# Commuting weekly to Spain from UK



## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

Hi, firstly I realise that this post will only be relevant to a very small number of members, if however you either do a weekly commute from the UK to Spain or know of anyone who does this (or has done this previously) then I would be grateful to hear from you to understand your/their experiences.

We are in the early stages of planning a move to Southern Spain, we are looking into schools and areas etc but the big problem is obviously having enough money to live on. I know it's very difficult to secure a job over there and therefore a fall back option might be for my husband to commute every week. He has a flexible job so could fly over on a Thurs eve and fly back on Mon morning, flights permitting of course. For us as a family this wouldn't mean a huge change as he is often away from home for a few nights each week anyway. 

Many thanks for taking the time to read this. 

Lisa


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Loharlu said:


> Hi, firstly I realise that this post will only be relevant to a very small number of members, if however you either do a weekly commute from the UK to Spain or know of anyone who does this (or has done this previously) then I would be grateful to hear from you to understand your/their experiences.
> 
> We are in the early stages of planning a move to Southern Spain, we are looking into schools and areas etc but the big problem is obviously having enough money to live on. I know it's very difficult to secure a job over there and therefore a fall back option might be for my husband to commute every week. He has a flexible job so could fly over on a Thurs eve and fly back on Mon morning, flights permitting of course. For us as a family this wouldn't mean a huge change as he is often away from home for a few nights each week anyway.
> 
> ...


Jo is the girl to ask.Her hubby used to commute between UK and Spain but they are back in Blighty now.It's wether the novelty would wear thin but hey if you never try it you will never know.As I said I am sure Jo will give you the pitfalls of this.Regards.SB.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

I fly between Madrid and London on business now and then, and to be honest I think it's something I could do on a regular basis if necessary, but only as a last resort. Even though the flight from Madrid is only two hours, the entire journey is more like 5 hours. And that's assuming there are no delays. So you lose a day's work and have to make it up somehow, which might mean working a 6 day week, which rather defeats the object of moving to Spain. And that's before you get into the gory details regarding paying taxes in Spain and all the other red tape.

Of course the upside is that a UK salary is usually substantially higher than a Spanish one. I have known people who have commuted like this - but usually flying out on a Monday and back on a Friday. However they have always been employed by multinationals who take care of the red tape, and they were already settled in Spain. I wouldn't like to do it after just having moved to Spain though, if you're only around at weekends it'll be quite hard to settle in, get to know people, etc.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

If you have easy access to airports at each end, and can afford a decent seat on an airline that doesn't treat you like a sheep, then I should imagine it's not much worse than commuting in and out of London - you just get a bit more "reading time".

But if it takes you two hours to get to Stansted and park the car, and then you find yourself on the Ryanair Stag-party Special with a load of kids who are drunk before they even get on the plane - then no, I don't think so!


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

Thanks SB, how do I get in touch with Jo?


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Loharlu said:


> Thanks SB, how do I get in touch with Jo?


It's JoJo the Super Moderator.Very surprised she hasn't been on and seen your thread.I would say she is the best girl to get advise off as they lived in rented acommodation in one or two places and her hubby used to commute between the UK and Spain but in the end they moved back to the UK.Like I said if you don't go for it you will never know.Sincerely wish you the best of luck.Not the cheapest place to live but still very,very enjoyable especially for the children.SB.


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

Thanks SB, both for the info and the best wishes

Lisa


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Loharlu said:


> Thanks SB, both for the info and the best wishes
> 
> Lisa


Sincerely do wish you the best of luck.In reality I am just glad me and my missis are not in that position.At least you have this and other forums to get advise wether good,bad or indifferent.It's something I wish we had when we came to live here 20years ago.then it really was learn by your mistakes.I really hope Jo can give you some good advise as I think people who have been here and gone back know more about the pitfalls than those of us who lived here permanently.Respect to you and your family.SB.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

soulboy said:


> Jo is the girl to ask.Her hubby used to commute between UK and Spain but they are back in Blighty now.It's wether the novelty would wear thin but hey if you never try it you will never know.As I said I am sure Jo will give you the pitfalls of this.Regards.SB.


