Our UK Adventure: Visas, Food, and Lessons Learned

Planning a family trip can be a daunting task, and our recent vacation to the United Kingdom was no exception. It was just the three of us—my wife, my son, and myself—and I took on the role of the master planner for the journey. We learned a lot along the way, sometimes the hard way, and I wanted to share some of our experiences and tips for anyone considering a similar trip.

Planning the Itinerary

When it came to planning our route, I found Google's "My Maps" feature to be incredibly useful. It's a highly visual form of planning, allowing you to plot out and actually see the places on your itinerary spread across the map.

Because we were traveling with our son, we deliberately chose not to pack too many activities into a single day. We kept the pace very laid back. Our main agenda was simply to have fun together as a family, rather than rushing around trying to frantically tick famous landmarks off a list.

The Visa Saga

Let's start with the most tedious part: the visa process. Applying for a UK visa was, quite frankly, just too much. It's a complex process, but here is a crucial tip if you're traveling as a family: use different logins for applying for each person's visa. It saves a lot of headaches.

One modern convenience is that UK visas are now e-visas, which streamlines things slightly. However, you need to be careful during the application and processing stages. We used VFS, and be warned—they will try to upsell you on various services. Take my advice: do not take the platinum lounge. It is essentially a scam and not worth the extra money.

Lastly, a critical step that you cannot forget: before traveling, you must generate a "share code" through the UK government portal. This code needs to be shared with the airlines before you fly, so make sure you have it ready.

Food: A Survival Guide

When discussing our trip with friends beforehand, many suggested we carry our own dried, ready-to-eat food. We didn't listen to them, and in hindsight, we probably should have.

We found traditional English food to be quite blunt, and there really wasn't much to explore gastronomically that suited our palates. If we were to do it again, it would be much better to pack dried meals where you can just add hot water and eat right away.

The other major shock was the cost of food. The UK is very, very expensive. To give you an idea:

• A basic sandwich from a convenience store will set you back about £5.
• A simple cup of coffee costs anywhere from £3 to £5.

Pro-Tip: Avoid buying food and drinks in heavily touristy areas. The prices are significantly jacked up there. Venture out a bit to find more reasonable prices (though it will still be pricey!).

Driving in the UK for Indians

Since the British drive on the left side of the road, just like in India, I assumed it was going to be a cakewalk for me. But it turned out to be anything but. There are just so many rules to follow — nuanced rules that you don't really think about until you're behind the wheel.

Entering and exiting a roundabout has its own protocol. Even when you have a green signal, you sometimes need to wait to take a right turn if oncoming traffic has priority. And overtaking a cyclist? You're expected to leave at least a car's width of space before passing them. All of these things sound reasonable on paper, but turned out to be surprisingly difficult to do in practice, especially when you're navigating unfamiliar roads in real time.

Thankfully, I was able to complete the entire trip without any major incidents — but it was definitely a humbling driving experience!

Renting and booking a car was pretty straightforward. One important thing to note: book the child seat in advance. If you don't, chances are you won't get the right one for your child's age and size. It is mandatory for kids to be in child seats in the UK, so don't leave this to chance.

Money Tip: Credit Card Over Forex Card

A lot of travelers default to getting a forex card for international trips, but I took a different approach. My HSBC Premier credit card has only a 1% forex markup, but I earn around 6% back on every spend through rewards. The math was simple — I was effectively saving about 5% on every transaction compared to using a forex card with no rewards.

So I decided to use my credit card for all spending during the trip, and it worked out really well. If you have a credit card with low forex markup and decent rewards, it's worth doing the math before loading up a forex card.

The Journey Home: A Missed Connection in Dubai

For our flights, we chose Emirates, routing through Dubai. The trip to London went smoothly, but the journey back had other plans for us.

Due to delays on our flight from London to Dubai, we missed our connecting flight home. We were stranded — and an entire day was lost. To Emirates' credit, they took care of our stay and food in Dubai, but it was still a frustrating experience.

We've since applied for a refund through SkyRefund. It's expected to take 2–3 months before we know if the claim is successful — so fingers crossed.

That said, we made the best of our unplanned layover. We found a Malayali restaurant and treated ourselves to authentic Kerala food. As I always say, the best Kerala food you'll ever find is in Dubai — and this meal did not disappoint!

(To be continued...)