In terms of land area London is the second most massive city in the world, it is well over fifty miles across. Slough is just outside the newer perimeter highway that forms a massive ring around the city.
The taffic is similar to LA, you don’t want to have to commute by car for long distances. Luckily public transport is good. Uxbridge is nice and you can take the train into central London.
The hot tip for using public transport is the day pass. It costs just a little bit more than a one way ticket but it allows you unlimited use of the subway and buses for the day. That will save you a lot of money on transport.
There are people who live in Bristol on the west coast who commute to Slough to work and they do it in less time than someone living in parts of London could.
Right downtown in central London, Chelsea is nice. One thing that might work to your advantage would be that rush hour traffic goes in to London in the mornings and you would be going out. Or if you want really nice there is Belgravia. Hampstead Heath in the north is really nice but good luck commuting.
Don’t live in Slough it is rather shite. I lived in Uxbridge for a year with my brother and had to commute to school via Slough. It’s a run down industrial estate.
As it’s already been said the closest London area that is acceptable to live in is Uxbridge (you would take the tube to Paddington and then a train to Slough-total travelling time would be 1 1/2 hours). Make sure you don’t live in a crappy part though because it has some rough areas (teen gangs looking for fights). Personally I would go for Windsor as it’s very clean, has some excellent pubs, shops and bars. The downside is it is on the expensive side.
Reading although not in London (about 35 mins on the fast train to Paddington-a major London station) is a cool place for the shopping and bar/club scene (again make sure you live in a safe area).
On the other hand you could just live in one of the trendy parts of London and Commute as long as you don’t mind the shitty UK transport system. It would be expensive but you’d love it.
Ye I can say Uxbridge is pretty sound I had relatives there and its seems fine.
If you are going to have a very high budget try getting a pad around Ascot, or Sunnighill or Sunnidale proper nice around there, my aunt has a place in sunningdale and its a short hop up through Winsdor to Slough, not cheap living though!
Thanks very much for the suggestions - they’ll be picking up the housing tab, so whatever they’ll bear… =-) How much does a 2 bedroom “flat” run generally? I had heard in the neighborhood of 800 pounds per week for furnished in a decent area.
you can get a decent place in Slough for 800 per MONTH!
anyway ideally you want to be out of slough, here are some properties from a reputable letting agent around the area so you can get an idea of what you might get for your budget:
Related question: Does anyone who has recently traveled to London know the requirements for getting a VAT refund? If I were over there for 3 months, would I be able to get my VAT paid back?
If you want to know about the price of groceries, Sainsbury’s is one of the biggest supermarket chains, and their online shop lets you browse prices without registering:
Don’t use the price of imported Biotest supps as a guide to the cost of living!
As far as I know the only VAT refunds available personally are on stuff you buy in shops and then take out of the country. [If your firm trades in the UK/Europe and pays your expenses, they can offset the VAT charges (subject to complex rules) against the VAT they charge their customers. But that doesn’t benefit you.]
Slough is certainly a shithole: I have a friend who commutes there from Oxford. Google maps will give you a good idea of what’s where - and can find stuff like estate agents within a particular area, too.
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Related question: Does anyone who has recently traveled to London know the requirements for getting a VAT refund? If I were over there for 3 months, would I be able to get my VAT paid back?[/quote]
I went to Dublin not too long ago and I took care of it at the airport when I was leaving. You can also file it with your taxes next year, but that would probably be a pain in the ass. I’m assuming London would be the same, but I’d double check.
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out
[quote]Wayland wrote:
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out[/quote]
[quote]CantStop wrote:
Wayland wrote:
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out
[quote]rsg wrote:
CantStop wrote:
Wayland wrote:
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out
[quote]CantStop wrote:
rsg wrote:
CantStop wrote:
Wayland wrote:
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out
From ooop North?
Fook you! LOL
(I’m a foreigner by the way)
Where are you from?[/quote]
I’m from SA - and I don’t think I’ll be going back (been here 2 years now).
[quote]CantStop wrote:
Wayland wrote:
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out
From ooop North then?[/quote]
I lived in middlesbrough for 6 years but im originally from north east essex
[quote]Wayland wrote:
CantStop wrote:
Wayland wrote:
everything is so goddamned expensive,
especially rent prices. That and the people have their heads so far firmly up their asses that the jaws of life could’nt prize them out
From ooop North then?
I lived in middlesbrough for 6 years but im originally from north east essex[/quote]
Guildford’s what you make it, but personally I would travel to London to hang with my mates. The Clubs there are shit though. Which gym do you train at?
slough sucks but london is cool in parts what electric_e said about london is very true it’ll change completely every five miles from ghetto to posh to standard but if your budget wont pay for Biotest there’s a great uk based company that I use. www.myprotein.co.uk if Biotest do the best products they do the second best and they are seriously cheap.