Jonathan Thomas (00:00)
Welcome back to the Anglotopia podcast. Hello everybody. This week we're going to do something a little different. A few weeks ago we asked on our social media accounts what people, what questions people had about Britain, whether it was travel, history or culture. And what do you want to know? What do you want to know? How could we answer that? So we've got a series of questions here that we thought would be super fun to answer in a podcast. And so, before we start,

before we start.

So Jon what are we drinking today? Today, because we've had enough tea today. True. We are drinking decaffinated breakfast tea from tailors of Harrogate. They, Taylors they make Yorkshire tea and this is one of their. Yorkshire tea. That's a good shot of caffeine right there. This is one of their fancier teas. Fancy. And this is their breakfast tea, but it's got no caffeine in it. And so this late in the day, don't want caffeine. So that's what we're drinking today.

Here we go. Pouring the tea. So if you're listening and you hear all the clinking.

This one still has your lipstick on it. see? Try and be like very eco -friendly and use the same teacup throughout the day. So my beautiful red lipstick on it. Did that brew? Yeah, look at it. It's beautiful. OK, sorry. It was the top of the pot. It was again, if you're listening, it was very lightly colored and I was like, it's also decaf. So it's not as bold. Yeah, I'm normally like. Nice amber color, so.

As Jon said, you know over the years one of the things that I think we've loved as being a source of all things British is we get questions all the time. Not just on social media but we get questions in our inboxes, our info box, like asking us just general British questions, travel, culture, and so we thought how fun would it be?

to take some of these questions that we get asked regularly. And to Jon's point, we recently on our social media said, if you could ask us a question about Britain, what would it be? And so today we compiled all of those questions and we're gonna answer some of your questions about Britain. So. And so if this is popular, we'll do this again. Yeah, absolutely. Maybe we'll like, cause we're gonna talk about, we're gonna hit a lot of different subjects. Yeah.

today so maybe next time we'll pick a like we'll pick a subject and ask us all your questions about travel or TV or that kind of thing but today it's fun it's a big grab bag all right so someone asked when can I go back ha did you ask this question no no okay wasn't my burner account no burner account wait a minute this is a bigger discussion now burner account

Yikes. Okay. So, okay, you go back whenever you want. Yeah, not you personally. Yeah, because you have commitments. In theory, you can go to England whenever you want. Now, if you're coming from the United, you're coming from the US, it's easy and it's easier said than done, which we realize we recognize that because I haven't been we haven't been together in five years. Yeah, I haven't been back in two years. So we totally understand that life.

gets in the way. Well, that and visas and quarantine and COVID and all like so complicated. Well, so the short answer is you can go whenever you want. England is open, at least if you're coming from the US. Now, if you're coming from elsewhere on the globe, there might be.

you might need a entry visa or that kind of thing. So we can't really speak to that. And most of our listeners are North America. True. But I think it's one of the... This question got me thinking. That's why I wanted to start with the cheeky question is, you know, during the pandemic, when we couldn't travel, for a lot of people, it really like kind of changed their...

their attitudes towards doing the things they've wanted to do with their lives because you know, you may not have the time or there's no time like the present or why am I continuing to wait for something and let outside forces prevent me from doing it? And so, you know, I'm a big believer that if you don't like your situation, you should work to change it and set goals. Actively work to change it. Actively work to change it. And that was...

One of the reasons we started this website, we really wanted a way to help pay for us to go back to England. And I thought if I started this website and a closet in Chicago that we would literally I think we did a podcast about it earlier in this podcast or maybe it's before. I don't know which way the episode. OK, where but we tell the story. We tell the whole story. So I'll put that link in the show notes. It's really fun. But.

You know the goal was I want to make some extra money so we could afford to go to England on a trip after a long absence And and it did that we went in 2010 2009 and in 2010 thanks to the website starting and so you know if you want to go to England set your mind to it that you're gonna go and Tick through all the make a list of all the things that you need to make happen to go and start ticking them off

I find it's really easy to make a list and start checking things off.

So the easy answer to when you can go back is when you can make it happen. Yeah. And how you make it happen is entirely up to your own circumstances, your own finances, your own life responsibilities and make it happen if you can. And if you can't, you can enjoy it virtually by reading Anglotopia or reading

reading great travel writing by authors like Bill Bryson or you know. There are incredible travel documentaries out there. Great documentaries. We just watched one with Michael Palin. Yes, he did. What did he do? Was he in Africa? Yeah, he did Nigeria. It was so good. It was super interesting. It was. Michael Palin in Nigeria. I suspect that will be on PBS later this year. Yeah, that was that was very good. It was very good. He's such a good. He's a

read travel documentary guide just so good but to your point it's it's a great way to experience travel and history and culture and all of that if you were for whatever reason can't travel are unable to travel I know I know we have a lot of elderly listeners who are kind of past their travel years where it's difficult but they sure where it's very difficult but they still like to read about it they still like to experience experience it if they can virtually and that's you know we kind of hope to

on Anglotopia Agreed, 100%. So what's our next question? So moving on to the next question is one we get several times a year. All the time. Which is fine. No, it's just fine. Yeah, keep asking your questions. We do not mind. So how can you spend a layover in London? Yes. And so if I had a dollar for every time we'd ask that question, I would be able to afford a layover in London.

True story. So Heathrow and Gatwick are obviously hub airports. Yes. So there's a lot of opportunity there where if you're going somewhere else, you can stop in London for a few hours and do London if you wanted to. Now, I always find layover travel a little risky because you never know how things are going to go with your flights and whatnot. But

We're going to assume this is the best case scenario. Yes. So in our thought process here, let's say you have a 10 to 12 hour layover. Yeah, I was going to say, Jon, how long is your layover? So let's say you have a 10 to 12 hour layover. A three hour layover. Like let's say... Do not leave the airport if you have a three hour layover. Just pro tip, do not leave the airport. Yes. So let's say for the thought experiment. Sure.

