So what’s the opportunity??
Many will tell you that working a summer season abroad is ‘living the dream’ for the majority they will be right.
For myself though and many others, working the season away was and still is the gateway to the rest of the word and if you don’t take advantage of the golden opportunity it gives you to travel then more fool you.
If you’ve done the hard bit and quit your job, taken a year out or whatever it took to give you the chance to have a summer in the sun then you’re half way there – to that round the world ticket.
“but working abroad is travelling??”
A summer in the sun, be it Magaluf, Ibiza, Zante, Malia, Sunny Beach, Tenerife, etc. (amazing as it is) – isn’t travelling. I’m talking about jumping on a long haul flight with visas sorted, back-pack full of shit you think you’ll need (but won’t) and clearing off with nothing but a rough travel route planned.
The opportunity to see places like Australia, Thailand, South America, India, North America, New Zealand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, country after amazing country, should never be taken lightly.
Do a quick survey of some of the 40+ people you know and ask if they have any regrets, see how many say they wish they’d travelled before they had kids.
Now, of course, you can travel in your 40s or even 70s once the kids have flown the nest but for me, that’s missing the point.
Getting out and seeing the world will be life changing in more ways than one, you will grow as a person and realise things about yourself you would never have known. The life experience and networking you will do while travelling is likely to shape the path of your future career choices and make you more appealing as an employee. There is a lot to be said for the ‘university of life’ as they call it.
When I returned to the UK for a few years both jobs I had were down to people I had met whilst working away and neither wanted to see my qualifications or a degree.
And let’s be honest, I’m sure it’s great to travel in retirement but do you honestly think you wouldn’t have more fun doing it in your 20s and 30s??!
A season abroad is the perfect way to fund and find time for travel.
After a couple of seasons as a worker in Magaluf, staying out all night and doing every workers party going I soon realised there was money to be made out there.
The majority of workers were busy doing what I’d spent my first year doing, getting pissed and not taking the job too seriously. After all the job was just a box that needed ticking in order to pay the rent which allowed us to stay “living the dream”.
Many of them going from job to job and not caring less if they were fired. Much to the frustration of the Spanish owners/managers who were under serious pressure to make whatever they could in the short summer season.
So, I thought, it’s not going to be hard to be worth a few more quid out here – prioritise the job, the life with it, will fall in behind. Maybe the fact all I had to go home to was living with the parents and my job at McDonald’s made me pretty much determined to do whatever I could to stay in the sunshine!
I was quickly made bar manager and 2nd season PR manager for the club I was working at the time. At 21 I was managing a team of 14 PRs and couple of years later I was General Manager of the club with over 30 staff under me. What did I know about managing a club? – nothing, but I’m happy to learn as I go. The only real thing I was doing, was what the others weren’t – prioritising the job, it wasn’t hard, be on time, don’t let them down and don’t turn up pissed! (For some that final part is one of the hardest battles they face every day!).
The better pay soon followed as the club started to do better, I had gone from earning 5,000 pesetas a day (about £20). to being paid around 6,000€ per month cash in hand.
At 25 years old this was crazy money to me as all I had to pay was the rent on my apartment. The bar paid taxes and social security so the cash was all mine to do what I wanted with.
Travel wasn’t something I’d even thought about but when you have a job at a venue which closes for 5 months of the year with nothing required other than a phone call to say you’ll be back a couple of weeks before opening, it seems like a pretty obvious choice.
So that’s what I did, travel!
The first time I went was to Thailand when an ex I had started seeing had already booked so I tagged along, it wasn’t somewhere I’d even thought about going to but I loved it, and got hooked.
Now I was never really into the country hopping thing as I never saw it as my only chance so I would simply see where others were going, where I fancied heading, and book a flight.
One of my best mates owned a club in Mallorca & was always cash rich come winter time so we often travelled together, so we would just have a beer, throw some ideas about and book it. I think the year we went to Oz we had only spoke about it the first time 3 weeks before flying.
The best part of all the seasons working abroad
Without a doubt the best part of all the seasons working abroad for me has been the winters, managing a club can be stressful and I still loved it but nothing beats heading down to Heathrow airport with an open return ticket and 9k to spend!
Of course you don’t need that kind of budget to travel, there are thousands leaving the UK every day with nothing more than a couple of thousand British pounds and a credit card. And they will love every single minute of it!
In comparison I’ve lived in the UK and know exactly how hard it is for people to raise a lump of cash to go travel or to have the gap in their career to go do it, very few will feel they can leave their job to just jump on a plane.
“I’ll work hard now, save, then do it in a few years”.
– Said the guy who got the job, met the girl, bought the house, had the kids and is now saving for the 2 weeks in Benidorm which is the highlight of the whole year (apart from Christmas of course when he has to put himself close to ruin to make the kids smile and ensure the Mrs can keep up with the Browns at no.12).
It’s not for everyone
I’m not saying everyone wants to travel nor manage or miss out on the wild side of the summers away but I would strongly suggest that you give it some thought, and take full advantage of the opportunity you are given. Save some money while you party and go see the world! You never know when you will have that chance again and it will be something you will treasure forever.
I’m writing this sat on a bus which is taking us to board a ferry to Koh Samui, Thailand, after leaving the amazing islands of Phi Phi.
Travelling is good, you should try it.
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