Doing your O.E

Been thinking alot lately about doing my O.E and heading to London.

Just got a few questions....

1. Is it best to settle in london and get yourself sorted with a place & job before you start travelling around Europe? Or travel 1st?

2. Whats the DJing competition like in terms of getting gigs? and what do you have to do in order to get them?

will have a few more questions soon...

Travel first bro. It is sooo easy to get stuck in a rut in London. I'm going to travel first this time around and then settle again.

From what I hear, DJing in London is fucken hard. Everyone is a DJ over there. I've spoken to Matt Clarke and others about this. In hard house there is sooo much competition.

I'm gonna take records with me when I go, don't know how many, prob only one bag, travel light and all. We'll see how it goes bro.

Oh the travelling first thing depends on how much money you go over with. The first time I went over with UK 4 grand. Got to London and stayed there pretty much. Blew the majority of it on partying, but fuck I had some fun! Should have travelled straight away.

I did travel in the end and saw some cool countries and stuff, but I had to wrk hard to get to them, when I could have gone straight away.

So I'm going back to do the shit I missed from the first and second times I went.

There really is no "best" in terms of when to travel.

You could come here, go travelling through europe for a bit, then come back and settle. Or you could do some travelling through Asia or the USA on the way over and then settle in London.

You really do need £2000 or so in order to get set up properly, so you can only go on some big travels around europe first if you have funds in excess of that - try £1000 per month of travelling round europe these days.

I've done fuck all travelling round europe so far, but i have been to Thailand, Korea, China, India, Syria and Lebanon, and I'm about to go to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - simply cos those countries have a bit more appeal to me at the moment then europe - tho i do hope to go and see europe at some point. One problem i had was last year me and some friends blew £1000 each on a 6-night clubbing holiday to Ibiza - you have to ask yourself how much its worth!!!!!!!!!!! (Tho we did have awesome fun!)

Personally I'd get settled into London first - I think it all depends on how much money you can bring over with you also.

Bring as much as you can possibly afford as it is bloody expensive. By the time you've paid for a months rent plus a months bond you could easily have spent £1000 (assuming £500pm rent) with another £500 due to come out of your bank in a months time. In that time you'll also have living costs, travel etc and it could be up to 7 or 8 weeks before you get paid even if you start work immediately due to monthly pays. I think the days of £2000 being enough are over unless you are keen on sharing a massive house with loads of travellers.

As for the DJing scene. If you have contacts use them, it is very very hard.
You may get gigs but don't expect to get *any* money for them. You'd be lucky at most gigs to even get a free drink. As someone said everyone here is a DJ and if you won't play for free someone else will.

Thanks for your help there guys.....

Obviously the more $$$ you take over with you the better off your gonna be...
I wouldnt mind doing a little bit of travelling before settling down in London, I think thats what I'm gonna do.
Always wanted to stop in India and travel round the country. I hear thats a life changing experience.

In terms of the DJing side of things.... gonna plan to take over a few demos, box of records and see what happens.... I expect to start from the bottom and work my way up. Theres obviously no point in expecting good time slots when in my case, I need to earn them and I'd quite happily play for free in order to get a set somewhere and get started.

So where are some of the biggest and best parties to go to in Europe? and what time of the year do they ususally happen?

1 other thing....

Just been sifting through the threads in terms of looking for jobs in London.
I do account managment & sales for an advertising company here in WGTN and have done so for the past 3 years.

What sort of salaries can you expect for my sort of work?

No idea mate. Get in touch with 1st Contact. THey can give you some sort of idea. THey also run an employment agency thingie too, heaps of info from them.

Parties? Too many to mention. Dance Valley. GC SSS, Love Parade, Creamfields. HOMELANDS. OZZFEST!

mt advice is avoid london alltogether and fly straight to edinburgh or dublin..!!!! far less people you can walk everywhere, the people are a lot friendlier, the cost of living is pretty much the same, but theres far less compitition for work, edinburgh has HEAPS of clubs so getting a gig, or in fact your own weeknight shouldnt be to hard, ive lived in all three cities, and i definatly rate edinburgh..!!!

I’ve been in London 3 months now. Paying off my debt at home first and then start my travels next year. I don’t think there is a best way to do it. It depends on how much money you have. I was just keen to get out of NZ so I just had enough to get me started here. If you can save up for doing the rounds around Europe then I guess do that first. I guess it also depends on your visa. I’ve can be here as long as I want so I’m not in a hurry like a lot of people to go travelling.

As for Dj’ing. They have always got open decks nights on around town.

Aye yes....I'll be over there mid October.
My plan is to find work and then a place to live.
I'll do all the traveling round stuff during their next summer...hopfully I'll have so money saved up by then.

Its my first time over seas, so I want to find my feet first.
I've got a british passport, so I can stay as long as I like...which is good as then there is no hurry.

Best of luck to you, and what ever you choose to do I'm sure it'll work out.

Also....good websites to look before coming over are:

www.1stcontact.co.uk/nz

www.tntmagazine.com

www.thegumtree.com

http://www.nzuk.com/

http://www.anzsac.com/

And another thing....when you open a bank account, do it from NZ. Plus don't get one with Lloyds. They are shite.

one more thing....

a really good place to look for jobs is www.gojobsite.co.uk. there are shitloads on there. a lot will tell you salaries too.

a question on rent etc...

on tnt and the gumtree the rates are like 300PW but when I spoke to my mates over there they said that they probably mean per month....

whats the story ?

what could we expect to pay for say, a 3 bedroom house in Acton ?