We're we left Chicago on an overnight flight to London and we arrived at London at like six five or six in the morning Where are we going next? I mean on our way to Rome Okay, but we planned it so that our flight to Rome is in the evening I like this for us and so that we could have the day in London before we get to Rome. My god, I'm gonna literally get off the plane and eat all the way She's gonna make me book this when we get off this podcast

So okay, so as part of thought experiment, what are the Maldives instead? I don't know if we'd fly that direction, but we could try probably not from Chicago. Anyway, nevermind. I'm just thinking somewhere lovely and tropical and I want to sit on a beach. So in a hut over the water. Better yet, I like this anyway. So anyway, we're way off topic. So our transatlantic flight has arrived at say 6 am Okay. Yes, we're really.

That is early. Well, that's when they get there. That's true. I mean, it's true, which is really irritating when you're checking into a hotel, but we don't need a hotel on our layover. And I want lounge access in this. OK, you have lounge access. So I'm going to we got to start and eat a really big, lovely full breakfast. We used our points to get upgraded and we get the arrivals lounge at Heathrow. Points. Yes. With free breakfast. Wait, is that the one where you can get a massage?

Yeah. And they have the breakfast. Okay. I might spend a good portion of this layover in the lounge. No, I'm kidding. I mean, here's the deal. It's six in the morning. You can't do anything yet. Yeah. Not a whole lot is open. Tourist attractions will not open till 10 at the earliest. Well, 10 am at the earliest. And I think it's really important to note in this scenario that London is a major city. Like there is a huge commuter population and I don't know.

what their in -office slash virtual work experience looks like. Right now, I know it's in flux for a lot of different places around the world, but I can speak to when we normally travel between six and what, like 10? London's going to work. They're on the tube. They do not want to, I mean, be - Trip on your bags. Yeah, that is just, be a good traveler, be a conscious traveler.

So maybe kill a little time in the airport if you can. Yeah, so I would say... Like if you're coming in at 6am. I mean, it's gonna take you at least one to two hours to get off the plane. Clear customs. Clear customs. Get your bag. Get your bag. Bags, that's a key thing. Yeah. What do you do with your bags if you're on a layover? Now, if you booked your next flight on the same ticket, in theory, your bag will go on without you. My bag's on its way to Rome. Your bag will be on its way to Rome.

Or if not, there will be places in the airport called left luggage where you can leave your bag for the day. You pay a fee that keep your bag locked and safe and secure for the day. So then you just have a purse or whatever you need. Backpack, whatever you need for the day. And keep in mind, though, when you're doing that, if you're going to leave your bag, London is an old city. There are stairs. There are so many stairs. And so if you're like, I'd rather keep my bag with me.

Think about, do you really want to wheel your bag with you all day? Or you're like, I want to carry my carry -on with me. Well, great, but your carry -on weighs 30 pounds. And you're going to be in the way. By lunch, you're going to be like, this was a mistake. Yeah, so get rid of your bag first thing. Yeah, if you can, definitely. If you travel like we do, which we do carry -on only when we travel. Yes.

carry because then my bag is never lost. Yeah, I checked the carry on bag at the left luggage and not worry about it for the day. Well, and unload everything you can from your carry on into your checked bag and then have them stow it. You when you come back to the airport to to travel onto your connection, you can like redistribute things. But anyway, OK, so so we're assuming we're like, what, eight or nine o 'clock by now. We've had breakfast at the airport. Yep.

Okay, so I thought it'd be fun. Why don't you tell me what you would do if you had one day in London and I'll go. my gosh. Okay, so really quickly though, is it one day in London I've never been to London or it's one day in London me now how I would go to London? Let's pick a happy medium. Like let's say our hypothetical traveler hasn't been to London. I'd say. that's really hard. What should they see if they have a day?

Okay. Or do if they have a day. Okay. I think that would actually change my answer and probably change your answer too. absolutely it would change my answer. So if I had never been and I would book into places before I got there. So like you have to plan this if you've never been to London. So I would do, I had it.

Okay, first things first, I would go to Hyde Park. It is said to help beat jet lag to eat a big morning breakfast like you would normally eat for breakfast and then get outside. If you mean the sun, even better, it helps reset your clock. But if you're in the lovely drizzly British weather, that's awesome too. Hyde Park is gorgeous, just beautiful in a great way.

You see all walks of life through Hyde Park and it's a true gem in the middle of the city. So you could do a couple things while you're in Hyde Park. If you book in, you could see Kensington Palace, right? No, that's the wrong palace. What's, is Kensington? Okay, sorry. I get the palaces confused. Yeah, Buckingham Palace is the big one. It's only open for tours certain once a year. You probably don't have time for that on your layover. No, but Kensington Palace is really cool.

It's open usually year round. And you can see things from Victoria and Albert and it's really cool. Sometimes they have special exhibitions. They have a spot for tea, I think. I've never done the tea there, but anyway, you could do that or you could do Harrods at the far end of the park. Which is kind of fun. The food hall, if you're going to go see anything in Harrods, go see the food halls and go see the Egyptian elevators.

I think this might be a controversial and slightly unpopular opinion. I don't know if they're still there. The Egyptian elevators? Yeah. Herod's has changed so long. It's been so long since we've been there. It's changed so much in the 20 years that we've been traveling. Well, when you used to go, like it was very uniquely British. And over the 20 years we've been traveling more and more, it's just become.

just a general high -end, like ultra luxury. Like, anyway. So food halls are really cool. I would definitely do that. Then I would probably go over to the National Gallery and really book a good chunk of my day there because it is so beautiful. It's free and you don't have to book in advance. You can just walk in. It's gorgeous. Then having booked, I would probably...

