Milton Keynes, England
Born and raised in Milton Keynes, England, I’ve grown up with a desire to see the world for as long as I can remember. Inspired by own mum’s adventures of leaving home at 16 to live in Israel, Copenhagen, Finland and Greece - I knew I wanted to follow in similar footsteps and be shown the world from a local perspective. I found out about the “Working Holiday Visa” when I was just 14 and decided I was going to live and work in Australia, “somewhere in Europe”, Canada and New Zealand before I aged out.
During my studies at secondary school, I took on many hats and worked in childcare as a play assistant and payroll officer, office assistant and as I was also known for not having any shame, I worked in Mcdonalds in 2014 nearby my school. I had the pleasure of serving my schoolmates and the public alike 😉. Once I had completed my studies, Australia was my goal and I needed to save money to be able to afford the visa, flights and accommodation all on my own.
After Mcdonalds, I worked at what used to be the Ramada Encore in Milton Keynes Central and we would welcome business clients from London and the surrounding areas during the week, and the party animals on the weekend. Learning an old school hotel system (Brilliant) was new for the brain and just when I thought I got the hang of it, I walked into work to find out we had changed hotels overnight (it even made the local newspaper). Thrown right into the thick of unhappy guests and our systems not yet migrated to the new hotel system, Opera, I did what I do best - be of service. We had paper copies of all our reservations who booked directly, but not the ones who booked with third parties, I walked people to their rooms, carried their luggage, gave restaurant recommendations and tried my best to mitigate a pretty bad situation with a smile. After 6 hours, our reservations systems we were finally back online and it was now time for intense training to understand the hotel operating system ready for tomorrow.
With the minimum wage being half of what it is now, I needed to make extra income to be able to make it to Australia the following year. I decided to try and cut my costs whilst still having fun so I worked part time as a freelancer for the bars in the city as a “shot” girl. This meant I needed to schmooze with everyone in the bar and get them to add 4 extra tequila shots to their night for a “good time”. Being in England, it’s not too hard to convince people to do so and I got to dance on the dancefloor whenever I wanted. Determined, I was working 7 days a week but I was having a lot of fun doing it!
It’s January 2017 and I finally have enough money in the back pocket to set my sights on Australia. With my visa being approved instantaneously, I took that as a sign to get a wiggle on and I planned my trip to Australia within 4 weeks, organised and enjoyed my own leaving party and was heading to Brisbane as of the 1st of February. From 5 degrees in England to a historical heatwave in Queensland of 44 degrees when I landed, I was excited to earn more than double in Australia doing what I was doing already and to spending the next 2 years on the road!