Tripologist: Can we go and live in the UK for 12 months?
Michael Gebicki is Traveller’s expert Tripologist. Each week he tackles the thorny issues in travel as well as answering your questions. Got a question for the Tripologist? Email tripologist@traveller.com.au
OUR GROWN-UP GAP YEAR
Carriages in The Mall, London, during a rehearsal for the coronation of King Charles III.Credit:Getty
We are self-funded retirees and we wish to live in the UK for 12 months. My husband has a British passport, is there any impediment to us living there and would we be entitled to the National Health Service?We intend to rent a property there.M. Vincent, Longueville NSW
As an Australian citizen married to a British passport holder you should be entitled to enter and stay in the UK on a spouse visa - seegov.uk/uk-family-visa. One of the requirements is that your British-citizen partner must “have settled in the UK - for example, they have indefinite leave to remain, settled status or proof of permanent residence.”
Since you have been living in Australia this might complicate your application, however proof of an existing UK residential address is not among the documents you’ll be required to produce for this visa. It would seem therefore that your spouse visa application falls within the requirements. Treatment under the UK National Health Service is residence-based. Most NHS services are free to people who are ordinarily resident in the UK. “Ordinarily resident” means living in the UK on a lawful and properly settled basis for the time being, and proof is required.
NAVIGATING A RIVER CRUISE
A Viking longship docking on the Danube in Regensburg, Germany.
We’re taking a European river cruise in September and we also want to visit friends in the UK and France, do river cruise operators offer flexible flight bookings or are we better off arranging our own flights?P. Chambers St Kilda, VIC
Most Australians will tack a more extensive European itinerary onto a river cruise and your travel agency should have no problem organising air tickets to incorporate your plans. If you’re booking your river cruise online with the operator, the same applies. As well as choosing the dates and your preferred airline you can add a stopover. You might want to do your own research to compare the price offered by your agent or cruise operator with that offered by the airline.
BORDER HOP AND SAVE
我和我的妻子想要一个租来的车从Barcel开车ona to Rome over a two-week period in October but the cost of the one-way hire is outrageous. Is there any way of getting around this?D. Inglis, Killara NSW
Hiring from Spain and dropping off in another country involves a huge one-way fee. For a two-week hire from Barcelona to Rome I’m seeing prices close to $5000 from major operators, even for a compact manual vehicle. However if you were to hire your vehicle in France you could save from $1000 to $1800. Take a train from Barcelona to Perpignan, just across the border in France, or Montpellier, which has a greater array of car-hire outlets, and pick up your vehicle there.
WEST COAST WONDERS
With my wife and two kids we have a week to drive from San Francisco to Seattle. Any suggestions for a route, and stops along the way?P. O’Donnell, Malvern East VIC
From San Francisco head north along US 101 and stop to admire the Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and if time allows take a short hike along the Founders Grove Nature Trail. Just a little further north Ferndale is a lovely town with lots of colourful Victorian-era timber homes, close to the last coastal wilderness area in California. You could easily spend a couple of nights here before continuing to Brandon, Oregon for yet more majestic redwoods and the glorious southern section of the Oregon Coast. Brandon is also known for its stunning coastal scenery and seafood restaurants, another two-nighter.
From Brandon continue along the coast to Reedsport then take Highway 38, the Umpqua Highway, following the lower Umpqua River until it joins Interstate 5 at the southern end of the Willamette Valley. Next stop is Portland, known as America’s hipster capital. Expect lots of beards and decent coffee. Seattle is an easy drive, but far more spectacular if you head inland along the Columbia River to Maryhill, then turn north to Satus Pass, Yakima and across the Cascades via Snoqualmie Pass. It’s a long day’s drive but absolutely stunning, although you could spend a night in Yakima and drive through Mount Rainier National Park the following day en route to Seattle.
Got a travel question? Include your name and suburb or town and send it to Michael Gebicki -tripologist@traveller.com.au
Travel advice is general; readers should consider their personal circumstances.
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