I don't know, I would have to look at a map because I'm kind of all over the place. I would probably do Fortnum and Mason. And then you could kind of do Oxford Street where all the London shops are, not London shops, but like, it's like New York's Fifth Avenue. But that's Oxford Street in London and it's beautiful. And you could see, and when you do the National Gallery, you could do Trafalgar Square and all that. So you get, we're checking a lot of things.

all at once, but I would definitely go to Fortnum and Mason and either book tea or lunch. I think that's really fun. And then I don't know what exactly, maybe Covent Garden in the later afternoon and the, and probably book in. If I was like really booking in, I would like do some, do like a really historic classic London restaurant. I was thinking rules, but I don't know if they.

open early enough. I think they do. I think they're open for lunch too. okay. Yeah, I would book in at one of these like iconic London restaurants. Now, because I was a good traveler and I planned ahead what I'm wearing for the day, I'm going to make sure that I'm dressed appropriately for these places, which sounds very stuffy, but like there are dress codes. Like you can't wear ripped jeans or I don't know if you...

Still you couldn't wear ripped jeans and hair is like they will literally turn you away at the door I've actually witnessed it with my own eyes. I've not Had that experience but so that if I planned ahead it was my first time going those are the things I would do I feel like you get a like a quintessential London experience now if people are from England or people from London are listening to this and you're like Jackie I

You didn't go to any of the outskirts, not outskirts, the other, the neighborhoods in London. Yeah, time for that. Exactly. There are great spots that are 20 minute to ride or under from central London that I would absolutely spend a day. But if it's your first time, if you checked all of the things that I said off your box, you've got a great London experience. So all right. We're going to have some overlap on ours. OK, first time traveler.

You've pre -booked because you have to pre -book for these things, folks. Well, we forgot a key element of this layover. What? How are people going to get from the airport into central London? well, I'm going to take the London Express. The Heathrow Express. The Heathrow Express. Well, that's that's still the fastest way to get to central London from Heathrow. Locals hate it because it's overpriced and for what it offers.

But it's 15 minutes from Heathrow to Paddington. Yeah. So if you're going to be in the West End or the Western area of central London, that's fine. Because then you can take a taxi wherever you want to go or go on foot or the tube. But there's been a big sea change in London transport since we've been since. Yeah, I haven't been there in five years since we both have been there. The Elizabeth Line. the high speed trains now run across all of central London. And so the.

Elizabeth line is marginally slower, but it's still super fast, but it goes it goes all the way through central London So you can go you can take it right to where you right to the heart of where you want to go and you're on foot like Within 30 minutes of being at the airport. That's incredible So that's an option if you don't want to do the Heathrow Express Do not take a taxi from the airport. Do not take a taxi if you're on a layover

Should they take a taxi? No. Do not take a taxi. Not on a layover because you're going to spend an hour in that taxi and you do not have time for that. Yeah, although I black taxi cab drivers. It's part of the London experience, but you can get that in central London. The best on the planet. You don't want it from the airport. You're going to because traffic in the morning going into London, it's going to take forever. We've done it. We've learned.

The same goes with going back. If you've got a morning flight, do not get in the cab. Do not get in a higher car either. Just take public transportation. Anyway, so how are you going to spend your day, Travlar? So how am I going to spend my day?

We have some overlap, but mine's a little different. Okay. So, what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna get to the National Gallery right when it opens. good call. So, it's free, but I'm gonna get to it right when it opens. It's gonna be much quieter, it won't be as busy, and you can commune with all the great art there. Give yourself one to two hours minimum. you can do it in an hour, there's no way. If there's a special exhibition on.

Like you're going to spend your whole morning there. Okay. Yeah, easy. And if you get hungry, there's a restaurant there and we should add though that the restaurants and the eateries like the spots to sit and get a cup of tea and that kind of thing at London attractions in our experience for the most part have been pretty good. Yeah, especially across the street at St. Martin in the fields, the cafe there, great sandwiches, great tea and coffee. Yeah. And it's super affordable.

So I've spent the morning at the National Gallery. I've seen the Fighting Temeraire. I've seen Jon Constable's The Hey Wayne. I've seen Turner's, the Holbins, the Constables, the Turners, the Gainsboroughs. I've been filled with British art. It is an experience. And that's going to be the only art thing I do, though, this day because we're on limited time. Yeah, because you could do a gallery every day. If I had two days, I'd go to the Tate Britain.

if you're... Is that the one with the mural dining room? Yes. Gorgeous book lunch there. If you want to spend a little more time on art, go around the National Gallery to the National Portrait Gallery and you can see portraits of the famous Brits through all of history. I think we're gonna have to do a podcast on art galleries. I will make a note. Okay, anyway, sorry. So what's after the art gallery? So I've done the art gallery. Okay, well now I'm in Trafalgar Square.

I'm going to look at Trafalgar Square. Hi Nelson. Get the quintessential picture in front of the lions. I'm going to, and then I'm going to walk on foot. Okay. And then I'm going to walk down Whitehall street towards the houses of parliament. I didn't put that in mine. It's not far. It's a short walk, like five to 10 minute walk. And then you're going to get to see the houses of parliament. You're going to see Big Ben.

I didn't put Big Ben on mine. And then I'm going to go across Westminster Bridge. And I'm going to go and I will have booked this in advance to get the best deal because you can get ripped off on it. I'm going to go on the London Eye. OK. It only takes it only takes 30 to 40 minutes. I mean, not like really like it's not a bet. It's a great thing to do. We haven't done it in 20 years. OK, anyway, I'm going to do the London Eye because that is a fantastic way just to see the whole city in one go. Yep.

One -thirty -minute flight around you're good and you can book the champagne plate, too I don't know if you can do that in the middle of the day But yes, they have champagne flights if you have time for that Yes, and so you're gonna see all the London skyline all the London before you okay? It's beautiful, but would you do that last because then you could maybe see London in the dark I mean you could okay. I'm sorry go ahead you could and then I After that I'm in England. I need to see some books. I

I want some books. I know where you're going. So I'm going to hop in a cab now because I'm at the I'm on the other side of the river and it's quite a ways. I'm going to take a taxi to Hatchards of Piccadilly. Hatchards of Piccadilly is the oldest bookstore in London. It is a stately facade right on Piccadilly, which is near Piccadilly Circus, which you also need to see while you're there. It's literally within touching distance. And I'm going to go in.

