difference," says Georgia.

Sophia Ziff also travelled to Costa Rica to work in turtle conservation. "I decided to do a volunteering project with my best friend as a way of ending our trip around Central America," she says. "We worked as volunteers on the ASVO Sea Turtle Conservation project. We watched a sea turtle safely laying her eggs in the middle of the night on the beach, free from dogs and poachers, and saw a batch of turtles born and racing towards the sea during a dawn sunrise."

"We gained so much: discipline to work the long and late hours, lots of knowledge about the sea, turtles and marine life, great friendships with the team, and we even organised a huge party for all the locals and residents. We also managed to travel loads. We had weekends off so a group of us rented a car and went travelling into the jungle and to the mountains. It was really special."

Ruby Lanesman taught yoga in Cambodia for her working holiday. "I worked at a retreat centre in its starting days in Cambodia," she says. "I taught yoga every morning with one morning off per week. My board and lodging was paid for and I was also able to contribute to the running of the retreat centre. I got to meet all kinds of people while educating them about yoga and meditation, as well as progressing my own personal practice."

"I learnt so much while I was there, about myself, about people, about bodies, about Cambodia," Ruby adds. "I ended up finding a school that didn't have any toothbrushes and organised to send a whole lot there. I discovered they have homemade waffles in the local market where no one speaks English. I got to meditate within temples that are so hidden I never would have known about them. I travelled, too: I rode my bike to different places and I also visited Siem Reap and Angkor Wat."

Rachel Muse, a chef, decided to embark on a working holiday in France. "I cooked for a family on the Cote d'Azur, then trained a private chef to cook for the family for the summer season," she says. "I wanted to see what the experience was like and to try to improve my French. A highlight was being shown the region and the wine producers by the client. The client knows the region so well that I now understand how the local wine matches with the local food produce far better than I did before."

"Even on holiday, I miss cooking very much when I don't cook every day. So for me it's no hardship to cook. A working holiday also allowed me to work with top quality local ingredients in an amazing environment," Rachel adds. "The only downside was having to leave the beach to go to work in the evenings."

Jamie Roberts headed to Tenerife for a three-month working holiday. "I worked several jobs, including selling scuba dives, leaflet distributing and working for bars," he says. "Obviously, the money wasn't great. However, the experience of living with like-minded party-goers for a 'three-month party' was great fun. I was well into the party lifestyle and I thought it would be a great way to meet new people as well as have a summer of fun."

"Work wasn't too taxing and it paid for the lifestyle I wanted. I'd be out every night having fun and didn't have any worries. It's certainly created many memories and has allowed me to travel to new parts of the UK and abroad in order to meet up with people I met on my working holiday. It was never going to be a bankroller, but it has definitely added some unforgettable situations to the memory bank. I will no doubt still be talking about them in 50 years' time."

Gabrielle Theunissen travelled to Australia for a year's working holiday. "My first job was working in promotions for six weeks," she says. "I cycled around Melbourne in a 1950s frock with a themed bicycle handing out free sweets. It was a great way to see the city, do some exercise and meet people. The pay is great over there too and this job paid A$22 (£13) per hour. I also worked for a short period handing out free newspapers at Melbourne’s main train stations during rush hour."

"I then secured a professional role in accounts and business development for a small recruitment firm. I was flown up to Brisbane and Sydney every other week for client meetings, which was a great experience. I was given a lot of responsibility to run large projects and attend client meetings myself which, having just graduated with limited professional experience, was such a good opportunity. I managed to save up around £5,000 in six months of working."

"I wanted to experience living and working in another country. I've also always wanted to escape to a better climate so this was the perfect opportunity," Gabrielle adds. "I was keen to get a professional job while travelling to enhance my CV. It’s great to experience working and living in another country and really get a feel of the culture and lifestyle. I got to see a lot of Brisbane and Sydney, and also travelled around Melbourne and Victoria at the weekends with friends I met there."

Amanda Bootes worked as a pastry chef in the South of France for six months. "A working holiday was a way of being able to experience the best of both worlds," she says. "I was able to fully immerse myself in another culture but also to explore the country. It was both mentally and financially supportive. I earned more than I would in the same job in the UK – and had the emotional wealth as an added bonus."

Amanda adds: "The highlight for me was being able to really learn how another country lives. It's so different being able to be a part of everyday life, from the small things like food shopping to becoming a regular in a bar or restaurant. It's different feeling like you truly belong somewhere than just being a normal tourist where you only see a slice of the reality. Don't expect it to be easy just because it's a 'holiday' - it's going to be hard work, just like any job."

Edward Greenwall-Cohen travelled to Israel for a summer working holiday at a start-up, as part of an organised internship programme. "The first two weeks involved "academic life training", which taught us key skills to survive as a young professional in today’s economy, such as dealing with rejection, learning to cut your losses, trying not to focus on the trivial things and looking at the wider picture," he says. "Then the last six weeks, I worked for a start-up."

"I wanted to work at a start-up and take a holiday at the same time. We learnt so much about the experience of living in a new country, and the different work culture. We also got to travel around a lot, visiting national parks, Roman ruins, temples, beaches and nightclubs."

Web designer Keno Ogbo travelled to Grenada. "My working holiday involved me working with a local residents' group to build community relations using digital technology," she says. "I love travelling and I designed my business to run from my laptop, which means I can work with clients anywhere on Earth. It was a deliberate choice. I now have working holidays two to three times a year, and I love waking up to the roar of the ocean every morning. There's nothing like it in the world."

"You can learn all about a new culture and enjoy the sense of adventure. Although I never switched off from work and my laptop was never far away, I also travelled around the island, visited various beaches and went to different places of interest. It's important to enjoy every moment. Even when you're working, try and mix with the locals as much as possible, avoid touristy places and allow the locals to take me to their favourite spots," Keno says.

Sara Tomaszewska travelled to Galicia in Spain to do work experience in a music studio. "It was a great chance to practice the language and meet wonderful people," she says. "Obviously I had to go to work but at the same time I had evenings and weekends free to travel and sightsee. You really live there instead of being a tourist. You get to know people and the culture and find out how it really is. It's a great way to get some distance from your life and explore new opportunities."

Joe Smith booked himself onto a ski instructor programme with Ski Le Gap in Québec, where he qualified and worked as a ski instructor. "I've wanted to be a ski instructor since I was little, so it's always been an aspiration of mine," he says. "The point of the course is to improve your skiing and we took our exams to be fully qualified instructors. But we also had quite a lot of downtime between ourselves and with locals, and we took weekend trips to cities like Montreal and Ottawa."

"I wasn't ready to get a nine to five job just yet, so I thought 'why not go away for a bit, enjoy myself and also gain some skills that will benefit me in the future?' I got to ski every day with the best ski coaches in Canada and the lifestyle is very calm and relaxed: ending the day in the bar and having a beer with everyone was a daily highlight."