Mothie,
No one blames you for being bushy-tailed about the whole fATPL thing but you just sound soooo naive.
even if it does mean poverty! and living with my parents when im 30!
The reality is somewhat different - Im 30, temporarily living with parents (hopefully) after leaving a good job to persue the long-held ATPL ambition. I own a house but have rented it out as I cannot afford to pay the bills right now because no-one will employ me!! And I mean no-one!! The year I spent training looks bad on the cv i guess!
My family and friends admire me for going for it and I know they're all proud of me but that doesnt change the fact that Im sat at home with a little blue book and no money.
Im lucky that, being a bit older, I don't have a huge debt to pay off at the moment - at your age I can only assume you will have to borrow the necessary. Have you read
www.ppjn.com? - the starting salaries won't allow you to lead much of a life while you repay your debts - being able to afford a place to live may be a push!
Have a back-up. Read everything there is to read on Pprune.
Not really trying to discourage you, maybe if I'd had your apparent drive at your age I would have gotten here sooner, but I'd also have a massive debt instead of just some!
(Ps. I too had a trial lesson at Cumbernauld many moons ago - there are bad pictures to prove it - and even had the chance of sponsorship with BA and British Midland but after failing to make it all the way I allowed myself to be discouraged)
Just listen to people and take off the rose-tinted glasses
Good Luck to all of us!