Hatchards of Piccadilly it's like three or four stories of books and I'm gonna buy a bunch of books. Now you're wondering where are you gonna put all these books you're on a layover. I know what you're doing with these books because it's a pro tip it's an awesome pro tip. Hatchards of Piccadilly will happily take your pile of books and ship them home to you for a very affordable shipping cost. So they don't have to come with you to Rome. So they don't have to come with us to Rome on this layover trip. So I'm gonna pick a stack of books that you know...

just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Notice we're sitting in a library. I can tell you where a lot of these books came from. Kara of Hatchards in London. So after that I'm gonna pop over to Piccadilly Circus and see the famous signs and then I'm with you. I like a late afternoon early evening dinner at Rolls because it's quintessentially British. Yes, but you're dressed properly for it. Of course.

I mean, if I'm on my Angle -Topia polo, I'm dressed properly. Do you have to have a dinner jacket for Rules? I don't know. It depends on the kind of year, time of year. Well, I think no, because it depends on the dress code, because you might have to have a dinner jacket all year round. This is where you'd have to book in because you cannot just show up, I don't think, and you'd have to probably look at the website for that. And Rules is near Covent Garden, so if we have time... I like this. If we have time, I'm popping over to Covent Garden.

to see the iconic architecture of the market, to see the Apple market, who the vendors should be in if it's late afternoon. I'm gonna, and I have one goal in mind that I recommend for everybody who visits Covent Garden is to go to Ben's Cookies and have the most amazing cookie you'll ever eat.

She's shaking her head. No, they're delicious. You're a cookie connoisseur though. You're like all about the sweet and I am I'm more about the savory. So at this point in this perfect day, I think we've I think we've spent the perfect day. So I'm going to we're going to get back to the airport. Yep. So I definitely public transportation. Yeah, I would. London is a huge city that is on the move at the end of the day. Yeah. If we're in a Covent Garden.

We need to get back to Paddington for the Heathrow Express or we need to take the Elizabeth Line right to the airport. I'd probably take the Heathrow Express at that point, honestly, to miss commuter traffic and just to be out of the way. And then we got to get our bags from left luggage and check into our flight or go through security and get on our flight to Rome. I love this. So let me ask you, do you want to redo the question? Like, do you want to redo the question? Like you knowing,

London really well. sure. I think I would still pretty much stick to the same day, except I'd go to Harvey Nicks. I'd add that in there. Awesome shoe department. Now granted, it's been quite a long time since I went to the shoe department there. Great service. They also have some like, some hosiery.

that I've only ever been able to find there. Really, really good stuff. And then I've got this, this is really fun. It's kind of like this, it's not a bucket list, but I'm working my way through the iconic London hotels, like the old hotels. The bars. The bars of the old hotels to do their signature cocktails. So every trip we pick.

one of the iconic, we've done the Dorchester, we did the Ritz, we did, who else did we do? We've done the Savoy and like we have their quintessential cocktail or historic cocktail and it's just wine. Well yeah, but you have tea, which is lovely because it's been like to see how each old or historic hotel does tea service. Like it's really cool.

So that's the only thing I'd add to that because I'm still working my way through the list and it's, it's a really, it's fun. It's just really fun. I would, I would say if I, if, if it was you're doing it as you like, you know, London really well doing just me. I would still go to Hatchard's. but I might actually do something that I've not done before just because I've been there so much. Okay. Like, and I mean,

25 trips to London I still haven't been to the Natural History Museum. that's like a whole day. like I would do that, I think. I might also book, or not book, I might like schedule like half the day. I really like Islington. So that's a tube ride. It's like a 15, 20 minute tube ride. I think it's north. Is that right? Geographically, London like turns me around. I might do a - But they've got,

They've got some really beautiful antique markets up there. Just incredible, like small things. I, there's a great knit shop up there. I'm not still sure if they're still there because it's been a very long time since they've been up there, but it's really charming and it's, I haven't done it in a long time. So maybe that, I also might do like book a tour. I've never done before. I found.

Guided tours by knowledgeable tour guides are like gold. Yeah, and there's a new one that I Booked for my last trip to London that would that didn't happen If you read the and I'll put a link in the show notes there's a blog called Spittlefields life which covers the history and culture of Spittlefields and the West and the East end of London and The proprietor of that started a tour company doing

guided tours of Spittlefields. cool. He did like a crowdfunding campaign and I supported it and everything and there are... I hate the reviews of them had been incredible and I even booked one but then I couldn't go on the trip so I had to cancel it so I think I might do that. that's fun. Or What about the shard? Go to the top of the shard? I wouldn't spend the layover doing that. No? I've done that.

Well, no, I guess if I mean like if you have I don't even think I'd recommend it if if you haven't been to London. Really? I would recommend it in a trip to London if you're going to be there for a few days or a week. I wouldn't recommend it on a layover because it's far out. It's really. That's true. It's really like far away from Heathrow. Yeah. It's on the other side of the river. And it's one of the most expensive attractions in London. And you have to block a lot of time because the security elevators. OK.

And you can get the same views from the London Eye for much simpler. So I think it's a better view, but I think you like if you've got to check the great view box, I think the London Eye would work. So I think we spent a ton of time on this question and we should probably move through the other questions. So the next question is one we also get quite a bit and something that I'm happy to talk about.

That's also really hard to talk about because things may change in the next few weeks. Yeah. Literally. Between recording the podcast and the release of the podcast. So we're recording this four weeks before the British election. So it's June. It's early June. Yeah. This is coming out in July at least. So by the time this comes out, there will probably there may be a new government, a new party in power. So this may change, but it's not going to change immediately because things never change quickly.

