Outtakes by Laura.: On stay and direct bookings

For a model it’s good to travel and see clients all over the world. Therefore, a model can go ‘on stay’, which means go live in a city for a longer amount of time (like a month or longer, whatever’s good for his/her career and depending if a model works well in that city). When models are on stay, they often live in a model apartment (an apartment owned by the agency) with other models. However, models can also arrange their own accommodation. After a couple of years of traveling and living in one too many model apartments, I personally prefer not to live in a model apartment. They are often dirty, small and since you share the house and your bedroom with numerous models, not a lot of privacy, too.

On my trip to Milan, where I stayed for about a month, I stayed in a tiny room which I shared with a girl who didn’t like to shower and who smoked a lot. And I’m not a big fan of cigarettes. Luckily, my roommate agreed with not smoking in our room, so that helped a lot already, smell-wise ;-) After a few weeks I could move into another room where my friends were staying, so sharing a room wasn't too bad then. It was actually a lot of fun with all that girl-talk, watching Netflix in our pyjamas and of course going out together!

Tiny room in Milano

Room no. 2: having fun with the girls

Compared to Athens, I’ve lived like a princess in Milan. The apartment, or basement actually, where I lived in was absolutely disgusting. All over the walls and ceiling you could see mold and some more mold developing. It was so bad that it actually took my breath and I got a headache after being inside for half an hour. And to my HORROR, there were lots of cockroaches…… I was very sure this couldn’t be too good for my health, so I decided to alarm the landlord. He wasn’t very happy with my complaints and didn’t want to help me out. There were no other rooms available at that moment, so I had no other option than to cook where I pee (take a good look at the photo).

So, as you can read, model apartments aren’t very appealing. However, if you’re lucky, you can make good friends with other models when you're living together. In fact, in Cape Town and London, I arranged my own apartment with friends whom I knew from living in model apartments.

Our apartment in London

View from our apartment in Cape Town

Direct bookings are bookings that a model didn’t cast for (or casted for once and then the client regularly books him/her directly). The jobs can be in the country that a model is currently in, or the client flies the model in. I’ve been to some exciting places all over the world already! On those moments, modeling is a little bit (or a lot) more comfy with often nice hotels, good weather and good food at the job.