Stonehenge & Bath

A few weekends ago, Branden and I made a trip to Stonehenge and Bath. They’re only about 2 hours away from London driving, which is pretty awesome.

I found an 11-hour tour on Groupon with Premium Tours, which cost £39 per adult, and excludes admission to the Roman baths, which were £15.50 per adult. The normal price of the tour is £78 per adult, so we each saved £23.5 by using Groupon and getting tickets to the baths separately.

The drive there was quite interesting. Our tour guide talked the whole way, and part of the way back, pointing out interesting sights.

One of them is this structure that they used to hold prisoners in way back in the day. Apparently it’s completely dark inside, and I can’t imagine being in there for even a few minutes.

Our first stop was Stonehenge — there are multiple different theories about why it exists, but the conclusion is … the reason is inconclusive. Womp, womp.

They used to let people go up and touch the rocks, but people started chipping away pieces to take home with them, so now there’s a rope barrier.

After we looked at the rocks, we went to a small museum that told the history of Stonehenge. Then we set off to Bath.

One of the main things Bath is known for — aside from its beautiful architecture — is these buns, brought to Bath by a lady name Sally Dunn. I thought it was really funny that they put a crown on a piece of bread.

We were super hungry when we first arrived, and every restaurant had a 1-hour long wait or more. We ended up eating outside (shivering) at a Moroccan restaurant. I had this vegetable tagine, which was pretty good.

After lunch, we headed into the Roman baths, which is the main tourist attraction in the city. Apparently, taking a bath was a luxury back in the day, and only wealthy people could afford to come here. It’s cool to think how old the building is, although a lot of it was reconstructed.

I wish I’d taken more photos of Bath and that we had more time there (eating indoors in the warmth), but seeing how close we are, there’s no reason not to go back!

How to open a bank account in London without proof of address

Upon planning our move to London, Branden and I thought we’d be stuck in a cyclical loop of needing a bank account to get an address (rent a flat), and needing an address to get a bank account.

Most banks require you show them ID and a utility bill or something that has your name and UK address on it in order to open an account. We were like, How are we going to pay the deposit on a flat without a bank account?

Thankfully, there were 2 ways around it:

1. I went to Lloyd’s Bank in Islington (on Upper St) and they just asked me for my passport, visa, and Biometric Residence Permit. The account was open a few days later and I got my debit card in the mail. I first spoke to a teller who told me I had to fill out a form online, it asks for an address and I just used the addressed I used for my youth mobility visa even if I didn’t have any official proof of that address (it is a friend’s address).
2. I wasn’t able to get an account at Barclay’s, but Branden was. The bank has some big list of employers, who I guess are reputable, and the company he worked for happened to be on that list. He came back to the bank with a letter from the HR person at his company, stating that he lived at a particular address, and that was sufficient proof of address.

If you need to get a flat before you’ve had time to get the account open and transfer money to it, some real estate companies (we used Foxtons) will accept an international credit card payment.

Here’s a helpful article with more information – How to open a bank account in the United Kingdom

The time has finally come

Tomorrow night Branden and I leave for London. I don’t think it’s fully hit either of us yet, since we’ve been so preoccupied with moving-related things.

We both got rid of all our furniture, and Branden got rid of his car. All the rest of our stuff (13 boxes for me, 6 boxes for him) is with a moving company, who’ll put it on a boat en route to the UK, and we’ll get it in 3 months.

After we land, we’ll be staying at an AirBnB while looking for a flat. We also need to open up bank accounts, get our Biometric Residence Permits, and get new phone numbers.

Things will be a little hectic for a bit, so I can’t wait until we find a place, settle in, and start exploring the UK 🙂

 

My experience getting a Youth Mobility visa

I recently moved to the UK on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa. Compared to my borderline traumatic experiences getting TN visas in the US, getting the Tier 5 was a breeze.

If you are under 30, have the equivalent of about $3,000 CAD in savings, and are from Canada or certain other countries, you are eligible.

The process

The first thing I did was fill out an online application form. It wasn’t difficult to complete, but a little time-consuming because I had to list out every country I had ever been in and when I was there.

Next, I had to pay $378 USD for an Immigration Health Surcharge (so that I can use the National Health Service) and a visa application fee of $290 USD.

After that, I scheduled an appointment at a Visa Application Center in Toronto.

When the time came, I brought to my appointment

• my passport
• a printed bank statement to prove I had $3,000 in savings
• a printed copy of my visa application

I was nervous because I thought it was going to be an interview, similar to the kind I had endured from US Border Security where they intimidate and interrogate you to see if you’re taking American jobs.

The appointment turned out to be people basically just putting all my paperwork and my passport into an envelope and mailing it for me. It took like 7 minutes and I didn’t even break a sweat.

Waiting

They told me it would be up to 3 weeks before I got my passport back with the visa glued inside it, but I actually got it back sooner.

My appointment was on December 12th, I got an email the next day saying the documents arrived at UK Visas and Immigration in New York, and on the 16th I got another email saying the visa was approved and being printed.

On the 19th I got a final email saying I could come pick up my passport & visa.

So in total, the whole thing only took 7 days and cost $668 USD.

In the UK

On arriving in the UK, I had to show the security officer at the airport my passport and a letter that was included in the package from UK Visas and Immigration. He stamped the visa, took my fingerprints, and I went on my merry way.

The last step in the whole process is to pick up my Biometric Residence Permit, which was waiting for me at a post office I had selected on the visa application. I showed my passport and the same letter I showed the officer at the airport, and that was it!

Now I have to try and get a bank account, which is a whole ordeal in itself, since I don’t have an address here. I’ll do a post on that in a few weeks if it all works out *crosses fingers*