rammygirl Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I think once you settle into a place you will find the places that suit you. Many a person says that eating out in Sydney is expensive, well it is if you sit on the harbour or in touristy places. When we visited we found some great places that were very reasonable. Same in the UK, it will vary but we always went out for a mid week meal, not fancy but always good, plenty of two courses for £15 (or so) we used to share a starter and a pud so had a three course meal for this. In SA we eat out at least twice a week, not posh unless it is a special occasion and I find it pretty cheap really. I find wine cheaper than beer here, lots of places you can BYO although they don't advertise it (usually unless it says NO BYO it is worth a try) they will charge corkage though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I don't think this is actually about comparison get but think about this scenario, I move to Australia and commercial the that I can't buy a sofa for less than $1000 and breakfast is at least $15, a car $10,000. Would I be right to expect people to say that is crazy, you can buy all those things much much cheaper ? For those of us settled here the figures quoted were completely alien. I fully expect that once the OP is settled she will realise that things really aren't as expensive as she is seeing get them at the moment. I wish them well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Except the rail..so that kills off day trips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Except the rail..so that kills off day trips Most people have wonderful things called cars, they can save up for a few weeks and buy some petrol lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Most people have wonderful things called cars, they can save up for a few weeks and buy some petrol lol Yep a nice pleasant drive round central London Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Yep a nice pleasant drive round central London What ? You aren't making much sense. Central London ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 What ? You aren't making much sense. Central London ? London - It is the Capital. Plenty of great things to see, one of the best Cities in the world. Costs a fortune to get to by rail for a day trip if you want to arrive in the morning and enjoy the whole day. Driving around London - not exactly easy. Maybe you should lay off the ultra cheap UK beer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacaranda Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Rail isn't the only form of public travel into anywhere in the UK!How about National Express?I've just tapped in some random dates from my home town to London (Vic station).For a 3 day return trip its £16.75.Pretty reasonable I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 London - It is the Capital. Plenty of great things to see, one of the best Cities in the world. Costs a fortune to get to by rail for a day trip if you want to arrive in the morning and enjoy the whole day.Driving around London - not exactly easy. Maybe you should lay off the ultra cheap UK beer? 99% of England is NOT central London, my guess is most people would go to the 99% for a day trip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Rail isn't the only form of public travel into anywhere in the UK!How about National Express?I've just tapped in some random dates from my home town to London (Vic station).For a 3 day return trip its £16.75.Pretty reasonable I think! Very reasonable indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Rail isn't the only form of public travel into anywhere in the UK!How about National Express?I've just tapped in some random dates from my home town to London (Vic station).For a 3 day return trip its £16.75.Pretty reasonable I think! That is pretty reasonable, haven't used national express for years but it Often took hours to get to destination though. Also the megabus is around here. The ridiculous thing is I flew from Spain to London with British Airways for 25 euros this week but I can't get to London from a commuter town for that cheap without taking an ultra slow train at awkward times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 In my very limited experiences of Perth (and Cairns to come to think of it) beer was anywhere between 9-13 dollars (one of those was corona and that's only half a pint) Yeah I know beer is expensive, I don't have a problem with that but the amount he said for a cola.. No way would I spend that. Luckily I mostly just drink water now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Rail isn't the only form of public travel into anywhere in the UK!How about National Express?I've just tapped in some random dates from my home town to London (Vic station).For a 3 day return trip its £16.75.Pretty reasonable I think! Theres also the megabus - http://uk.megabus.com/default.aspx My daughter uses it a lot -£10 from London to Newcastle. Coach travel isn't my favourite, but it is cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 (edited) Yeah I know beer is expensive, I don't have a problem with that but the amount he said for a cola.. No way would I spend that. Luckily I mostly just drink water now It isn't like that in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. Haven't