As I write this, southern England has had two periods of snow already, with more forecast in the next few days. Scotland and northern England have had much more snow. And it's not even Christmas yet!
We had some snow in Basingstoke last weekend - Saturday morning to be precise. It was falling down hard but stopped in the afternoon. The accumulation must be about 6 inches - what an average Bostonian calls a "dusting". There was some snow Monday night, maybe an inch of snow. It has been cold, a little less than 0C, but it was not that bad. The snow and freezing temperatures have caused much misery, as I describe below.
Flights from all the airports, including the major one, Heathrow, have been cancelled or delayed since Saturday. As you see in the TV, thousands of passengers have been camping out in the airport, in the hopes of getting to some place before Christmas. We had a holiday party at my work on Friday. Few of my colleagues flew from US to attend it and were supposed to fly back over the weekend, but haven't. Not to be left behind, train travel has been affected too. My daily commute to London has become a pain, with frequency of trains reduced to half, trains getting overcrowded (sometimes there is not even a place to stand) and journeys taking longer stopping at all the stations in between. Looks like they are gritting the main roads, but they are hardly in drivable condition. All this for few inches of snow!
The reason for the disruption is the country is not prepared to handle the snow. The reason for being unprepared is that they are not used to getting snow. Actually they have been getting snow for the past three years, but did not get any for about ten years before that. So you can say they have been warned for three years. Being prepared costs money in terms of materials, equipment, storage and labour, but the cost of all this havoc is much much higher. Hope they learn the lesson and be prepared next year. One can always hope!
As you may expect, I have been eagerly checking the weather in Boston. At last my prayers have been answered (I was only wishing for a white Christmas for Boston) and the north east is finally getting some snow. When we moved out of Boston, we thought we were getting away from all the cold and snow, but we have been cheated. The next time we move, we should find a place where people can handle the white stuff a little better.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
UK Immigration "Reform"
A new government came to power in UK in May 2010 (a couple of weeks before we moved to UK), with a promise to overhaul the immigration system in UK. They have done exactly that with their announcement 10 days ago, dropping a bombshell that Tier 1 (General) visa category will be closing down from April 2011.
To provide some background, there are two options available for professionals from outside EU who wish to work in UK (EU citizens are free to live and work in UK without a visa).
Both these visas are point based systems, giving points based on age, education, previous earnings, English language proficiency and availability of funds. They are both a little better than US's H1B visa, since spouses of the visa holders are allowed to work. But, as you can see, the Tier 1 is more attractive - you can come to UK and look for a job, are free to work for anyone, change jobs without the need to tell the government. It is this visa category whose life has been endangered with the most recent announcement.
I have a vested interest in following Tier 1 since we used it to come to UK. Though my wife and I had our jobs transferred from the US, we had already made a decision to move out, applied for the visa and then got offers to work in UK. Even if we did not get offers, we would have moved and then looked for jobs here. The announcement does not affect us, since it is closed only for new applications. If we choose to, we can extend our three year visa by another two years, then apply for "Indefinite Leave to Remain" - roughly similar to US's Green Card and apply for UK citizenship after a year. That path is still open to us (at least as of yet).
The reason for government's fight against immigration? It is politics, stupid. The voting public tend to view immigration as bad when the economy is going south. The delicious irony is that you need immigration when the economy is bad. In the last six months we have been busy injecting money into the system - we bought a car, bought a house, furnished it fully, been sending our son to a nursery, in addition to all our day-to-day expenses. Also, everyone agrees there is a shortage of skilled labor and reducing immigration severely restricts companies' ability to crawl out of recession. How do you convince people that having more qualified professionals living in the country is better for everyone? You can't. So you go with their sentiments and promise to cut down on immigration, instead of correcting it. That's exactly what this government has been doing.
The reason for killing Tier 1? Supposedly 30% of people on Tier 1 are abusing their visas and are doing low skilled jobs, ergo kill the visa. Even if you agree with the number, this logic is as thoughtful as saying, "gee there are all these people cheating on taxes, let's get rid of taxes altogether". Whenever there is a system, there are people who will abuse it. All you need is safeguards against the abuse. And killing Tier 1 achieves as much as putting band aid on a breaking dam. As Gideon Rachman of Finacial Times notes, the net immigration is going to be untouched with this. All you have achieved is to get a desi to rant in his blog.
To provide some background, there are two options available for professionals from outside EU who wish to work in UK (EU citizens are free to live and work in UK without a visa).
- Tier 2 (General) is roughly similar to US's H1B visa - you need to be a qualified professional and have a job offer from a company facing labor shortage.
- Tier 1 (General) is for highly skilled immigrants, places higher requirements, but you don't need a job offer to apply for the visa.
Both these visas are point based systems, giving points based on age, education, previous earnings, English language proficiency and availability of funds. They are both a little better than US's H1B visa, since spouses of the visa holders are allowed to work. But, as you can see, the Tier 1 is more attractive - you can come to UK and look for a job, are free to work for anyone, change jobs without the need to tell the government. It is this visa category whose life has been endangered with the most recent announcement.
I have a vested interest in following Tier 1 since we used it to come to UK. Though my wife and I had our jobs transferred from the US, we had already made a decision to move out, applied for the visa and then got offers to work in UK. Even if we did not get offers, we would have moved and then looked for jobs here. The announcement does not affect us, since it is closed only for new applications. If we choose to, we can extend our three year visa by another two years, then apply for "Indefinite Leave to Remain" - roughly similar to US's Green Card and apply for UK citizenship after a year. That path is still open to us (at least as of yet).
The reason for government's fight against immigration? It is politics, stupid. The voting public tend to view immigration as bad when the economy is going south. The delicious irony is that you need immigration when the economy is bad. In the last six months we have been busy injecting money into the system - we bought a car, bought a house, furnished it fully, been sending our son to a nursery, in addition to all our day-to-day expenses. Also, everyone agrees there is a shortage of skilled labor and reducing immigration severely restricts companies' ability to crawl out of recession. How do you convince people that having more qualified professionals living in the country is better for everyone? You can't. So you go with their sentiments and promise to cut down on immigration, instead of correcting it. That's exactly what this government has been doing.
The reason for killing Tier 1? Supposedly 30% of people on Tier 1 are abusing their visas and are doing low skilled jobs, ergo kill the visa. Even if you agree with the number, this logic is as thoughtful as saying, "gee there are all these people cheating on taxes, let's get rid of taxes altogether". Whenever there is a system, there are people who will abuse it. All you need is safeguards against the abuse. And killing Tier 1 achieves as much as putting band aid on a breaking dam. As Gideon Rachman of Finacial Times notes, the net immigration is going to be untouched with this. All you have achieved is to get a desi to rant in his blog.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Back in action
We returned last week from an 18 day vacation in India. As usual, it felt pretty hectic but we all had a great time.
As I mentioned before, we flew Oman Airlines from London Heathrow to Chennai. This being just before the holiday season, the tickets were a little cheap, but the flights were full. This is the first time we flew Oman and my feedback is mostly positive. The flights were clean, staff were friendly, Muscat airport - where we changed flights - was good and the Indian food served on the flight was not bad. The one negative thing was that they decided to advance our flight from Heathrow to Muscat by an hour, cancel our onward flight from Muscat to Chennai, booked us in a hotel in Muscat for a day and made a reservation for us so that we arrived at Chennai the day after - all without telling us! No emails, phone calls or texts.
I stumbled upon this trivial thing by accident when I printed out my itinerary from their website the weekend before our travel. Had I chosen to print out the confirmation email, I would have been blissfully unaware of this. Anyway, I spent a frantic half day getting us all booked on the flight the day before and they graciously(!) agreed to do this change for free.
Wife was getting her Indian passport renewed few months ago, after we had bought the tickets. Carefully thinking over for five years and realizing that life as my better half can be tolerated, she decided to have her surname changed (as is our custom, her new surname is the same as my first name, just like our son). We have spent the last two months changing her name everywhere she has an account - UK govt, banks, insurance, utilities, doctor office, grocery store. We tried to change her name in her flight tickets to India, but they wanted to charge us £150 for that privilege. We decided to take our chances and travel with her old name on the ticket (her old passport is with us still and has not expired yet). Thankfully, we did not have any issues - in fact, no one even questioned us about the discrepancy.
We landed at Chennai two days before Deepavali, a traditional Hindu festival celebrated all over India. We celebrated it with family and burst a lot of crackers. We were a little concerned how the boy would react to all the noise and loud firecrackers for two days, but he really enjoyed it. We celebrated his first birthday with a religious ceremony with friends and family. We then visited our family temple near Trichy and had our son's hair shaved off, meant as an offering to the God. He cried during the process, but settled down soon after that and we all liked his new look.
We then went to Trivandrum to visit my wife's side. This is in the state of Kerala, whose tourist brochures market it as "God's own country" and for a reason. We did a little bit of shopping and then went to places within the city.
As I mentioned before, we flew Oman Airlines from London Heathrow to Chennai. This being just before the holiday season, the tickets were a little cheap, but the flights were full. This is the first time we flew Oman and my feedback is mostly positive. The flights were clean, staff were friendly, Muscat airport - where we changed flights - was good and the Indian food served on the flight was not bad. The one negative thing was that they decided to advance our flight from Heathrow to Muscat by an hour, cancel our onward flight from Muscat to Chennai, booked us in a hotel in Muscat for a day and made a reservation for us so that we arrived at Chennai the day after - all without telling us! No emails, phone calls or texts.
I stumbled upon this trivial thing by accident when I printed out my itinerary from their website the weekend before our travel. Had I chosen to print out the confirmation email, I would have been blissfully unaware of this. Anyway, I spent a frantic half day getting us all booked on the flight the day before and they graciously(!) agreed to do this change for free.