Yep, my husband commuted pretty much weekly, Gatwick - Malaga and he became very good at finding cheap flights and times. He did it for about five years and in the end, he just got fed up with it. He didn't feel he fitted in in either country, the stress, the delays, pressure both ends, feeling he was in the wrong place all the time, so couldn't settle in either place


But also it gave us the best of both worlds, health wise and we could all flit back and forth

Jo xxx


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

Hi Jo, good to hear from you, thanks for getting in touch re this. Wow, five years is a long time to be doing that commute. I appreciate that there must've been lots of frustrations and we're trying not to enter into this thinking life will be so much better/rose tinted glasses etc, we know things don't always go according to plan and there will be probably loads of times where we both get fed up with him being away but you made a new life for yourselves for a long time so hopefully there was a lot of good things as well.

I admire people who try to make a new better life for themselves rather than moan about the one they've got, you can only try and if it doesn't work out for whatever reason you simply move back.

What days did he generally fly? 
Obviously flight prices increase massively during the school holidays, any idea how much approx. pm you need to budget for (we're thinking an average of around £500 pm to take into account the high and low prices)
Did he get the train from Malaga airport upon arrival?
How far in advance was he booking flights?

Sorry I have so many questions........


Lisa


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Loharlu said:


> Hi Jo, good to hear from you, thanks for getting in touch re this. Wow, five years is a long time to be doing that commute. I appreciate that there must've been lots of frustrations and we're trying not to enter into this thinking life will be so much better/rose tinted glasses etc, we know things don't always go according to plan and there will be probably loads of times where we both get fed up with him being away but you made a new life for yourselves for a long time so hopefully there was a lot of good things as well.
> 
> I admire people who try to make a new better life for themselves rather than moan about the one they've got, you can only try and if it doesn't work out for whatever reason you simply move back.
> 
> ...


It varied so much, but he played in a band in the UK on Saturday nights, so a lot of the time he'd arrive in Spain on Sunday morning and go back Tuesday or Wednesday - although it depended on flight prices, work commitments, weather - there's so much both positive and negative I could discuss, but I'm not at home until tomorrow so I'm using my hopeless mobile to write - but feel free to ask any specific questions..... When i get back and on my PC, I'll be more chatty lol

Jo xxx


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

Loharlu said:


> Hi Jo, good to hear from you, thanks for getting in touch re this. Wow, five years is a long time to be doing that commute. I appreciate that there must've been lots of frustrations and we're trying not to enter into this thinking life will be so much better/rose tinted glasses etc, we know things don't always go according to plan and there will be probably loads of times where we both get fed up with him being away but you made a new life for yourselves for a long time so hopefully there was a lot of good things as well.
> 
> I admire people who try to make a new better life for themselves rather than moan about the one they've got, you can only try and if it doesn't work out for whatever reason you simply move back.
> 
> ...



It don't know which airport you would be using, but flight prices are climbing even on the budget airlines so I would have thought £500/ mth for 4 return flights + trains, etc could be a struggle. Why don't you try some pretend bookings for a few months flights and see how it prices up? 

Also make sure there is flight availability off season. 

How old are your kids?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

brocher said:


> It don't know which airport you would be using, but flight prices are climbing even on the budget airlines so I would have thought £500/ mth for 4 return flights + trains, etc could be a struggle. Why don't you try some pretend bookings for a few months flights and see how it prices up?
> 
> Also make sure there is flight availability off season.
> 
> How old are your kids?


