OK we've crunched the numbers for London..

[Dutchie]

.. for our daughter and the way things look at the moment we are going to have come up with (in the most ideal situation) around
€ 500 per month which is (depending on the rate of exchange) around $680. It will be for 6 months.

So the first part has been done, we know what it will cost, now we have to find it.

To be continued.....

[Didi]

Can't she get a temp job until she goes to London? Or / and perhaps get a job there? Perhaps with an organisation that is also active in London, such as Manpower.

Is it possible to cancel her OV when she's in the UK?
At my university there was an office that helped with renting your room to another (foreign) student for the period that one was abroad.

[Dutchie]

Can't she get a temp job until she goes to London? Or / and perhaps get a job there? Perhaps with an organisation that is also active in London, such as Manpower.

Is it possible to cancel her OV when she's in the UK?
At my university there was an office that helped with renting your room to another (foreign) student for the period that one was abroad.

Thanks for your answer.

This is taking her temp/part time job here into consideration (she does this in combination with full time college - AH).

Considering what she has to do in London, there won't be much if any time to work there outside her placement. She will be full time at the company and also have some (home) study to do.

She still lives at home here.

We have already taken her 'uitwonende' allowance for London
(+/- € 260) and the allowance for OV (+/- € 83) into account.

Thankfully a really good friend of ours (girlrfriend of 2nd son) has just come back from London after being there for 3 months so we have been picking her brain regarding the costs. This is a girl who lives quite frugally so we know that we can rely on her numbers.

The main trouble is that the housing costs in London for something a little bit decent are exhorbitant.

[Didi]

Doesn't she like baby-sitting? I'm sure there are Dutch expats that would like to have a Dutch babysitter.
Doesn't she get paid for the internship by the company?

I was lucky to get a scholarship & I had some savings, but it's indeed quite an expensive city (back then 1 GBP was 3.5 guilders)

Transport is also very expensive , but I guess you also got that covered.

[Dutchie]

Doesn't she like baby-sitting? I'm sure there are Dutch expats that would like to have a Dutch babysitter.
Doesn't she get paid for the internship by the company?

I was lucky to get a scholarship & I had some savings, but it's indeed quite an expensive city (back then 1 GBP was 3.5 guilders)

Transport is also very expensive , but I guess you also got that covered.

Now that's a good idea - baby sitting. She does a LOT of that here too.
She does get paid for the internship - I just found out that it isn't
€ 300 but a MAXIMUM of € 300. If the company decides to do less - which it has every right to do, then our costs will go up too. (The friend who just came back got € 200.)

The transport is (according to the friend) very reasonable I think. Travelling in zones 1 and 2 in London (which seem to be very large) costs around 18 pounds per month. But I don't know if this will be the same for Fiori since I don't know where she will be staying yet.
We are being VERY careful about where she will be living because of bad experiences that dh had when he was studying in the UK.

Didi, a question for you. Did you have to open a bank account there (dh had to but that was a LONG time ago)?
I was just wondering since things have changed so much with internet banking if it would be possible just to have the bank account here and transfer as needed.
She has of course her own bank account with debit card.
My head reels when I think of all the stuff that has to be sorted out.
School is NO help at all.

[Didi]

I did not. I paid my rent in cash and other stuff in cash or with creditcard. If Fiori takes her card reader with her she should be able to pay through internet as well. I'm not sure if you have to pay for Euro account to a GBP account (and vice versa), but most UK based companies have Euro accounts as well.

I stayed in zone 4, so that may explain the difference in transport.

[Didi]

I hope you are not insulted, but how come you are trying to figure all of this out? It might be a good experience for Fiori to do this herself.
Just a thought.

[Dutchie]

I did not. I paid my rent in cash and other stuff in cash or with creditcard. If Flori takes her card reader with her she should be able to pay through internet as well. I'm not sure if you have to pay for Euro account to a GBP account (and vice versa), but most UK based companies have Euro accounts as well.

I stayed in zone 4, so that may explain the difference in transport.

Good observation about the GBP accounts - never thought of that.

I talked with the bank just now - Rabo - and they too said if she takes the card reader with her and we transfer money to her 'normal' account when needed then everything should be OK. She just has to pin the amount needed.

The only thing that worries me is that her debit card (with pin attached to her bank account) didn't always work in the US when we were there last summer. She had enough money in her account but it just didn't 'take'.
The lady at the bank said to try out her card in the UK beforehand just to be on the safe side. (As it happens dh has to be in London tomorrow so he can try it out.) I have had the same problem myself too, but I have a credit card that I can use in this case, she doesn't.

Would it be handy for her to have a credit card do you think?
(just thinking out loud here).

[Dutchie]

I hope you are not insulted, but how come you are trying to figure all of this out? It might be a good experience for Fiori to do this herself.
Just a thought.