Wife was getting her Indian passport renewed few months ago, after we had bought the tickets. Carefully thinking over for five years and realizing that life as my better half can be tolerated, she decided to have her surname changed (as is our custom, her new surname is the same as my first name, just like our son). We have spent the last two months changing her name everywhere she has an account - UK govt, banks, insurance, utilities, doctor office, grocery store. We tried to change her name in her flight tickets to India, but they wanted to charge us £150 for that privilege. We decided to take our chances and travel with her old name on the ticket (her old passport is with us still and has not expired yet). Thankfully, we did not have any issues - in fact, no one even questioned us about the discrepancy.
We landed at Chennai two days before Deepavali, a traditional Hindu festival celebrated all over India. We celebrated it with family and burst a lot of crackers. We were a little concerned how the boy would react to all the noise and loud firecrackers for two days, but he really enjoyed it. We celebrated his first birthday with a religious ceremony with friends and family. We then visited our family temple near Trichy and had our son's hair shaved off, meant as an offering to the God. He cried during the process, but settled down soon after that and we all liked his new look.
We then went to Trivandrum to visit my wife's side. This is in the state of Kerala, whose tourist brochures market it as "God's own country" and for a reason. We did a little bit of shopping and then went to places within the city.
Then we spent a whole day and night in a boat house near Aleppey, which is about two hours of drive from Trivandrum. The boat took us through the backwaters of Kerala and we spent the time relaxing and just taking in the grand scenery around us. The food was traditional Kerala fare - spicy and very very delicious.
Then we came back to Chennai, did a little bit more shopping. The boy got some more time to play with his cousins. We visited a mall called Express Avenue in the heart of Chennai. We were amazed at the size of the mall and the kind of stores available there.
After spending two weeks at close to 30C (86F - probably as cold as it gets in South India), we are back to freezing temperatures of South England. The northern parts of the country has been getting some snowfall in the past four days. We have been warned of a snowfall in this part, but I am yet to see anything significant.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wholesale Bliss
I mentioned (lamented) in my last post how we missed Costco. There are Costco warehouses in UK, just not very near where we live. Last weekend we decided to drive 30 minutes to Reading and check it out.
We first went to the membership department and showed them our US Costco card. We were told that we can use the card in UK, though we won't get 2% cashback or the Costco coupons mailed to our home. That was a little disappointing, but still a really good deal since we don't have to fork out £50 for the executive membership. Things are looking good already.
Then we got the giant Costco trolley and entered the store. To our utter amazement and unbelievable happiness, the store looked very familiar since the layout was just like Costco US store - photo, electronics and clothes in the front, fresh produce in the back, groceries on the left and personal care stuff on front left. We already knew were everything was - we went wild and started filling up our trolley. 4x6 photo prints are only 4pence, compared to 13pence everywhere else (you have to print few hundred photos to get this deal). Wife went all estatic seeing all the products you can get in US but not in UK. The young lady you saw in Costco last Saturday holding a pack of Sun-Maid raisins and crying - that was her.
As you can expect, the trolley got full pretty quick and somehow we found space for 10 more things there. Then came the shock at the checkout - the total bill was £280! Some of the stuff we bought - toilet rolls, kitchen towels, salt, sugar, margarine, surface wipes, laundry detergent, dishwashing tablets, diapers - could last till the next recession, but the amount was huge by any standard. Shellshocked, we loaded up the stuff in the car and came home.
We used to have a corner in our house in US where we stored all the big Costco items. We fondly called it "Costco corner". Our new house here has good storage space, but it still looked not enough - we may be needing a "Costco room" at this rate. Having got a lot of time to kill, we looked at the unit price of each item we bought, compared it with the price at Tesco. The results were completely unexpected. Some items were cheap (diapers, wipes, dishwasher tablets, laundry detergent), but bigger is not cheaper for toilet rolls, kitchen towels, the beloved Sun-Maid raisins, salt, sugar and many others. We have decided to return those items (Costco has a great return policy) and save ourselves logistical nightmare storing all these. We will make a trip to Costco this week just to return this. Hope we are not tempted with more goodies when we are there.
So, the moral of the story is - be careful with what you wish (or miss). You may get it and then regret it!
We first went to the membership department and showed them our US Costco card. We were told that we can use the card in UK, though we won't get 2% cashback or the Costco coupons mailed to our home. That was a little disappointing, but still a really good deal since we don't have to fork out £50 for the executive membership. Things are looking good already.
Then we got the giant Costco trolley and entered the store. To our utter amazement and unbelievable happiness, the store looked very familiar since the layout was just like Costco US store - photo, electronics and clothes in the front, fresh produce in the back, groceries on the left and personal care stuff on front left. We already knew were everything was - we went wild and started filling up our trolley. 4x6 photo prints are only 4pence, compared to 13pence everywhere else (you have to print few hundred photos to get this deal). Wife went all estatic seeing all the products you can get in US but not in UK. The young lady you saw in Costco last Saturday holding a pack of Sun-Maid raisins and crying - that was her.
As you can expect, the trolley got full pretty quick and somehow we found space for 10 more things there. Then came the shock at the checkout - the total bill was £280! Some of the stuff we bought - toilet rolls, kitchen towels, salt, sugar, margarine, surface wipes, laundry detergent, dishwashing tablets, diapers - could last till the next recession, but the amount was huge by any standard. Shellshocked, we loaded up the stuff in the car and came home.
We used to have a corner in our house in US where we stored all the big Costco items. We fondly called it "Costco corner". Our new house here has good storage space, but it still looked not enough - we may be needing a "Costco room" at this rate. Having got a lot of time to kill, we looked at the unit price of each item we bought, compared it with the price at Tesco. The results were completely unexpected. Some items were cheap (diapers, wipes, dishwasher tablets, laundry detergent), but bigger is not cheaper for toilet rolls, kitchen towels, the beloved Sun-Maid raisins, salt, sugar and many others. We have decided to return those items (Costco has a great return policy) and save ourselves logistical nightmare storing all these. We will make a trip to Costco this week just to return this. Hope we are not tempted with more goodies when we are there.
So, the moral of the story is - be careful with what you wish (or miss). You may get it and then regret it!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Things we miss from America
It's been more than four months since we moved to UK from America (that's how people refer to US here), so I thought it's a good idea to take stock of what we miss from America. We miss our dear friends the most. In addition to that, here is the list of others:
Shopping: We knew about this before, but we still can't get used to it: store hours are really short. In our town centre, all the shops close at 7 every day. It's "extended" hours Thursday - Saturday (meaning stores close at 8). The usual Sunday hours are 10-4. Call me a materialist, but I need things during weekdays. Another annoying bit is the need to bag the groceries ourselves. By the time I have successfully opened the first plastic bag after a lot of struggle, the person at the till has finished scanning all the items and just sits and has fun watching me struggle opening the other bags. There are some stores where they are kind enough to have plastic bags opened and ready for you to stuff things in, but it is not too common. We do miss our Costco and Indian grocery store (Patel Brothers) from Waltham.
Car Fuel: Aside from the fact that one litre of Petrol costs an arm and a leg, there are no credit card machines at the pump. You need to fill up the tank, note down the number above the pump, walk to the cashier inside, wait in a line for your turn and pay for the fuel. I could not believe it the first time that I went round the pump four times to make sure I have not missed a card machine that has been sneakily hidden somewhere. Nope, couldn't find anything. I really envy the guys in New Jersey where it's full service at all pumps.
Outdoors: It's really beatiful around here, but North East US was much better for outdoors. We miss it, especially Walden Pond, our famous haunt. Plus the weather was better there (at least when I was there). We have not explored much here, so hopefully there are equally good places to see.
Book stores: Wife and I miss Barnes & Noble. Before we had the boy, we used to walk into a store, get a coffee and spend hours together there. It was a great atmosphere to try out different books and catch a little sleep. Now that our boy is getting bigger, now would have been a good time to go to a store and introduce him to all the kids books there. We cannot find anything like that here.
Toll free numbers: In the US, you knew that if you call a 1-800 number (or a 1-877 or 1-888 number) from a landline, the call was free. If you use your mobile phone, you just use up your minutes. UK has something similar - 0800 numbers. But most customer service numbers are 0844 or 0845 numbers. They are neither toll free nor regular numbers. There is a per minute charge for calling these numbers - for example, we pay 6p a minute for calls from landline and 20p a minute for calls from mobile. It is the not phone company that is getting all this money, but rather the company that owns the number. What a great way to make money - offer lousy service, have your customers contact your 0845 number to complain and put them on hold for a long time.
Dunkin Donuts: In the Boston area, we were pampered with the presence of Dunkin Donuts around every corner. There are Starbucks and Costa in many places, but they are just too expensive (£3 for a coffee?). There are Burker Kings and McDonalds around, but they are few and far between. Now you could argue that national chains are evil and we should really frequent a local place. I have not seen anything good in our area and in any case, they won't be open when we want coffee. Now that I think of Dunkin, I do not see cops on the road or in fact, anywhere at all in Basingstoke, presumably because there are no DD's around. The interesting fact is that CCTV is used in all public places, for "our own personal safety and security". By some estimates there is one camera for every 10 UK residents, which sounds like an awful lot of monitoring to me.
Shopping: We knew about this before, but we still can't get used to it: store hours are really short. In our town centre, all the shops close at 7 every day. It's "extended" hours Thursday - Saturday (meaning stores close at 8). The usual Sunday hours are 10-4. Call me a materialist, but I need things during weekdays. Another annoying bit is the need to bag the groceries ourselves. By the time I have successfully opened the first plastic bag after a lot of struggle, the person at the till has finished scanning all the items and just sits and has fun watching me struggle opening the other bags. There are some stores where they are kind enough to have plastic bags opened and ready for you to stuff things in, but it is not too common. We do miss our Costco and Indian grocery store (Patel Brothers) from Waltham.
