Booking Flights & Packing it all up

Once your visa has been approved, it’s time to get your ticket! Chances are you already have a vague idea of the date you wish to arrive in London. My personal opinion is that April/May or September/October are the two best times to get here. There are different benefits to either side of the summer.

Getting here in April/May (as I did) means you get to enjoy an English summer. Your travelling options are boundless as well. The drawback here is the difficulty landing a job as few people are hiring. There is always temp work but you have to work hard at finding it (more on that next week!) and put a lot of effort into it.

Getting here in September/October means you will have missed out on a possibly fantastic summer but your finances are likely to be more secure as your chances of finding work are higher. Winter travel, however, is very popular and there are many places to see if you want to travel in winter. I’ve been recommended Prague in the winter on many occasions as it’s quiet but still beautiful.

The best way to get from Canada to the UK is through Canadian Affair – they’re often the cheapest flights. The airline is Air Transat and they are quite good. I’ve used them 3 times now and have no complaints . . . OK, that’s a lie. I have ONE.

It’s their baggage allowance. You are only allowed 23 kg in total. As we might all know, that’s quite difficult when you’re crossing the Atlantic with all you worldly possessions. And the one stereotype in the world I now buy into is that, as a girl, I found it almost impossible to move across the ocean with minimal clothing and shoe options. I did scale down a lot (the Salvation Army donation box positively burst at the seams) but I still had more than my fair share of closet items to pack.

However, I decided that between paying for a more expensive ticket and paying the overweight charges, I would take my chances at the airport. And I DID end up paying a lot for the extra weight but it still came to less than the fancier airline ticket.

Other options for flights that are great are KLM and IcelandAir – both of whom offer very reasonable ticket prices as well. Their baggage allowances are also better than Air Transat so if you can get a good deal on the flight, go for it!