This is not one the regular travel blogs that give you a list of things that you should keep in mind before you travel to/live in a new country. This is actually in addition to them. Clearly, reading the tips on the travel blogs is not enough to prepare you to live in a new country. You need something that tells you about all the mistakes made by someone who has already been there, done that. For example, someone like me. See I’m the kind of person who reads everything there is to read so that I’m prepared with info, makes all the lists there are to make, and has backups of backup. In short, like I like to believe, am organized and prepared.

So before I went to the UK for a work assignment, I did all the possible homework I could do. I read all travel blogs to the UK, asked (…ok, pestered) people who’d been there for all the info they could give me, got a friend who’d been there to write down a step by step process of everything I would need to do from the time I stepped off the plane to when I stepped into my hotel room (ok…ok…I know this is a little extreme, but hey! I was going out the country for the first time! You can’t blame me for wanting to be fully prepared!)

So this blog is for all those others like me who want to be fully prepared, but can’t find everything one needs to know. Below are a few things you probably will not find in other travel blogs, but should know!

  1. Getting through the immigrations, airport security, traveling through public transport etc are the easiest parts of getting to UK. But, if you’re arriving in the UK through Heathrow, then the first thing one must remember is that it is the busiest airport in the world! (A claim that Wikipedia doesn’t confirm, but really if you’ve been there, you’ll know it is infact really really busy!) So if you’re planning to land there at the really busy times (summer time and in the evening), then you should probably reconsider and pick an airline that gets you there in the morning. Evenings are busy and immigration ques can be long and winding. During the evenings, it usually takes up to 3-4 hours to get through the whole thing. And by the time you get out, the baggage claim for your airline is over! I’ve had a friend who landed on 6:45 pm flight, finished immigrations by 10 pm to realize that her baggage was locked up for the night because it was not picked up within the 2 hour specified time! So bottom line, take a morning landing flight and avoid the possibility of this.

  2. Setting up for living in UK is simple. Renting apartments is easy given you have the required bit of documents in place (which in case you’re going for work, your company can help with). The important thing to keep in mind is that the contracts for rent will include a very (and a mean really really detailed) list of inventory for the apartment. From the number of spoons, to a spot on the carpet are all detailed. It is best to run through the whole property with a magnifying glass and highlight current state to the landlord/agent before you sign the dotted line. Cracks, spots, tears, all should be highlighted before you take up the apartment or you might land up having to pay up for things you have not done or even forgoing the whole of your deposit amount.

  3. Appliances! Now this one’s for the slightly electronically challenged people like me. OK, I can use the micro, washing machine, TV, DVD etc… you know the regular appliances one is used to using in India. Well then what does one do when faced with appliances one has never used before… like the dish washer, or say the boiler, the wall heaters, home fire alarms etc etc. I can tell many a colourful stories from my own experiences on what can happen when appliances go awry… but lets save that for another day. The point I am trying to get to is that when you rent an apartment, ensure you get all the appliance manuals as part of the handover. Experiences of struggling with a washing machine which has locked in your clothes and refuses to open, having the dish water spew bubbles all over the kitchen and more because we put the wrong liquid in it, are harrowing ones… one which could be easily be avoided if one had the manual which details a ‘in case of problem list of items’ and contact numbers for service centers. ?

  4. Unplug home fire alarms before making Indian food! Now this is one useful tip you’ll probably not find written anywhere, but every Indian in the UK will tell you. Even with the nice chimney’s that are part of most kitchen setups it is quite likely that your fire alarm will go off because of the smoke that Indian cooking (especially tadkas) can create. Making some simple parantha can turn into a dramatic event of running around like headless chicken trying to make the screaming alarm shut up and then explaining to the building concierge and the fire warden what the fuss was all about! So bottom line, unplug the thing before cooking and ensure that you plug it back up because it really is illegal to keep it unplugged.

  5. Planning pays! Actually planning in advance will help you save your money. So this is nothing really unique to UK, because planning your trips in advance probably saves money in any country! But in the UK planning almost everything in advance will help you save. Your train, bus tickets can be bought in almost 1/20th the cost if you plan your trip well in advance. Even things like theater tickets, sight seeing tours can be really inexpensive when booked early.

  6. Being vegetarian in the UK. I guess being vegetarian is not easy in most countries, but in the UK, it would really be not one of the best things. (You know because of all the absolutely great authentic British food that one would be missing! ) Anyways, so if you are a vegetarian, then you should probably remember that in UK, fish and eggs are considered vegetarian. So be careful when you ask for vegetarian food. Responses I have got when I ask for vegetarian food vary from blank stares like they have never heard of that word to a smiling face that asks whether I would like it with egg or fish!

Well, thats that… those are the gems of wisdom I’ve got so far. I do hope some of this will help some of you, but hey, it’s always fun making your own mistakes and having your own fun stories to tell. So for now, Cheers Mate!