Car Fuel: Aside from the fact that one litre of Petrol costs an arm and a leg, there are no credit card machines at the pump. You need to fill up the tank, note down the number above the pump, walk to the cashier inside, wait in a line for your turn and pay for the fuel. I could not believe it the first time that I went round the pump four times to make sure I have not missed a card machine that has been sneakily hidden somewhere. Nope, couldn't find anything. I really envy the guys in New Jersey where it's full service at all pumps.
Outdoors: It's really beatiful around here, but North East US was much better for outdoors. We miss it, especially Walden Pond, our famous haunt. Plus the weather was better there (at least when I was there). We have not explored much here, so hopefully there are equally good places to see.
Book stores: Wife and I miss Barnes & Noble. Before we had the boy, we used to walk into a store, get a coffee and spend hours together there. It was a great atmosphere to try out different books and catch a little sleep. Now that our boy is getting bigger, now would have been a good time to go to a store and introduce him to all the kids books there. We cannot find anything like that here.
Toll free numbers: In the US, you knew that if you call a 1-800 number (or a 1-877 or 1-888 number) from a landline, the call was free. If you use your mobile phone, you just use up your minutes. UK has something similar - 0800 numbers. But most customer service numbers are 0844 or 0845 numbers. They are neither toll free nor regular numbers. There is a per minute charge for calling these numbers - for example, we pay 6p a minute for calls from landline and 20p a minute for calls from mobile. It is the not phone company that is getting all this money, but rather the company that owns the number. What a great way to make money - offer lousy service, have your customers contact your 0845 number to complain and put them on hold for a long time.
Dunkin Donuts: In the Boston area, we were pampered with the presence of Dunkin Donuts around every corner. There are Starbucks and Costa in many places, but they are just too expensive (£3 for a coffee?). There are Burker Kings and McDonalds around, but they are few and far between. Now you could argue that national chains are evil and we should really frequent a local place. I have not seen anything good in our area and in any case, they won't be open when we want coffee. Now that I think of Dunkin, I do not see cops on the road or in fact, anywhere at all in Basingstoke, presumably because there are no DD's around. The interesting fact is that CCTV is used in all public places, for "our own personal safety and security". By some estimates there is one camera for every 10 UK residents, which sounds like an awful lot of monitoring to me.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
How I became a home owner
Crazy, but true. We have been in UK for four months, but we would be proud home owners - first ever - as of tomorrow. It's been one adventure after another. Let me outline the whole story.
We have been staying in wife's employer provided guest house ("serviced apartment") all this while. Our plan was to rent a flat for 6 months to a year, see how we like the country and may be buy a home in some suitable place after doing a lot of research. We can stay in the guest house for three months. So we started our rental search in the beginning of August. We saw a couple of rentals in Basingstoke, which turned out to be ok. Kind of small by US standards, but definitely ok for UK. For a 2 BR flat, we would be paying close to £900 a month.
One Saturday, we visited a friend who bought a house in Basingstoke last year. It was a new construction in a small community, close to the station, built by David Wilson Homes. He happened to mention that houses were still on sale and suggested we take a look at a show home. We saw a 3BR midterrace (US townhouse) with three floors, a garden and a garage which will be available in end of September. Wife was very interested, I was excited at the prospect. The kitchen was small and the house was in three floors, but apart from that, we liked it.
We came home and did some calculation. The price of the house was £225,000 (after a little bit of negotiation). The mortgage rates were being quoted anywhere between 2.5% and 3.0% (variable rates only - UK does not have lifetime fixed rate). If we put down a good deposit and took a mortgage for 25 years, our monthly payments would be less than the rent - for a bigger house with a garden and garage. Unlike US, you don't pay property taxes - you just pay council tax of about £100-£150 a month, irrespective of whether you rent or own. The only extra cost with owning is taking building insurance, which should be less than £200 a year. This was close to the station (10 minute walk) and a new construction. The latter was a big selling point, since even tightening a loose screw is beyond me sometimes.
We debated the question of whether it is too soon to buy a house. If we ended up staying here for at least three years, we would at least break even. The terrifying prospect of being stuck in one place also crossed our minds. Well you have to make up your mind sometimes. So we put down a deposit of £250 which will hold the house for us for one month, by which time we should finalize all the details. Life is good.
After the initial euphoria subsided, reality hit us. Like getting a mortgage for example. UK is much like US - driven by credit history for all kinds of loans. We had trouble getting a mobile phone contract initially, so getting a mortgage is not going to be trivial. I started with HSBC, where we had a bank account and credit card. It sounded promising, but went nowhere since they required us to be HSBC customers for at least a year before they would give us mortgage. That's a pity because they were offering the best mortgage rate. Many other banks required us to be in UK for at least 6 months or a year before they would consider us, since we would fail their credit check.
After doing a little bit of research, we found out that Halifax is an option for us. They do not require a minimum time in UK and their rates were good. So I called their mortgage department and gave all the details. I was told we passed their internal credit check and would be eligible to apply. That was some good news, but till we got a mortgage offer, which could take 3-4 weeks, anything can happen. So we decided to take it easy, not talk about the house and just let it go.
We got an offer two weeks ago. We signed the contract through a solicitor 2-3 days later. We would be getting the keys to the house tomorrow (Sep 24). Things have worked out very well!
Halifax required us to open a current account (US - checking account) which would reduce the mortgage rate by 0.3%. That sounded like a small effort, so I went ahead and applied after getting the offer. Imagine my surprise when they rejected the application because of not enough credit score! Apparently we can be trusted with a mortgage, but not with a bank overdraft. Crazy indeed - you never know what to expect in this strange island.
We have been staying in wife's employer provided guest house ("serviced apartment") all this while. Our plan was to rent a flat for 6 months to a year, see how we like the country and may be buy a home in some suitable place after doing a lot of research. We can stay in the guest house for three months. So we started our rental search in the beginning of August. We saw a couple of rentals in Basingstoke, which turned out to be ok. Kind of small by US standards, but definitely ok for UK. For a 2 BR flat, we would be paying close to £900 a month.
One Saturday, we visited a friend who bought a house in Basingstoke last year. It was a new construction in a small community, close to the station, built by David Wilson Homes. He happened to mention that houses were still on sale and suggested we take a look at a show home. We saw a 3BR midterrace (US townhouse) with three floors, a garden and a garage which will be available in end of September. Wife was very interested, I was excited at the prospect. The kitchen was small and the house was in three floors, but apart from that, we liked it.
We came home and did some calculation. The price of the house was £225,000 (after a little bit of negotiation). The mortgage rates were being quoted anywhere between 2.5% and 3.0% (variable rates only - UK does not have lifetime fixed rate). If we put down a good deposit and took a mortgage for 25 years, our monthly payments would be less than the rent - for a bigger house with a garden and garage. Unlike US, you don't pay property taxes - you just pay council tax of about £100-£150 a month, irrespective of whether you rent or own. The only extra cost with owning is taking building insurance, which should be less than £200 a year. This was close to the station (10 minute walk) and a new construction. The latter was a big selling point, since even tightening a loose screw is beyond me sometimes.
We debated the question of whether it is too soon to buy a house. If we ended up staying here for at least three years, we would at least break even. The terrifying prospect of being stuck in one place also crossed our minds. Well you have to make up your mind sometimes. So we put down a deposit of £250 which will hold the house for us for one month, by which time we should finalize all the details. Life is good.
After the initial euphoria subsided, reality hit us. Like getting a mortgage for example. UK is much like US - driven by credit history for all kinds of loans. We had trouble getting a mobile phone contract initially, so getting a mortgage is not going to be trivial. I started with HSBC, where we had a bank account and credit card. It sounded promising, but went nowhere since they required us to be HSBC customers for at least a year before they would give us mortgage. That's a pity because they were offering the best mortgage rate. Many other banks required us to be in UK for at least 6 months or a year before they would consider us, since we would fail their credit check.
After doing a little bit of research, we found out that Halifax is an option for us. They do not require a minimum time in UK and their rates were good. So I called their mortgage department and gave all the details. I was told we passed their internal credit check and would be eligible to apply. That was some good news, but till we got a mortgage offer, which could take 3-4 weeks, anything can happen. So we decided to take it easy, not talk about the house and just let it go.
We got an offer two weeks ago. We signed the contract through a solicitor 2-3 days later. We would be getting the keys to the house tomorrow (Sep 24). Things have worked out very well!
Halifax required us to open a current account (US - checking account) which would reduce the mortgage rate by 0.3%. That sounded like a small effort, so I went ahead and applied after getting the offer. Imagine my surprise when they rejected the application because of not enough credit score! Apparently we can be trusted with a mortgage, but not with a bank overdraft. Crazy indeed - you never know what to expect in this strange island.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A busy weekend
Last weekend was a long weekend here - Monday was bank holiday. We had initially decided to drive down somewhere and stay for the weekend. We decided against it and made plans to go to places nearby all the days.
Saturday: I lived in US for 11 years, but still follow cricket online. One main attraction for us in UK is the chance to watch cricket at a stadium. Pakistan is touring England and there was a test match (5 day) going on at Lord's cricket ground, the home of cricket. A friend and I got tickets for the third day through the website Seatwave. It is a fan to fan exchange, so the tickets were a little cheaper - we paid close to £50 per ticket, while Lord's website was selling similar tickets for £80.
