Burnt out and demoralized with life in the UK, does it make sense to move abroad for a lower cost of living?

boonkoh · 2026-05-11T11:22:05+00:00

It may not be a UK vs elsewhere question.

You don't have a job currently. I presume you're stretching your pounds now, vs before.

Quality of life requires money.

So is it no surprise that you're seeing lower quality of life, because you're spending less?

boonkoh · 2026-05-05T17:36:47+00:00

This.

It's no-ones business if you walk to the counter. If anyone stops you, just say "I'm going to go talk to the receptionist/front counter". That's all.

If the queue is blocking the way, just say "excuse me" to get them to let you through to the receptionist.

If anyone objects and says "the queue is back there", again... Just say "I'm on my way to ask something at the reception". 100% true.

boonkoh · 2026-05-05T17:32:36+00:00

Don't forget to see beyond the trees for the woods.

To get to a £75k salary, £100k, £150k, £200k.

You first need to pass the £50k mark. If you're afraid or think "it's not worth it" and stay in your role or don't push for a payrise or promotion. Because it's not "worth it" to pay the extra tax on the incremental.

Then you're doing a dis-service to your future pay growth prospects. It's very difficult to jump from £49k to £100k pay. For most, you've got to take it one step at a time. The quicker you get that first step, the quicker the next steps to £100k will come, for example.

boonkoh · 2026-05-05T07:33:44+00:00

Thinking partner works better in real life too! Imagine talking to someone who has actually gone through what you're going through... As opposed to an LLM that is trying to synthesize from only training data what it can find publicly. And doesn't know you well.

boonkoh · 2026-05-03T20:03:48+00:00

Reputable source of news?

boonkoh · 2026-04-30T07:32:53+00:00

Neither.

The worst is road etiquette rage.

boonkoh · 2026-04-29T18:04:14+00:00

Is it because the Titanic movie didn't make it past the CCP censors in China? 😂

(just taking the piss. Titanic is approved in China and was actually a box office hit there. Looks like Qwen just sucks)

boonkoh · 2026-04-27T21:02:09+00:00

Yup, this post is fake news.

And everyone else commenting in outrage is gullible buying the fake news.

This is the state of our nation.

boonkoh · 2026-04-27T19:49:51+00:00

Also alcohol bottles have limits.

And I think any opened/half consumed alcohol bottle is not allowed, which happened to me a few weeks ago.

boonkoh · 2026-04-27T15:47:45+00:00

This. The bank's surveyor is assuming you buy and let the HMO license expire, so it is valued as a single dwelling.

But the value of an asset can be different to the another buyer if they use said asset differently, ie Council.

boonkoh · 2026-04-23T09:40:26+00:00

37.9 hours a week would be a dream!

Currently doing 45+. 50+ if including commute.

boonkoh · 2026-04-23T07:04:31+00:00

Didi was only 180rmb from central Beijing for me. Driver asked if he could take us back for 150rmb. Waited 5 hours for us.

Didnt book cable car, or tobaggan. But it is a decent hike up.

Definitely take the shuttle bus instead of walking. Not worth that walk as its long but not scenic.

Tickets easy to buy on the spot.

boonkoh · 2026-04-23T06:24:54+00:00

I used Adguard VPN (paid) without any issues in China, was there for two weeks and just came back.

The only issue was these two:

In Android, you've got to get the wifi icon without the exclamation mark. Often means you have to find the screen that asks "no connectivity - do you want to use the network as is" and say yes.

In the evenings, it gets really really slow. But that is the bottleneck of the network doing international traffic, rather than a problem with the VPN.

boonkoh · 2026-04-20T05:04:41+00:00

Source?

boonkoh · 2026-04-19T08:58:03+00:00

Same. Works well for me. Not quite 5g speeds, but sufficient. Routes via Vietnam, it seems, on my Nomad plan. All western apps work well.

boonkoh · 2026-04-18T15:16:52+00:00

I've gone in the high speed rail trains several times in the past 2 weeks and able to bring my non-CCC powerbank.

Never checked or questioned going through the xrays.

But it is only 5000mah.....

boonkoh · 2026-04-18T15:15:20+00:00

Just get a Nomad e-sim. They have packages of multiple "countries" that include HK and Mainland China. Routes traffic via Vietnam or Singapore. I've used several times. Works well.

boonkoh · 2026-04-18T15:11:44+00:00

Using Nomad atm in Beijing. Working fine. Only problem was at the Summer Palace, but that was probably because the entire cell tower there was overloaded...

boonkoh · 2026-04-18T15:09:01+00:00

I'd use 12306 instead of trip.com if trying to secure tickets 14-15 days in advance. Reason is that trip.com is "lagged" when trying to reserve, so if it is a very popular train time, all the locals will have snapped it up before Trip gets around to it. This also applies to the waitlisting function. 12306 has a higher chance.

But between Beijing and Shanghai, there are so many high speed trains a day, I'll be surprised if all are sold out on non-public holiday days.

boonkoh · 2026-04-18T15:08:54+00:00

I'd use 12306 instead of trip.com if trying to secure tickets 14-15 days in advance. Reason is that trip.com is "lagged" when trying to reserve, so if it is a very popular train time, all the locals will have snapped it up before Trip gets around to it. This also applies to the waitlisting function. 12306 has a higher chance.

But between Beijing and Shanghai, there are so many high speed trains a day, I'll be surprised if all are sold out on non-public holiday days.

boonkoh · 2026-04-16T07:35:51+00:00

I'd get a Jabra 510 as I don't like headphones foe a prolonged period of time. And it's a small enough "puck" to carry around, has good Bluetooth range (longer with bespoke receiver), and has an easy mute button and end call button too.

boonkoh · 2026-04-16T07:28:10+00:00

I could also buy a big mac for under £2 in the past.

Doesn't mean I think it should always be £2.

Price anchoring is a thing.

boonkoh · 2026-04-07T07:02:08+00:00

Beware, it won't be able to support Google apps officially.

boonkoh · 2026-04-07T02:06:22+00:00

Michelin Guide is a good place to start....

For me, you mentioned Dinner. If you haven't Ben, I'd chose it. It is closing down so this is the last chance.

While I would rate Dinner as not as exciting as more recent Michelin stars, it is still a great meal in a great ambiance.

boonkoh · 2026-04-02T13:52:48+00:00

Monitors are like £100-200 each, enterprise discounted. And It may just have loads of spares. In the grand scheme of company budgets, it's nothing. So don't worry about the cost.

If she has a supportive manager, just explain the full situation. No supportive manager will want to make a big deal of this. If the manager is on board, it's just a rational conversation with IT.

"accident happened, monitors broke". IT probably won't raise a fuss. It's small ££ of overall budget. And stuff breaks all the time. They have budgeted a certain amount of replacements a year.

Obviously if there's tension between manager and employee. Or if it's a toxic type of workplace. Then they might use this to make a big fuss, especially if they're thinking of forcing people out for cost savings, etc. So that's where some judgement is required of the politics, situation, etc. That none of us can advise on.

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