I am not going to bore you with the many different things I have done in my gap years between being a student but I would like to mention Eurocamp because it is still relevant today. For anyone considering working and travelling abroad Eurocamp is a great opportunity . They employ thousands of people, both young and not so young, to work as part of a team on campsites throughout Europe. As a first time working abroad I would recommend it to anyone, I had some of my best ever experiences working for them.
You can find job descriptions and how to apply here but I will give you a glimpse into just a few of the roles.
Montage/Demontage
At the beginning and end of the season, a team of people gather at the ferry in Portsmouth or Dover. Travelling in hire vans to various campsites where they work putting up tents, moving equipment and cleaning/preparing accommodation. It involves a lot of hard work but every night is a party.
My worst memory was at the end of the season on a campsite in Mersault, France, trying to scrub clean barbecues with cold water...there was no hot water for showers at the end of the day either. We went to bed dirty and woke up still black. However, we did get to sample the wine cellars on our day off!
The best part of it is the food. You take it in turns to cook and this is the most sought after role because you get to finish early and visit the local hypermarkets. Some of the concoctions people cooked up were surprisingly good, or maybe that's because we were ravenous after a long day's work! I think at one time someone was even considering writing a demontage cook book.
Courier
A Campsite Courier is similar to a holiday representative.
Your duties are to prepare guest accommodation, welcome guests upon arrival and to be on hand through their stay to deal with any eventual problems.
The biggest problem I had to deal with was faulty tent canvasses. All the tents had new canvasses which had been treated with a waterproof product. The trouble was, when it rained, it leaked and ran down the canvas leaving a poisonous residue. Everyone had to be re-camped and I had some very irate Germans to deal with.
Children's Courier
It sounds like fun, doing activities with the kids but it was hard work. Especially at Camping St Louis, near Cannes, France, when I only had Dutch and German kids to look after. (By the way, if you take a look at their current website, it was nothing like this when I worked there!)
The song that reminds me most of those summers