A month working in London...

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A month working in London... (illegally)...

I was 20 years old back then and was ready to do whatever it took to push forward with my plan to be abroad for a year... and it was time for me to start taking things seriously...

After having spent half of my funds I was beginning to worry about how long my money would last in the real world...

My first 5 months of having a good time and living without any financial worries in a Kibbutz in Israel had come to an end and I was ready to start bringing in some cash to replenish my wallet.

I was quite fortunate to get a job right away in the Youth Hostel working in the kitchen...even though I had no working permit, and it also was 'cash in hand'... (Pictured below)

However, I had no idea how little the pay was...and, what the job entailed, all I can remember is that I was happy to have some form of income...

The job pay included my accommodation and free Breakfast and I made sure that after each breakfast I made myself a takeaway sandwich to eat for lunch.

The main purpose of my visit to London at that time was to restore not only my funds but my confidence that I could make it until the end of the year or thereabouts before my return airfare would expire in December...

I had just arrived in London and it was the middle of May...and I truly tightened up my belt quite a bit... my only expense was food...

Two of my meals were taken care of at the Hostel, so I was left with one more meal to have...and to tell the truth there weren't many practical or economical options and I remember that many times all I ate was a Big Mac at 'Maccas' by Victoria Train Station which was only a 20-minute walk from my Hostel.

I remember clearly that I even had to eat outside the restaurant to save a few Ps (pence)...
I would take my burger out and sit on a bench near the entrance...

I learned that in London if you wanted to eat inside a McDonalds you would have to pay some extra tax, and I also learned that if you wanted some extra ketchup for your burger or fries you had to pay extra!...
What!? Got to be kidding me...Welcome to the real world...

My job in the kitchen with the breakfast crew was rather easy, all I had to do was get the breakfast stuff ready for all the guests staying at the Hostel. It was a continental breakfast so...that meant boiling lots of eggs and placing fresh bread on trays and jams and marmalades.
Then of course clearing and cleaning tables and doing the dishes...It was only a couple of us working that shift.

It was an easy job though quite boring and it paid very little...only about 40 British pounds a week!
Which at that time was around $70- $80 USD... 

I was practically working 6 hours a day, from 6 am to 12 pm roughly, 6 days a week...
My plan was to save $400 in one month and that type of income didn't quite help me reach my target, but it was enough to keep me going.

My daily expense was literally the one Big Mac or sandwich I bought each day for dinner...which was around 1 pound a day...approx. $2 USD

Every day after finishing work I'd take a 'sightseeing walk'...
I walked everywhere, most of my walking area was around the beautiful Chelsea and South Kensington area and also around Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park a few times...so pretty...and then when it was around 6 pm I'd go to get my burger for dinner and then it'd be time to go back to the Youth Hostel to chill for a while...

There was a common room where there was a TV and where you could play cards or backgammon...there were always many backpackers to meet from everywhere staying there for a few nights and then heading off in different directions. 

Later on, at night some of the guys would play some good music to dance and it was a great night just about every night!

They used to play a lot of Reggae music, which to me was rather new, I'd never heard that music in Mexico and only heard a bit while I was in my kibbutz but at this Hostel, they were really into it!

So I learned about Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and other bands and they also played music by UB40 and Dire Straits...pretty cool stuff...and at the end, I really got into that music too!

During that stay in London, I walked and walked...
I hardly ever took any public transportation to get around, it was a bit costly and an unnecessary expense if I could walk, however, I remember that I had to take 'THE TUBE'  a couple of times.

They charge you by the number of stops you travel to...a totally new concept for me, as in Mexico you just buy one inexpensive ticket and you can go anywhere you want for the same fare...

However, I must admit that the first time I got on the 'Tube' I was was quite impressed after I got on board...

I looked around at the benches along the sides, they were upholstered in velvet or something like that...Wow...velvet seats?! ...and it was super clean so I said...Well, at least I'm travelling in some kind of luxury...

Up until then, I'd only been on one underground train/metro and that was in Mexico City... a bit different in many ways.

The Trains in Mexico have a normal train shape, sort of rectangular and run on rubber tires quietly...

