After hearing the great (or shocking) news, you probably have a thousand and one questions in mind. While this document is not a complete guide on moving and settling in the UK, it can help answer a few of your questions.
Save Up!
This is often time what many people miss when PCSing to the UK. While there are ways to borrow money from the base for housing (deposit and first month's rent), you still need to have money up front for many many other things, e.g. Light conversion, TV tax, cleaning supplies, car purchase, pet shipping, first big time grocery shopping. How much to save depends on what you will be moving with you. If you plan on shipping your pet(s) and buying a car, save more. Despite whatever money you can borrow from the base, a more stress free rule of thumb is to have enough to cover the first month's rent and the deposit.
Housing (Off Base)
Whether you’re just arriving in England or moving into a new home, there are so many ways you can begin. Below you can find a list of letting agencies in and around RAF Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Feltwell in alphabetical order.
If you choose to look on your own, you can use the websites www.militarylets.com, www.rightmove.co.uk, or www.primelocation.co.uk to find the house that best suits you!
Oh, before you start, and if you don't know, check what your housing allowance is before you go looking: http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/ohaCalc.cfm
Now, if you choose to live off base, there are many lovely cities, towns and villages that are within a few minutes to 45 minutes of the RAF Mildenhall tri-base area (http://www.atobhomes.com/driving-times.html). There is really no bad neighborhood around here or "the best place" for young families or families with teenagers. Where you live will just depend on whether you like cities, towns, or villages, the house you fall in love with, the school (if you have children), the commute to and from work (or how far you want to be from base facilities, e.g. commissary, bx, school), etc.
Things to look at when home searching:
Energy Performance Certificate for the house (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Energyperformancecertificates/DG_177026) . While this isn't 100% accurate, it's a good indication on whether a house will be cost effective to heat.
Gas/oil heating. Some villages do not have a gas line. Many old houses are still on oil. It's different but it's not something difficult to learn. You may hear people say oil is more expensive than gas. Try boiler juice for oil http://www.boilerjuice.com/ IMHO, there can be a lot of factor where an oil house is more expensive than a gas one. One is the house itself: Age of furnace, single/double pane windows, wide gaps at the doors, insulation, etc.
The school catchment if you have children and the school quality
The neighborhood. A real estate agent's suggestion is to visit in the evening and see how parking and general quietness/loudness is. If the house is next to a popular pub and noise is a big deal for you, then ask if there are a lot of gigs happening every weekend/month. While it's cool to rock to Abba from the comfort of your bedroom one weekend, it might not be so cool on nights where you need to be at work at 6 a.m.
There are still many villages that many US RAF folks live at that are not listed so if you do find a house in a village not listed here do some Googling or ask others. Keep in mind too that driving in the UK can be slower than the US. So if a house is 15 miles away, it doesn't mean it'll be a 15 min drive to the base. A 15 mile distance can take 15 min to 45 min here in the UK.
Housing (On Base)
You can see photos here: http://www.facebook.com/movinghousemilitaryspouse. Anybody live on base can give info on this? Waiting list etc?
Is it better to live on or off base? This is personal preference and you will find that half of the RAF folks love living on base and the other half off base. Those who chooses to live on base have the following reasons:
Saves money on gas (especially if both work on base)
Have older children going to the school on base (makes hanging out with friends easier)
Relies on the commissary for daily needs, or maybe the hospital.
Feels like the off base utilities are too expensive (although a more efficient house can remedy this)
Rather be around other American families
School
School starts a year earlier in the UK. While many preschool accepts children at 2+ yrs of age (most are at 2yrs 9mo), the UK only funds children who are 3+ yrs of age. At the age of 3, each child can receive 15hrs of free preschool hours.
Mandatory school starts the (school) year your child turns 5. Your child will need to be 5yrs old between Sept 1 to Aug 31st of the following year in order to be accepted into the reception class (equivalent to kindergarten in the US). From reception on, kids go to school from around 8:45/9 a.m. to 3/3:15 p.m..
School in the UK usually starts the first week in September and ends mid or the end of July - summer holiday is only 6 weeks here. There are three terms per year and a break every 6 weeks of school. Also your children will be 1.5 years ahead of the US schools curriculum and if you think your child is behind, special attention will be given to them to catch up.