When we were doing it, flights could be as low as 99p ex taxes, choosing flights from various airlines and times 

Jo xxx


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## whitenoiz (Sep 18, 2012)

Gatwick twice in 5 years was more than enough for me: twice a week without throwing a huge wobbly? More than flesh and blood can stand... mine anyway... chuck in the occasional train strike, delays due to adverse weather, airline incompetence, terrorist alerts... OMG! No thanks.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

jojo said:


> When we were doing it, flights could be as low as 99p ex taxes, choosing flights from various airlines and times
> 
> Jo xxx


I'm pretty sure you won't get that now. You can still get quite cheap flights from Madrid if you plan months in advance and fly during the week. Easyjet show flight prices well in advance so the OP should be able to work it out quite easily.


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

brocher said:


> It don't know which airport you would be using, but flight prices are climbing even on the budget airlines so I would have thought £500/ mth for 4 return flights + trains, etc could be a struggle. Why don't you try some pretend bookings for a few months flights and see how it prices up?
> 
> Also make sure there is flight availability off season.
> 
> How old are your kids?



Hi, he would mostly be using Gatwick, Stansted or Luton, have been looking at flight prices since early summer, you can get them for £50 ish return in Oct (excl half term) & Nov and but they obviously go up a huge amount to near £250 pw in summer and other peak times, will maybe need to budget for £600/700 pm. 
Kids are 13 and 10......


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I commuted regularly from Prague to the UK, sometimes there and back on the same day. When I first did the commute I had to pay my own flights so it was EasyJet. Later I switched to other work and had expenses paid so flew Business Class as we had to fly BA and have flexitickets in case meetings overran scheduled time and a flight was missed. It didn't make that much difference apart from free champagne and priority boarding -which most budget airlines do for an extra charge as you have no control over flight delays, traffic jams to and from airports and you can't make the journey any shorter. The only benefit of Club Europe was the free whiskey to calm you in the Lounge when delayed for several hours.
I did three years of that in Prague but after moving to Spain cut my travelling drastically and gave up altogether after two years. We lived a ten minute taxi ride from the airport in Prague and all my meetings were in London apart from a few in Birmingham. The flight was ninety minutes. It takes around an hour to get to either Malaga or Gibraltar airports from where I live, Gib is very unpredictable weather-wise and the flight to London is just under three hours.
If I were transported to the airport in a gold-plated Rolls and flown in a private jet I wouldn't do that travelling now. The first year was OK but a few delays and the novelty soon wore off.


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## whitenoiz (Sep 18, 2012)

.. and as if to drive home my earlier tongue in cheel comment, this 'little' drama right on cue... Luton Airport Closed by Suspect Package...

BBC News - Luton Airport suspect package destroyed in controlled explosion


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

Loharlu said:


> Hi, he would mostly be using Gatwick, Stansted or Luton, have been looking at flight prices since early summer, you can get them for £50 ish return in Oct (excl half term) & Nov and but they obviously go up a huge amount to near £250 pw in summer and other peak times, will maybe need to budget for £600/700 pm.
> Kids are 13 and 10......


Have you figured in the cost of private schooling, as your two will be pretty much too old to cope in state school by the time you move?


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

I have been "commuting" Malaga to offshore Norway for 15 years. I maybe make 10 return trips a year, these days, often via Gatwick (although have used most main European airports at some point over the years). For the Gatwick - Malaga flight I usually pay from 50 to 85 GBP one way with Easy Jet if booked about 6 weeks in advance. I must have been lucky as I have never missed a helicopter yet due to delays etc.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

My husband had it down to an art! He had the set airlines (easy jet, monarch, aer lingus at the time) and once every few weeks would search the cheapest flights and book them. He had all of their 'frequent flyer' loyalty cards, which enabled him to move flights at no cost if he needed to. 

