Goodbye Travelodge

"Say yes to new adventures!"

A swan and her sygnets in one of the lakes in Tilgate Park

I'm a dreamer, maybe that's why I decided I needed to make some changes in my life. I've been working at Travelodge Gatwick Central for six months now, but even if I chose to stay on there I was getting bored with my life and with the fact that I didn't feel like I was going anywhere. We had new management come in, we had a huge turnover of new bar staff, many of whom wouldn't stay longer than a few weeks, if that. Its not fun getting to know someone, and working along side them only to discover that they'd quit whilst you were on your day off, for unknown reasons. There was always plenty of speculation about why they quit. Even the staff who were working behind the bar when I started have left so that there were only two of us on the bar that had been with the hotel longer than six months. Since I started at the bar cafe at Travelodge I've learned so much, like changing the barrels for our drought beers (something I didn't know before I started working behind the bar). However, I've come to feel like a change of job was needed. Enough said.

So about a month ago I started actively job hunting. It became more than just scrolling through job adds on indeed.com and TotalJobs, to pass the time, but applying for jobs I was likely to get interviews for, handing out CVs wherever there were signs for job applications, and when I was invited for interviews, I’d go for them, as prepared as possible (often with the documents needed to prove I was right for the job). I had several interviews when I didn’t get further than having the interview itself (often there’s a trial shift that follows the interview before I'd be offered the job or not).

I've been in the UK for almost two years now (its hard to believe its been that long) and I've been wanted to work up at London Gatwick before I even knew I wanted that. When I started working in the UK I'd planned to work my way over to a job at the airport, but I was hindered by one thing. My work history. Gatwick's security clearance department ask for five years of work references, as well as reports of good behavior (police clearance reports or criminal records checks) if you've lived outside the UK for more than three months in the five years. This was my big hang up. Before 2014, I'd lived outside the UK for long periods of time, mainly in East Africa (Uganda and Kenya). Getting criminal records checks from these two countries would have taken far too long, so I waited until I'd been in Europe long enough to only need to apply for a records check from the Dutch government, which can be done online from within the UK.

Most of the jobs I applied for were with the lounges, restaurants and bars at London Gatwick Airport as they’re easy to get to by public transport (indifferent to the time I need to get to the airport) and they pay well (often about £1.50 more than my current wage). I also have plenty of experience working in a customer facing role in the hospitality industry. One of the jobs I applied for was with the pub chain JD Wetherspoon. They have pubs all across the country and are classed as a typical English pub. I really hoped that they'd offer me a job with them, and they did. I was thrilled when I got the email saying my application had been successful. I then handed in my notice and will be starting the induction in about two weeks' time.

I've missed working in a pub, even though my experience at the pub I worked at wasn't the best, it's got a different environment than working in a hotel bar and I need the change, mentally as well as financially. I'm really excited for what's going to come next and I'm hoping that I'll be able to get that Blue Pass, without any hangups along the way.

Until next time!