Gnarmac

Hi I'm new to this forum so sorry if a lot of the information I'm looking for has been covered in other threads but I'm in a bit of a crunch and looking for some good information from some knowledgeable sources.

I'm a college student and I will be doing a 10 week internship with the U.S. government in London. I'm married so everything I plan will be with two people in mind.

Firstly, what would you recommend for finding housing? We are ok with a small space, but price (as low as possible) and security/privacy are really important to us.

How to find best airfare? (Are certain airports usually cheaper than others?)

Travel within the city for a stay as long as mine (10 weeks)?

I'll thank you all beforehand, as I can tell this forum is a wealth of firsthand knowledge. Once again, sorry if most of this info is covered elswhere, I'm just a very busy student and employee (as many of you are as well) and it would be nice to have good info in one place.

Gnarmac

p.s. I totally should have mentioned that the 10 week span will probably be starting in September.

PatrickLondon

I'd hope whoever's organising the internship would help with finding housing. There are quite a few websites for expatriate Americans in the UK which could offer advice - mine would be to look along the commuter routes from where you'll be working (and not just the tube lines, either - south of the Thames commuter rail is based on suburban trains rather than the tube system).

For public transport within the city, you'd probably get the best value from monthly travelcards, but you won't know what zones you'll need it for until your housing is sorted out. You might get away with zones 1 and 2, but depending on what you can afford in the way of housing, you might be in zone 3 or even further out.

Gnarmac

The agency I'll be working for is providing some generic travel tips, but nothing of any value. Basically just like "stay where you can afford" or "don't get robbed."

Thanks for your help.

janisj

Before we can give any useful advice where to look for housing - we need two very important bits of info

1) Where is the agency's office?

2) What is your budget? ('as low as possible' really doesn't help - we need a number)

goddesstogo

Gnarmac,
My SO and I are also going to London for an extended stay. We found our apartment on sabbaticalhomes.com. There's lots of choice there for London so I'm sure you can find something in your price range. Most of the owners are university professors on sabbatical so they're not renting for a huge profit. You can google the owner's name -- some of them are very interesting.

You can either rent, home exchange or house sit (usually pets involved with that). We chose to rent.

You do have to know a bit about your London neighbourhoods and people here will be very helpful with that.

I usually 'shopped' the website by looking at an apartment that interested me, then looking it up on google maps, then google streetwise so I could see actual photos of the neighbourhood. If you're good at checking the details in the website pics, you can often find the exact location on streetwise. I also did a pretty thorough job of googling the owners.

Good luck!

trickiewoo

I'm puzzled at your company's lack of information and support.
I'd look in Islington. Good proximity to the west end but less expensive. Also contact the housing officers at the London School of Economics and the universities in that area. They have exchange boards, although people usually advertise housing in those areas by term.

janisj

The reason we need the location of the office is because some neighborhoods might be difficult for your commute. Or the office could even be outside of central London and you'd want to be in one of the outer zones.

Cholmondley_Warner

Have a look on gumtree.com which will give you an idea on prices and locations.

Not many landlords would be interrested in renting only for 10 weeks (the standard contract is six months)

>>>>Travel within the city for a stay as long as mine (10 weeks)?>>>.

Once you know where you're staying you will know what zone you're in - then buy two monthly travel cards which will take you to and from work and will also cover almost all your leisure travel in London.

For the remainder of your stay, just buy weekly tickets as required.

lizziea06

I was going to suggest gumtree.com as a resource as well. You will be able to find a place with a less than 6 month contract, however, you will pay more rent as a result. It's hard to be more helpful with location and budget without knowing how much you're willing to spend and in what neighborhood your work is located. Also, do you mean transatlantic flights of flights within Europe? I prefer to fly out of Gatwick and I find it much more convenient than Luton or Stanstead for short haul, European flights.

janisj

. . . and if you mean which airport is cheaper to London -- Doesn't work that way. Fares into London will be similar no matter whether LHR or LGW -- or even into Amsterdam or Paris and on to London. The competition on the transatlantic routes keep things pretty equal -- airlines serve one or the other or both major airports.

jamikins

I agree with Janis, please let us know where your office is located as that will help us determine what area will give you the easiest commute, based on tube lines, connections etc. Also a budget. For example, when we moved we looked at places that listed for £300-350 a week for a 1-2 bed in zone 1-2. Note that rent here is calculated generally by week * 52 / 12 = monthly payment. Not sure how easy it is to find a 10 week stay through a traditional rental place...

We looked in Clapham, Fulham, Putney, Islington and Docklands and ended up in Clapham, which we loved! Also depends if you want modern more N. American style (Docklands/Canary Wharf area) or Victorian flat, close to work, willing to commute etc.

Can you provide us with more details and we would be happy to help!

Nikki

For finding the best airfare from the US to Europe, I use www.kayak.com. For budget flights within Europe, check www.whichbudget.com.

goddesstogo

No, I'm not on the payroll of sabbaticalhomes.com, but I just wanted to add that you can often find short-term rentals there. For example, we're renting for 15 weeks. If you see a place that suits you and it's the right location and price but it doesn't seem available in your time slot, it's worth contacting the owner anyway. Sometimes they have a cancellation and sometimes they have a space between renters, so you might get lucky.

Gnarmac

Thank you for your help so far.

The location of the office I'll be working in is right next to Grosvenor Square on the east side of Hyde Park.

I've found rooms to rent for around 50-300gbp/week. Knowing what you know about local pricing and all, do you suspect that 50/week is "too good to be true?"

lizziea06

To give you perspective, I pay 300 GBP week to live in a small (325 sq feet) one bedroom flat in Parsons Green. It's a very nice neighborhood in zone 2 with okay transport links (district line). It you're willing to live in a shared house situation (quite common in London), you should be able to find something at the top end of that range with good transport to that location. If you'd like to live on your own, I'd consider looking in the 300-350 GBP range per week and focusing on areas in North London or Clapham/Battersea area.

ssachida

50/week probably means shared bath and kitchen plus council tax + utilities. Whether thats too good depends on location. If its in South Kensington then its most likely in a council estate, which you don't want. If its in Elephant and Castle then run the other way. Tell us the postcode of the rooms, we'll be able to make a rough guess...

goddesstogo

Oh, that's another thing -- when you're looking at rents be aware of additional costs such as council tax and utilities. Some owners cover some or all of this but others don't.

lizziea06

I don't honestly think you could live in a council estate in South Ken for less than 200 GBP.

janisj

OK - that is at the Embassy. Right in the middle of one of the priciest parts of London.

£50 a week is absolutely nothing in London. Think of it -- that is less than $300 a month which you couldn't find in NYC, or Chicago or San Francisco either.

How much can you pay?