It turned out to be a great experience. The ground was full and we had a great view from our seats. It was an interesting day of cricket with Pakistan losing 15 wickets within the day. We experienced English weather in full glory that day. It was nice and sunny in the morning and got a little too warm. Then it got cloudy and little chilly in the afternoon. In the evening there were few showers. After reaching home, I read the story about match fixing.
Wife took the boy and went to a maize maze nearby, along with some colleagues. The maze was a little small - completed in one hour - but she had a good time there.
Sunday: We went to Windsor castle, an official residence of the queen. It is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation.
The town of Windsor is nice little town and there were some great views from the castle. We saw a doll house and some art collection in the castle. It was an hour drive from our place and we spent close to couple of hours there.
Monday: We went to Cotswolds and then Oxford. Cotswolds area is west of London and has a lot of small villages that still resemble they way they were 500 years ago. We went to Burford, a small town near Oxford, walked around and took pictures.
Then we spent some time in Oxford. We visited Christ Church College, one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges in England. We visited its Great Hall (where the Hogwarts dining scenes in Harry Potter movies were shot), a quadrangle and an old cathedral inside the college.
As we do daytime trips, I realize how expensive it is to eat out. On Monday, we got two burgers and onion rings from Burger King and paid £8.50 for that. This was not in an airport or a mall, just a normal place somewhere near a town centre. I think we would have spent less than $8.50 in US for such a meal. We have made it a point to pack some lunch during our day trips. It costs much less and is so much faster. On the contrary, we have noticed that there are more veggie options in the restaurants here than in the US.
Saturday: I lived in US for 11 years, but still follow cricket online. One main attraction for us in UK is the chance to watch cricket at a stadium. Pakistan is touring England and there was a test match (5 day) going on at Lord's cricket ground, the home of cricket. A friend and I got tickets for the third day through the website Seatwave. It is a fan to fan exchange, so the tickets were a little cheaper - we paid close to £50 per ticket, while Lord's website was selling similar tickets for £80.
It turned out to be a great experience. The ground was full and we had a great view from our seats. It was an interesting day of cricket with Pakistan losing 15 wickets within the day. We experienced English weather in full glory that day. It was nice and sunny in the morning and got a little too warm. Then it got cloudy and little chilly in the afternoon. In the evening there were few showers. After reaching home, I read the story about match fixing.
Wife took the boy and went to a maize maze nearby, along with some colleagues. The maze was a little small - completed in one hour - but she had a good time there.
Sunday: We went to Windsor castle, an official residence of the queen. It is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation.
The town of Windsor is nice little town and there were some great views from the castle. We saw a doll house and some art collection in the castle. It was an hour drive from our place and we spent close to couple of hours there.
Monday: We went to Cotswolds and then Oxford. Cotswolds area is west of London and has a lot of small villages that still resemble they way they were 500 years ago. We went to Burford, a small town near Oxford, walked around and took pictures.
Then we spent some time in Oxford. We visited Christ Church College, one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges in England. We visited its Great Hall (where the Hogwarts dining scenes in Harry Potter movies were shot), a quadrangle and an old cathedral inside the college. As we do daytime trips, I realize how expensive it is to eat out. On Monday, we got two burgers and onion rings from Burger King and paid £8.50 for that. This was not in an airport or a mall, just a normal place somewhere near a town centre. I think we would have spent less than $8.50 in US for such a meal. We have made it a point to pack some lunch during our day trips. It costs much less and is so much faster. On the contrary, we have noticed that there are more veggie options in the restaurants here than in the US.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Some updates
Driving: I am still getting used to driving, but feeling much more comfortable. Wife drives the car everyday to the nursery and work and she has gotten used to it too. Navigating the roundabouts is still a pain. I am the proud owner of a certificate confirming I passed the theory test for driving licence in UK! It took about two weeks of preparation - reading the "highway code", reading through practice questions, taking a mock online test and finally the test. The interesting part in the test is a "hazard perception" section, which is quite unique to UK. I had to watch a video of real driving conditions, watch out for hazards like a car turning in from a side street or a cyclist cutting in and click on the screen confirming that I perceived the hazard in advance. It seemed a novel idea, but I am not sure whether it tests anything useful in real life.
Grocery shopping experience: One major advantage of a car is the pleasure of buying one week worth of groceries and stuffing it in car trunk without worrying about carrying the bags home. We were previously restricted to a small Sainsbury's nearby and an Indian store accessible through bike. With a car, we could drive couple of miles and go to many different stores. We have tried Tesco, a bigger Sainsbury's and Morrisons. Wife likes Tesco more since she thinks they have a better availability of fruits and veggies. We both agree that the fruits and veggies are better in any of these stores than one can find in US supermarkets like Shaw's or Stop & Shop. We used to frequent a local market called Russo's in the Boston area and loved it. The supermarkets here are almost to that level. We have stopped going to the Car boot sale.
Cycling: With a 2.5 hour commute every day, I hardly get time to workout (don't ask me if I did any better with my 10 minute commute in US). The City of London has recently started a cycle rental scheme where you can rent bicycles from one of their many docking stations, ride around and return to another station anywhere in London. It is a pleasure to ride from Waterloo station to work - I pass through London Eye, cross Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament house, Buckingham Palace and St. James Park - tourist spots that I myself spent a whole day visiting not too long ago. The hire scheme works out pretty well for short journeys - rentals for 30 minute and less are free. You only have to pay an access fee - either a weekly fee of £5 or a yearly fee of £45. I tried it for a week and realized it took me the same time from London Waterloo station to reach work by cycle as it did through the tube. I would get the workout, however small it is, plus save £60 a month on Tube season ticket. There are some issues with the cycle hire scheme though: sometimes it is hard to find a cycle in Waterloo station and you have to wait for few minutes till someone returns one. Worse, the docking station closest to my work is usually full in the morning. I would have to ride around and find a station with a free slot, drop it there and walk to work, which is not very efficient. The scheme is just two weeks old and I am sure they will address this, but I am considering buying a commuter bike and using that every day.
Mobile phone: I finally ditched my prepaid phone and got a contract phone. I have a 12 month contract with O2 and pay £15 a month (including VAT) for 600 minutes of talk time and unlimited land line calls. Incoming calls are free. Wife has a mobile phone with unlimited O2 to O2 calls, so we use that for our communication. The rate is so cheap because I am on a SIM-only plan and use my own handset (the cheapest Nokia I could find). Compared to $40 + taxes and other charges in US, this sounds like a bargain. I don't even need the 600 minutes - 300 should be enough, but that was the cheapest I could find. As you may expect, there are some twists with the mobile phone rates here: calls to toll free numbers - 0800, 0845 and 0870 numbers, like 1-800 numbers in US - do not use the included minutes, but are charged at an exorbitant rates of 10-20 pence a minute. This is true with all the carriers here and makes no sense. I end up needing to call customer service from my mobile for something all the time and all I have is the "toll free" numbers. Fortunately, I was referred to a website called www.saynoto0870.com that lists the landline numbers for the toll free numbers of many companies and it has proved very useful.
Since my last post, our boy has turned one! He has come a long way and is walking and exploring all around the house. It's a pleasure to play with him and watch him giggle. Time flies!
Grocery shopping experience: One major advantage of a car is the pleasure of buying one week worth of groceries and stuffing it in car trunk without worrying about carrying the bags home. We were previously restricted to a small Sainsbury's nearby and an Indian store accessible through bike. With a car, we could drive couple of miles and go to many different stores. We have tried Tesco, a bigger Sainsbury's and Morrisons. Wife likes Tesco more since she thinks they have a better availability of fruits and veggies. We both agree that the fruits and veggies are better in any of these stores than one can find in US supermarkets like Shaw's or Stop & Shop. We used to frequent a local market called Russo's in the Boston area and loved it. The supermarkets here are almost to that level. We have stopped going to the Car boot sale.
Cycling: With a 2.5 hour commute every day, I hardly get time to workout (don't ask me if I did any better with my 10 minute commute in US). The City of London has recently started a cycle rental scheme where you can rent bicycles from one of their many docking stations, ride around and return to another station anywhere in London. It is a pleasure to ride from Waterloo station to work - I pass through London Eye, cross Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament house, Buckingham Palace and St. James Park - tourist spots that I myself spent a whole day visiting not too long ago. The hire scheme works out pretty well for short journeys - rentals for 30 minute and less are free. You only have to pay an access fee - either a weekly fee of £5 or a yearly fee of £45. I tried it for a week and realized it took me the same time from London Waterloo station to reach work by cycle as it did through the tube. I would get the workout, however small it is, plus save £60 a month on Tube season ticket. There are some issues with the cycle hire scheme though: sometimes it is hard to find a cycle in Waterloo station and you have to wait for few minutes till someone returns one. Worse, the docking station closest to my work is usually full in the morning. I would have to ride around and find a station with a free slot, drop it there and walk to work, which is not very efficient. The scheme is just two weeks old and I am sure they will address this, but I am considering buying a commuter bike and using that every day.
Mobile phone: I finally ditched my prepaid phone and got a contract phone. I have a 12 month contract with O2 and pay £15 a month (including VAT) for 600 minutes of talk time and unlimited land line calls. Incoming calls are free. Wife has a mobile phone with unlimited O2 to O2 calls, so we use that for our communication. The rate is so cheap because I am on a SIM-only plan and use my own handset (the cheapest Nokia I could find). Compared to $40 + taxes and other charges in US, this sounds like a bargain. I don't even need the 600 minutes - 300 should be enough, but that was the cheapest I could find. As you may expect, there are some twists with the mobile phone rates here: calls to toll free numbers - 0800, 0845 and 0870 numbers, like 1-800 numbers in US - do not use the included minutes, but are charged at an exorbitant rates of 10-20 pence a minute. This is true with all the carriers here and makes no sense. I end up needing to call customer service from my mobile for something all the time and all I have is the "toll free" numbers. Fortunately, I was referred to a website called www.saynoto0870.com that lists the landline numbers for the toll free numbers of many companies and it has proved very useful.