He found that the negatives in the end outweighed the positives - and so did I. He was tired for the first 24 hrs, he didn't settle well and by the time I/we got used to him being there, it was time for him to go back. The children missed him and it was quite unsettling. After 4 years we all returned to the UK. As time progressed, his visits to Spain became less and less and he was spending longer in the UK 

I'm not trying to put you off tho, it did work, if anything tho, the gaps should have been bigger for us maybe??!! We did try two week gaps a couple of times and that was fine, but he couldn't be away from his UK business for that long very often

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

el romeral said:


> I have been "commuting" Malaga to offshore Norway for 15 years. I maybe make 10 return trips a year, these days, often via Gatwick (although have used most main European airports at some point over the years). For the Gatwick - Malaga flight I usually pay from 50 to 85 GBP one way with Easy Jet if booked about 6 weeks in advance. I must have been lucky as I have never missed a helicopter yet due to delays etc.


I had fewer delays with EasyJet than BA .


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

brocher said:


> Have you figured in the cost of private schooling, as your two will be pretty much too old to cope in state school by the time you move?


Hi ya, yes we have obtained the fees from various International schools, like you say at their age it's not fair to put them into a State school as they will struggle so it's going to be a huge cost to school them, again this is part of the reason why my husband probably needs to commute each week as if he could find a job in Spain the salary would be less so until we can build up an alternative income stream he could commute for some time. His job is really flexible so he's not tied to the 9-5 slog and could come out to Spain on Thursday eve and not return to the UK until Monday morning so it's possible to do, although like others have suggested the novelty will wear off quickly and once a few delays / cancellations happen he will get fed up and life in Spain won't look so good. We are realistic and only hope he has to do for a year.


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

brocher said:


> Have you figured in the cost of private schooling, as your two will be pretty much too old to cope in state school by the time you move?


Hi ya, yes we have obtained the fees from various International schools, like you say at their age it's not fair to put them into a State school as they will struggle so it's going to be a huge cost to school them, again this is part of the reason why my husband probably needs to commute each week as if he could find a job in Spain the salary would be less so until we can build up an alternative income stream he could commute for some time. His job is really flexible so he's not tied to the 9-5 slog and could come out to Spain on Thursday eve and not return to the UK until Monday morning so it's possible to do, although like others have suggested the novelty will wear off quickly and once a few delays / cancellations happen he will get fed up and life in Spain won't look so good. We are realistic and only hope he has to do for a year. 

Lisa


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

el romeral said:


> I have been "commuting" Malaga to offshore Norway for 15 years. I maybe make 10 return trips a year, these days, often via Gatwick (although have used most main European airports at some point over the years). For the Gatwick - Malaga flight I usually pay from 50 to 85 GBP one way with Easy Jet if booked about 6 weeks in advance. I must have been lucky as I have never missed a helicopter yet due to delays etc.


Thanks for your reply, it's nice to hear that it's been working for you for so long although I guess it might be a different story if you had to do the commute every week, do you think you would've lasted so long?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I've asked my husband his view on the weekly commute and he says;

"At first it was fun, it was a novelty flying back and forth, being able to visit Spain and enjoy the change of pace and seeing the family. There was always something to talk about having been apart. But after the first year or so, it became a chore. Having to get up early to fly, not having proper time in either place, being separated and living two lives - neither with any depth. Being away from the business made me take my eye off the ball and being away from the family made me feel like a stranger. But it was the having to get up early, the drive to the airport, the flights (and the other passengers) became so boring and irritating."

I would suggest, if you can, you try it for a few months maybe???? But dont burn your UK bridges?!

Jo xxx


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> I commuted regularly from Prague to the UK, sometimes there and back on the same day. When I first did the commute I had to pay my own flights so it was EasyJet. Later I switched to other work and had expenses paid so flew Business Class as we had to fly BA and have flexitickets in case meetings overran scheduled time and a flight was missed. It didn't make that much difference apart from free champagne and priority boarding -which most budget airlines do for an extra charge as you have no control over flight delays, traffic jams to and from airports and you can't make the journey any shorter. The only benefit of Club Europe was the free whiskey to calm you in the Lounge when delayed for several hours.
> I did three years of that in Prague but after moving to Spain cut my travelling drastically and gave up altogether after two years. We lived a ten minute taxi ride from the airport in Prague and all my meetings were in London apart from a few in Birmingham. The flight was ninety minutes. It takes around an hour to get to either Malaga or Gibraltar airports from where I live, Gib is very unpredictable weather-wise and the flight to London is just under three hours.
> If I were transported to the airport in a gold-plated Rolls and flown in a private jet I wouldn't do that travelling now. The first year was OK but a few delays and the novelty soon wore off.


