Countdown to London

[Mrious_be]

T - 20 days

It's sunday, so i couldn't really do anything interesting that has to do with my moving to London.
So in stead i went to mum to hang some shelves against the wall
It's so exciting thinking i'll be living in another country in 21 days , exciting, but also getting abit nervous.
Although i'm trying to do alot in advance, i'm pretty sure that there will be things i haven't thought about or i could have arrange better.
Up untill now i have been focusing on moving my furniture and stuff i don't want to take to London (at first move) to my mum's basement at her appartement.
So at this point i'm sitting in a half empty studio, typing on my cute iBook.
Lots have to be moved over, i'm doing that little by little and sort out what i really need to take with me and what don't, and what i might take with me in a later stadia.

I'll be moving over on october 1st (or second).
Once there i will focus on finding a job, for this i gave myself 3 months but i'm pushing that date, and that goal is 2 months.
Next friday i'll be going to London for two days (one night at a hotel) to check out choices i'll have gathered upon then for flats/house shares.
This means that i'll be renting a room in a flat or house form someone, and i will have a shared bathroom and kitchen.
It's amazing what options you have with that in London, people are doing this cause they know the rent is pretty high in London.

I'll add more information from day to day now.

[Gregg]

Best wishes for a smooth move.

I'm asuming that's London, England.

London, Ontario would have been closer to Boston...

[kimmer]

Oh, I wish you all the best. I'll be watching this thread for updates.

It's very exciting to start life fresh. Sneakers and I are finding it loads of fun. Even if I will be unpacking boxes until 2010. LOL!

[themagpie]

Marcel, best wishes on your move to London.  It's very exciting!

Margie

[Mrious_be]

T - 19 days

After all the rumors i read and heard, about it being difficult to open a bank account in the UK i went to a local branch of the Citibank here in Antwerp.
Thinking i'll open an account here, then go to London and open an account at the Citibank branch in London.
At the Citibank they told me that opening an account in London is just as easy as opening an account here in belgium... so this made me feel bad for pushing on.
That girl was even just receptionist and not a bank employer.
I told her that i'll first go to check in Citibank London and see what they have to say when i'll be there this friday and saturday.
Already figured out they have one on Canary Wharf and oxford street (for the UK people here)
Then went to my own bank and ordering some UK Pounds, cause i want to leave a deposit behind in case i find a place to live that i like.
The only thing planned left for today is calling my internet provider and asking them to cancel my entire internet service packet with them.
Hmmm... and this remind me to change my email on TS (and others) to the new gmail one, i'll do this first.

My neighbor was so kind to again wake me up at 3am tonight, making me feel pretty pissed, nervous and sick in the morning, i guess i'll have to cope the day now cause sleeping in the day is not an option for me, as i'll end up having headache than

Smiley found me a great website last week, called Gumtree and it's about posting your own add to find a living space in London
So i did that last saturday, again yesterday and today... it's just that they recommend do it a few times a week so it keeps up to date... and cause i posted it at the wrong subject the second time.

Not really anything to do with me moving over but this morning i received my Hitachy Travelstar 100Gb 2,5" drive at 7200 rpm but i'll have to wait to build it in though.
Although i know it's smaller than a standard drive, i was still surprised how small it is, it's smaller in ever dimension and that was a big surprise as i thought it would only be one inch less higher.
But i'm glad i have it this fast, ordered it last friday and they said it will be back in stock on saturday so that's a great service.

Thanks everyone, i'll try to keep TS up to date but i must say that i'm affraid i might be offline for a few days till i figure out how to get online from London.
Already heard that the libraries there offer free wireless connection, so anless they offer it at the place i will go live (alot do) that's what i'll have to do.

[Mrious_be]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Sep 11 2006, 12:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh, I wish you all the best. I'll be watching this thread for updates.

It's very exciting to start life fresh. Sneakers and I are finding it loads of fun. Even if I will be unpacking boxes until 2010. LOL!

I guess it's something i can avoid by moving my stuff to my mum's basement, so i can go get what i need things once at a time (or by renting a van in a few months).