Since my last post, our boy has turned one! He has come a long way and is walking and exploring all around the house. It's a pleasure to play with him and watch him giggle. Time flies!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunglasses
I have been asking the husband to write a post on this subject, but for reasons that will become obvious, he has been resisting this. So here we go.
He is addicted to sunglasses. He wears one all the time, even if the day is cloudy. Lo and behold, if he forgot to bring one, he will be squinting his eyes all the time outdoors. Nothing wrong with this, but he has this horrible habit of misplacing and losing sunglasses (he can usually be trusted with other things). I have lost count of how many times this has happened in all the four years we have been married. Let me try to list what comes to mind. He rode back seat on a friend's car one day, dropped it there and kept looking for it everywhere. Our friend gave it back in few days. The next time he left it inside a car we were selling, kept looking for it and found it just before emptying the car before handing off the keys. He was not very lucky the next time - no idea how he lost it.
This habit was proving to be costly - these Rayban sunglasses cost at least $150. So we turned to Costco. They were selling similar Raybans for $80! Their Kirkland brand sunglasses looked pretty much like a Rayban, polarized and made in Italy. They were even cheaper - about $30! That was pretty good, especially for someone who tends to lose them. So I bought one for him and he was happy.
Just before we moved to UK, I came up with the idea of stocking up on the sunglasses, in case he loses his. So I bought two of them just in case - they are so cheap! We packed the new ones and shipped them with the other boxes (we have not received them yet). Sadly, he has not changed a bit here. He went to London for an interview one day and left the sunglass at the company. Fortunately, he went for the second round and they graciously have it back to him. On the way back, he left it in the train. Just two weeks ago,we were all travelling together by train to London. The boy was a little cranky and kept pulling my sunglass. I gave it to the husband to keep it (safely). When we got down, I asked for it back and got a blank look.
Why would anyone in their right mind entrust him with a sunglass (of all things)? That's not the point. We have lost both our sunglasses. We are waiting for our boxes - they have arrived, but we have asked them to be stored till we move to our own place. And we don't have any safety cushion anymore - no more spare sunglasses. We miss our Costco.
I have been asking him to write about this for all these days. His excuse was that these encounters are not related to our move or life here, so he cannot write about it. Here is the link: he has filed an inquiry with London Tube Department's Lost Property Office. He is eagerly waiting for an answer. There you go, husband!
He is addicted to sunglasses. He wears one all the time, even if the day is cloudy. Lo and behold, if he forgot to bring one, he will be squinting his eyes all the time outdoors. Nothing wrong with this, but he has this horrible habit of misplacing and losing sunglasses (he can usually be trusted with other things). I have lost count of how many times this has happened in all the four years we have been married. Let me try to list what comes to mind. He rode back seat on a friend's car one day, dropped it there and kept looking for it everywhere. Our friend gave it back in few days. The next time he left it inside a car we were selling, kept looking for it and found it just before emptying the car before handing off the keys. He was not very lucky the next time - no idea how he lost it.
This habit was proving to be costly - these Rayban sunglasses cost at least $150. So we turned to Costco. They were selling similar Raybans for $80! Their Kirkland brand sunglasses looked pretty much like a Rayban, polarized and made in Italy. They were even cheaper - about $30! That was pretty good, especially for someone who tends to lose them. So I bought one for him and he was happy.
Just before we moved to UK, I came up with the idea of stocking up on the sunglasses, in case he loses his. So I bought two of them just in case - they are so cheap! We packed the new ones and shipped them with the other boxes (we have not received them yet). Sadly, he has not changed a bit here. He went to London for an interview one day and left the sunglass at the company. Fortunately, he went for the second round and they graciously have it back to him. On the way back, he left it in the train. Just two weeks ago,we were all travelling together by train to London. The boy was a little cranky and kept pulling my sunglass. I gave it to the husband to keep it (safely). When we got down, I asked for it back and got a blank look.
Why would anyone in their right mind entrust him with a sunglass (of all things)? That's not the point. We have lost both our sunglasses. We are waiting for our boxes - they have arrived, but we have asked them to be stored till we move to our own place. And we don't have any safety cushion anymore - no more spare sunglasses. We miss our Costco.
I have been asking him to write about this for all these days. His excuse was that these encounters are not related to our move or life here, so he cannot write about it. Here is the link: he has filed an inquiry with London Tube Department's Lost Property Office. He is eagerly waiting for an answer. There you go, husband!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Car
We have been considering buying a car for some time and going back and forth about it. We can manage without a car, since I take a train to work, wife can walk to work and the shops are walking/biking distance from our house. The only hitch is that it does not feel right to take the boy out on a buggy (stroller) to the nursery when the weather is bad. Also, we can use the car for weekend trips - car rentals are not a great option since we will be forced to rent a car for the whole weekend. So we decided to buy a car.
What car to buy? We were set on buying a used car till to get familiar with the driving conditions here. We thought of buying a really cheap car - something between £1-2K, so that the running expenses will be minimal. Or is it? Consider the major expenses - insurance, road tax, maintenance and fuel. Trust the system here to defy all conventional wisdom.
So we decided to look for newer cars. We found many 3-4 year old cars at a Ford dealership nearby - about 10 minute walk from our house. Wife liked Ford Focus hatchbacks since they look very roomy but not too big. I saw a 2006 Ford Fusion with 28000 miles with a price of £5000. It looked smaller than a Focus, but the salesman convinced us that the leg and trunk space are the same in both the cars. It was a little cheaper, so we put a deposit for it. We took a one year insurance through Post Office. With a £100 excess (deductible), breakdown cover and legal cover, the annual premium for the two of us is £627. We had gotten letters from our insurers in US with our claim history, which needs to be sent to them - the quote includes a No Claims Discount for four years. The car feels very smooth, does not have too much power (probably about 110 hp) and has great mileage (55mpg on highway and 45 on local + highway).
I drove the car for shopping on Sunday and wife has been using the car for the last two days. It is a manual, of course, but it not too hard, since we are both used to it. The roundabouts are a pain to navigate. I thought I would do better since there are roundabouts in Boston, but these are not trivial. There are many lanes and I invariably end up in the wrong lane every time. It looks like people are much more courteous here - no honking when you make a mistake. We took a driving lesson each and feel more comfortable. We should seriously work towards getting a UK license.
What car to buy? We were set on buying a used car till to get familiar with the driving conditions here. We thought of buying a really cheap car - something between £1-2K, so that the running expenses will be minimal. Or is it? Consider the major expenses - insurance, road tax, maintenance and fuel. Trust the system here to defy all conventional wisdom.
- I got insurance quotes for the same model of a car of different ages from www.moneysupermarket.com. Believe it or not, the older a car gets, the more expensive it is to insure it (for example, a brand new Ford Focus would cost about £600 per year, 3 year old would cost £700 and 8 year old about £850). Also, comprehensive insurance is cheaper than third party (collision). It did not make any sense, but that's the way it is.
- Road tax is not based on the value of the car (as it is in the US), but on the CO2 emissions. There is not much variation here between old and new cars, but new cars will be slightly cheaper (£150 as opposed to say £200 per year)
- In general, car maintenance bill should be cheaper than US. Manufacturers recommend one service per year here. For Ford models, one of the cheaper and reliable brands, it would work out to £150-200 per year. As you can expect, newer cars have the edge here too.
- Fuel: nothing much to choose here. In general, cars are smaller, less powerful and more fuel efficient than US.
So we decided to look for newer cars. We found many 3-4 year old cars at a Ford dealership nearby - about 10 minute walk from our house. Wife liked Ford Focus hatchbacks since they look very roomy but not too big. I saw a 2006 Ford Fusion with 28000 miles with a price of £5000. It looked smaller than a Focus, but the salesman convinced us that the leg and trunk space are the same in both the cars. It was a little cheaper, so we put a deposit for it. We took a one year insurance through Post Office. With a £100 excess (deductible), breakdown cover and legal cover, the annual premium for the two of us is £627. We had gotten letters from our insurers in US with our claim history, which needs to be sent to them - the quote includes a No Claims Discount for four years. The car feels very smooth, does not have too much power (probably about 110 hp) and has great mileage (55mpg on highway and 45 on local + highway).
I drove the car for shopping on Sunday and wife has been using the car for the last two days. It is a manual, of course, but it not too hard, since we are both used to it. The roundabouts are a pain to navigate. I thought I would do better since there are roundabouts in Boston, but these are not trivial. There are many lanes and I invariably end up in the wrong lane every time. It looks like people are much more courteous here - no honking when you make a mistake. We took a driving lesson each and feel more comfortable. We should seriously work towards getting a UK license.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
New job
I started a new job this Monday. It is with a startup based in Central London, at a great location (a few blocks from Piccadilly Circus). It takes me about 1 hr 15 mins door to door, which comprises of a 15 minute walk to the train station, a 45 minute train ride to London Waterloo station, a 5 minute walk to the tube station, 5 minute train ride on the tube and a 5 minute walk to the office. Compared to my commute in US, this is a royal pain - I had a 5 minute drive to work there. The train fare is not cheap either - it comes to a total of £380 a month. The largest component of the travel is a single train ride of 45 minutes and I get a seat always, so the commute is not too bad. I can do something productive - like reading a book or catching some sleep during this ride. I should get used to this pretty soon.