'The Tube', is the nickname for the Metropolitan Underground in London, has a unique shape. The trains have a curved top, sort of tubular, and the tunnels they run through are tubular too... I guess that's why they call it 'The Tube'. (Pictured above)

If you are rather tall you must stand in the middle of the car otherwise the door can chop your head off when they close...not that they would, but you get the point.

The trains run on metallic wheels which makes them a bit noisy but not too much.
The underground system in London is much older than the one in Mexico and it is huge...I believe it is the first underground system in the world dating back to 1860...
I wish I'd been able to use it more but walking was cheaper.

I think that on a daily basis I walked around for over 2 - 4 hours, maybe around 10k or more...

During my walks, I went to see the unmissable 'Changing the Guard' at Buckingham Palace, a striking display of British pageantry when the New Guard takes over from the Old Guard... (watch a short video here)

Honestly, it was all I imagined it to be and it was indeed quite impressive, however, my financial worries were rather heavy and I don't think I fully enjoyed the whole thing that much at that time...

All I truly wanted from that month in London was to get the most out of it as I could, moneywise, and then go back to the Netherlands.

Since I left Israel I had been in communication by post with my ex-roommate from my Kibbutz, Arthur. In one of his letters, he said that I should go over to see him in the Netherlands and that I would have a place to stay for as long as I wanted...
WOW! He was indeed a very kind person...

Some people in the Youth Hostel suggested I'd go to the Netherlands to work with the Tulips, it was nearly harvest season and they normally need a lot of people, so I started planning towards that...It sounded like a good idea...

So at the end of my short and rather uneventful stay in London, I headed back to the Netherlands...

I don't remember very well my crossing back over the English Channel but I must've done the same I did to go to London and used the same route through Harwich by bus and ferry onto Hoek van Holland, I was in such a hurry to get to the Netherlands that all that trip is a complete blur...

After arriving in Amsterdam I went up by train to a small town just a few minutes away called Zaandam, that's where Arthur lived...

I do remember that very well...

He went to pick me up at the train station and it was a great feeling seeing my dear roommate again...especially because he was about to give me shelter when I needed it...

We had spent 3 months or so living together in the kibbutz and it had been nearly a couple of months since I saw him last...

I remember seeing him at the station...
Hey Arthur! I said all smiles...and he said...
"Hey Hector, Welcome to the Netherlands, how was your trip?" he was smiling too so that made me feel so much better...

'There's nothing like a friendly smiling face at times of need'...

"It's good to see you," he said... Yeah, it's good to see you too! Thank you for coming to pick me up, I said...
"No problem, I don't have a car but my place is not far from here, we can walk there, you ok to walk?" 
Sure thing, I said...I was only carrying my backpack and he took my hand luggage... and we headed off to his place walking through the friendly streets of Zaandam.

He was staying with his sister at her apartment and he said his sister was ok with my staying there for as long as I needed, so generous indeed. They sort of knew my financial situation so that was very kind indeed.

We walked and talked for a good 20 minutes to his apartment building and we went up to the 12th floor in a small elevator...

Inge, his sister, was waiting for us and said...
"Welcome welcome!! Please make yourself at home"...

It was a small but cute 2 bedroom apartment with 1 bathroom, 1 separate toilet, 1 mini kitchen and 1 small living/dining room with not much furniture apart from a sofa and a coffee table and a couple of ottomans ...there was also a small TV and a sound system to play records and cassette tapes and... Arthur's beautiful guitar sat there too...

Arthur and Inge took the bedrooms and they said I could take the sofa to sleep in...
I actually took the sofa cushions off of the sofa and laid them on the floor to have more room when lying down... and put a sheet over them, they gave me a pillow and I used my sleeping bag to sleep in...it was, in a way, quite comfortable...

It was a warm apartment and it was kept very neatly...
I truly was very grateful for their letting me stay there, absolutely free of charge, it was a time to grow and learn and to be patient …(more on this on my next post)

Thank you, Arthur and Inge...
You did more than give me a place to stay...
Heel erg bedankt, Thank you so much...