Hi, thank you for taking the time to reply. I know most people who have replied have quite rightly suggested the expected difficulties in doing this type of commute but reading your actual experiences has given me hope that if it's only for a short period of time, ie approximately a year or so then maybe it's something that we can all live with if we know it's not going to be like in the long term. The ideal scenario is for him to get a job in Gib, most likely on less money than his UK job, but for us to have an additional income to replace the lost earnings from the property we own in the UK. It might just work, failing that we return to the UK in a few years having tried to make a new life but ultimately failing......we would rather try and fail than not try at all!


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

jojo said:


> I've asked my husband his view on the weekly commute and he says;
> 
> "At first it was fun, it was a novelty flying back and forth, being able to visit Spain and enjoy the change of pace and seeing the family. There was always something to talk about having been apart. But after the first year or so, it became a chore. Having to get up early to fly, not having proper time in either place, being separated and living two lives - neither with any depth. Being away from the business made me take my eye off the ball and being away from the family made me feel like a stranger. But it was the having to get up early, the drive to the airport, the flights (and the other passengers) became so boring and irritating."
> 
> ...


Cheers Jo, thank for your input. I am new to this forum and it's such a great place to bounce ideas of other people and hear their take on things. I am surprised by the amount of replies I've received to this post and thankful to everyone who has taken the time to add their views and comments. The general consensus appears to be 'not something I would like to do' but it gives me hope that if it's only for a year or so then maybe it would work for us. In that time he can be applying for jobs in Gib and hopefully his applications will be treated more seriously as we are already living over there and the kids are settled in school. He is looking at jobs in Gib already but most state 'must already reside in Gib/Southern Spain' so we are hopefully only looking at doing the commute as a short term solution until he can find alternative employment. This has been really helpful, thank you once again to everyone who has replied. 

Lisa

Lisa


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Loharlu said:


> Hi, thank you for taking the time to reply. I know most people who have replied have quite rightly suggested the expected difficulties in doing this type of commute but reading your actual experiences has given me hope that if it's only for a short period of time, ie approximately a year or so then maybe it's something that we can all live with if we know it's not going to be like in the long term. The ideal scenario is for him to get a job in Gib, most likely on less money than his UK job, but for us to have an additional income to replace the lost earnings from the property we own in the UK. It might just work, failing that we return to the UK in a few years having tried to make a new life but ultimately failing......we would rather try and fail than not try at all!


It only became really tedious when we moved to Spain tbh. The whole journey from home in Prague to central London hotel took all in all four hoursor even less if no delays. On reflection, I guess I quite enjoyed the first year or two..after all, I didn't have to fly the plane, I just sat back and enjoyed a book or music.
But the extra flight time plus a much longer journey to the airport when we moved here was just too much. 
However...if you are planning on acouple of years, I'd say it's doable.
But for me, notfor the long term.
But then I'm old!


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> It only became really tedious when we moved to Spain tbh. The whole journey from home in Prague to central London hotel took all in all four hoursor even less if no delays. On reflection, I guess I quite enjoyed the first year or two..after all, I didn't have to fly the plane, I just sat back and enjoyed a book or music.
> But the extra flight time plus a much longer journey to the airport when we moved here was just too much.
> However...if you are planning on acouple of years, I'd say it's doable.
> But for me, notfor the long term.
> But then I'm old!