Last Saturday, we visited Stonehenge and a nearby medieval city called Salisbury. Visiting Stonehenge is a dream come true - I have read about that since childhood and it turned out to be a great experience. There was a huge crowd out there. We were allowed to catch a glimpse of it from 100 feet away, but it still was worth it. There is something mysterious about 5000 year old stones arranged in a mysterious formation. It was supposed to be a little hot that day (close to 30C), but thankfully, it was cloudy, so it did not feel that hot.
Salisbury is a really old city built around 1200 AD. There is an even older city in ruins a few miles from Salisbury called Old Sarum. It is a hill fort and is few thousand years old. We spent some time there and got some gorgeous views of the English countryside. We then went to the town centre of Salisbury and visited a farmer's market. Then we visited the Salisbury Cathedral. At 404 ft in height, it is the tallest medieval cathedral in England and is 750 years old. It also has England's oldest working clock and a copy of Magna Carta. Then we took a train back home. It was a very satisfying day.
Last Saturday, we visited Stonehenge and a nearby medieval city called Salisbury. Visiting Stonehenge is a dream come true - I have read about that since childhood and it turned out to be a great experience. There was a huge crowd out there. We were allowed to catch a glimpse of it from 100 feet away, but it still was worth it. There is something mysterious about 5000 year old stones arranged in a mysterious formation. It was supposed to be a little hot that day (close to 30C), but thankfully, it was cloudy, so it did not feel that hot.
Salisbury is a really old city built around 1200 AD. There is an even older city in ruins a few miles from Salisbury called Old Sarum. It is a hill fort and is few thousand years old. We spent some time there and got some gorgeous views of the English countryside. We then went to the town centre of Salisbury and visited a farmer's market. Then we visited the Salisbury Cathedral. At 404 ft in height, it is the tallest medieval cathedral in England and is 750 years old. It also has England's oldest working clock and a copy of Magna Carta. Then we took a train back home. It was a very satisfying day.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
India trip
We celebrate our boy's first birthday in Indian calendar with a traditional Indian function in India and invite friends and family. His birthday is in August this year. Since we just moved to the UK, it is not feasible to take vacation right away. So we cut some slack and are celebrating it in November (as weird as it may sound, this is not unusual). We picked that month because the tickets should be cheaper and Deepavali (the biggest and grandest Indian festival) falls in the same month too. So we can celebrate his birthday and Deepavali in a single trip.
We have been looking for tickets to India for a week now. I finally booked it today in Oman Air. The travel involves a stopover in Muscat. British Airways is the only airlines which flies to Chennai direct from Heathrow. It costs £150 more in total, but they did not have flights for the days we wanted to fly. Also who knows what will happen to BA and their strikes in November. So we decided to play it safe and went with Oman. It costs £780 (about $1200) for the three of us, a great deal since we spent at least $1200 per ticket when we lived in US. The journey would be 12 hours for the onward flight and 17 hours for the return flight, about 8 hours shorter than if we had flown from US.
I noticed that for the last two or three trips to India, we have been booking the tickets through the Internet (either through a travel website or the airlines directly), without using a travel agent. Every time we call travel agents and get a quote, but we book it ourselves. The tickets are either the same price or a little cheaper this way. Also, we find a lot of options and sort through them easily in the Internet. Anybody out there still using travel agents? If so, do you find it better?
We have been looking for tickets to India for a week now. I finally booked it today in Oman Air. The travel involves a stopover in Muscat. British Airways is the only airlines which flies to Chennai direct from Heathrow. It costs £150 more in total, but they did not have flights for the days we wanted to fly. Also who knows what will happen to BA and their strikes in November. So we decided to play it safe and went with Oman. It costs £780 (about $1200) for the three of us, a great deal since we spent at least $1200 per ticket when we lived in US. The journey would be 12 hours for the onward flight and 17 hours for the return flight, about 8 hours shorter than if we had flown from US.
I noticed that for the last two or three trips to India, we have been booking the tickets through the Internet (either through a travel website or the airlines directly), without using a travel agent. Every time we call travel agents and get a quote, but we book it ourselves. The tickets are either the same price or a little cheaper this way. Also, we find a lot of options and sort through them easily in the Internet. Anybody out there still using travel agents? If so, do you find it better?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Amazon
Did I tell you I love Amazon's UK site - amazon.co.uk? Just like its US version, it has a great selection of products at great prices - no surprises there. What sets it apart is that there is no minimum purchase required ($25 in US) for free super saver shipping. Isn't that great? Think of the possibilities - you need AAA batteries, you go to amazon.co.uk, place an order for £1.50 and it gets delivered in a couple of days, with free shipping. No fiddling around the site to figure out what fillers you need to get to $25 (of course you can get Amazon Prime in US, but I am cheap). Wife thinks books are really cheap in Amazon - you can find a lot of paperbacks for £3-5 and has resolved to build a book collection.
Packages are delivered in amazingly short time. The whole country is smaller than the state of New York, so no surprises there either. Royal Mail's first class postage costs 41 pence and they guarantee next-day delivery within UK. I have not figured out what is the difference between Royal Mail and Post Office, that may be another topic for a blog.
Packages are delivered in amazingly short time. The whole country is smaller than the state of New York, so no surprises there either. Royal Mail's first class postage costs 41 pence and they guarantee next-day delivery within UK. I have not figured out what is the difference between Royal Mail and Post Office, that may be another topic for a blog.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Car boot sale
Car boot sale is a US garage sale on steroids. There is one near our place every Saturday and Sunday, so let me explain what it is from what I have seen. There is a big school playground very near our place. During our first Saturday here, we saw quite a few cars and a lot of people on the field. We saw it from a distance and had something to do, so we did not bother checking it out. We were passing by the ground the next weekend too and decided to go in. It was like a small fair: there were quite a few people, professionals and amateurs, selling a variety of household goods (new and used) like books, clothes, CD's, small appliances etc, in addition to food stuff like cookies, fudge, ice cream etc. Apparently they bring the stuff in their car boot, so hence the name. Wife was all excited to check out the used books - she bought few books at 20 pence each. We found a booth selling fresh fruits and vegetables. It is very cheap compared to our local supermarkets - we spend about £5-7 and get our weekly fruits. It was all exciting the first couple of times and since then, we just go buy the fruits and get home. We don't need to carry it for a long distance, so it is an added incentive. I found a website with a directory of car boot sales, which will come handy when we move. http://carbootjunction.co.uk.
We have had some great weather the past week or so - sunny in the early 20's (about 70-80F). It is nice to go out in the mornings and evenings, but afternoons get a little too hot, especially without a car. It is hard to find AC here - our house does not have one, the long distance and underground trains do not have it either and neither do the malls, except for a few stores. One has to assume that this is as hot as it gets and doesn't last long, so there is no need for AC.
We have a washer-dryer combo appliance here. The very first time we used it, we were surprised to see that the cycle ran for four hours. Even though I do not require my clothes to be hot from the dryer (like Seinfeld's Kramer), I felt that the dryer did not do a great job. Apparently, combo washer-dryers dry the clothes with condensation rather than blowing hot air. So they take longer and the clothes are not dry enough. We are used to it now - we just let it run and once it is done, hang the clothes for a few hours to get it dry perfectly. At least with the combo, there is one less thing to do - no need to unload the washer and load the dryer.
We have had some great weather the past week or so - sunny in the early 20's (about 70-80F). It is nice to go out in the mornings and evenings, but afternoons get a little too hot, especially without a car. It is hard to find AC here - our house does not have one, the long distance and underground trains do not have it either and neither do the malls, except for a few stores. One has to assume that this is as hot as it gets and doesn't last long, so there is no need for AC.
We have a washer-dryer combo appliance here. The very first time we used it, we were surprised to see that the cycle ran for four hours. Even though I do not require my clothes to be hot from the dryer (like Seinfeld's Kramer), I felt that the dryer did not do a great job. Apparently, combo washer-dryers dry the clothes with condensation rather than blowing hot air. So they take longer and the clothes are not dry enough. We are used to it now - we just let it run and once it is done, hang the clothes for a few hours to get it dry perfectly. At least with the combo, there is one less thing to do - no need to unload the washer and load the dryer.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A trip to Little India
As time passes, we are feeling more at home and get a "settled down" feeling. The day to day routine resembles life in US for the most part. Wife gets ready for work and kid gets ready for nursery. Wife takes the kid and drops off in the nursery. I work from home, so my work day starts early. I find some time in the afternoon to run a quick errand - a trip to the post office to apply for license or a bike ride to the Indian store. I leave around 5 to pick up the kid and wife joins me near the mall. We pop into a store often - interesting how many times we go to stores every week to buy necessities. Then we head home, wife cooks, I take care of the kid and watch football, then we eat dinner and call it a day.
We have been going somewhere every weekend. Last Saturday, we went to East Ham, a locality in East London. Our plan was to go to a south indian restaurant and visit a Hindu temple. When we got down, I was pleasantly surprised to see only Indian stores and surrounded by Indians - Tamils and other south indians to be precise. Indian restaurants, clothing stores, grocery stores, jewelry shops, roadside food stalls - you name it. Many of the stores displayed notices in Tamil as well. The south indian restaurant we were planning to go - a chain called Saravana Bhavan - was a 10 minute walk, but we must have crossed at least five other places where we could have happily eaten. The menu was like a small book - at least 15 pages long and we had a hard time trying to shortlist the items. The food was authentic, very tasty and not expensive either (we spent about £15 for 6 items. Not satisfied with the lunch, we bought some yummy snacks to take home.
