How much to budget for study abroad in London?

Parents Forum
21

<p>If your kids want to buy and cook rather than eat out -</p>

<p>The major supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s, ASDA (part of the Walmart chain) and Morrison’s(used to be Safeways) here tend to have price promises which makes them fairly competitive between each other. Waitrose is slightly more expensive then the others but the quality and choice is sometimes better.Although any of these five will be cheaper than the small local stores.</p>

<p>Selfridges in London and Birmingham have a small range of US foodstuffs if you’re missing the tastes of home -but incredibly expensive!</p>

<p>Aldi and Lidl are 2 European (rather than british) supermarkets with a reasonable choice and cheaper than the the big 5 although they’re not everywhere.</p>

<p>Marks & Spencers have a limited choice and are costly but some of their prepared meals are lovely.</p>

22

<p>I spent a semester in London, and I would advise you to think about what you might give her for a month of food/living expenses in the states, and then double that. I found that things in London cost in a pure numbers sense about the same as they did in the states, but in value they cost more. For example, if I paid three dollars for something in states, the equivalent thing would cost three pounds in London. But three pounds is of course equal to six dollars. And that was before the recession, so I’m sure prices probably have gone up since then. </p>

<p>My school gave us a $2200 allowance for food for the semester, which I found fairly generous (so much so that I spent some of it on travelling, and then ended up without enough food money towards the end). </p>

<p>So let’s say, for five weeks in the US she spends $80 per week on groceries, or about $400. For a trip to London I would budget $800 for food for those five weeks. And that’s before we even get to the other stuff. Of course, she can always eat on the cheap and then have more money for fun, it’s up to her to budget.</p>

23

<p>I travel a lot and London is one of my favorite places. My suggestions are:

  1. The Oyster card is great for the tube. You pre-pay and then swipe as you enter and exit. There is a daily cap on what you spend. Not 100% sure if it is the most economical, although I believe it is, but definitely the most convenient.
  2. I just walked into an Orange store and purchased a UK phone and a pay-as-you-go plan. It was a couple of years ago, so may have changed somewhat, but the phone cost about 20 GBP and with the Camel plan, calls to the US were 6 pence per minute. Very easy, took just about 10 minutes and cost effective.
  3. If your daughter likes to eat healthy, one of my favorite places is an inexpensive vegetarian casual place called “Food for Thought”. It is on Neal St in Covent Garden. I’m not vegetarian, but love their healthy food and try to get there every time I’m in London.
  4. Another great place to eat is a pub near the Notting Hill Gate tube station, called “The Churchill Arms”. One half is a pub and the other half is a Thai restaurant. Really delicious pad thai and last time I was there most dishes were 6 GBP.<br>
  5. Most museums are free, so great on a budget. The British Museum is a classic. I love the British Library, which has the Magna Carta, various religious texts, Beatles song lyrics, famous author’s notes, etc. Way more interesting than I expected. Winston Churchill’s Bunkers are fascinating, where they basically left intact the underground bunkers where the government hid during WWII.
  6. Washers and dryers are very small, so plan what clothing to bring accordingly…</p>