Not normally not in the British politics at least so the question is how do you move to the UK now? This is a question we could give a whole episode to and so I'm we're and we're assuming you're asking this question as a US as an American so we're gonna give a real high -level answer to this you hire a really good immigration lawyer hold that and

Just you can you can not do it yourself. I mean you can but you're more likely to succeed if you have a great immigration lawyer. Hire an immigration lawyer. So a lot of Americans think that because we're such close allies with England or Britain that it's easy to move there. That we could just you could just show up. You can just show up. You cannot just show up. You cannot just move there. There is a lot involved. You'll just see the room with the purple chairs. We should probably explain that.

We used to watch a show called UK Border Force where like I think they have similar shows here. Yeah, we're like about the Border Patrol. Yeah, where immigration or that kind of thing. Yeah. And people come and they get in trouble. Well, in the UK Border Force, they'd always end up in the room with the purple chairs. Yeah. You don't want to see the room with the purple chairs. It's so like an example of ending up in the room with the purple chairs is if you've arrived in England for an open ended trip.

And now Americans can go to Britain for up to six months without a visa. But they're gonna... But if you say you're gonna do that, you're gonna get a lot of questions when you show up. Yeah, and you have to have solid answers to those questions. Like you have to prove that you can support yourself for six months. You have to give the address where you'll be staying. Yeah, it's really complicated. They really do track. And if you can't answer those questions, they will put you in the room in the purple chairs. We're with the purple chairs. And they will... And you don't want to be in the room with the purple chairs. And if they don't like your answers, they will send you on the next flight back to the US.

and they'll send you the bill for it. Are you serious? Okay, maybe the room with the purple chairs isn't so bad. So there are several avenues to move to the UK. and this is going to sound flippant and I don't mean it to sound flippant. Flip it. Flip flippant. I cannot say the word. Flip it. Flip it. This is going to sound not serious.

I like it! But the easiest way for an American to move to the UK is to marry a Brit.

Did you just say that out loud? Yeah, it's true. Okay, I believe you. It's to meet a British person and get a marriage visa. To fall in love with a British? Don't marry somebody for a visa. Yeah. Like, we want to make very clear, we're not advocating this. Yeah. Jon, you're going to see the room with the purple chairs. They're going to be like, are you that guy from Anglotopia who keeps telling everybody to get married for a visa? So if you fall in love with a British person and you get married, you will be able to move to the UK. You get the benefit of British citizenship. No, no.

No, no, sorry. Sorry. Eventually. Yes. But you will you'll get the right to move there. But even that is a really complicated process that has salary minimums, work permit minimums, and I'm not going to get into it. Immigration lawyer. But it is it is I'm when I when you look into this and I'm serious to tell you this is the the easiest path. It is not an easy it is still not an easy path. No. So marriage. OK.

Marriage isn't the easy path! Well no, marriage to a Brit is the easy path. Send your letters to Jonathan at Anglotopia .net folks. So obviously we are happily married. We've been together for 22 years now.

Okay, moving on. So we are not eligible for that route. No. Okay. So what, so the next, if you're happily married, another option, another option for you. One, it depends on where you are in your career. So if you are in a career that is, that the British government has deemed in demand, then you can get a work visa to come and live in the UK. I'm going to guess healthcare is probably going to be high on that. Healthcare is one of them.

Because it's an in -demand job across the globe. They had there's a real focus in the tech sector, startups, PR. I don't know. I haven't looked at the list in a while. But they have a points based system where you get scored based on your experience, your degree, all of these things. And if you have enough points, you can get a work visa to come and work for a few years. And eventually.

but there are still a lot of metrics. Like if you lose the job, you have to leave. It's just like, just like with agree. Well, wasn't it something like you had to have X amount of dollars for each person in your family set aside? You have to have a deposit for each person in your family. You also have to make - And it's like several thousand dollars. Yeah. You have to make a levy payment for each person in your family to the NHS to cover your healthcare while you're there. Like we did the math.

a few years ago and it was going to be like almost 20 grand for us to get it to even be considered for a visa. That's just the upfront fees. That's just the upfront to get to like buy to get access to move there. Yeah. So that's not even like the actual nitty gritty of actually physically moving anything, filing paperwork like. Yeah. The system is designed to discourage immigration. And so that's a route. There's also the

highly skilled migrant route, which I don't know what they call it now. But if you like have a PhD, if you are a CEO, if you are a financier, you can get a real, a person of who is known globally for what you do and you get an endorsement from a similar British organization, you can get a visa and come live in the UK.

All of these processes are complicated and hard. Immigration lawyer. Immigration lawyer can help. And a good immigration lawyer will assess your situation and tell you all of the options. Before you even start. Before you even start. They'll tell you what your options are. We've talked to several over the years. We've had opportunities to move there. We have not for various reasons, which we will not go into for what this conversation is about. Another way.

But if the opportunity came our way after our kids go to college, that's something we'd probably entertain. Yeah, we're kind of in a holding pattern there because our kids are getting older, like high school age. Yeah, our son's going into high school, so it's like, not really the best time to do that. Anyway, but we're still young. We're getting off track here. And another way, which actually may be the way we end up doing it, I don't know.

we'll see, is if you want to go as a student. So if you're young and you're looking to go to university and you go to university in the UK and I managed to pay for it and everything, usually you can transfer your visa to stay after you've graduated, especially if you go to graduate school or you get a doctorate. Like they want those people to stay. They do not. That's so smart. They try.

Like they want to make a, they don't want to kick those people out because they send them all the resources to educate them. Now, the student visa route is much different than any other route because if you work, you can only work like 20 hours a week or part -time. So you cannot work full -time. You have to be studying full -time, which makes living there really difficult because - You essentially have to be self -funded. Yeah, you have to be self -funded. I don't -

I think they change it or they're going to be changing it where you actually can't bring your family with you anymore if you're going to study. So how is that your route then? Are you going alone? Well, we both have to be students.

