Solving the accommodation problem.

[Suff]

It has become harder and harder for me to get decent accommodation for a month for under £1,500 for my monthly alternating work trips to the UK. I always take a complete property and am fairly careful what I rent due to not wanting to wind up on the top of a 4 floor building with no lift.

Twice in this year already I've had AirBnB let's fail, one timed out and the other had just taken a long term let and had not closed the booking in time. I always get 5* references for my bookings so I don't think it's me. It has only started this year. The one which had timed out had left his 39% winter discount on for monthly rentals and I don't think he wanted to rent it that cheaply.

So, finally, Mrs S came back to me on a conversation I had 3 years ago about getting permanent accommodation in the UK which I could work from. Top pick being a static on a site but that is a really difficult proposition with the rules ranging from draconian to "Brown Shirt".

Finally we found a site which has relaxed rules, 11 month access and £3,000 a year site fees. They also sell second hand vans so I got a van, sited, gas, hookup etc, for £15k with 2024 site fees included.

I have put down a large deposit and will take ownership next month when I get back. I'm looking forward to not having to put up my whole office and take it down again every other month. However I've had to rent storage for all my stuff I have here so that I can bring back the rest of the "apartment" gear sitting in France.

My Starlink pays bonus too as the wifi on site costs and is very limited and the mobile signal is not so great and gets worse when the jets are operating (radar boost I assume). So I will have the best internet on the site. At some point I hope to be able to fly back and forwards (need to work that out), which will make my entire travelling both cheaper and significantly easier.

[Kaz]

That sounds like an extremely practical solution

[JanB]

Sounds good to me Suff xx

[Suff]

Sounds good to me too as I'm really, REALLY sick of carting a whole estate cars worth of stuff around every other month.

[Workingman]

Suff, it is a system that works. My BiL did it when he was working for Cisco near Heathrow. The family could not move from Leeds for various reasons so he got a static somewhere out Datchet / Windsor way for use during Mon to Fri then came home at weekends. Much cheaper and more practical than hotels.

[Suff]

Yep but Mrs S has been resisting for at least 3 years. This month she capitulated.