Hi

I am seriously considering commuting London - Amsterdam - are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?. And any hints and tips would be appreciated.

Amsterdam is frequently fog bound in the mornings, meaning early morning flights can be delayed

Other than that, theres a good train service through the airport that would take you most places

Yeah. Make sure your company agrees that you will leave early Friday and be late Mondays, and that you expect to make this time up during the week by working late.

Oh yeah - and the experts say that to keep your marriage (if you have one) while you euro-commute... you must stay Sunday night at home and fly out early Monday morning. DON'T leave Sunday evening and spend an extra night away from home.

Get 2 wallets to manage the currency changes. Otherwise you'll have pounds and euros amongst eachother and its a pain (I had that problem with euros and Danish Kroner).

If you are paying for your own flights there are some good tips to minimise expenses too.

I wonder if constant flying is good for the body?

Is for mine. Love flying - no matter how much I do it is still a buzz to take off. Also, sometimes its the only time you get to yourself all day/week!

Long-haul flights are terrible for the body though. I agree with you there. I hail from Oz and have done my fair share. I usually need a week to get over the jet-lag and back pain, and thats even in Business. Planning to go back soon and this time its going to be economy :-( Might break it up with a night in HK to acclimatise.

I suppose another advance of intercountry commuting is you have an excuse not to "pop into the office for a few minutes" on your day off.

One thing i've noticed about this type of lifestyle is that the social limitations it puts on you are sometimes a problem. Eg you'll miss a certain number of social events through the week (birthday gatherings etc) and you can't (usually) stay after work on Friday for a drink with your work colleagues, or do something on Saturday with them. This can affect relationships both at work and at home. it's not a reason not to do it, but something i hadn't realised would have such a large impact.

My lifestyle is quite different in periods that I am flying every week than when I am not. In the former, I pack every social thing in the weekend (different breakfast/lunch/dinner appoints!) and try to sport during the week.

After every such assignment, there's this huge void during weeknights for the first few weeks. Then, I am loaded with hobbies/appointments/etc. till the next assignment.

Of course, the relation thing, maybe one of the reasons I've never managed to hold onto one :-)

I have a question regarding London-Amsterdam fares, nowadays one sees commercials with such cheap fares (€10)
- Are they even True?
- Are they from Schiphol - Heathrow?
- What are cheap prices from Schiphol - Heathrow?

I gathered that there're but a few such cheap seats in (not even?) every plane and you need to book them weeeeell in advance + taxes + administration costs + bla bla bla. To top it off, flights leaving/arriving at unGodly time tend to be cheaper.

bmi offers good flight times and one coach tick is about EUR130. That's a real deal. Never been as lucky with any of the much-hyped low-cost carriers.

I commute to Tokyo very often and I like to know how I buy cheap tickets Mr. Mitsuki mentions. Pleaase send me Homepage for such ticket if you know.

Thanks

Tugrul

How does it work if you can do one week here, one week in the UK?

Just thinkin' about it...

Mozzley mentions in one of his letters that he hails from OZ. The only OZ I'm familiar with is the country Dorothy visited. Hey Mozz, clue me in. Where the heck is OZ??

Oz is slang for Australia <img src="../images/emoticons/ysmile.gif">

Dr. G-nome

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I commute to Tokyo very often and I like to know how I buy cheap tickets Mr. Mitsuki mentions. Pleaase send me Homepage for such ticket if you know.

Thanks

Tugrul

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Who was talking about Tokyo?

I've done it for years and it's very possible. You'll have to be a bit flexible, but there are so many flights from the London airports to Schiphol (and Rotterdam if need be) that getting from LON-AMS and v.v. is the least of your worries. Even if weather closes all the airports you can take the Eurostar via Brussels.

I would suggest, however, avoiding flying from Heathrow and go for Gatwick, City, Stansted or Luton instead. Although BA and KLM use T4 as opposed to BMI, the problem is too many airplanes and not enough tarmac. One seemingly always goes into a holding pattern, even in good weather.

Of course a major factor will be where in London you are because you will on occasion question your sanity travelling 1-2 hours to a London airport, getting there 45-60 minutes in advance and doing all this for a 35-55 minute jump across the North Sea! But once you arrive at Schiphol everything's copacetic -- 20 minutes and you're at A'dam Central.

Figure four hours door to door when everything goes right, not including the time difference.

Being from Roma i cannot commute every week unfortunately, but would like to do it every forthnight. Does somebody knows any low cost flight from AMS to ROM?
Thanks
max

hi, try to look at this thread it was already discussed here a while ago
<a href="http://www.expatica.com/source/forum_thread.asp?channel_id=1&thread_id=15462" Target="_BLANK">http://www.expatica.com/source/forum_threa...id=15462</a>

also virgin express
<a href="http://www.virgin-express.com" Target="_BLANK">http://www.virgin-express.com</a>/

The title of this thread was quite clearly "London-Amsterdam commute", so why are people asking about Roma and Tokyo in the same thread? Don't think these people should be allowed near airports!!!

These sort of bizarre, off-thread posters who don't know how to stick to the subject are extremely irritating. Very good at ruining discussions so don't know what they must be like in business meetings but can imagine.

The main problem with commuting is that you need to rely on the transport infrastructure in the UK. This is a bit like relying on a dog not to pee on a lamppost. I regularly face baggage reclaim delays of 50 mins plus at Heathrow. Another good idea would be to find a good local taxi service who are prepared to collect you (if feasible). What about ticket prices? They get very expensive if you leave purchase too late. Will you bulk buy in advance - can you afford to do this.

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The title of this thread was quite clearly "London-Amsterdam commute", so why are people asking about Roma and Tokyo in the same thread? Don't think these people should be allowed near airports!!!

These sort of bizarre, off-thread posters who don't know how to stick to the subject are extremely irritating. Very good at ruining discussions so don't know what they must be like in business meetings but can imagine.

******

Get over it monkey boy, on the grand scale of life....Who gives a shit...

You're not a little bit anal retentive by any chance?

Everybody on this site: GET BACK TO THE SUBJECT FOR MONKEY BOYS BENEFIT FOR CHRIST SAKE.

they figured the people who flew AMS-LON were savvy enough or could possible have to take business trips involving AMS-Tokyo or AMS-Rome. That's not a bad digression. I think other people who post on and on about one problem in many sections and with many threads variations on the same problem within the same section would be what I call irritating

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they figured the people who flew AMS-LON were savvy enough or could possible have to take business trips involving AMS-Tokyo or AMS-Rome. That's not a bad digression. I think other people who post on and on about one problem in many sections and with many threads variations on the same problem within the same section would be what I call irritating

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The thread is a year old, tangents are bound to happen. I guess little things can irritate some people. Anyway Gov, back to the subject, I don't want to irritate anyone. It wouldn't be the dutch way now would it?

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I have a question regarding London-Amsterdam fares, nowadays one sees commercials with such cheap fares (€10)
- Are they even True?
- Are they from Schiphol - Heathrow?
- What are cheap prices from Schiphol - Heathrow?

No ist not true... from Schipol to heathrow Ive never paid anything cheaper than 180 euro....This is putting searches in for most of the airlines..


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Hi

I am seriously considering commuting London - Amsterdam - are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?. And any hints and tips would be appreciated.

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I think its a great idea....Obvously you will have to make some sacrifices but being in london will out way the Im sure...

Amsterdam is a lovely little city, but save it for the odd weekend breaks!