I do not want to go back for my doctorate. You could. my gosh. I just did my masters a couple of years ago and that just about killed me. I do not need a doctorate in public relations. Dr. Jackie. Dr. Jackie. my god. Dr. Anglotopia. Okay, moving on. So the student route, the way as a student, but if they haven't changed it that way, like I know we had a guy write for Anglotopia named David. I'll link to his articles on the website.

His, him and his wife were older, older than us than we are now. And their children were grown and gone off to college. And he decided to pursue his doctorate. That's awesome. And his late age. And him and his wife got student visas and they moved to Newcastle, England. And he did his doctorate in Victorian history. And I'm like, teach me how you did this. I love that for them. So that's a possible route as a student. And there are very, there are...

There's a ton of British universities. There are tons of programs. There are part -time programs. There are full -time programs. We're not giving advice on any of those. All we're saying is that is a route to move there. And if you only want to go for a few years temporarily, that's also a route to go just go live there for a couple of years and then return and return home. So, but the key takeaway is.

Talk to an immigration attorney. Yay! So we are not lawyers. No, this is not legal advice. Or immigration advice. Those are the three ways you can kind of do it now. Three? I think that was more than three. Well, it was marry, marry, get a job and get a sponsored work visa or be a student. Highly skilled migrant. Yes, highly skilled migrants. Were those? Okay, anyway, sorry, never mind. And so now...

If you as an American, if you want to travel to England, like you can go, like we said, you can go up to six months without a visa and spend the time there. But to do that, you just have to prove that you have enough money with you to travel for six months. You'll have to look on the UK government's website for guidance on how much money they think that is. Do your homework. Do not try and figure this out while you're at the border.

see the room with the purple chairs. Don't just book a flight and show up and say I'm coming for six months because it will not end well for you. We have gone, the longest we've gone on one trip was five weeks. Was that when our son was really really little? We went for Christmas, remember? that was a Christmas trip. We went for all of December into January. Yep I remember. We didn't get any extra questions. No. But I miss...

Well that and it was the holiday season so they might have assumed that we were traveling. But you know you want to go to England for a month or two as well and if you just make sure you have a way to prove that you can support yourself while you're there. You know where you're going to be staying. Copies of bank statements or show show a screenshot of your banking app you know. Just do your homework. Do your homework. Do your homework on what you're going to need. You won't have an issue and you know I've done residential courses at Oxford in the summer for a couple weeks like that's all that's perfectly fine. You can do that anytime you'd like.

and you don't need a visa. now in, in a, eventually you're going to need something called electronic travel authorization, which we're going to do a whole podcast about in a few weeks as a U S citizen. Well, actually it applies to everybody. okay. But, we'll talk about that another time. All right. So what's our next question? Our next question, cause we are, we may not do all of these questions, but that's okay. So, this is back to travel planning and this is a really good question.

Okay. So comes from a friend of ours actually. Okay. Who's never been to London, but he really wants to go. And so his questions are, what can you expect to spend on a first time trip to London? How long should you go for? what is the most important tip that you would give to someone going for the first time and things like that? And so I have some good answers to this. what about you?

planning makes perfection. Yeah. Book in, be strategic in how you want to spend your time, whether you're on a layover or you're going for a week. I think a week, if you're going for the first time, like six days, seven nights, is like, you can legitimately stay crazy busy. I will tell you, Anglotopia listeners and watchers, every time we go to London,

This guy packs our schedule so full that I need a vacation from our vacation. Like it's, you can stay as busy as you want to stay in London. And I will say that, so number one, write, plan ahead, book your things in advance as much as you can. Pay for as much as you can in advance. So like if there's an entry fee to something and you're planning your trip, pay for it now if you can. Because then that will...

hopefully either allow like different money management while you're in town. I think the biggest expense and I think that's something that continually even as I would say almost professional London travelers, one of the things that always surprises me is the cost of eating in London. Like we've gotten really well like we will usually do you know we'll go to like a grocery store.

and we'll pick up like some fruit, some danishes, that kind of thing. And usually tea, tea, tea is provided in the room. So that's breakfast for us. And then we'll do just a casual lunch, whether that's a chain or it's something small that, you know, we're not like sitting down for a formal dinner or a formal lunch, but then at dinner,

Dinner is a little more - is our most substantial meal of the day. And here's the thing, you have to eat while you're there and I know that that sounds like, well, duh. No, like, if you are on your feet walking all day, like, you've got to feed your body. Like, you just - you have to. It's really easy to want to go on and see the next thing and then, you know, it's like four o 'clock and you're -

feeling horrible because you haven't drank any water for the day and you're like, I ate a banana at breakfast and now it's four o 'clock and I'm starving and this is a bad situation. So, anyway. Not that I'm speaking from experience. What might one expect to spend? What should you budget? And that I'm going to, I'm going to base this on one person. Okay. One person. Okay. So how much to budget again?

Like this depends on what kind of travel you like to experience. Yes. If you want to do London on a budget and you're more... You're gonna take the tube everywhere. You could probably do a week in London with flights and with a cheap hotel for $2 ,500 to $3 ,000. Really? Well, I mean, think about it. I booked my...

ticket for the Churchill Conference, that was only $500. Flights are really cheap right now. Okay, and if you stay at an easy hotel or... If you stay at an easy hotel or Premier Inn or one of the other... But like, folks, do your homework on... Yeah, check for bed bugs in the reviews. Yes, seriously. And the further out you stay from London, the cheaper the hotels get, but you pay more in transport, so... And you pay in time. You know, so I think...

You could do it for 25 to 3000 if it's just you. But you're literally going to be booking in at a lot of the free things. That's the thing. So much in London is free. Absolutely. You are absolutely correct. You can, other than meals, you could fill a week with the free attractions and not spend a dime on the tourist attractions. Actually, you probably could. You know, let the National Gallery free, the Tate's free, the National...

