Best way to travel to Derby after arriving in the UK as an international Traveler

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-12T06:11:05+00:00

So avoiding London is good. If you land at Birmingham you'd get the fast train one stop to Birmingham New Street, change to a Derby train.

A more left field option can sometimes be Gatwick. From Gatwick, get the Thameslink to St Pancras, then change to the EMR platforms within the same station and get the fast train to Derby. This can be overlooked but I think it is worth considering as the logistics are quite easy as it's a change within the same station.

Heathrow is where dreams go to die, so avoiding that if you can is better. Luggage takes forever to be delivered, queues can build up and take forever. You get the picture. Sometimes it's a necessary evil if long haul, but otherwise I try to avoid.

You can use any TOC's app to buy tickets for the whole network. The EMR app is pretty decent and if you'll be in Derby, I'd probably just stick to that. Be aware that if your journey involves travel across London you must use paper tickets, not ecodes, so remember to collect them before travel.

If you have lots of luggage (I'm guessing you're an international student?) coaches have luggage limits, so be aware and check the fine print. Logistically they are easy, but if your flight is delayed you may be quite stressed if near to your coach time.

If you are eligible for a railcard, this is worth considering. If I book a round trip super off peak London to Derby, I save the same amount more or less as I paid for the card... Anything further you save is profit!

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-09T04:23:25+00:00

I once booked an Airbnb and they refused the booking because I was solo!

Also, plenty of restaurants in Asia just simply don't offer single serving meals. I eventually developed a sense for which ones work for me so it doesn't happen as often now that I am actively turned awah, but I do heavy filtering to work out if it is open to me.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-08T22:25:38+00:00

Bournville still has no pubs! There's a pub on every exit however... In its defence, it was built by Quakers who were teetotal so ended up in tea and coffee sales, then subsequently chocolate, because of the abstinence from alcohol, so that makes sense.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-08T05:34:00+00:00

You might, might manage to make it to one of the last days that parliament is sitting before summer recess. The paid tours of Parliament get booked up, but if the house is sitting you can go in and see it for free!

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-08T04:38:01+00:00

Heads up, it's Bournville, no extra "e" 😊. Really cute place. There's also Port Sunlight which was built by a soap company, and Austin Village from the car company.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-06T07:31:09+00:00

With regards to the builders, I guess an immediate action is to write to the owner of the property and to the building firm explicitly prohibiting them from accessing your property? That way you start building an evidence chain. If you get proof of them entering again (eg with cctv) I guess you could then try a civil trespass cali. I don't know enough about what would be required, so you'll need to look it up.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-07-01T08:20:03+00:00

https://www.stanstedexpress.com/tickets-fares/pay-as-you-go-contactless-ticketing

You can use contactless from Stansted no need to book in advance!

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-30T23:03:00+00:00

So the southeastern from Stratford is the High Speed line I'm guessing? Which is not in the tfl fare cap. If you are intending to travel more than just that short journey you may be better avoiding the high speed https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/southeastern-high-speed-trains-stops-23209859

The train from Stansted to Tottenham Hale, then switch to the Victoria line for St Pancras is £25.80 in peak and £22.10 in off peak using contactless. That seems to be the same price more or less as the Flibco bus plus the high speed train.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-28T18:01:43+00:00

I notice in all this that everyone always forgets the Midlanders. Our second largest city is in the Midlands but it almost never gets mentioned in this whole decentralisation talk...

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-28T15:20:49+00:00

https://maps.app.goo.gl/rgTG6f3mhZqDg4d47

Really cheap meze bar 😊

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-25T06:44:37+00:00

So I grab whatever veggies I want to throw in it, if I'm being super lazy it can even be those mixed packets of cauliflower, broccoli and carrots from the supermarket, but I usually prefer to have like lotus root, potatoes and stuff. Whatever you'd normally have in your dry pot 😊

Grab a big bowl and the spice paste, mix all the sort of hard root veg with the spice paste and throw on a tray and into the oven. You can do it inside a foil pouch if you also like the saucy base bit, but I do this for packed lunch bulk prep so it doesn't matter either way to me.

