Moving to UK - best way to get there?

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Well, I'd like to see what kind of place you could get for £200 a week in London (or anywhere else for that matter). I don't think I'd like to live in it.

I used to pay £775 pm bills included in Clerkenwell in an ex council flat. Yes it is a council building but great views, comfortable, next to Exmouth markets with great cafes and a 20 min walk to Bank so paid £0 for transport each day. I travelled most weekends so it was just a base. It can definitely be done.

 

[Limewood]

Id bus it to Cairns, then fly to PNG then steamer ship from there...

oh' take cool clothes and warm jumpers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I used to pay £775 pm bills included in Clerkenwell in an ex council flat. Yes it is a council building but great views, comfortable, next to Exmouth markets with great cafes and a 20 min walk to Bank so paid £0 for transport each day. I travelled most weekends so it was just a base. It can definitely be done.

Ex council places are great! Usually have large rooms, and separate bathroom and toilet... great if you're house sharing!

 

[VPS]

I had a friend put her electricity bill in my name so that helped with the new bank account. What annoyed me the most was I had one in the 80s but didn’t think I’d be back. 15 times later

 

[Pierre_a]

Take it from a pom - 34 grand is absolutely peanuts in the UK, especially in London.

Honestly, even thinking of the desolate misery of the place is making me depressed. Grey interminable winters. Vicious cold northerly winds cutting you in half. 20% GST. 40% tax on income. Fuel costs that will make your eyes bleed. Extortionate utility costs. Trains that are always two minutes away. Proper commuter hell. Tiny cramped housing you can't afford to buy even if you wanted. Brexit. Euch!

On the brighter side you can look forward to a drinking away your misery in a decent pub, sausages worthy of the name, raw milk cheeses and proper salami's. Other than that I'd stay here!

 

[Flashback]

Take it from a pom - 34 grand is absolutely peanuts in the UK, especially in London.

Honestly, even thinking of the desolate misery of the place is making me depressed. Grey interminable winters. Vicious cold northerly winds cutting you in half. 20% GST. 40% tax on income. Fuel costs that will make your eyes bleed. Extortionate utility costs. Trains that are always two minutes away. Proper commuter hell. Tiny cramped housing you can't afford to buy even if you wanted. Brexit. Euch!

On the brighter side you can look forward to a drinking away your misery in a decent pub, sausages worthy of the name, raw milk cheeses and proper salami's. Other than that I'd stay here!

Income for the OP will land them nearly 11k short of the 40% tax band, so no worries there!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Income for the OP will land them nearly 11k short of the 40% tax band, so no worries there!

And probably not likely to be buying fuel!

I think pierre is being a bit harsh. Doing a stint in the UK can be lots of fun. on 34K you won't be having drinks at the Savoy each week but you probably aren't wanting to. Flying off to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome (etc) for the weekend makes the winters bearable. And in summer you can sit in the pubs, parks, by the rivers. And so much free stuff to do, museums, galleries, whatever.

 

[Forg]

Take it from a pom - 34 grand is absolutely peanuts in the UK, especially in London.

Honestly, even thinking of the desolate misery of the place is making me depressed. Grey interminable winters. Vicious cold northerly winds cutting you in half. 20% GST. 40% tax on income. Fuel costs that will make your eyes bleed. Extortionate utility costs. Trains that are always two minutes away. Proper commuter hell. Tiny cramped housing you can't afford to buy even if you wanted. Brexit. Euch!

On the brighter side you can look forward to a drinking away your misery in a decent pub, sausages worthy of the name, raw milk cheeses and proper salami's. Other than that I'd stay here!

From friends & family who’ve spent a few years apiece in London ... all this stuff is true, but the novelty of just being in one of the world’s 3 or 4 absolute “capitals” means it takes a couple of years before you even really notice that stuff. After a few years some wiggle their way into a niche with job or new friends or whatever & love it; others decide it was an exciting adventure but prospects back in Oz are ultimately better so they move home; some find that working for a company in London means “multinational” so they get to sample life somewhere else totally different again as a consequence of making that leap to London; whichever way, it’s an exciting adventure & there’s nothing to lose in going for it!

 

[Pierre_a]

And probably not likely to be buying fuel!

I think pierre is being a bit harsh. Doing a stint in the UK can be lots of fun. on 34K you won't be having drinks at the Savoy each week but you probably aren't wanting to. Flying off to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome (etc) for the weekend makes the winters bearable. And in summer you can sit in the pubs, parks, by the rivers. And so much free stuff to do, museums, galleries, whatever.

For me doing a stint involved being a pom and living there for thirty eight years so my opinion is somewhat skewed!

 

[trooper]

I know nothing of money matters in the UK...but I am curious as to how a job HERE can earn as little as $40k? Part time???

 

[Scarlett]

Id bus it to Cairns, then fly to PNG then steamer ship from there...

oh' take cool clothes and warm jumpers.

From the OPs title, this is the sort of thing I was thinking too!

On our return from living in the UK a few years ago, I looked at how to get back to Aus via land routes (as a travel adventure...) and it’s certainly possible to get to Singapore, but then the scheduled options dry up and I think the common wisdom was that you’d have to find passage on a cargo ship from Singapore to Aus.

Personally, I still think that routing would be preferable to 17hrs in Y in the ‘revolutionary’ new Dreamliner...

 

[Scarlett]

Oh, and to answer the OPs actual question. When moving over, I took a suitcase and golf clubs with me as hold luggage. Another suitcase and my cricket kit sent unaccompanied air freight and then maybe 6m3 of stuff as sea freight. (for my wife and I)

Mostly clothes, books, work essentials and kitchen stuff.

I think we visited all but 8 counties in the UK and about 32 nearby countries in 3 years! Happy days.

 

[Forg]

I think we visited all but 8 counties in the UK

On foot?
In one weekend?

On hols now, and I keep way overestimating how long it’s going to take to get somewhere!