Travel Plan: Relocate from Australia to Scotland, UK

Travelling from Australia to the U.K. involves a lot more than just a one-way flight to London. Make your life easier. Create a travel plan.

In 2016, we moved from the Gold Coast, Queensland to Glasgow, Scotland. Our travel plan covered two weeks and looked like the image below.

Travel Planning

Travelling is essentially moving your body and some possessions from point A to point B. However, moving between your last known permanent address in Australia and your first temporary address in the U.K. involves a few more way-points.

I recommend you plan your travel from the time you move out of your permanent address in Australia, to the time you are in bed for the first time in the U.K.

Think about all the times you will be moving from one location to another and focus on your accommodation and transport options.

Here are some questions to help you get started…

Accommodation

• In Australia, when will you move out of your permanent address into your temporary address?
• Where will you stay next? For example, will you stay with friends or family for a few weeks, move into an Airbnb property, or stay in a hotel?
• Where will you spend your last night in Australia?
• When travelling to the U.K., will you have a stop-over in a transit country or fly straight there?
• When you arrive in the U.K., will you travel straight to your new home town, or will you have a stop-over on the way?
• Where will you spend your first night in the U.K.?

Transport

• What modes of transport will you use in your final few weeks in Australia?
• How will you get yourself and all of your luggage from your home to your temporary accommodation?
• In Australia, how long will you have access to your own car?
• If you need to borrow a car, who can you ask? What arrangements will suit everybody? What is your backup plan if circumstances change?
• How will you get to the airport?
• If using public transport, do you need to book or buy tickets? Check the timetables and availability. When should you buy tickets – to secure a place and to save money?
• What route will you fly from Australia to the U.K.?
• What modes of transport will you use when you first arrive in the U.K.?
• In the U.K., how will you transit to and from airports and between cities?

Everyone’s circumstances are unique. I hope these questions get you thinking and help prevent any unpleasant surprises. Moving across the world is stressful enough.

Our Travel Story

Our travel plan covered four weeks.

• We borrowed my dad’s car for our final four weeks (after selling our car). We made ourselves available to drive dad anywhere he needed to go during this time.
• About two weeks before we flew to London, we ended our lease on our Gold Coast rental property and moved in with my best friend.
• On our last day, we picked dad up, and both my dad and our friend drove us to the Helensvale train station. We needed two cars to fit four travellers, eight suitcases and two drivers.
• We caught the train to Brisbane Airport and walked across the road to our hotel.
• The next morning, we walked back across the road and caught the train to Brisbane Airport.
• We flew out of Brisbane mid-morning through to Singapore.
• When we arrived in Singapore, we walked around the airport for about an hour before catching our flight onto London Heathrow.
• At Heathrow Airport, we cleared customs, grabbed breakfast and then checked-in for our flight to Edinburgh.
• In Edinburgh, we caught the Airport Bus to Glasgow.
• After we arrived in Glasgow, we had a 15-minute walk to our temporary accommodation. We dropped our luggage into the apartment and walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. We were back and asleep by 11 pm.

More Tips & Tricks

Please leave your thought in the comments below.

• What else should be included?
• If you’ve made the trip already, what are your best tips and tricks?

Keep reading: Moving to the UK Checklist