A Question About Travelling Between Swindon And Oxford

I am from India and would be going to Swindon for a year on work visa so I want to know more about the place - how is the city, cost of living, how are the people there, etc etc. Do share your experiences?

I have been in this city for 6 months now so I guess I can briefly describe the city from my perspective and may be the perpective of many asian migrants. Since I came from mumbai to swindon, it was an altogether different experience for me. As opposed to mumbai or any other metro, this city is far away from any hustle bustle. You won't find many people roaming around the streets. In all, it's a very quite and serene place.I have seen the winters here, so I can describe my experience of winter in Swindon. In winters, neither you feel to nor you can't do much outdoor activities. You mostly remain confined to the insulated houses enjoying your food and drinks. There is nothing much to do in and around the city, so socialising had been the best time passer for us. Of course on weekends, you can do clubbing. There are few clubs which provides you with a fun-filled atmosphere to chill (especially Thursday and Saturday nights).For shopaholics, Swindon has the exhaustive town centre which has likes of shops of Next, House of Frasor, Sports direct,Tesco, Argos, Thomas Cook, Starbucks, McD and many more. Also there is Swindon designer outlet which has many branded shops like Nikke, Hugo Boss, Samsonite, Next, Gap, Fossil, Superdry, Bench where you can find products on a relatively cheaper price. During the boxing day, all the shopaholics gets out from early morning to get best deals in lowest price. We did the same on the boxing day and started early morning to start shopping from town centre and going to designer outlet in quest of good bargains.As of now, I am looking forward to summers and will share the expereince after experiencing the same.. :-)

What should we do between Bath and London on our first meeting on a rainy day?

"Between Bath & London" - is one of you in one, one the other and you are splitting the journey? In which case:Oxford is lovely, and mutually inconvenient. Good museums, cafes, plenty to do inside and if it is not too wet then exploring the cityI'm not sure why anyone would go to Swindon or Reading as a date destination...!!You could do Avebury, the Ridgeway & Marlboro. Lovely countryside, the stones are fascinating (good photography?) and there is a nice pub there.But if the weather is bad...?tbh, I'd suggest you do Bath or London.One of you is on home ground, true, but no big deal. And if you hit it off next time you go to the other. Both have plenty to see indoors if the weather is vile, but easy to go for a walk if it is tolerable.

Why do people choose to live in the outskirts of London when travel time from towns like Cambridge to central London is similar?

Simple - because Cambridge property is more expensive to buy or rent than many Outer London boroughs. PLUS you’ll pay 6 grand a year (x2 if you’re a working couple) for an annual travelcard to London whilst you’d pay between 2 and 2.5 grand a year from London Zones 4 to 6. That extra money you save can be invested in your property instead of going to Great Northern or Greater Anglia Rail’s bank accounts.In addition, unless you live very close to the station (which is even more expensive) AND work close to King’s Cross or Liverpool Street, chances are your commute will be longer - potentially quite a bit longer - and much less pleasant (on packed express trains) than it would be from an outer London zone. The frequency of those trains will also be a lot less in most cases.As others have said, you’re also much more vulnerable if things go wrong with your train (with no other means of getting to/from work).Cambridge is a particularly pricey example. Same goes for Oxford, Guildford, even Reading. There are some people who live in other, less popular and more affordable commuter towns, usually I think for (understandable) reasons such as:a) They really want to buy a big house and garden and can’t afford Outer London borough prices.b) They want to live close to their parents whilst still working in London.c) They are a couple and one works locally and the other in London.etc.

Which are some inexpensive towns to live near to Oxford UK?

Mapumental is a pretty clever site designed to answer the question "Where should I live to have a tolerable commute?" although it's only looking at public transport. It pretty much confirms whats been said before - if you're willing to travel for an hour each way, then Bicester, Didcot, Reading, Carterton and Witney are all possible, with Reading having the cheapest rents. Limit the commute time and the rent you'll have to pay increases.

What is the quietest time of day to drive from Manchester to London?

The only dependably quiet time to drive from Manchester to London is in the middle of the night between approximately 1am and 4am!Unless you absolutely have to drive in the daytime, I would seriously recommend avoiding it - but if you have to, allow at least 5–6 hours for your journey. Having travelled up and down the M6 regularly for the last 20+ years I cannot remember a time when there wasn’t some kind of engineering works being carried out and currently there is a major project between Junctions 19 and 16 which restricts the maximum speed to 50mph. Congestion and accidents will reduce this much further and you are bound to hit at least one of these at some point in the 250-mile journey. Congestion tends to be worst from Wolverhampton (J11) until south of Birmingham and then again once you approach the M25 and then all the way into London - at every time of the day/week but especially on weekdays in the mornings and evenings. You can pay extra to use the M6 toll road, which means getting a nice clear stretch for a while but approaching London via the north on the M1. Or you can suffer through the regular M6, M42 and take the M40 to approach London from the west. It is a lottery which will be the more hellish on any particular day.If you have the option to go by train, and you can find a reasonably-priced ticket - do that. The train journey is just over 2 hours from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, from where you can get directly onto the tube network.

Where is a great place to live between Uxbridge/west London and Swindon for transport connections and social life?

The obvious answer is Reading.   Trains at least every 30 minutes to Swindon and many more to London.   You can get to Uxbridge (if that's important rather than a simple example) by taking a local train to Hayes and then a bus.Oxford would, however, be my preference (but only just).   You'd need to take a train to Didcot and the another to reach Swindon.   Obviously Hayes remains a possible route to Uxbridge but another route would be the express buses that stop at Hillingdon en route to London.   You could even get the Oxford/Aylesbury bus and change to the train at Haddenham and Thame which takes you to West Ruislip and in a couple of years a new railway will open that will run from Oxford to West Ruislip direct.In terms of social life Oxford has the University and, as such, a large, lively, population of intelligent your people.   The life is more diverse than Reading.   Where Reading scores is the cost of living and transport links.   The railway, in particular, goes in all sorts of directions.   Beyond Swindon to Bath, Bristol and South Wales; London via 2 routes; Gatwick (which then gives access to Sussex); Oxford and beyond to Birmingham and the north of England/Scotland.   I would expect the cost of living in Reading to be slightly lower.