[Mrious_be]

T - 18 days

Just finished putting together papers in plastic maps for what i have to do the coming two days in London.
Everything into the order that it has to be done.
First a papersheet with the address and information and on the back a printout from the London Underground with marks on which tube to take to get to that spot (originating from the last arrangement i had).
Looking good... well it better be cause i spend over two hours on doing so
Cancelled my ISP today (by mail) and again brought some stuff to the basement from mum's appartement.

Tonight i'll be eating at my mum's place, and a brother will be there also.
After that we'll be going to watch "The Sentinel".

[gunug]

Looks like the countdown is working!  I wish you well; spending time in Great Britain has always been something I would like to do!  Living there would be great but how would "I" make a living!

[Mrious_be]

T - 18 days

I woke up with a stomach problem and headache so i didn't do to much today.
Went out, had breakfast somewhere, walked some more and was able to get a rubber feet for the iBook from the local apple reseller
Also had a haircut and that's about it.
I will however pack my little suitcase this afternoon in preperation for London on friday and saturday.

I just booked the EuroStar ticket but.... it will be on monday october 2.
This means this countdown is a day early now, i'll correct that with this reply, but not going to correct the previous once



Gunug, i think you can just make a living there as you would at any place

[Mrious_be]

T - 17 days

Appart from spending the last two hours on searching last minute offers for flats in London, today i spend most time on updating all my CD artwork in the new iTunes
I did pack for my trip to London tomorrow, but since it's going to be two days/one night i won't have much to take.
I am going to see if i can already leave something there, maybe they have those lockers to rent for certain times.
So there's not much update today, but i do can say i won't be here tomorrow and the day after.
I'll be back in Belgium saturday night and posting on sunday.

[kimmer]

Hope you're having fun in London.

Hope you find a flat while there.

Looking forward to an update when you return.

[Mrious_be]

T - 14 days

I arrived back in Antwerp last night around 11.30 pm and was abit to tired to still make a reply, so here it is.
I don't think it was for my arrival but when i stepped down from the train in Antwerp i saw they were having a concert inside the station
I must say that it was pretty spectacular to see the lasers and bluelights up on the historical walls from Grand Central Station here, kinda liked it.
But being to tired already (and not having entrance ticket) i left home.
Seems the concert was cause Belgium had it's "Day for Public Transportation" yesterday, first time i saw a concert in the station though.

My trip to London:
Honestly... it was a trip i shouldn't have made if i known some of the facts in front.
Nothing really helpful came out of the trip, except that i went to some banks and cellular phone providers to have some information, just to make something good out of it.
I have been contacting this agency that provides people with Short term stays (lets) in London for a few times the last weeks.
They helped me with information but somehow they neglected to mention the following:
1) there's a fee from 69 pounds to pay before they help you out
2) all rooms or flats that you check and like, have to be payed for straight away (that i know) but you'll have to pay from the day you book it (that i didn't know).
This means i would have payed for two weeks extra, while not living there yet and together with the 69 pounds fee i didn't wanted to do that.

I already send a mail back to the lady who i had contact with by email saying she could have saved me this trip if she would have mentioned that herself, which she should have.
She knew i was from belgium.
She knew i was going to live in London 1st or 2nd in october, but she also knew i was coming in about two weeks earlier to book a room or small flat.
WHY didn't she tell me i can't or have to  pay for those two weeks then, maybe she just thought i would have payed for those two weeks

Since i didn't wanted to make the entire trip (and the money i lost on it) to unproductive i decided i should do whatever i can regarding information i might need on stuff.
So i started calling all the numbers i had from all the people who had rooms, but most were gone and the others told me the same like the girl at the office, if i like the room, i'll have to take it starting from that day
When i ran out off calls, i went to check banks and ask them how easy (or hard) it is for me to open a bank account, after hearing them it seems not to be that hard as i thought it would, a good thing i guess.
Then i went to get information about a UK Sim for my cellular phone.

After that, i just went back to the hotel (after having dinner in a local Italian restaurant), found that their wireless internet didn't really worked reliable so i went out to another hotel, asked if they had wireless, bought a vignet for one hour and went online, lucky enough to find Smiley online
Even had a Belgian beer there
Than i went back to the hotel i stayed and watched a movie i rented in Belgium and took with me (the forgotten), took a shower and went to sleep.

