Anagor
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2014
- Messages
- 757
- Reaction score
- 870
- Location
- Bonn, Germany
- Website
- anagortravelling.wordpress.com
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.
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.
