Cost of living differences

Yes.  I was thinking of that.

That was one weekend though.  So let's say we wanted to go somewhere once a month and visit his family once a month, which isn't unreasonable. (Well, maybe visiting the in-laws once a month is, but he has a big family with at least one birthday a month.

That trip, not that unusual really.  The only part that was is the extra taxi at the end.

So, 96.00 + the money going to see the in-laws.

Also, how do you get 600 for the license, unless you meant 60? 

If you like going to historical houses or sites the only way to get to many of them is a car.  Full stop.  The big ones have bus trips, Stonehenge and all that, but once again you are going to have to go out of London. 

Also, how do you get 600 for the license, unless you meant 60? 

Oh I was thinking of all the related expense such as, driving instruction, cost for the different levels of license testing. I don't know a lot about but from what I have read on here all government charges have become outrageous.

We would love to travel by train more often. It's a great way to relax and see the scenery. But it really is prohibitively expensive for many trips, particularly if you have to tack a cab ride on the far end.

My brother in law recently flew some place up north because it was cheaper than the train.

I spent 80 on lessons, 30 for the written exam, 62 for the practical.

Something like 30 for my permit and the cost of the real license was included with the price of the test so all in all about 200. 

However, if I am not including the cost of the bus pass I'm not sure it is far to include one off costs for lessons that I will never need to do again.  Unless we are spreading that over my whole theoretical lifetime.

Flying to Scotland was about 40 each with 20 on train tickets.

Train to Scotland was something like 220 each.

If you like going to historical houses or sites the only way to get to many of them is a car.  Full stop. 

We do all our trips like that by hiring a car. So much easier. Car hire for a weekend was like £70 and we'd make a mini break around it. Far cheaper than last minute trains. Now there are companies like Zip Car where you could easily just rent for a few hours. Not sure if they charge more for driving out of London or not.

In fact, that's an area where it is more expensive in London than LA. Car hire. It's only $20/day in LA.

Flying to Scotland was about 40 each with 20 on train tickets.

Train to Scotland was something like 220 each.

I just checked and came up with a fare of £83.50 round trip on the train, London to Edinburgh. This was advanced ticketing, 3 weeks.

Your fare maybe different because I don't think you were leaving from London and you were not booking in advance.

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/London/EDB/210911/0930/dep/230911/1130/dep

I like the idea of using Zip car although someone told me on a forum that they could rent from Enterprise Rent-a-car for cheaper.

I get ads on my email all the time for cheap rent a cars but when I plug in the location I get much higher quotes and then the ad ons really takes it up there.

My daughter wanted to rent a van from Bellingham, Washington and drop it in Las
Vegas 10 days later. The cost quoted was over a $1000 which was too much so she cancelled her plane ticket and drove her own van up there and saved a bunch.

I like the idea of using Zip car although someone told me on a forum that they could rent from Enterprise Rent-a-car for cheaper.

I think with zip car you can rent by the hour and that's where the savings are. But not having used it, who knows?

I think with zip car you can rent by the hour and that's where the savings are. But not having used it, who knows?

Yup and all zipcar rentals also include gas and insurance. So no hidden/additional costs, unless something happens or you leave the car dirty or something.

My mom, who lives in the U.S. just mentioned what someone earlier in the thread was saying: that the price of everything is going up. Little things, that you get every day, going up by .80c or $1.00

I asked her to send me a vitamin that I take every day because over here it's the equivalent of $15 and I can get it in the U.S. for $1.50, but now it's $2.50. (She's already sending a package of stuff, or I realize the shipping is ridiculous to send things and it would be cheaper to just buy here) but anyway, the point is that yes, things are getting more expensive everywhere I guess.

Things just seem more expensive to me over here, in general, because of the amount of things I could get over in the U.S. for the cost. But like someone else pointed out: where am I going to put a huge box of nectarines? It would take up half a shelf of the fridge. In my U.S. fridge, it was no big deal.

It'll be better once I stop calculating pounds to dollars in my head!

I bought the following train tickets for 4 people who are coming over for my wedding:
London to York
York to Edinburgh
Edinburgh to Pitlochry
Pitlochry to Inverness
Inverness to Edinburgh
Edinburgh to London
For 4 people, the TOTAL cost was £295. It's just a matter of buying them enough in advance.

I'll be sure to let my friend know she should schedule her emergency surgery in advance next time so I can get cheap train fare! 

I'll be sure to let my friend know she should schedule her emergency surgery in advance next time so I can get cheap train fare! 

If someone was needing emergency surgery, shouldn't they be going to hospital in an ambulance?

I went up to help with the kids and make tea.

Looking at the trains my birthday weekend, (yes it is cheaper to travel mid-week, but no I can't take more time off because a few friends are getting married this summer) which is the end of October, gets me the following:

It costs 114.00 per person to take the train with advanced purchase.

It costs 108.96 to fly for both plus tickets to the airport which is 25.00.

Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather take the train.  However, most of the time my dates aren't that flexible because of work. 

If there was a date in advance, like a wedding, that I knew I was attending that would be one thing, but unless I'm going to London, where parking/traffic/fees are involved, taking the train is almost always the most expensive option.