Didn't sleep all that good, i guess i was thinking to much about this unproductive trip and loose of money, as that's how i felt it was.
I got up at 8.30am, took another shower and decided not to have breakfast in the hotel, i just wanted to go.
So i signed out, and went to have breakfast somewhere else.
A looooong street it is but i had time anough to kill before i had to go to the station.
And guess what i found?



I took a picture.. the best proove i can give TS to show that i was in London... is the London Apple Store at Regent street.



This is a picture i took while walking on the bridge accross the Thames to go to Waterloo Station again, not sure what building it is but i liked the panorama.

As for the rest, i have a date now to to London so i'm going to fix on job opportunitues now, since i can give them a date that i'll be available that will be better.
I know i'll have to wait with searching for a room till a week before going, and probably have to go search my options when i arrive in London on october 2nd.
Maybe even again ending up in a Hotel for one night... i'll see (((sigh))).

If she just had told me about those things

[gunug]

I was meaning to ask how the whole thing works: I mean can you a citizen of another country easily find a job in England?  And is this because you're from a country that is in the EU?

[Mrious_be]

QUOTE(gunug @ Sep 18 2006, 12:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was meaning to ask how the whole thing works: I mean can you a citizen of another country easily find a job in England?  And is this because you're from a country that is in the EU?

Going to work and live in UK is much easier for me then going to work and live in the US yes, and yup... that's cause i'm a member from the EU community (just as Smiley is).
Recently they changed the rules again to make it easier on EU citizens to move from one country to another within the EU communnity, they said it should be like moving inside your own country but... well let's just say it's not that easy
Once you start the entire process and start looking for information to live and work abroad, you'll find that every country that is inside the European Economical Space (all Eurozone countries and a few more that don't have the Euro like UK, Scandinavian countries, Austria etc...) all have a service office inside their unions that helps people with moving from one EURES country to another, which is where i started out
Hmmm... not entirely, cause i started out at a European Information Point close to where i live, and they send me to that EURES point.
It's not all that easy though, i need to change things like social security, tax, domestic address and probably some others when moving over and need papers on most of them.
Allthough moving over is basicly leave here, move in into UK and go sign myself in at their registers...
So moving is easy, but it's everything else that might get tougher.

[Mrious_be]

T - 11 days

Ok, been a few days, sorry
What i have been doing the last two days is thinking over my options i had on bank account and cellular phone provider (Uk) and decide how to go with it all.
I went to a store in London that provides multiple carriers for cellular phones, hoping they would offer me the best choice.
The person helping me explained me that, when applying for a new cellular phone SIM card automaticly gives you a free cellular phone.
That's nice off course but i told him i had a phone and i just want a new SIM so i could call in the UK.
I was going with it though and already dreaming from the SonyEricsson K800 he was offering me... it was the cheapest option, about 35 UK pounds.
That is about 47 Euro and i did found it abit to much.
Once home i checked out the O2 website and found there were a few options cheaper than what he proposed.
And, even SIM only options.
But even with those options i'm about to pay 20 UK Pounds and probably more as you call every month.
Figured that 25 UK Pounds a month for a SIM card, which is about 37 Euro, is already more than the average off 20 Euro i pay now.
So i decided for the time being to keep my Belgian account, and only call in emergencies (cause it will be international off course).

Also decided to keep my own bank in Belgium together with the Visa card i have.
First of all, it will be hard for me to get a Visa card in the UK since i have to earn a certain ammount of money every year before you can have one.
But also cause, like the GSM provider, some contracts will be keep on going for a while, and i'll just make sure that there's some money on it to provide for it.

Last thought i have been having is... transportation
Transportation in London between zone 1 - 3 will cost me about 100 UK Pounds a month, and that's about 150 Euro
So i'm thinking if i'm better off bying a bycicle here in Belgium and ship it to London (or take it with me on Eurostar if possible).
Still thinking about that actually

As for the rest...
- Changed the email on iTunes Account (another reason to keep my bank with Visa Card, although i won't be able to use in UK since it's for a Belgian Store.... an less i'm able to contact the Belgian Store in UK and buy that way... hmmm... have to check that out).
- I booked two nights at the Hotel Meridiana from october 2nd till october 4th.

And planning to see my family and friends before i go, been doing that also