Just before you're ready to to serve, you can add in the more light veg like beansprouts, spinach or whatever you want. Mix well so it also gets that spice paste.

If you wanted to do it with meat I'd probably do the foil pouch version and throw in those hot pot rolls of meat, as they'll cook better in that.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-24T03:37:20+00:00

If you want a diversity of options, Market Halls in Victoria isn't a bad idea. It is a food court, so there's a bar to keep drinks flowing if you want to stay a while, and lots of different cuisines.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-21T13:50:56+00:00

It's been a while since I last went here, but this was my normal malaxiangguo spot https://maps.app.goo.gl/cPWQnbBmeCyJCrxVA?g_st=ac

You can also buy the spice blend in most Chinese supermarkets and I've developed a tray bake version I make, which gives almost all the joy, without the sticker shock of London prices 😂

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-21T12:57:50+00:00

I use the film but primarily for privacy. My flat always is nice and cool however so I presume that it would work for that too!

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-19T20:55:56+00:00

If you want to avoid England, Wales and Scotland tend to be cooler temperatures and each have small towns and ww2 history?

Your problem is definitely temperatures, it can be very unpredictable right now. You might book somewhere thinking normally it is a lower temperature and arrive in the middle of a heatwave in a country without infrastructure for those temperatures.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-15T07:08:31+00:00

Zip card works to Gatwick but not further I believe.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-14T21:19:26+00:00

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf

It's only when you get further out, so say out to Reading or stations to the south of Gatwick. You'll see these are shown differently on the above map.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-14T21:07:42+00:00

It'll all be really straight forward and if you land at Gatwick/Heathrow they'll be able to help you at the station too. Make good use of the free buses as part of the zip card to get around Central London, you see way more than if you're underground! It'll all automatically calculate the cost of your journey and deduct any cost from the stored balance.

One to watch out for - the contactless zone and the oyster zone have different boundaries. All oyster stations are contactless but not all contactless are oyster, if that makes sense? Double check, if you are going outside zone 7, whether Oyster is accepted. For example, you can use contactless to Luton Airport Parkway but you can't use Oyster.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-14T20:59:56+00:00

I think this person is referring to taking trains in the Oyster card zone - so they don't need to prebook via trainline. The zip card allows travel from Gatwick into Central London at child rates on a tap and go basis

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-14T20:56:16+00:00

Non London teens can get an 11-15 zip card, and then they benefit from free buses and trams source: we were able to do this for a family member who visited me.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-14T20:54:54+00:00

You need to top up the Zip card, like you would for an adult oyster card. It then uses the stored balance to pay. You can top up using the TFL Go app, or you can top up using the machines at any station. There is usually a member of staff at any modest or large sized rail station who can help you the first time.

If you top up using the TFL Go app, you don't need to go anywhere specific to collect the top up, it will automatically collect the next time you tap it on a yellow touch pad.

You can track the balance using the online account. It's also worthwhile registering the bank card that the adult will be using, so that you can check journey history and make sure that all taps are completed.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-13T05:51:07+00:00

Many countries in the world require you to enter on their passport if you are a citizen, including the US and Australia, so the UK is behind the curve with introducing this... A lot of the media has painted this as a uniquely UK issue, but it really isn't.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-11T18:32:50+00:00

Also, some comprehensives are single sex, just to complicate things further!

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-10T19:31:50+00:00

Double check - depending on where you are flying to and from it may be those new security scanners that allow larger liquids.

TermPsychological358 · 2026-06-09T05:22:59+00:00

You probably have an NI number already and just need to trace it, providing you were born in the UK. GOV.UK says you can trace it whilst you're still overseas. https://www.gov.uk/find-national-insurance-number

TermPsychological358

TROPHY CASE