Perhaps we'll consider relocating to Prague instead of Spain! I like that you say it doable, as I've said in previous posts we're not looking at doing it indefinitely, maybe a year or so therefore it's encouraging what you say, thanks


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Interestingly, my husband decided that this was feasable when his business partner bought a house in Scotland and his wife lived there so he commuted at weekends. It was quicker, cheaper and easier for my husband to commute to Spain!! Our plan was that he'd do it for a while and set up a UK arm of his business with a friend who already had a similar business in Marbella - the recession put paid to that idea!

Jo xxx


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Loharlu said:


> Thanks for your reply, it's nice to hear that it's been working for you for so long although I guess it might be a different story if you had to do the commute every week, do you think you would've lasted so long?


If I were travelling from London to Malaga then I think I would manage I think -but not the way I have it. Due to my schedule with helicopter flight times etc, I need an overnight on the way up and down. My company pays for flights but not hotels which means that for 15 years I have spent 20 night a year sleeping at various European airports. The last year has been brilliant due to Norwegian Airlines increasing their schedule meaning I can travel all the way up on the one day. More time in my own bed.:whoo:


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## Marmite67 (May 17, 2014)

I commuted weekly through the summer from Manchester to Alicante. It wasn't massively different from my normal commute of Manchester to Norwich. I was flying out after work on Thursday and back Sunday (mostly Ryanair). It is perfectly doable however I found I needed to book a seat at the front away from the rowdy holiday makers. Which adds £80 a month.
I think £600 to £700 a month would cover flights but don't forget parking or public transport that can add a fair bit more cost/time to the journey, especially to London airports.

A word of warning winter schedules are different. In November I am having to fly out on Wednesday night. Which is stretching it a bit.

I couldn't make Monday flights work, you may be luckier, but I couldn't get to the office much before lunch. 

Overall I will carry on doing it when the family are in Spain, mostly school holidays, but with 2 teenagers at school in the UK, won't be moving until they complete their UK schooling as the costs and upheaval make it not the right time for us.

If you can make it work then brilliant.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Marmite67 said:


> I commuted weekly through the summer from Manchester to Alicante. It wasn't massively different from my normal commute of Manchester to Norwich. I was flying out after work on Thursday and back Sunday (mostly Ryanair). It is perfectly doable however I found I needed to book a seat at the front away from the rowdy holiday makers. Which adds £80 a month.
> I think £600 to £700 a month would cover flights but don't forget parking or public transport that can add a fair bit more cost/time to the journey, especially to London airports.
> 
> A word of warning winter schedules are different. In November I am having to fly out on Wednesday night. Which is stretching it a bit.
> ...


I think the only thing I found unpleasant was the stag parties which when I flew EasyJet from Prague were on every flight. When I flew BMI Baby from Birmingham to Prague there was always a planeload of drunks of both sexes. 
When my flights were paid for me and I flew BA Club Europe that problem disappeared....but then cost-cutting measures were introduced so my last few flights to Malaga on BA economy were fairly rowdy.....because of the middle-aged middle-class golfers!


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## Loharlu (Sep 8, 2014)

Marmite67 said:


> I commuted weekly through the summer from Manchester to Alicante. It wasn't massively different from my normal commute of Manchester to Norwich. I was flying out after work on Thursday and back Sunday (mostly Ryanair). It is perfectly doable however I found I needed to book a seat at the front away from the rowdy holiday makers. Which adds £80 a month.
> I think £600 to £700 a month would cover flights but don't forget parking or public transport that can add a fair bit more cost/time to the journey, especially to London airports.
> 
> A word of warning winter schedules are different. In November I am having to fly out on Wednesday night. Which is stretching it a bit.
> ...


Hi, thanks for your reply, nice to hear that you managed it for a little while and think it's possible to do it throughout the year. Obviously you need to have a lot of flexibility re job and schedules etc, have been looking at the winter flight schedules with Ryanair and Easyjet and they seem ok to me with prices less than £80 return on the days needed, outside school hols obviously. I will keep researching everything for the next few months to be sure that we know as much as possible. All the best and I hope you eventually make the move permanently at some point.


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