I'm planning on backpacking around Europe. The goal is to go for as long as I can afford to and am still enjoying myself, and I was hoping for at least a year. To that end, I have some money saved up but I don't think it will enough for an entire year (that is, saving some money so I stil have something when I come back).
So I'm obviously going to need to work while I'm in Europe if I'm to have enough money to stay. I've got a few questions about this (read "is it possible?" as "has anyone ever done it before?"):
Is it possible to work in various countries around Europe, rather than in one place?
Is it possible to apply for a working visa from Europe (eg, while travelling on a tourist visa) rather than applying from home? I ask because if I'm travelling around Europe looking for work then I'm not necessarily going to know when or exactly where I'd need to work.
*In peoples' experience, is there much unskilled, low-paying work actually available out there? I don't speak anything other than English and I have no experience.
I'm guessing that this isn't going to work, and that I'm going to have to try to find work only in the UK, but I thought I'd ask anyway and see if anyone's tried something similar before.


You can work in them if your country has an agreement with them but you'll have to apply for a WHV for each country separately, which will be somewhat expensive and selfish seeing as only a limited number are given out per year.
You can't apply from inside the country, ie if you go to the UK on a tourist visa you can't apply for a WHV whilst in the country.
Not sure about mainland Europe, but there's lots in the UK but you're going to be competing with Eastern Europeans over the unskilled, low-paying work and the pay is LOW.

You have to consider probable vs. possible. In any country in W. Europe you would be competing with hordes of E. Europeans willing to work for extremely low wages under the table.
You need to realize that you can probably earn far more by working at home than you could ever earn while in Europe. The best way is to simply work a bit longer before leaving for your trip. That also means you can enjoy your trip rather than looking for work.