# Travel and Work Experiment went wrong



## Anagor (Jul 7, 2015)

Beginning of June I went back to England, this time not on paid vacation. My plan was to do some remote work with my notebook part time while travelling for a month or so, maybe longer if possible. This experiment failed miserably.

I started my trip June 3 in Cologne and after a 12 hour coach trip (coach was late in the beginning and hit a metal bar with the roof in Brussels, which caused a delay) I finally arrived in London. From there a got the coach to Brighton which was the first city I wanted to visit. Arrived there in the afternoon and met someone I know from Bristol. This day was a public holiday in Germany and the Friday a bridge day (no one in office) at our company so I decided to start working on Monday. Had a few nice days with friends and weather was great. So far, so good.

Monday I was about to start with my first project. I had a bed in the YHA hostel there at this time, and working in the common room/pub there seemed to be okay. But first I wanted to extend my stay for the next night. And there the problems began. Every bed was booked for the next week, two school classes were about to check in. I didn't anticipate that, I thought when I was lucky enough to get a bed on the weekend (for quite a cheap price), it would be no problem on weekdays. But yeah, YHA is that kind of hostel that is popular to stay at for school classes and other large group of people. What a bummer. So instead of beginning my work, I had to find another hostel first.

Fortunately there are many hostels in Brighton, so it was not so hard to find another place to stay. But when it comes to work, it wasn't as a good place as the YHA. The rooms where quite crowded, no place to work there. In the common room there were only two spots with power outlets that were taken most of the time in the morning or evening by people charging their phones or tablets. During the day I was the only one in the room more often than not, though. But that lead to another problem. There were no toilets in the common area, only the one or two toilet/shower combination(s) in the bedrooms. Without someone (trustworthy) to have an eye on my stuff while going to toilet (or smoking a cigarette), I always had to pack all my stuff if I had to leave the room. That was quite annoying to say the least. That the Wifi was working but a bit unstable (resulting in me being logged out of SSH connections and web applications quite often sometimes) didn't make it better. Plus the rooms didn't have lockers, so I had to lock in my notebook in a safe at the reception which was 2 pounds per day. :/

Another - more severe I have to admit - problem was my motivation to work. If your motivation is not the best anyway, it's a bad idea to go somewhere to work where there are a lot of distractions (meeting interesting people, nice beach, great weather, etc.). So the following days I didn't do the work I planned to do in this period of time, delaying things ("I can do that tomorrow, let's have a cider on the beach") and so on. Resulting in some stressful hours at the end of the week, trying to get some things done. Additionally I got some work to do that was urgent and not anticipated. At Friday I got the first serious doubts that this whole idea would work out.

Saturday then I wanted to withdraw some cash from the ATM but apparently there was a technical problem with my card and it was drawn in by the cash machine. Fuck. I got a few pounds from my prepaid credit card, but not much. Not enough to pay for the hostel two nights at weekend rates. So I decided to stay outside, spending the rest of my money for tobacco and cider (and something to eat) during the weekend. Stayed up the whole night Saturday to Sunday, slept at the beach Sunday to Monday with my small backpack containing my notebook tucked into my sleeping bag - not really comfortable.

Monday morning I had to work, cause there was a strict deadline to finish a project. Woke up at the beach at 8am and thought about what to do. No money (in pounds), no hostel, no place I could think of where I can work undisturbed. I had about 35 euros left, so first I went to a money exchange to get some pounds. Had to wait until 9:30 (which is 10:30 in Germany) and as soon as I had a bit of local money again I went back to the hostel (which was quite cheap then again), paid for the night and sat down in the common room to do the work I had to do while people around me were having breakfast, chatting and a TV playing music videos behind me. Just great. That was the moment I realized that my plan wouldn't work out the way I thought.

Well, I managed to get some money from my parents via Western Union to stay for a few more days, but of course that was no permanent solution. Without my cash card and no online banking available (to transfer money from my account to the prepaid credit card), my days in England were counted - at least for the time being.

Don't get me wrong, not everything was bad during that trip, on the contrary. I had more than a few great evenings/nights, being together with interesting people, talking, sitting with people busking, etc. A lush free barbecue at the beach one morning and many other nice experiences. But I failed completely when it comes to do my work in a proper way under those circumstances.

