kittybank wrote:Dear fellow members, we decided we will make a trip to London to visit ICL and the city before we decide if we are accepting the place. Would greatly appreciate it if parents with kids who have studied/studying there to advise on the following:
- where to stay - airbnb/hostel - we understand the transport is expensive and was advised by some to stay near Kensington. (too many airbnb hosts - too overwhelming - unsure how to choose)
- if we decide to stay in hotel, is it easy to find coin-operated laundry services?
- how do your kids withdraw money - open bank account in uk? which bank is preferred?
- is March a good time to visit - as in the place will be overpacked with tourists?
- fly Emirates (with one stop-over but cheaper) or SQ (never taken such a long haul flight)
Thank you
1. How many of you are accompanying your child to recce? If it's the entire family, you probably need to book the entire apartment
Try searching under 'Kensington' on airbnb website or consider a serviced apartment? Anywhere near a Tube station is good.
2. Such accommodation come with the washer and dryer, so you need not fret over laundry services. Of course there are many laundromats in London. The question is how far is the laundromat from your hotel and will going to the self-service laundromat disrupt your itinerary (you must lug the clothes over, leave them there for 1 hour or so, return to remove them and transfer to the dryer and return to collect everything so that the next customer can use it)? I'd rather hand-wash and dry them over the room heater or heated towel rack, if any. In any case, you won't perspire that much in March.
3. After you've accepted the ICL place, you can bring all your documents i.e. uni letter of acceptance, confirmed mailing/billing address (usually your hall of residence or rented flat), student visa, passport and so on to the bank to open an account. In the old days, before internet banking came along, we took with us a bank draft as the amount was not small. Bank manager will facilitate the opening of a student bank account for overseas students. Quite standard and fast.
It's better to open a UK bank account in my opinion as you don't want to be slapped with an admin fee (NB: forex conversion too) each time you withdraw cash from a Citibank or HSBC ATM. If you're not studying in London, Citibank or HSBC ATMs may not be readily found in your university town or city. I'm not sure which bank currently has the most number of ATMs in the UK. It used to be NatWest and Lloyds I think. If you want convenience and don't want to walk a few blocks to withdraw 20 pounds to buy your lunch, groceries or books (
edited to add: yes, ATM cards come with Switch so you don't need to carry too much cash), do check which is the preferred bank ICL students normally open their accounts with and BETTER STILL, which bank has an ATM on campus. ICL being in central London should have all banks' ATMs on campus, or at least within 10 min's walk. However, in some 'far-flung' universities, they may have say, Barclays ATMs on campus only.
Of course you can still withdraw cash from a Barclays ATM using your NatWest debit card, but i recall there was a small interbank withdrawal charge during my time, no different from what our banks were/are doing in Singapore really.
Many international students have supplementary credit cards. Please apply one or two for child.
Frankly, you should contact ICL alumni in Singapore to ask them for advice. Usually, there'll be a Handbook for international students, advising them how to open bank accounts, telco accounts, private phone line in hall room, internet, annual budget, rail concession card, etc. Your alumni association (I think British Alumni Singapore as well??) will arrange pre-departure talks as well as familiarisation tours of the town/city upon his arrival.
3. March is a good time as the weather is great. There's an Easter break in April, so there will be more tourists by then. Did you write in to ICL to request for an orientation or campus tour? I think UK universities do organise orientations for families you know.
4. Is Emirates cheaper? I think KLM is the cheapest, haha, but you transit at Schipol Amsterdam. Most people fly by BA or SQ.