been to Perth since 2010 however so can't comment. A schooner of Beer and a coke is sub $10 total at my local pub in Brisbane. Perth is either insane or Paul needs to find a new local Edited June 10, 2015 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Theres also the megabus - http://uk.megabus.com/default.aspx My daughter uses it a lot -£10 from London to Newcastle. Coach travel isn't my favourite, but it is cheap! Megabus from Newcastle to London...Think I would rather stay at home. Only do that as a student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I went on the Megabus from Glasgow to London. It was absolute torture. I was actually not well when I got there and then back home. Think in australia Id just have to break longer journeys into smaller ones or just fly. In the UK trains are crazy expensive, don't really understand why. There's definitely good flight prices if you're flexible on skyscanner. Megabus and national express would be good for smaller journeys or If you are tougher than me with the longer ones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Yeah I know beer is expensive, I don't have a problem with that but the amount he said for a cola.. No way would I spend that. Luckily I mostly just drink water now My daughter hasn't paid that much for soft drinks Stacey ... perhaps it was an up market or trendy place. She's a student and goes to a place and gets pasta and wine for under $13, we've found a great Thai place that does specials on beer at $6 a pint (usually Gage Rd beer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 i'll preface this by (a) reminding everyone that i've moved back from sydney, which has a different cost of living and lifestyle than, say, pert or adelaide or brisbane and (b) saying that i'm well aware my feelings are influenced by all the stresses of being a stranger in a strange land (i haven't lived in the uk for 30 years). Who knows, in a few months i may be loving it, but right now i just have to moan to someone and you guys are the only people available! We've made up our minds we're going to stick it out in england for two years but right now i'm gritting my teeth when i say that. If we hadn't already invested so much money into this, i think we'd both be on the plane to hobart tomorrow (which was our second choice). Actually we're shell-shocked by how much money it has cost us so far. I assumed we'd be able to find a furnished flat for the first six months or so, but the standard of furnished flats is just shocking so we've had to take one unfurnished. All i can say is, thank god for ikea, because the cost of furniture everywhere else is frightening. I'm sure it's frightening in oz too, it's just that it's ten years since i had to buy any and i had no idea a cheap sofa cost over £500. Not to mention the exorbitant admin fees charged by estate agents (and the 3% extra they charge for overseas debit cards). We're also finding day-to-day living costly. We've had to change our lifestyle, because in sydney we're used to eating out once a day - whether it's breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. We can't afford that here, it's all too dear. A big part of the problem is alcohol - most restaurants in sydney are byo - but food prices are higher as well. We had lunch at nando's the other day and the meals cost us double what it costs in sydney. An english breakfast in most cafes here is also double the price. And yes, even wetherspoon's is expensive by comparison, though some of its specials come close. It's weird because if anything, food prices in the supermarkets seem slightly cheaper. So suddenly we're sitting in the flat on our own for meals, which doesn't help our feelings of isolation. But hey, we can compensate for that - we're going to have more interesting things to do, like dancing and rambling and going to shows and visiting abbeys and castles, right? Except i forgot to check the cost of travel. Rail travel is so ridiculously expensive - $100 just to get us to london, a distance no further than the blue mountains from sydney. Locally, there isn't nearly as much going on as i'd expected in a city the size of southampton. Buy a car, you say? Everyone here talks about how expensive cars are in australia but we're finding the second-hand market here just as dear. We can't buy a car equivalent to the one we sold in sydney for a similar price. I guess we're feeling so poor after all the money we've already spent - and all the hurdles we've had to clear as "foreigners" trying to get bank accounts, leases etc set up - that we can't quite face spending several more thousand pounds on a car, insurance problems etc . I'm sure it will get better but right now i'm wondering what the hell we've done. you must be living in a different uk to me..