2008 Living & Travel Arrangements - Questions & Comments

[EuroMetetron]

<u>London, United Kingdom</u>

Visa: Tourist visa. 90 days stamped upon entry. Nothing required prior to arrival. I am staying 89 days in London, so no problems here.

Housing: I haven't looked into vacation rentals yet, but an option I am seriously considering is staying at the The Generator Hostel for 3 months. They have long-stay rates and I anticipate a month would cost about 300 GBP ($600 US), maybe less. That is certainly a very competitive rate and I don't necessarily mind the lack of privacy and shared bathrooms. It would certainly force me to get my ass out and about every day which is a good thing. And it includes free cereal, toast, and juice every morning [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I'm open to other options, but don't know much about them, so feel free to chime in. On the off chance someone has a room to let, shoot me a PM.

Internet: This is where I am having a big problem. HELP! I'm not entirely sure what my best option is. The internet at the hostel is insanely expensive (about $3 per hour) for Wifi access. Given I probably use 40 hours of internet a week, this would not be fun and would cost about $500 per month for internet usage.

Another option is the T-Mobile wireless laptop card that theoretically works everywhere. It would cost $60 US per month, but requires a 12 month contract, so I'd be paying $700 for 3 months of access ($230 per month). I'm also not sure if I can get this as a non-UK resident. Is there a social security number equivalent in the UK that would enable them to know?

T-Mobile also has a hotspot plan that would be 20GBP but I know it is for UK residents only, so it becomes 40 GBP for 30 days ($80 per month). The problem is that none of the hot spots are incredibly convenient places to drag a laptop + 20 in. external monitor for 3-5 hours per day. I'm not so sure Starbucks would appreciate it and they aren't in general open very late so I'd still be stuck paying the hostel $3 per hour late at night in order to play. I know there must be a better option. In New York, for instance, I just used the FedEx kinko's which already had a laptop station that I could use and it was $40/month for the T-Mobile plan. The Kinko's was open 24 hours a day and it was entirely normal for me to be there late at night. I need something like this for the UK.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated as I really don't want to pay $500/mo for internet. I already emailed the hostel asking for ideas, but I'm not counting on much as it appears that their internet is provided by an outside company.

Transportation: A monthly Travelcard costs 90 GBP ($180) for unlimited Tube, DLR, &amp; Bus travel in zones 1-2.

Budget: Rent, internet, and transportation shouldn't be more than $1,300 per month assuming I am getting completely raped on internet usage. If I can find something reasonable it should all come in at under $1,000 per month which seems like a good deal considering how expensive London is. Food/entertainment would probably cost $1,500-$2,000 per month depending upon frequency of going and eating out. $3,000 per month actually makes this on-par or cheaper than Sydney.