It is a pressing issue.

Depends where you live in the UK.

Darn Sarf probably after a week.
Oop north probably never.


As for fag - only you went to Eton .

I'm just wondering why two people would want to subject themselves to the prospect of trying to find menial labor, probably poor housing conditions and the very real possibility of not having enough to eat, if this wasn't absolutely necessary. Sounds more like "slumming", than a reasonable vacation plan.

Early Spring - March and April - are some of the harshest months in France, weather-wise. Might be a lark in the Summer, but only if you are extremely lucky and can beat out the other people willing to work for next-to-nothing for short periods of time because they have no other choice.

Thank you so much for all of your replies, just to clarify, we are british nationals, with passports, and a registered address for our mot insurance etc. We will mostly probably be camping / sleeping in the car. It is a shame that we can't leave later in the year, but we have had to find a farm manager for my friends farm who's coming with me, and that is when he starts and it's when my work contract ends so the decision has been made for us really. We did think about heading to geneva, looking for some dairy work around here, im aware we will be competing with illegals and cheap labour, but we have our own accomodation so as long as we earn enough money to put to one side for a bit of fuel and food - we're happy. And around there too if the farm work doesn't happen, there's always the possibility of working at one of the many ski resorts which wont be far from there. We looked into wwoof, i am currently in new zealand and have done some wwoofing here, but we really do need to be paid, accomodation isn't so much an issue. I said a week, but whilst the weather's still poor at that time of year, it makes sense to earn as much money early on in the trip and get it out the way for when the weather is better - then we can head to italy, southern france etc for picking jobs etc

This might have worked in the 70s, 80s or even the 90s, when you could have gotten a job in a bar run by an expat, but since the creation of the EU, and the opening up of Eastern Europe, you may find it difficult finding any kind of work, what with unemployment being what it is.

Language will also be an issue, especially in the countryside.

Let me get this straight -- your friend has a farm and the wherewithal to hire a manager for it . . . but you want/need to work as itinerant laborers somewhere on the continent?

Something seems weird here. But assuming this is legit, I seriously doubt anyone posting on Fodors is an expert on the sort of work/travel you want. What is so magic about going to mainland Europe in March since you won't be sightseeing, but slogging in some non skilled jobs.

If you just want to backpack around Europe -- do it. Earn some cash in the UK and then go on your adventure . . .

Seems legit.



Oh, is the part where I say "triangled"?

Okay so i'll explain our circumstances, my brother took his life back in june and the very last thing we talked about was travelling, and how hellbent he was to make sure that I saw as much of the world as possible. I now have an opportunity while I am still young, no wife, no kids, to travel the world (starting in europe) with a very close friend of mine who is lucky enough to also be in a position where he has a certain degree of security at home on his farm which he runs with his family, and enough money (and no wife or kids). Europe is just the start of the journey which will end in greece where my friends mother lives, who will be buying the car from us, and from greece we will either be going to canada, depending on visas's, or continuing east. We have no time limit, so really is going to be quite some trip. We definately do want to sightsee, ofcourse we don't just want to work! We will be leaving with some money, but it's inevitable that we will need to top up our money by working where we can if the right opportunity comes in the right place, I think we might have something semi-lined up in southern italy for march for 2-3 weeks but this is not set in stone

Hi Joe, I can understand your wish to travel, and to pay for it by working along the way. It's just not as simple as it used to be. If you want to work legally, you'd have to set something up before you leave the UK, and pay taxes over what you earn.
Speaking for Belgium, where I live, it's no longer possible to just pick up a waiter's job in a cafe; the restaurant industry is heavily regulated, and owners just don't take the chance of employing people without paying taxes.
There's a lot of red tape involved.
There are workers here, especially from Poland, who do gardening work, painting etc, without the 'paperwork'. This is usually by word of mouth; if I am caught employing someone like that (even though he is legally allowed to work here), I could be facing a huge fine.

I think this is probably not the right forum for you to ask these questions. The best thing to do would be to set up some jobs before you leave. Farms that need temporary workers usually work through intermediairies that take care of all the red tape.

A site like 'Workaway' has jobs in return for food & board. Not what you're looking for, but at least it will allow you to stay for free, without the need to spend your savings.

<i>I think this is probably not the right forum for you to ask these questions.</i>

Good point. Check out Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree or 4chan /trv/ and you might get some good info.