Natural History Museum is free, Science Museum is free, the British Library is free. St. Paul's is free. St. Paul's has an entry fee. Yeah, but it's small. But our hack for St. Paul's is to go for a service and then you can see it for free. But if you go for a service you have to be respectful and sit for the service. Yeah, but you can, you know, you can't get up and walk around during it. No, but you can sit there and admire the place for free. It's beautiful. So things like that. And that's an experience. There are budget hacks for that. So you...

Like I said, easily fill a week with free things to do in London. We have a list on our website which I will link to on London -Topia which is 101 free things to do in London. So that's probably the bottom end of what you could do as far as budgeting goes. If there's two of you, I would budget five at least. Well, I guess I'm eating all your food.

Or do I get to sit there and watch you eat? My budget for this conference is five. Okay. And that's on my own, but I have I'm staying at a not at a budget hotel. So I'm saying that well, and you because you're staying I gotta stay near the conference near the conference. So if you are going as a family of four, I imagine if we took our kids, I mean, we're two to three and on just plane tickets. That's like.

We'd need two hotel rooms at least or an Airbnb. No, we would Airbnb. So that's at least we probably spend seven or eight thousand. Yeah, because pro tip, if you're traveling with children, they need their own rooms. Well, not well. Yes, for us, for our kids. Absolutely. Yes. But the amenity of having a kitchen with small kids, what like? Yeah. I. Well, you save so much on food. yeah.

That's another, that's a pro tip actually. If you find a spot with a kitchenette, you can do really well for your money and you can shop and that's actually a really like grocery shop. That's a really fun experience actually. It's a neat cultural thing to go through. It's fun for the kids to go through the shelves and be like, ooh. Yeah. So now that's, so we've covered cost, time amount to go.

I say a week. First time. First time. First time. And you're just doing London. Yeah. A week. Now, I know Americans usually only get a week or two vacation. So like that's a lot of PTO right there. But the first time I went to London, we went for a week and we actually took the shuttle to London or to Paris for a day. Yeah. So, I mean, get some bang for your buck there. Yeah. So, you know, we try to encourage people to go outside of London, though.

But if you're gonna do outside of London, you're gonna need two weeks. I think... Either do the week in the countryside or outside of London or do a week in London or do both. I think you could probably do like a... you'd have to give a whole day if you're gonna leave London. Like you could go to Windsor. Yeah, that's not where we're gonna really be in London. I mean, it's like... Well, or I don't know. There are things that outside of London that you could...

But it's gonna be a whole day. Yeah, like just playing the whole day. Like if you're if you want to go to Stonehenge, which is what a lot of Americans do, like that's a whole day. That is definitely a whole day. I mean, you're back in late afternoon, but it's still a whole day because it's two hours. It's two hours by coach. By bus for Americans. To Wiltshire. So and then two hours back. So like it's an all day thing. Yeah. A lot of and a lot of tour companies will pack in something else and like you're gonna be on all day. Or you want to go to the Cotswolds.

You'll need a guided tour for that. Well, yeah, I mean I would not just well, but if you want Oxford Oxford is a great day trip out of London It's only an hour by train and it's incredible Station to station take it get on the train in Paddington and you can get off at Oxford and it's just like a London suburb almost Honestly, I actually prefer to go to Oxford by train. Yeah, so do I even when even when we have a car York is only two hours by train. Really? Yeah

I feel like when we did the drive, like it felt like it took a long time to get to York. It takes longer to drive. Well, yeah, I know. But I feel like it took hours and hours and hours. The rain didn't help. We stopped halfway. yeah. At the fancy services. Yeah. Well, we stopped at Harvard Hall. But anyway. that's right. Sorry. And if you're going to leave, but if you're going to leave London, leave London, rent a car and drive and drive to where you want to go to get the most of your time.

Pro tip, they drive on the opposite side Americans. This took me a very long time. Yeah, we should do a podcast about driving. We should do a podcast, because it's like your favorite thing to do in Britain. So now that's two things. What was the other one? I don't know. So, but, but again, if you're going to be on your own a week, if you don't have a week. And you're going to stay in London. And you're going to stay in London. If you don't have a week. Or maybe a one day trip out of London and back. If you don't have a week.

I'm a big proponent of a long weekend trip to London. Yeah, we've done that. Where you like leave on Wednesday night or Thursday night, you arrive Thursday morning or Friday morning, have the weekend come on Monday or Tuesday and you've got a nice little chunk to do a few things. We've done that a few times. I will say the jet lag is pretty brutal. It's brutal coming home. So you can just suffer later. No, it's brutal. It's brutal going too. I mean, how many times do you wake up at three in the morning and you're like, I'm ready to get up and you're...

The clock's like, no, you're not. But if that's, if it's like, I've got to do it this time or I don't get to do it. Like that's, that's when you do it. Or pro tip for if you're an American, do it on a holiday weekend. What are those holiday weekends where we have a Friday or a Monday? Pro tip. Yeah. So, Okay. What's the next question?

my cow are we on time? when to go? When to go? So that's gonna be our last question. Yeah, cause we're on time. So when to go to England? I have my favorite time of year. I also know when it's usually the cheapest which they do not coincide. Obviously I'm an advocate of going to England all the time. Yeah, if I handed you a plane ticket right now you'd be like, sorry peeps I gotta go I got a plane to catch. Bye! Well, I'm in a rush to go in June. Although they're having a very cool June this year.

Yeah, not a huge fan of the UK in the summer is unbelievably beautiful. As long as you stay in places with the have air conditioning. Yes. Which a lot of places do not still so check. Okay, so we need to talk about that. Let's go through the seasons actually. Okay. Yeah, because we do need to talk about air conditioning because I feel like people are gonna go, typical Americans. Different kind of heat. Yeah, okay.