After another weekend sleeping outside (being woken up by rain Monday morning at 2am) I decided to sleep in a bed one more time and then to go home. So next Tuesday I took the coach back to London. Plan was to find out what the ticket would cost, so I could receive money for one more time via Western Union to pay for it (and not bringing too much left over pounds back to Germany). In London I talked to my dad only to get word that there are some server problems, no transfer to UK possible at the moment. Argh. I was in London with a bit of change in my pocket, again not enough for a hostel. So another night on the streets ...

I don't mind sleeping rough, but I was really tired (physically and mentally) after those days and I have to admit there are a few aspects of this lifestyle I have to get used to. Like waking up in the morning with almost no money, thirsty but without water in my bottle, with a dead phone and so on. Thinking about whether to spend the last coins for a bottle of water or save it for going to toilet at the station (which costs 50p) ...

Luckily there was a Starbucks open at 6am and I had enough money to pay for their cheapest coffee (1.55). I literally paid with 10p and 20p coins. So I had something to drink, a toilet to use and most important I was able to charge my phone and even check my e-mail with my notebook. In that case Starbucks really was a lifesaver.

After some problems at the Western Union agency (they insisted that I need an address in London to receive the money, which I didn't had of course) I finally could buy my coach ticket home and spend the rest of the day waiting for departure and having a few cider on the streets. First time I was requested to stop drinking by a cop. Don't drink in Westminster ...

Wednesday evening I went back to Cologne and after a not so comfortable 12 hour coach ride I had to wait 4 hours for my ride home. To be honest, I felt quite exhausted.

In retrospect, I made a lot of mistakes during that trip. Everything was badly planned in the first place. Also, there were alternatives when it comes to work places I didn't think of. I got really demotivated doing work over the time. But anyway, mistakes are there to learn from and the next time I'll do better - I hope.

Despite the work disaster and some great experiences there is one thing I'll never forget - the niceness of people. Sleeping on the beach or on the streets I never got any problems or was treated in a bad way, on the contrary. I didn't ask for anything but during the last days I got: an unopened pack of cigarettes, a bottle of wine, 2 pounds change and a portion of chicken in Brighton and two wraps and half a portion of french fries that evening in London.

Now I'm trying to sort out some things, get my finances in order (in total I spend more than I planned, once again) and hope to hit the road again soon, hopefully being more successful then.


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## etpyh (Jul 7, 2015)

Dude just go to a library to work. You can fill up your water bottles there too, and don't have to pay anything for the toilets. 
Also instead of transfering money for the coach via western union, couldn't they just pay the coach online for you?


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## Anagor (Jul 7, 2015)

etpyh said:


> Dude just go to a library to work.



Yeah, I should have tried that. But all the libraries I found online were quite far away (walking) from the hostels I were staying at. But yes, it would have been an alternative.



etpyh said:


> You can fill up your water bottles there too, and don't have to pay anything for the toilets.



That was only a problem once in the morning in London. In Brighton there are enough toilets you can use for free and to fill up water bottles.



etpyh said:


> Also instead of transfering money for the coach via western union, couldn't they just pay the coach online for you?



Would have been an option, yes. But my dad has no credit card he can pay online with. Plus he would have had to fill out an online form very thoroughly and without mistakes (including filling in ID number and stuff cause it's a cross-border journey) and sending the online ticket to my phone which I didn't know if it would work at time of check-in. So just sending money was the easiest thing to do and as a bonus I had some money left to buy tobacco ...


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## Andrea Van Scoyoc (Jul 7, 2015)

You seem to be in good spirits despite the setbacks.

Live and learn. 

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!


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## Anagor (Jul 7, 2015)

Andrea Van Scoyoc said:


> You seem to be in good spirits despite the setbacks.



Yes. As said, mistakes are made to learn from them. And I learned a lot during that trip ...



Andrea Van Scoyoc said:


> Live and learn.



Yep.



Andrea Van Scoyoc said:


> Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!



I guess that's why most of us are here, to share experiences and thoughts.


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## lone wolf (Jul 7, 2015)

Anagor said:


> Another - more severe I have to admit - problem was my motivation to work.


i lol when i read that... i am the worlds best procrastinator. i don't need too many reasons to skip out on work but once i get comfortable i can work as hard as anybody.


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## Anagor (Jul 7, 2015)

lone wolf said:


> i lol when i read that... i am the worlds best procrastinator.