Like in the US, there are independent (aka private), state (aka public), and religious base schools (can be private/public). Each school in the UK are inspected and "graded" by a committee. The state and no-fee religious schools are inspected by Ofsted (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk) and the independent schools are by ISI (http://www.isi.net/home).
If you decide to go state school, you can apply up to 3 schools around you. But, if you want to enroll your child in an Ofsted "excellent" or "good" school, you need to make sure that you live in the "catchment" of that school (catchment = school district). These schools tend to be oversubscribed on a regular basis and those out of catchment will most likely not make the cut.
Which will be best for your child? Only you can determine that. But in past discussions, it seems like the UK schools are great for the younger students while the older children (middle/high school) tend to adjust better when placed in the DoD school on base. Do keep in mind that he UK and US school holidays are different. So if you have two kids, one in 2nd grade and another in 7th, you might want to stick to either a UK school or DoD school for sanity and travel purposes.
Car
Bring your car (big/small) and get another after you settle or sell them all and buy UK spec ones here. You'll here all sorts of thoughts on this and at the end of the day, it's your choice. A few disadvantage of bring a very big car is that some roads are really small. There aren't many of them and they are avoidable but tiny roads exist here. Gas is also expensive in the UK. The base gas price is about the same as the US one, but if you travel afar and need to buy gas on the economy, gas prices are about $8-9/gallon. Parking can be a bit tricky too at first if you go outside the base but once you know your way, you can work around this. Great website for finding parking (http://park-up.com/Parking.asp) If you bring your US car, you need to make sure you get the lights converted so that they are UK friendly. The base will tell you all what you need to do after you get here but in the UK, each car needs an MOT inspection done before paying for the car tax (tags) every year.
Internet
If Internet is a big deal to you, maybe you work from home or you're big on online gaming, you may want to check out either one of these websites to see what kind of (estimated) bandwidth you can get at the address. You will need a postal code to use any of these websites.
Any of the above links will also give you the best current Internet package/deal available.
Mobile Phone
There are a few major companies and IMO the service prices in the UK are quite good compared to the US. The major companies (with their own base stations) are: Vodafone, O2, 3 Mobile and Orange/T-Mobile (same company, under EE, but still selling under their own names and their own price plans). Some people also have service through Tesco (a grocery store), Virgin (TV/Internet service) or GiffGaff. You can also get mobile service via your phone company provider, e.g. Virgin, BT, Sky.
To see a complete listing of companies and which base station they use, check out this website: http://ukmobilecoverage.co.uk and to see where each base station is, visit this website: http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/
Which company should you go with? Compare each company's plans based on the phone you want. Narrow it down and do some Googling for each of the company you like. In terms of the base area Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, and 3 tend to be the better ones. Some people dislike and some people like them. If you want to be really particular on this and you have an unlocked phone, get a sim card for the companies you like, stick each one (one at a time) in your unlocked phone and take it all over the place with you and see which company gives you the best reception.
Which is the cheapest? IF you have an unlocked phone, check out GiffGaff. They use O2's base stations and for £10/mo you can get 250 minutes, unlimited text and web. Do keep in mind that while O2's stations are used, O2 operate on a 2-tier system. What it means is that monthly customers get first priority and have a few more features turned on for them. If some base stations are down, it's the Pay-as-You-Go and any other party who's renting O2's stations that will experience interrupted service. But, this very rarely happens. Many providers provide these now, so ask about these plans.
One more thing to keep in mind: Will you travel outside the UK often? If yes, then read this bit of info on how much each company charges for roaming and the new EU price decrease and cap: http://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/phones-broadband/mobile-phones/new-mobile-roaming-tariffs-are-they-any-good/
For traveling Vodafone offers the best Europe plan and only charged for days you use the phone for calls and internet.
TIP: If you've own your US phone for at least 6 months, you can call your provider and ask them to unlock your phone. Once your phone is unlocked, you can use it here in the UK. You then will just need to get a sim card and a top-up (minutes) and voila, you have a UK mobile phone. You can get your iPhone unlocked too if you've had it for a bit, each company's different so do call them and ask. The UK uses a different frequency than the US BUT, most cell phones are built to accept most of these frequencies. If you're not sure, check your phone manual and if it says GSM 900/1800/2100 than you'll be good to go.
