Howdy all,
So I recently got myself a job in Soho, London and will be moving over near the start of January from Dublin. I really don't know London that well, I was there for a day during the interview but that's it. Taking into account that the oyster card is apparently £100/mth for just zone 1 & 2 would I be better off living somewhere central and cycling or living further out and tubing to picadilly circus or tottenham court?
I'm willing to move in with others in a shared place, get a place on my own (if affordable) or rent a 2/3 bed apartment with friends of mine as there are 1 or 2 others coming over around the same time as me. My salary will be £26k and I can live on quite a small amount of money but that doesn't mean I want to spend a fortune on rent, £500/mth would be nice to get but I've heard I'd be lucky to get that.
So any tips on good or cheaper areas to rent in (would prefer not to get mugged) would be very welcome, I'm sure there must be quite a few on here that are renting in London atm.
On a related note and not to derail my own thread but my girlfriend will be staying in college in Dublin for the next year and a half. I've been looking at skype on android phones but I've never used a "smart phone" or even a bill pay phone. Basically we want to be able to keep in contact without paying a fortune on calls from mobile to mobile. Something that could connect to Wifi instead of eating up whatever download limit we have would be good, not sure what phones can do that. I'm a nub when it comes to things like that. So any tips on good ways to stay in touch, I've seen the HTC Desire HD is free for £40/mth from vodafone bill pay but it's €180 to buy on a €35/mth bill pay from vodafone in Ireland which is insane, no way to get it free over here.
Any ideas on either front would be very much appreciated, this'll be my biggest move and the worst as we have been going out for over 5 years so it'll be pretty bad at first, Skype will be the only thing keeping us sane I reckon, that and cheapass ryan air flights hopefully!
So I recently got myself a job in Soho, London and will be moving over near the start of January from Dublin. I really don't know London that well, I was there for a day during the interview but that's it. Taking into account that the oyster card is apparently £100/mth for just zone 1 & 2 would I be better off living somewhere central and cycling or living further out and tubing to picadilly circus or tottenham court?
I'm willing to move in with others in a shared place, get a place on my own (if affordable) or rent a 2/3 bed apartment with friends of mine as there are 1 or 2 others coming over around the same time as me. My salary will be £26k and I can live on quite a small amount of money but that doesn't mean I want to spend a fortune on rent, £500/mth would be nice to get but I've heard I'd be lucky to get that.
So any tips on good or cheaper areas to rent in (would prefer not to get mugged) would be very welcome, I'm sure there must be quite a few on here that are renting in London atm.
On a related note and not to derail my own thread but my girlfriend will be staying in college in Dublin for the next year and a half. I've been looking at skype on android phones but I've never used a "smart phone" or even a bill pay phone. Basically we want to be able to keep in contact without paying a fortune on calls from mobile to mobile. Something that could connect to Wifi instead of eating up whatever download limit we have would be good, not sure what phones can do that. I'm a nub when it comes to things like that. So any tips on good ways to stay in touch, I've seen the HTC Desire HD is free for £40/mth from vodafone bill pay but it's €180 to buy on a €35/mth bill pay from vodafone in Ireland which is insane, no way to get it free over here.
Any ideas on either front would be very much appreciated, this'll be my biggest move and the worst as we have been going out for over 5 years so it'll be pretty bad at first, Skype will be the only thing keeping us sane I reckon, that and cheapass ryan air flights hopefully!