I doubt that. Because I am the worlds best procrastinator. 



lone wolf said:


> i don't need too many reasons to skip out on work but once i get comfortable i can work as hard as anybody.



Yeah, same with me. If I'm motivated I'm good. If not, just forget me.


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## Mankini (Jul 7, 2015)

Maybe the 1st problem is trying to stay in urban areas. When I was in Nideggen I went to what I thought was a hostel but was really a "Jugendherberge"....very young kids. ...???...So I walked into the medieval Alt Stadt and got a room at an old hotel called the "Ratskeller"...That place was cool. Helpful staff, free breakfast.

Maybe in the future, stay away from common places which are popular and attract lots of people. Stay in tiny villages where no tourists or hoi polloi even know about, let alone go. I have to complete assignments once a week for my online courses: the student aid is how I finance my trips. I don't want to work when i'm on the road: especially in beautiful settings like the Eifel.

That ATM situation would have sucked!!! Noone could have ever predicted something like that happening: its just sheer bad luck and not a failure of planning. I don't trust England; try to avoid it if at all possible...it just doesn't seem as friendly as some of the other countries...Prefer Poland, Belgium, Finland. You know what Napoleon had to say about it. LOL


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## Anagor (Jul 7, 2015)

voodoochile76 said:


> Maybe the 1st problem is trying to stay in urban areas. When I was in Nideggen I went to what I thought was a hostel but was really a "Jugendherberge"....very young kids. ...???...So I walked into the medieval Alt Stadt and got a room at an old hotel called the "Ratskeller"...That place was cool. Helpful staff, free breakfast.



I don't think so. I just should have had a better plan. Like booking a better (meaning better for work) hostel in advance. Not to be surprised by a booked up hostel or raised prices on the weekend.

Yeah, YHA and hostels like that are often booked by school classes. I prefer typical backpacker's hostels but the YHA was just at the coach station and I was lazy. But anyway, if I wouldn't have booked there I most likely wouldn't have met a friend from Bristol there that day. Cause I went outside to smoke a cigarette, looked at the park and thought to myself ... I know those dogs ... 



voodoochile76 said:


> Maybe in the future, stay away from common places which are popular and attract lots of people. Stay in tiny villages where no tourists or hoi polloi even know about, let alone go. I have to complete assignments once a week for my online courses: the student aid is how I finance my trips. I don't want to work when i'm on the road: especially in beautiful settings like the Eifel.



Yeah, but better planning is of paramount importance if you have to do some work. Other than if you are just on vacation or drifting around. I life at the opposite side of the Rhine btw., Westerwald ... 



voodoochile76 said:


> That ATM situation would have sucked!!! Noone could have ever predicted something like that happening: its just sheer bad luck and not a failure of planning.



No, it is. If you depend on money from your account you should have a fallback. I had a prepaid credit card with me tucked away somewhere, but there was not enough on it. And without online banking enabled, I couldn't transfer money from my account to the card. That was one mistake. Next time abroad, I'll have online banking. There can always be something wrong with your card.



voodoochile76 said:


> I don't trust England; try to avoid it if at all possible...it just doesn't seem as friendly as some of the other countries...Prefer Poland, Belgium, Finland. You know what Napoleon had to say about it. LOL



I like England very much. I never was in Poland, Belgium, Finland. But I'd like to travel there as well, no doubts. But as said I like England, when it comes to people I had only good experiences there.


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## Mankini (Jul 7, 2015)

Belgians I met were funny and hospitable. Finns not quite as funny-they are far quirkier!, but even more hospitable! Poles combine the two: really hospitable -and- silly, outrageous sense of humor. All 3 countries are beautiful in their own ways: Belgians have their Trappist monasteries with Trippel ales brewed on site. I am in a love affair with Bavarian wheat beers...but the Belgian ales are amazing, too. In the Eifel I had the easiest hitching experience ever. You know that area is very mountainous...so I didn't want to hike very much with a 22 kg. rucksack...Waited no longer than 5 minutes before getting a ride-With the Schmidt village postmaster!! Aahahaa! 

Maybe next time you can bring a mobile hotspot: so you don't have to rely on wifi. And maybe set up a sweet campsite in the hills or on the beach, rather than spend money at a hostel?