Then we explored the area a little bit. Visited a clothing store and a video store. Then we went to the Hindu temple nearby. It had an authentic feel. There were a lot of people inside and food (free!) was being served in the top floor. We had planned to go to Greenwich park in London, but the weather was a little chilly and the boy was a little cranky, so we headed home. It was a very satisfying day. I felt we got what we came for in the UK.
We can drive with the US license for a year. We have started the process to get a license here. Looks like we have to apply for a provisional license first, then write a theory exam and then take a road test (apparently, there is a 40% chance of clearing it in the first try). We were seriously doing research to buy a car. That is put on hold for now, since all the walking we do everyday do not bother us as much. The cars are fairly small and much more fuel efficient (40 mpg is common). That does not help much with the fuel cost with a liter of petrol costing £1.17, which works out to $6.50 per gallon at the current exchange rate, more than twice the price in US. I see many cars that I did not see in US - Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault. Hondas and Toyotas are around, but not that many. Car insurance seems to be very expensive. From a comparison shopping site (www.moneysupermarket.com), we got a quote of about £600 per year for the two of us for a 5 year old car. Maybe it will improve with more driving history here. In US, we were paying about $1100 per year for two cars - a brand new minivan and 5 year old Corolla. I should remember to stop comparing UK with US, especially with cars.
We have been going somewhere every weekend. Last Saturday, we went to East Ham, a locality in East London. Our plan was to go to a south indian restaurant and visit a Hindu temple. When we got down, I was pleasantly surprised to see only Indian stores and surrounded by Indians - Tamils and other south indians to be precise. Indian restaurants, clothing stores, grocery stores, jewelry shops, roadside food stalls - you name it. Many of the stores displayed notices in Tamil as well. The south indian restaurant we were planning to go - a chain called Saravana Bhavan - was a 10 minute walk, but we must have crossed at least five other places where we could have happily eaten. The menu was like a small book - at least 15 pages long and we had a hard time trying to shortlist the items. The food was authentic, very tasty and not expensive either (we spent about £15 for 6 items. Not satisfied with the lunch, we bought some yummy snacks to take home.
Then we explored the area a little bit. Visited a clothing store and a video store. Then we went to the Hindu temple nearby. It had an authentic feel. There were a lot of people inside and food (free!) was being served in the top floor. We had planned to go to Greenwich park in London, but the weather was a little chilly and the boy was a little cranky, so we headed home. It was a very satisfying day. I felt we got what we came for in the UK.
We can drive with the US license for a year. We have started the process to get a license here. Looks like we have to apply for a provisional license first, then write a theory exam and then take a road test (apparently, there is a 40% chance of clearing it in the first try). We were seriously doing research to buy a car. That is put on hold for now, since all the walking we do everyday do not bother us as much. The cars are fairly small and much more fuel efficient (40 mpg is common). That does not help much with the fuel cost with a liter of petrol costing £1.17, which works out to $6.50 per gallon at the current exchange rate, more than twice the price in US. I see many cars that I did not see in US - Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault. Hondas and Toyotas are around, but not that many. Car insurance seems to be very expensive. From a comparison shopping site (www.moneysupermarket.com), we got a quote of about £600 per year for the two of us for a 5 year old car. Maybe it will improve with more driving history here. In US, we were paying about $1100 per year for two cars - a brand new minivan and 5 year old Corolla. I should remember to stop comparing UK with US, especially with cars.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Random musings
Long days: It starts getting bright very early in the morning - probably about 4:30 AM and does not get dark till 10 in the night. It looks at least one hour extra sunlight than US. Of course you can't precisely say when the sun rises since it is cloudy mostly :(. The boy has adapted to this well - too well I should say, since he is up at least by 5:30.
Hard water: Tap water is hard. You can taste it in the water and you can see it when you boil the water. It seems like all of England has this problem. We brought a Brita filter to get over this.
Smoking: You see smokers everywhere - in the open places in the malls, in bus stops, in parks. It is safe to conclude the number of smokers is much higher than the US.
Utilities: On first look, phone and internet seems to be cheaper than the US. You could get broadband internet for £10-15 a month, compared to $50 in US. And you don't get pushed into buying a package. Vonage gives unlimited landline calls for £6 a month, compared to $15 a month. A Sim-only mobile phone plan costs £10 a month for 300 minutes with unlimited in-network calling, compared to $40 a month. All these prices include taxes, whereas you can get caught by surprise with taxes in the US. We are still in a temporary place, so these numbers could be higher or lower when we find our own place.
People: In general, people you meet on the road are less friendly than the US - not many smile or say hello. In the US, our boy meets with a lot of compliments and smiling folks in the mall and the park, but not so much here. I should add that wife always gets asked if she needs help when she is trying to get the boy on the buggy (stroller) up or down the stairs.
Hard water: Tap water is hard. You can taste it in the water and you can see it when you boil the water. It seems like all of England has this problem. We brought a Brita filter to get over this.
Smoking: You see smokers everywhere - in the open places in the malls, in bus stops, in parks. It is safe to conclude the number of smokers is much higher than the US.
Utilities: On first look, phone and internet seems to be cheaper than the US. You could get broadband internet for £10-15 a month, compared to $50 in US. And you don't get pushed into buying a package. Vonage gives unlimited landline calls for £6 a month, compared to $15 a month. A Sim-only mobile phone plan costs £10 a month for 300 minutes with unlimited in-network calling, compared to $40 a month. All these prices include taxes, whereas you can get caught by surprise with taxes in the US. We are still in a temporary place, so these numbers could be higher or lower when we find our own place.
People: In general, people you meet on the road are less friendly than the US - not many smile or say hello. In the US, our boy meets with a lot of compliments and smiling folks in the mall and the park, but not so much here. I should add that wife always gets asked if she needs help when she is trying to get the boy on the buggy (stroller) up or down the stairs.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
NHS, London
We had the first taste of National Health System (NHS) - UK's universal health care system - this week. We have to first register with our choice of a General Practitioner (GP) - someone like a Primary Care Physician in US. No registrations required for emergency visits. I went to a GP practice near our town centre for the registration. I filled out a simple two page form, provided proof of identity (passport) and proof of address (a letter from my bank confirming my UK address) and I was all set.
We wanted to make sure our boy's vaccinations are consistent with UK's standards. There was an appointment available same day afternoon, with a baby clinic run by a nurse. The nurse reviewed his US vaccination history and confirmed it was fine except for one shot, which he got then. The whole affair was over in less than thirty minutes and our experience was very close to what you would expect with a PCP's practice in the US.
We spent a nice, touristy day in London today. It took us about 50 minutes by train to London's Waterloo station. London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel by the Thames, was our first stop. We got some really good views of many of London's top attractions from really high up, but the experience was a little underwhelming. Then we took a walk crossing the Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. Our choice for lunch had been an Indian restaurant serving Kerala food near the palace, but after going there, found that they are closed for lunch on Saturdays. Had a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant nearby. Spent some time in St.James's park. It was funny to watch the boy on the grass - he was scared of touching the green grass, would take his hand away and cry. No idea he can be scared of such a thing - should remember to exploit this while babyproofing.
The weather was really nice in the past few days. Back to rain and crappy weather next week.
We wanted to make sure our boy's vaccinations are consistent with UK's standards. There was an appointment available same day afternoon, with a baby clinic run by a nurse. The nurse reviewed his US vaccination history and confirmed it was fine except for one shot, which he got then. The whole affair was over in less than thirty minutes and our experience was very close to what you would expect with a PCP's practice in the US.
We spent a nice, touristy day in London today. It took us about 50 minutes by train to London's Waterloo station. London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel by the Thames, was our first stop. We got some really good views of many of London's top attractions from really high up, but the experience was a little underwhelming. Then we took a walk crossing the Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. Our choice for lunch had been an Indian restaurant serving Kerala food near the palace, but after going there, found that they are closed for lunch on Saturdays. Had a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant nearby. Spent some time in St.James's park. It was funny to watch the boy on the grass - he was scared of touching the green grass, would take his hand away and cry. No idea he can be scared of such a thing - should remember to exploit this while babyproofing.
The weather was really nice in the past few days. Back to rain and crappy weather next week.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Day Nursery, Bike and more
I am adding information from the last four days.
Nursery: We started the hunt for nurseries for our boy on Thursday. There was one right around the corner from where we are staying and that looked like the best option. Unfortunately, they did not have immediate vacancies in the babies' class. My wife had called a couple of places from the US and we were really interested in one of them. It is a small chain in the UK, owned by a bigger chain in the US. We visited it on Friday morning and we liked it. It was pretty much like a US daycare - friendly staff, very clean, a minimum teacher to kid ratio (1 to 3), separate cots (cribs) for babies to sleep, daily log sheet etc. They provide nappies (diapers), wipes, formula milk and cooked food. It was a little expensive - 908 pounds per month - but it was close to wife's office. We told them that we are choosing them and got some bad news.
Maternity leave in the UK is 52 weeks (39 weeks of full pay, can you believe it?), so it looks like parents take their time to send the kids out. The usual practice is for the parents bring the kids for up to 6 "visits" - leave the kid and see whether he can handle it. Monday being a holiday and wife starting work on Tuesday, we did not have any more days to spare. The centre director agreed to a visit in the afternoon and then see what happens. So, our boy had just one chance. It turned out to be ok - he had a good time there and we even left him for 15 minutes. Everything went well finally - he started today and is doing good there.
Bike: A colleague of wife's did not have use for her bike and agreed to sell it to us. We bought it for 40 pounds - out first set of wheels. It looks very manly - except for the pink color and the basket in the front. You will find me cruising around the town on it.
