Going home what should I do first ?

First of all hello to everyone, as this is my first post here. 1f60a.svg I'm a 52 year old Englishman from sunny Stratford upon Avon. I've been living and working in SE Asia for the last 20 years, now I must return..

I left the UK in 2002 and haven't returned since. I will going back next month and umm I'm looking for some "what I should first" pointers. I've got somewhere to stay.  I'm going to need a sim card, a bank account and..?

  • Driving licence
  • Register with a Doctor
  • Find a dentist
  • Local transport timings
  • nearest pub


    Driving licence
Register with a Doctor
Find a dentist
Local transport timings
nearest pub
   

    -@Cynic


If he will be staying in Stratford upon Avon there is no trouble in finding a pub there are some lovely ones there. I would avoid the one closest to the train station and collage as that is a student pub. It did have an interesting pool table, its round. 

I don't think you will have any problems at all since you are still young. I would make sure to open at least a couple of bank acocunts (I also live in SE Asia) and have been with Lloyds for the past 40+ years, but earlier this year opened accounts with HSBC and Bank of Scotland.


One thing I would do is make sure that you are up to date of your NI contributions, and if not, then top up as much as you can. Since I've lived or worked overseas most of my adult life my NI contributions had only reached 6 years (not enough to get a pension) but during this year I've topped up to make it 23 years which together with my private pensions is important. Dealing with the Pensions office is 1,000 times easier when in the UK than trying to communicate with the International Pensions Office.


Yes, get a driving license, good doctor, dentist, car or get used to public transportation which can be really cheap if taking buses.


Since I was back in the UK for about 6 weeks earlier this year, I got a prepaid Vodaphone sim card for £10, but obviously you'd want a post paid one.


Great thing about living in the UK is that car prices, especially 2nd hand cars is very reasonable compared to in SE Asia. I've bought new cars in both Malaysia and Indonesia (I had a big motorbike when I lived in Singapore), but in the UK you can get almost anything you want for a great price.