Relocating to London and the 'kid commute'?

[MissChief]

Short version my two boys are 13 1/2 and 16, ex wife has now remarried and I'm currently single. I can't call my kids normal. Both attend a normal school but have extra support at the school, one is borderline Autism but confirmed Aspergers and the other has a clinically diagnosed ADD. At the moment I see them every weekend.

I live in Central Scotland and a job has come up in London within the same company.

Basically is there anyone who has done the move in a similar situation? it would be a big step up in the company and a lot more responsibility. I've never lived in london but I'm assuming with rent and houses costing what I would currently see as legalised extortion having 'two homes' wouldn't really be feasable unless I'm getting paid a fortune? Which i'm quite sure I won't be anyway.

Basically is living down here and 'commuting' to see my kids once a month viable? Or getting them both down here once a month either?

[Nick Grant]

I used to live in London and now live in Scotland. During the tranisition I worked in Edinburgh and lived in London. My family were still in London while we sold the house and bought one in Scotland. I commuted every Monday morning and Friday night for six months. We've been up here for a couple of years now and love it but I still travel to London regually to meet up with mates and sometimes for work. I can leave my house in Dunblane at 5am and be at Gatwick by 8am.

So for you to come up and see the kids once a month should be no problem at all, and for them to get to you shouldn't be much harder.

[Vee]

A colleague at the previous company I worked for used to commute home to just outside Glasgow on a Friday afternoon. Basically using a low cost airline.
If you can get some flexibility from work to maybe leave a little earlier on a Friday is is doable.
He used to fly in on a Sunday evening or a Monday.

[Yazar]

You would need to say what your salary is before anyone could advise properly but once a month should be fine.

It all depends on you and your frugality. If you live somewhere cheap and don't spend a lot on going out, get public transport then sure. Live somewhere desirable and socialize a lot at London prices of food/cabs then will struggle.

Make sure you are very organized with booking flights/trains. As advance fares booked when released can be very cheap, last minute bookings will hurt much more.

Edited by Yazar on Thursday 22 January 16:04

[anonymous-user]

I did a two hour domestic monday/friday air flight most weekends for 4 years, it is not easy, my empolyer was great, used to arrive at office 10am on Monday (7 am flight) and catch 5.15pm flight on Friday so left at office 4, it is possible, only you know if its worth it to you. I did it to be home with my daughter and wife at weekend,

[Kudos]

I live in Belfast and work in London. I'm there 3-4 days per week, normally Mon to Thurs. I've a 2yr old and 5yr old.

It is very much doable, however 5 days per week or more away from the kids would make this a non runner very quickly

Quality time with the kids is very important, more so than just spending time with kids as some colleagues do