NOTE: Only 3 mobile uses the 2100Mhz frequency. All others are on 900/1800. Due to this 2100Mhz frequency, 3 has the weakest signal when you are inside a building. On base, only O2 can work in most buildings with thick walls. All others looses service. Also, 3 dropped Orange's 2G stations sometimes last year and so you either have service or you don't (2G is used mostly for phone and text while 3G is phone, text and data). But, in my experience of being with 3, I haven't been to a place where I have no signal while my husband, on O2, does. A few places, even without 3G, my 3 phone still works. So while the company did officially announce the 3G only service, the 2G may still work. On another note, while my husband's O2 still works in the middle of the hospital, my 3 has quite (and Vodafone, our old provider). And just for kicks, my 3's Internet is way faster and consistent than the husband's O2 and currently 3 is the only company with unlimited data and tethering (T-Mobile quietly removed tethering from their unlimited data plan August'12). T-Mobile also has unlimited data but they do cap the speed to about 2.5Meg.
TV
I don't have TV service so hopefully somebody who does can fill in this bit. But from fliers, it you can get TV service from a few different companies: Antenna, Virgin, BT, Sky, AFN and Freeview (watch TV with FreeView). One thing I do know is that if you decide to subscribe to any company or you watch current shows (shows that are currently showing on TV, e.g. Live streaming of the Olympics) you need to pay for TV tax http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/. If you only use your TV for games, DVD watching, Netflix or catch-up TV (shows that have already been shown/not live) you do not need to pay for TV tax http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/what-if-a-tv-licence-is-not-needed-top12/.
One last bit, TV frequency here is different than the US. Unless you get a converter, your US TV that is NOT multi-system (check your manual/back of TV) that's hooked up to Sky will not work.
Also, DVDs purchased/rented on the economy will not work in your US DVD (unless you have a multi-region DVD player) and vise versa. This is the same for games, UK Wii games will not work on a US console.
Banking
The EU in general uses a pin and chip card system. The card looks like this: http://www.chipandpin.co.uk/consumer/means/cardlook.html. Instead of signing for your purchases, you stick the card into the machine and you type in your 4-digit pin number. While swipe cards are accepted anywhere, some place, e.g. a small village shop owner away from the base/tourist, may scrutinize your signature and ask for 2 forms of ID for a £6 purchase :) Some machines, e.g. parking, pay at pump gas stations, may not accept it.
While some people just stick to their American bank cards, some others open an account either off base or on base at Community bank to get access to a pin and chip card. Opening an account is easy and the active duty or spouse can do it. You just need your passport/active duty ID card, orders, and something with your address on it. Bigger banks, like Newmarket and Bury you can just walk in but smaller ones, like in Mildenhall, you will need to book an appointment since there are only so many people who can open an account. USAA now offers chip and pin cards, they must be requested.
TIP: The best way to get pounds from your US account is to pull the money from an ATM off base. You'll get the best exchange rate doing it this way. I always pull money from the ATM to put into the UK account instead of doing a wire transfer.
What to Bring
Bring the furniture you really love but don't go overboard. There are plenty of big houses here (for those living on base, please update this bit with info on house sizes there) but to give you the most flexibility in finding a home, the less complicated things are the better. If you have a king/queen size bed, make sure the base (if you have one) can be split in half. Unless you get a bungalow (one story home), most bedrooms are upstairs and while many master bedrooms are decent size, the stairs going up can be narrow.
Getting to the Base from the Airport
There are a few options:
The bus/National Express: http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx
If you're active duty/dependent/PCSing, you can take the base bus/shuttle: http://www.spacea.net/images/mhz_bus_sched.pdf
More info on getting to and from RAFM/L to Heathrow/Gatwich you can read here: http://www.militaryinstallations.dod.mil/MOS/f?p=MI:CONTENT:0::::P4_INST_ID,P4_CONTENT_TITLE,P4_CONTENT_EKMT_ID,P4_CONTENT_DIRECTORY:4690,Directions,30.90.30.30.90.0.0.0.0,1
More Resources
There are plenty of websites and books to help you learn about England. To help you get started, here are a few:
About the UK in general: http://americantobritain.weebly.com/index.html
Packing for England:http://americantobritain.weebly.com/before-moving-to-england.html
Driving in the UK (tourist focused but still good info)http://www.travelfurther.net/dictionaries/driving.htm
More on driving: http://www.slowtrav.com/uk/instructions/driving.htm
Places around RAFM: http://www.visiteastofengland.com/