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Wow, that is just the absolute polar opposite of our findings. A cheap sofa costs over £500?? You really are looking in the wrong places. We find eating out so much cheaper here. We can get a BIG full English for around £4 at most and pub meals are very affordable. Secondhand cars are way cheaper here, I can buy a late model family car for under 2 grand.Can I ask where you are in the UK ? It shouldn't really make that much different but I know the SE is more expensive. I do not believe it either....cheaper in Oz eating out and booze and second hand cars....:biglaugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 My daughter hasn't paid that much for soft drinks Stacey ... perhaps it was an up market or trendy place. She's a student and goes to a place and gets pasta and wine for under $13, we've found a great Thai place that does specials on beer at $6 a pint (usually Gage Rd beer). She could take me out and show me where to go lol. I'm just finding that price for a soft drink hard to believe because I can't even think of the posher places in the UK charging that. Not that I go to any! That sunday of the hen night we ended up in a posh place for breakfast, I ordered my breakfast and then said can I just have water. He said "tap water" and screwed up his face lol. probably thought I couldn't afford anything else :laugh: especially because I only ordered a croissant but that's all I wanted. I was going to get a cake but then I got the bad news about my grandad. The others were paying almost £10 for toast and eggs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 Im staying at ellesmere... I've been pubs English country pubs for pie chips and begs proper chips for a fiver 4:95 to be exact . . . I have been the black lake for pie and chips and peas for 8 quid and a fag with me pie !! I have also been the swan with two necks and the wayefarer for wine and a al a carte , 15 quid a meal melted in my mouth could of eat it a gain , I had creme brûlée for desert , think that was a fiver I can think of five pubs around my part of Sydney where for £4.95 ($10) you wouldn't just get pie and chips, you'd get a free beer or wine included. Or you could have steak chips and salad for the same price. Do you mean £15 just for a main course? In Sydney, I'd consider that very expensive indeed - I hope it was lobster. As for dessert, if a Sydney pub or restaurant charges more than $8 (£4) for dessert I won't buy it. Again, so much depends on where in Australia you live - from what I've heard here, it seems that restaurants and pubs in parts of Perth are far more expensive than what I'm used to in Sydney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 You'll have to send me a list of places to eat Marisa lol. I expected it to be a lot more expensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I went on the Megabus from Glasgow to London. It was absolute torture. I was actually not well when I got there and then back home. Think in australia Id just have to break longer journeys into smaller ones or just fly. In the UK trains are crazy expensive, don't really understand why. There's definitely good flight prices if you're flexible on skyscanner. Megabus and national express would be good for smaller journeys or If you are tougher than me with the longer ones! Fly.. Your get a flight for 100 quid return.. How you going to be in the land of the long journey..?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 I think it probably is ignorance (in the nicest possible way!). It's a similar story to those who move to Australia, shop in one place then claim that it's so much more expensive. It's only when you change your buying habits that you can make a real comparison... Once you get used to shopping the way the British do, I'm sure you'll find the same. If you look at my post I did not say food was dearer in the supermarkets, apart from meat - in fact I said it puzzles me, because food isn't more expensive and the minimum wage is lower, so why on earth are restaurants so much dearer? ... I never eat in chain restaurants (with the exception of Wagamama and Pizza Express) because they are overpriced, poor quality tat. I seek out little cafes and pubs which tend to be better quality and cheaper. My parents are retired and there are so many pubs and cafes which do special prices on weekday lunchtimes for pensioners (these times are obviously quieter, so they attract older people by offering good deals). My parents aren't massively wealthy, but they do eat out two or three times a week and two courses of proper home cooked lunches can be around £5. My instinct is to avoid the chains, too, so our first resort is always to check the menus on smaller places first - the only reason I referred to Wetherspoons was to pre-empt those who'd say " you should try Wetherspoons"! As for Pizza Express - we've eaten there once. The pizzas cost more than any of our three local pizza restaurants in Sydney for a poorer quality product, and of course we had to pay £9 for two glasses of wine - whereas in Sydney we'd have brought our own $10 bottle. We're not 65 yet so don't qualify for any of the special offers. Will you be staying in Southampton? I have to say, I've only visited it twice, but nothing would tempt me to live there! No idea. We were cornered into it as we didn't have the time to explore much beyond Bournemouth and we are NOT village or small-town people, so short of London or Bristol - where the rentals were too expensive - we couldn't see much option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 You'll have to send me a list of places to eat Marisa lol. I expected it to be a lot more expensive Welcome to the world of the grungy tavern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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