We went for lunch yesterday. It was a Bangladeshi restaurant near the town centre and the food tasted very different and good. They did not have a highchair - not sure if that is the case in all restaurants. Wife is very happy with her cooking. The stoves are gas stove like India and unlike the coil stoves in US. Her rotis come out fluffed and is very excited about it. I can't complain.
Nursery: We started the hunt for nurseries for our boy on Thursday. There was one right around the corner from where we are staying and that looked like the best option. Unfortunately, they did not have immediate vacancies in the babies' class. My wife had called a couple of places from the US and we were really interested in one of them. It is a small chain in the UK, owned by a bigger chain in the US. We visited it on Friday morning and we liked it. It was pretty much like a US daycare - friendly staff, very clean, a minimum teacher to kid ratio (1 to 3), separate cots (cribs) for babies to sleep, daily log sheet etc. They provide nappies (diapers), wipes, formula milk and cooked food. It was a little expensive - 908 pounds per month - but it was close to wife's office. We told them that we are choosing them and got some bad news.
Maternity leave in the UK is 52 weeks (39 weeks of full pay, can you believe it?), so it looks like parents take their time to send the kids out. The usual practice is for the parents bring the kids for up to 6 "visits" - leave the kid and see whether he can handle it. Monday being a holiday and wife starting work on Tuesday, we did not have any more days to spare. The centre director agreed to a visit in the afternoon and then see what happens. So, our boy had just one chance. It turned out to be ok - he had a good time there and we even left him for 15 minutes. Everything went well finally - he started today and is doing good there.
Bike: A colleague of wife's did not have use for her bike and agreed to sell it to us. We bought it for 40 pounds - out first set of wheels. It looks very manly - except for the pink color and the basket in the front. You will find me cruising around the town on it.
We went for lunch yesterday. It was a Bangladeshi restaurant near the town centre and the food tasted very different and good. They did not have a highchair - not sure if that is the case in all restaurants. Wife is very happy with her cooking. The stoves are gas stove like India and unlike the coil stoves in US. Her rotis come out fluffed and is very excited about it. I can't complain.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A new home
We are in Her Majesty's Land. This is our second day here and we are doing reasonably good. Most of the time has been spent on settling down. The weather has been mild - in the 60's and mostly cloudy. Or shall we say in the mid teens and cloudy. We get a feeling that we are in a new place in the US with a strong resemblance to India - medium sized houses close together, no yards, walking to shops etc. We are relearning the terminology here - we are staying in a 2 bedroom flat on the second floor of a building (after the ground and first floors).
Travel: For a journey with five big suitcases checked in, two carry ons, two laptop bags with three laptops, a diaper bag and stroller, along with an occasionally cranky 10-month old, our travel was very smooth. Immigration was quick, but we were asked to visit a health desk in the airport. A taxi had been hired by my wife's company and a taxi driver was waiting at the airport, holding a placard with my wife's name (she must have felt good). He had brought a Ford Mondeo, which would be a little bigger than a Camry, but he somehow managed to fit everything in the car. No car seats are required for our boy or so we were told. He was a cheerful fellow and educated us to the ways of life in the UK. We reached our guest house after a 45 minute drive. It was a lot of fun hauling the bags up two floors.
The house: It is a fully furnished house in Basingstoke, which is nice because we can cook, unpack, connect to the internet and sleep on a nice bed. It is bad because there are a lot of glass furniture around and our boy likes to explore. The house has a nice view from the window and it looks all green outside. It is on a quiet residential street. It has got all the basics - a kitchen with basic utensils, a couch, TV, dining table, a nice bed, dressers and closets. We have not ventured out to a restaurant yet - the wife has been doing a lot of cooking.
Shopping: The first day was entirely spent on shopping and unpacking. The town center was supposed to be a short walk from our place, but turned out to be a 15 minute walk. It is right next to the Basingstoke railway station. It is a busy place with close to 100 shops. We got most of our food stuff from Sainsbury's. The shop was pretty much like a US store, with the weights in kilograms and prices in pounds. It looks like things are at least 10% more expensive than US and for someone who frequents Costco, the sizes are smaller. The cashiers at the shop are in a seat while they checkout and do not assist you with bagging. I also learnt that a 15 minute walk from the shop with 15 kgs worth of groceries in plastic bags is not much fun. For the second shopping trip, we bought a Sabichi lightweight shopping trolley - a golf bag sized trolley which you fill with stuff and push it home - for 11 pounds.
Being in touch: The home phone in the guest house did not work, but the ethernet connection worked. I had brought a Magicjack in the US, which was a lifesaver. We even used it to call UK numbers through our US calling card - a little weird, but worked. The home phone worked today - I just had to pop out the batteries from the handset and put it back.
Bank and Credit card: I had opened an account with HSBC in the US - that seemed to be the only bank with presence in US and UK. They also helped me open an account in the UK while in the US, which was good because opening an account in UK is a long process. We are using our US HSBC premier card for our purchases - no foreign transaction fees and the exchange rate is actually better than what I get through any FX broker or a transfer through the bank.
We are currently looking for a day nursery (daycare for the uninitiated) for our boy. Planning to go to London during the weekend. Must be fun!
Travel: For a journey with five big suitcases checked in, two carry ons, two laptop bags with three laptops, a diaper bag and stroller, along with an occasionally cranky 10-month old, our travel was very smooth. Immigration was quick, but we were asked to visit a health desk in the airport. A taxi had been hired by my wife's company and a taxi driver was waiting at the airport, holding a placard with my wife's name (she must have felt good). He had brought a Ford Mondeo, which would be a little bigger than a Camry, but he somehow managed to fit everything in the car. No car seats are required for our boy or so we were told. He was a cheerful fellow and educated us to the ways of life in the UK. We reached our guest house after a 45 minute drive. It was a lot of fun hauling the bags up two floors.
The house: It is a fully furnished house in Basingstoke, which is nice because we can cook, unpack, connect to the internet and sleep on a nice bed. It is bad because there are a lot of glass furniture around and our boy likes to explore. The house has a nice view from the window and it looks all green outside. It is on a quiet residential street. It has got all the basics - a kitchen with basic utensils, a couch, TV, dining table, a nice bed, dressers and closets. We have not ventured out to a restaurant yet - the wife has been doing a lot of cooking.
Shopping: The first day was entirely spent on shopping and unpacking. The town center was supposed to be a short walk from our place, but turned out to be a 15 minute walk. It is right next to the Basingstoke railway station. It is a busy place with close to 100 shops. We got most of our food stuff from Sainsbury's. The shop was pretty much like a US store, with the weights in kilograms and prices in pounds. It looks like things are at least 10% more expensive than US and for someone who frequents Costco, the sizes are smaller. The cashiers at the shop are in a seat while they checkout and do not assist you with bagging. I also learnt that a 15 minute walk from the shop with 15 kgs worth of groceries in plastic bags is not much fun. For the second shopping trip, we bought a Sabichi lightweight shopping trolley - a golf bag sized trolley which you fill with stuff and push it home - for 11 pounds.
Being in touch: The home phone in the guest house did not work, but the ethernet connection worked. I had brought a Magicjack in the US, which was a lifesaver. We even used it to call UK numbers through our US calling card - a little weird, but worked. The home phone worked today - I just had to pop out the batteries from the handset and put it back.
Bank and Credit card: I had opened an account with HSBC in the US - that seemed to be the only bank with presence in US and UK. They also helped me open an account in the UK while in the US, which was good because opening an account in UK is a long process. We are using our US HSBC premier card for our purchases - no foreign transaction fees and the exchange rate is actually better than what I get through any FX broker or a transfer through the bank.
We are currently looking for a day nursery (daycare for the uninitiated) for our boy. Planning to go to London during the weekend. Must be fun!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Eastbound
After 11 years in US, I am moving to the UK with my family in the end of May 2010. We are all set with the logistics.
Flight Tickets: It's been a long time since I booked a one-way flight ticket and I was eagerly looking forward to do it. Alas, one way tickets from Boston to London was pricey - a direct flight could set us off by close to one grand per ticket. Sigh! Not agreeing to give up, I did a search with flexible return date (not many sites provided this option) and found round trip tickets for $620 per person. Now we have one week to decide whether we like it in the UK or not!
Moving stuff: Desis do not believe in traveling light. My wife decided to take only the "bare minimum personal belongings" with us - no furniture. Ours being a small move - we estimated 10 large boxes for a total of 500 pounds - it was not advantageous to reserve a container in ocean freight. So, we submitted a quote request from www.intlmovers.com and got bombarded with quotes from many companies. We ended up choosing a company based in Indiana. The smallest move they could move - which comes to about 20 large boxes - would cost us close to $1600, excluding the insurance. After many days of packing done over few weeks, we were done. The movers came last week, repacked everything into their boxes and took them. The final tally was 23 boxes (large, medium and small), totaling 920 pounds. It will be close to two months when they will be delivered to us. I don't want to think of the day these boxes will come home and demand a place. We plan to take five big suitcases with us to last the two months.
Selling stuff: We are renters - no house to sell, yay! The biggest item was a 1 year old minivan and started with that. I put an ad in craigslist and cars.com. Over a period of 3 weeks, I got at least 25 leads through craigslist, not one of them turned out to be a serious buyer. I got two leads through cars.com, both were serious and one of them bought it. Surprisingly, I did not lose money on the car - in fact, I broke even after considering the fees and taxes I paid.
Selling the household furniture took time - but they ultimately did. A lot of it was from Ikea. We ended up collecting $3000 for all the stuff we sold. Don't remind me what we spent on buying them.
We have never visited the UK. A lot of my friends and colleagues asked me if I am nervous. I am not. My wife is not either. My 10-month old doesn't know what is happening to him and is busy yapping away. We both did a big move from India to US, so this should be easy. Or so we think.
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