When I was talking to some friends a couple weeks ago, they metioned E-Lance in passing. They have a design jobs section. My friends' company was using people through E-Lance for small programming tasks, but maybe you could find design jobs there? It looks like a lot of foreign companies, though, I don't know how that works for tax purposes. But maybe something to check out...?

Sorry to hear about your bird, I hope it will be okay. Have fun on your trip!