Don't worry, I am not insulted.
At the moment, she is really overwhelmed by it all and she broke out in tears yesterday evening.

It is something that she wants/has to do but is really nervous about living 'abroad' (even though Vlieland is further away for us to travel, for example).

She is nervous about everything attached to it all so we are trying to relieve her nervousness by making sure that everything is as organized as possible for her.
She is doing some of the work involved but is unsure of some aspects of it. (She looked into the costs involved via our friend for example and is waiting for info regarding a reputable site for good living accommodation.)

I think that deep in her heart, she doesn't want to go but she has to and I also believe that it will be very good for her. Of course she knew that this was part of the college course but the reality is finally coming very close.

Further, 3 of her college friends had also said that they would be going to London at the same time and they had wonderful plans together but the friends have decided to go somewhere else because they couldn't find anything in London (there were other options all to do with the languages that they are doing, namely, French, German or Spanish).
They are all going to different places/countries now.

[a.nonymous]

The transport is (according to the friend) very reasonable I think. Travelling in zones 1 and 2 in London (which seem to be very large) costs around 18 pounds per month. But I don't know if this will be the same for Fiori since I don't know where she will be staying yet.
We are being VERY careful about where she will be living because of bad experiences that dh had when he was studying in the UK.

Where do the 18 pounds come from?
I used to live in London (W12) in zone 2, and have been commuting in zones 1 & 2 on a daily basis for work.
As far as I recall, it cost me roughly 90 pounds per month with an Oyster card for the week days.

My wife had to commute to Heathrow passing zones 2 - 4 (or 5) for roughly the same price.

Living outside of zone 1 & 2 can be distinctively cheaper than living in the buzz. I'd recommend looking primarily in the western part of the sphere, as finding a suitable place in the eastern parts (assuming she'll be traveling alone where feeling "more safe" is a consideration) can be time consuming.

[Didi]

Good observation about the GBP accounts - never thought of that.

I talked with the bank just now - Rabo - and they too said if she takes the card reader with her and we transfer money to her 'normal' account when needed then everything should be OK. She just has to pin the amount needed.

The only thing that worries me is that her debit card (with pin attached to her bank account) didn't always work in the US when we were there last summer. She had enough money in her account but it just didn't 'take'.
The lady at the bank said to try out her card in the UK beforehand just to be on the safe side. (As it happens dh has to be in London tomorrow so he can try it out.) I have had the same problem myself too, but I have a credit card that I can use in this case, she doesn't.

Would it be handy for her to have a credit card do you think?
(just thinking out loud here).

The thing is with the Rabo bank card itself (I have the same): it's because of the card itself. I tested it with DH, same bank, same ATM, he got money, I did not. Just get a new one when she goes abroad. I've had this happen several times after about 1 year I cannot use the card abroad (Sweden, UK, France and it worked like a charm when in NL).

[Dutchie]

Where do the 18 pounds come from?
I used to live in London (W12) in zone 2, and have been commuting in zones 1 & 2 on a daily basis for work.
As far as I recall, it cost me roughly 90 pounds per month with an Oyster card for the week days.

My wife had to commute to Heathrow passing zones 2 - 4 (or 5) for roughly the same price.

Living outside of zone 1 & 2 can be distinctively cheaper than living in the buzz. I'd recommend looking primarily in the western part of the sphere, as finding a suitable place in the eastern parts (assuming she'll be traveling alone where feeling "more safe" is a consideration) can be time consuming.

Thank you very much for this.
We will def. be looking into since I found it to be very cheap myself too.
However this is the amount that our friend said that she had to pay and this was sept./Dec. 2009. Maybe she wrote it down wrongly.

Thanks for the advice regarding accomm.

[Dutchie]

Thanks Didi.
I will def. say to Fiori to apply for a new card.

[a.nonymous]

Thank you very much for this.
We will def. be looking into since I found it to be very cheap myself too.
However this is the amount that our friend said that she had to pay and this was sept./Dec. 2009. Maybe she wrote it down wrongly.

With regards to public transport, take a look at the their website: Home | Transport for London

All fares should be available there.

[daisymay1960]

Where do the 18 pounds come from?
I used to live in London (W12) in zone 2, and have been commuting in zones 1 & 2 on a daily basis for work.
As far as I recall, it cost me roughly 90 pounds per month with an Oyster card for the week days.

My wife had to commute to Heathrow passing zones 2 - 4 (or 5) for roughly the same price.

Living outside of zone 1 & 2 can be distinctively cheaper than living in the buzz. I'd recommend looking primarily in the western part of the sphere, as finding a suitable place in the eastern parts (assuming she'll be traveling alone where feeling "more safe" is a consideration) can be time consuming.

I wondered about the £18 /month ,I only ever use the tube in London , would the bus be cheaper?