So we'll just talk about it. Okay, we'll talk about the summer first then. Okay summer. So here's the deal. I grew up in a brick house without air conditioning. I have a high tolerance for the heat. I love the sun. I am telling you that most of the buildings in England that we've stayed in are stone buildings. And if you think a brick house gets hot, stone retains heat. It's like an oven at night. And I like,

Usually like during the day the heat is pretty tolerable. Yeah, you keep the windows open it works And this is definitely for Americans here. It doesn't get that hot in England by our standards No, like I mean a 90 degree day for like Midwest like a 90 degree Midwest day and that's 90 degrees Fahrenheit is Is 75 is unusual for them? Yeah, like 75 to 80 is like their normal summer temperatures

So the heat builds throughout the day. And so like the heat's tolerable during the day, even when it's particularly warm. Because again, it doesn't get that hot by our standards. And outside it cools off and it's pleasant. It's beautiful. Nice glass of wine. It's gorgeous. But those buildings at night are are very warm and we're.

We're unusual in that we have to be really cold when we sleep. Yeah, I do. Like if I'm hot when I sleep. And not only that, it's common to be in England with a room without a window because buildings are really old and they've been reconfigured over time. The windows don't open. They're small or a weird shape. And there's nowhere to put an air conditioner. Exactly. So like if you know that going in and like there are tips and tricks like

look it up, there are things you can do when it's really, really hot and you need to sleep and you don't have an air conditioner and all of that. But when we go anywhere near the summer months, the first thing we do is we go buy a fan wherever we are in England. Yep. A box fan. You know, and when I went to Oxford in 2022 for a course, it was the hottest July on record for England. But you know, it wasn't that bad because they provided us

fans in every room. You take a cool bath before you go to bed. Yeah, you take a cold shower and you're good. But when you're out for the day and you're going from attraction to attraction, it can be really draining. Yeah, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And it's not just heat that is why we wouldn't go in the summer.

I mean, I will go in the summer, but it's because we know what to expect. Well, I mean, we've had I almost got hypothermia going in July once. So yeah, this is a true story. That's the unpredictable weather. Yeah. You really have to be prepared for ever anything and everything and everything and anything all in one day sometimes in England. But so the biggest caveat about going in the summer is that is when everybody goes, it's high tourist season.

all the attractions are packed not just with foreign tourists but with British tourists because from July to August the British school kids are off for summer vacation. Yeah. And so everybody is traveling and those Britain is on the move. And it's everything is very like good luck going down to the seaside. Yeah. No thank you. So I am an advocate of if you can if you can go any time of the year that's not the summer you should try. Yeah. And so that will lead us to autumn.

Okay, so out of all the seasons, autumn is my favorite time of year to go to Britain. Just beautiful. That's when we did our drive from Lansing to Jon O 'Groats. We did that in late September. We also did, we went at Thanksgiving one year for the British Airways face to face. So that was November. It was a little chilly. It was a little brisk, but it was so nice. I mean, compared to November in Chicago, it was fine. I mean, we were, we were not cold or any.

Like we were prepared for the weather, but it's beautiful in the autumn. Beautiful. And when you're booking that time of year, that's when tours, it's much cheaper because that's when tour, those are what they call it, the bumper season. Yeah. And things are still busy when the weather's nice, but it's not nearly as busy as the summer is. And we realize that, you know, most people travel in the summer because that's when they have vacation or that's when the kids are off and that like, that's why people's family schedule. That's why people travel in the summer. But if you can figure out a way to do it,

in another season, you're going to have a much more relaxed travel experience. We're also big advocates of going around Christmas or Christmas and New Year's. So winter travel. Winter travel. Depending where you're going in the UK. Yeah. Like if you're going to northern Scotland. If you're going to Scotland, prepare for a Midwestern winter. Yeah. It's going to be snowy and cold. Do your homework. But if you're in southern England, it's very pleasant.

It's very wet. It's very wet. It can be windy, but it's overall very windy, very pleasant and it's very affordable because nobody travels that time of year. Well, and okay, so some of my most favorite travel experiences in Britain have been over the winter where we've booked into a little cottage and we've got a stone, you know, a little fire going and you, I think it's important to mention the cold in Britain in the winter, at least in

like London and south is it's a damp cold. So it's like I never understood. I always joke that I never understood the love affair that the Brits have with tea. And then you're there in the winter and you understand why they have very deep bathtubs and drink tons of tea because you have to to like warm yourself from the core. And it's not necessarily like frigid, icy cold. It's like this damp cold. But you know what? Like you hunker down.

brew a pot of tea, have a fire in the fireplace, watch some great telly, do a puzzle, read a book. It is one of the best experiences to go like hide away in a little cottage. Like do some takeaway, right? Go get a curry. Like it's great. It's just the best fun. Well, we've, we've been in February several times around my birthday. Yep. And the weather is usually okay. Yeah. It's like fifties or sixties Fahrenheit. Like you don't need a parka.

No, but you should be prepared for the weather to shift drastically. Like, and then we've in our college years, we went every spring and it was the weather was usually pleasant in spring. March, April. So the weather can be really unpredictable then too, though. Yeah. So I guess the answer is spring, fall, maybe the winter. But you could catch maybe like the tail end, like the beginning of summer, the tail end of summer, like, but like July.

Yeah. No, thank you. No, July and August, no. I'm good. It's just not for us. Now that's not to say that somebody else might not have a great time. and I would say, but of course, if you have to go any time of the year, then go. Yeah. I'm not going to say, well, you shouldn't go at all. If you have a chance to go in July and August, then take the chance. Go. Take the chance, but you need to be prepared for heat and you need to pack accordingly. But also,

and I should tell this story on another podcast, be prepared for hypothermia. True story. So, and on that note, I think we will wrap it up there and we did not get through the whole list of questions. So we will save these questions for another Q and A. Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Have a good one. Bye bye.