luvwelly

And for sunshine:

chris197337

It tends to be pretty much the same everywhere, I look at people's council tax every day and it tends to be around 100 a month, less for single person's allowance. But what does vary is the band you are in, based on the perceived value of a domicile. But I doubt it's massive given the fixed price range etc.

chris197337

Do you not need to be a British citizen for things like this? It just says passport, but it does say UK driving licence, if it's government funded you'd think it would be.

chris197337

I don't agree with that at all.

The bus may be cheaper, but if you book a train on your terms (eg. in advance, off-peak in a day) it doesn't have to be as expensive as you make out. Anybody who travels from Penzance to Aberdeen would be mad to travel by bus, how long does that take 18 hrs? I looked on the website, 22hrs! That's nuts, you'd be mad to subject yourself to that when you could be on a bus for a similar amount of time and go to somewhere on the continent.

Anyway, I can't speak for Penzance, but it's much easier if you stick to the main train routes, which mirror the main road links. Ie London to the West, London to the North. I'd chose the train to go from London to the North every time and did for many years when I lived in London and went home to the North East. It's far quicker, a bus takes 10 or twelve hours and is horrible, particularly if busy.

Flying sounds fine, but getting to any of the airports from central London takes ages, then you have to be there for at least an hour before flying. Yes the flight is short, maybe an hour, then you have to get off, pass security etc and then another half an hour + to get in to the centre of places like Newcastle or Edinburgh. The train is 3 hours from central London to Newcastle, or 4:30 to Edinburgh and similar on the ones to Glasgow. I can see the appeal of flying if you were so inclined to go to Aberdeen, assuming they have an airport the you can fly to.

So; fly if it's really cheap, bus if you aren't bothered about the length of a journey and want it to be super-cheap (this scenery idea about buses is fine, if you like concrete and pylons as that's what you get on the motorway) and train as long as you look at all options; routes (eg Grand Central Rail and East Coast to the North East) and times.

A flat fare from London to Newcastle is about 120 now, but there is no need to ever pay that and if you catch the cheap tickets that are released when booking becomes available you can do these journeys for very cheap.

PS All of this is the same for North West England, only the trains are faster. Ever faster to the Midlands, particularly Nottingham etc.

Pistolpete2

For the rail card, it seems the driving licence or passport is simply to prove your ID and age if buying online. If you are buying at a ticket office you can use your birth certificate to prove your name and age. Says nothing of being a citizen. I've had a Family and Friends rail card before as a non resident and there was no question re citizenship, simply pay the dosh.

Eligibility for the bus pass is your ID containing your date of birth and a tie to your council tax contribution so you need proof of address, as is the case for the London Freedom pass for London council tax payers which gives you other perks outside the London area.

chris197337

Oh right, that's good re the dog.

You'd hope to be within walking distance of shops for general groceries, certainly in most of the places we've talked about. If there is a train/ tube/ metro station there will more than likely be some shops near by.

Some people who don't drive get taxis if they have large shopping. If you like say 10 minutes drive from a large supermarket, I'd say it would be a ten pound ($15) taxi maximum. So if you do it once a whle it's not too expensive.

Most of the major supermarkets (there are four national chains which dominate and one or two others that are in most towns/ cities and are branded as more luxury/ expensive) will deliver for free on orders over a certain amount (maybe 30 pounds). I haven't dare try, but for fresh food I would suggest you do it yourself rather than having someone pick it out for you. But for heavy items, maybe you can buy in larger amounts to last a month, it's a great idea. The last time I checked of those six only Morrisons don't deliver.

I don't know what you mean by admin tax, but you have to pay a realtor an "administration fee" or similar when you rent. When I looked at rentals in the US, certainly in NYC and NJ you had to pay them a month's rent as a fee.

What we call council tax is similar to your state property tax and as we've all said, will be between say 60 and 90 pounds for a single person (there is a discount for one person living alone).

I'd say a typical train/ bus journey would be maybe 3 pounds return. But as people have said, it really depends on where you are and who provides the route. I haven't traveled on the trams in Manchester or Nottingham for years so don't remember how much they are and don't know what there is in the South West or Wales.

dunroving

NHS is government funded too, but it's based on residence not citizenship ...

chris197337

duplicate post,sorry.

chris197337

People without ILR get a basic level of NHS cover,so it's disingenuous to say that.The NHS is a totally different thing in concept and execution than something like this

Surely non-citizens don't get winter heating allowance (if that still exists) or free bus passes?

Pistolpete2

Winter heating allowance is governed by age and ordinary residence during a particular week and you must then claim, unless you are receiving a state pension in which case you get it automatically. No citizenship requirement.

Since there is no requirement that a UK resident has to actually contribute to the NHS system by paying taxes in order to receive NHS treatment - the average UK born citizen actually takes more out of the system than he/she contributes - it would appear that we are about to reach the stage where NHS treatment is available for all-comers as a basic human right. However, at this point, ordinary residence is the driver for most government and related benefits.

Indeed, if you are simply a visitor, you can go to A&E and get treated for something that arises while visiting.

chris197337

Were you the one who said British trains don't stop if the drivers can't be bothered to?Where is the evidence of your claim that UK born citizens actually take more out of the system?

Unless you have ILR you can't have any referrals,so just basic cover.This isn't just for tourists.

dunroving

It wasn't disingenuous at all. I was merely illustrating that one shouldn't assume benefits are for citizens only. Most residents of the UK get free full NHS cover - to single out the few exceptions to that is itself disingenuous. Indeed, there are probably more (nonresident) UK citizens who are ineligible for almost any benefit than you'll find peple without ILR.

Anyway, you know what I was trying to say.

rebeccajo

But - you're never going to get that exact rate. Those rates on XE, Oanda and others are the exchange rates betweent the big banks and clearing houses. Mere mortals always pay a bit more. Either your bank in the US is going to charge you a fee, or in the UK, or both.

Moving money from one continent to another is an "art form" and there are other members here who know far more about it than I do. And like all things financial, every scenario is different. Bringing it all at once and how to do it - when to time it. Pensions that distribute monthly and how to do it. Blah blah the questions are endless.

I'd suggest you perform this exercise. Take your normal US monthly income and convert it to pound sterling at parity. I believe that is around 1.60. Don't kid yourself when doing so. Parity is optimum and in my experience, much of the last 7 years it hasn't been that good. Then work out a budget for costs over there. Rent, council tax, food, transport, utilities, etc. Leave lots of wiggle room with your US dollars for future times when sterling beats the pants off your dollars. Because it will and soundly.

rebeccajo

Whenever he did a "big shop", my husband always got a taxi. I'm pretty sure I could get a cab, today, in my husband's home town for a fiver. Far better than schlepping a load on the bus.

I think with renting - it's usually pretty clear if the council tax is included in the fee or if it's extra.

Pistolpete2

I was prepared to go with the Report from Select Committee of the House of Lords which was anti-migration but read of the fiscal impact that the curbs to migration was to have on the Uk when it came up in the Autumn and decided to re-educate myself.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...df?view=Binary

For instance, Table 7.2 page 165

Read Evidence 7.121