Hiya Faye!
Nice to meet you,congratulations on having the bottle to tell your family..I take my hat off to you!! x
I've only recently started working on the scene so not realy qualified to advise on that side of things (except for the agency Im working for which so far seems great) but, what I do know about is moving to London on a shoestring
I moved down to London as a pennyless 16 year old. Lucklily I was moving into a friends which made it easier but I was broke and couldn't stay there on the sofa for long so I did some serious missioning to find a new place!
If you you want your own place (budget around ?750pcm+ plus deposit to move in)for a decent studio in an ok area in zone 2, more for central zone 1) or would you consider a houseshare? This can be as little as ?300 pcm and is a good way to make new friends. However unless your with fellow WG's it could be tricky to bring clients back, but you could be an outcall-only excort iniatially. In fact, with my agency you do your shifts from a central London hotel so this wouldn't be a problem. Alternatively, you coud commute into London 2 days a week to do your shifts. This would boost your income and help you decide if you like working in the area.
The TNT magazine (google) is a terriffic source of info for newbies in London. It covers affordable accommadation, things to do in London, social events and even escort jobs. Its available for free all over London (pubs, tube stations etc) or you can check out the website.
Gumtree is a brill website and is easily the best for both private lets and houseshares, jobs, classifieds. Its free to advertise and you can even place an "accommadation wanted" ad to be specific about the accommadation you want.
I hope this helps! If you'd like advice on specific areas of London or anything else, PM and I'll do what I can to help.
Good Luck and keep us posted!
xhugsx
Melody x