PER WEEK ?

then what about bills/utilitys etc.....

Nice one Domino,

Its also good hearing it from someone who has just gone through the set-up period.

Hows it going over there for you?

Im hopefully heading over to London in January/Feb and see how it all goes. I have an English passport so i can stay for however long i want and my cousins live in London and are all into h/house and go to Partys often so its somewhere to start i guess.

I pay £500 a month + bills for a double room in Wimbledon (3 bdrm moden house). It depends really, the closer you get to the city the more expensive. You can also share a room and pay less or have a single room. Personally I don't mind paying a bit more to have my privacy...plus I've got an ensuite! Expect to pay a months rent in advance plus a months rent as bond all up front! *ouch* Food is pretty cheap though I've found...as long as you dont eat out all the time. You can always stay at friends places until you save up a bit more cash and get yourself sorted. Bills are usually pretty cheap...depends on what extras your house has like dishwasher/washing machine/sky digital/internet etc. Basically everything depends on how much you earn!

3 bedroom house in Acton?....prolly about £350/450 a week. What you personally pay depends on how many people you have in the rooms.

I love London...so far...

Also...you may pay more living closer to the city...but your travel costs will be less. The further out you live...it will be cheaper rent but travel will be more. I'd say stick to zone 3...maybe 2. And dont live anywhere East London....its shite. West and South West I reckon are the best.

Dom, the 500 a month, is that each ? or do you divide it up so if 5 people lived there its 100 a month each ?

or 500 a month each ?

Most places are 350 to 550 per month PER PERSON, tho if you share a room its obviously cheaper...

Richy - I pay £500 a month just for me. Depending on what kind of room you have eg double/single/shared etc you can pay anywhere from i dunno...maybe £50 a week to £150 I guess. There is no way I could have a single room or share with someone so unfortunately I get stung.

LONDON IS NOT DESIGNED FOR SINGLE PEOPLE!! bugger

sweet as, Im looking at PROBABLY going to Acton and on the gumtree & TNt places are averaging 350 quid a week so divided between the 4 other people Im going with it should be pretty reasonable....

what about food domino ?

I was in London last year for a few months (Willesden ) and thought the food was pretty reasonable ?

I think food here is really cheap. I buy all mine from the supermarket and make my own breakfast/lunch/dinner etc so that makes it cheaper. If you want to eat out or get takeaways all the time then it can get expensive. Red meat and seafood is expensive as well. I live on about £20/£25 a week. Have a look at www.tesco.com or www.asda.co.uk for prices for food. :o)

60c loafs of bread from Safeways, same for rice, pasta spaghetti. You can shop really cheaply if you do it on a budget.

The cool thing is though, I don't even think twice about spending 15- 30 quid on a bottle of champagne over there. It's dirt cheap!

I so can't wait to go back over!

If thinking about DJing, I've heard that it is easier to get plays up north, ie Sheffield etc.

Sjaan, who is now a Heat resident, was resident @ The Crown in Willesden, when I was there last year she said to let her know when Im ready and she could get me a slot @ the Crown so Im hoping she is still there in March so I can hit her up !

i was great in london

i though it was solely designed for single people

Bet you got up to some mischeif over there Steve A.

Planning on going back yourself?

everyday...

i am going back for a visit in july/august

i would stay if i could.

poor me

You will see some of the most beautiful women you have EVER seen in London, then 5 minutes later you will see some of the most UGLY people you have EVER seen !!!

their mums. ha

Fhaaark yoo cahnts! Ahr'm 'n Essex giral!

When I meant it wasnt designed for single people I meant as in like rent etc. If I had a partner my rent would be half...plus maybe half a car, half the insurance (which is killer by the way), and half of some other bills too.

London is definately designed for single people with things like socialising etc though.

when I was over there last time I didnt even take much notice of chicks...

Im real glad that I'll have my girlfriend with me this time tho, she will keep me in line and make me save $$$ cos Im useless !!!

didn't even take much notice of chicks?

didn't you ever walk through hyde park (or any park for that matter) in the middle of summer - the secretaries... my god!

not sure i would bother with a car. we had one for a while and it was more trouble than it was worth. and insurance is crippling.

golf sale in oxford circus, the big issue, prawn coctail flavoured walkers crisps, lager tops, this train terminates here

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.... Marmite walkers crisps dude - WTF u on about out!!!????!!?!! Cheese and Onion hula hoops, ASDA custard donuts, mad people, mad people and mad people as far as the eye can see!!!

hey, I noticed the chicks mate !!

I just wasnt too bothered with trying to score them!

theres so much fun to be had that the women dont matter!

Ok, so these 'beautiful people'....where the hell are they? I have found the ratio of ugly people : hot people is something like 80%:20%

I always thought that in a city with more people there were bound to be ugly people...but not this many...and it's supposed to be cancelled out by an equal amount of attractive people...but NO!

Dammit...I dont want to have to lower my standards. *sob*

the best thing about the women here in the UK is that there actually really approachable, dont know if its the accent or what but i have no probs getting a conversation out of the local lassies..!!!
From what i remember..(its been a while i admit) Kiwi women are pretty uptight...i know thats a generalisation, but my lovelife improved DRASTICALLY when i made the move.and i aint no Leo decaprio either..

The whole 3 years I spent in London, I only ended up with one kiwi chick. The rest were English, Spanish, Aussie, Safa's, Germans. But I think that was more due to the crowd I was hanging out with. Most of the kiwi girls I did know, were pretty cool and laid back though.