All in all I'm in love with Europe in general. I have no problem with the English people, per se: but rather their state, government, and certain aspects of their culture. I will try to stay on the east side of the Channel: coffee's better; chicks are hotter; food is better; cops nicer. After all, would you rather have a Jaegerschnitzel and a liter of Dunkelweizen?....Or kidney pudding and warm tea?


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## landpirate (Jul 7, 2015)

voodoochile76 said:


> After all, would you rather have a Jaegerschnitzel and a liter of Dunkelweizen?....Or kidney pudding and warm tea?



This made me laugh. Anything Kidney related is disgusting but you can't beat a cup of tea


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## Mankini (Jul 7, 2015)

Dated English girl in 98. Mom is from Nottingham; still loves me because we can share Wordsworth; Yeats; etc. <3 I'm just being obnoxious. Theres no place I've been where people weren't nice.

PS: Bubble n' Squeek. Haggis. LOL


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## Tude (Jul 7, 2015)

You will be good - but hot damned that was one hell of trip/story.


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## Anagor (Jul 8, 2015)

Tude said:


> You will be good - but hot damned that was one hell of trip/story.



Thanks, Tude!

It wouldn't have been so bad if I just would have had to do some easy work without a strict deadline. Meaning do it or don't do it, if you don't you won't get money for it, but that's it.

But as it turned out, there were quite a lot tasks I still had to do with a strict deadline and work that comes with a lot of responsibility since I had to do changes to productive systems. And better not making any mistakes.

I hit rock bottom as I realized I can't do all the stuff on my agenda under those circumstances and I had to call my boss last Friday of the trip to tell him the experiment failed, obviously. And asked him to do some of my work.

But as said, I learned from my mistakes ...


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## Anagor (Jul 9, 2015)

voodoochile76 said:


> Belgians I met were funny and hospitable. Finns not quite as funny-they are far quirkier!, but even more hospitable! Poles combine the two: really hospitable -and- silly, outrageous sense of humor.



Okay, perhaps I'll travel in those countries sometimes. Will keep it in mind.

I was in Belgium btw. during my first trip. I didn't go directly to London but stayed in Leuwen and Lille before crossing the channel. The hostel in Leuwen (Cube Hostel) was one of the best I experienced. 



voodoochile76 said:


> I am in a love affair with Bavarian wheat beers...but the Belgian ales are amazing, too.



I was in Bavaria last week ... had a few Weizen there. 



voodoochile76 said:


> In the Eifel I had the easiest hitching experience ever. You know that area is very mountainous...so I didn't want to hike very much with a 22 kg. rucksack...Waited no longer than 5 minutes before getting a ride-With the Schmidt village postmaster!! Aahahaa!



That's great!



voodoochile76 said:


> Maybe next time you can bring a mobile hotspot: so you don't have to rely on wifi.



I plan to do this, yes.



voodoochile76 said:


> And maybe set up a sweet campsite in the hills or on the beach, rather than spend money at a hostel?



I slept a few times at the beach in Brighton, was no problem. But camping would not be allowed there, I guess.



voodoochile76 said:


> After all, would you rather have a Jaegerschnitzel and a liter of Dunkelweizen?....Or kidney pudding and warm tea?



Well, that's a point.  But as said, I like England very much. I don't care about the government and had no problems with cops (as of yet). Only the one time I had to throw away my cider in Westminster, but that was not really a problem.


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## Mankini (Jul 9, 2015)

,Hey At least you tried  And of course this is doable-completely doable-just requires a little creative reorganization. There are any number of factors that can cause disturbances for someone trying to work on the road. For me it was just being overseas and also having a gf and friends who hadn't seen me in 3 years. GF's require much attention; friends want to go sit by the river like winos and soak in sunshine.  So work became deprioritized. LOL

In Belgium I camped on the beach at Ostend for a couple nites; then camped in the Ardennes for awhile.

I contemplate what would have happened had Britain -not- been the primary colonizer of N. America....what if the Dutch, Spanish, or the French had gained supremacy here instead? What would the world, and history, be like as a result. And the reason I say this is because the US has retained a lot of strange cultural artefacts...and political artefacts, that I find irritating. Puritanism. Prudery. Obseqiousness to rulers. Class stratification. These kinds of things can all be directly tied back to the mother country. I would much rather the Irish, French, or the Danes had established this colony....What happened in Paris in 1789 and in 1871; in Berlin in 1848; never happened here. Why? Somehow cultural conservatism became very firmly entrenched here.


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