London Commute From Barcelona Cheaper Than Actually Living In English Capital


A Londoner has figured out that it is cheaper to rent a house in Barcelona and commute to his job in the English capital, rather than actually living there.

Sam Cookney made the calculations after he became overly peeved with the extortionate amount of rent it cost him to live in central London.

Aghast at the prices, Cookney began to investigate and he soon found out that he could actually live in a three-bedroom house in Barcelona while paying for return daily flights to his job in London for several hundred Euros cheaper than living in the busy capital. Plus he could enjoy the sun and sand of the Spanish city too.

The 30-year-old, who is currently sharing a flat in the Shepherd’s Bush area of London, admitted, “I thought at least it would require some poetic licence or dodgy sums. But the only assumption I’m making is that I work a four-day week in London, with a day at home (i.e. Barcelona).”

So how did he come to this conclusion? Sam’s research showed that a one bedroom flat in West Hampstead costs £1,505, and the social media manager admitted, “I chose West Hampstead because I know and like the area, and it doesn’t seem a stretch to suggest that a young professional may afford to live there.”

Sam then added £75 for council tax, £116.80 for a travel card to his job, which brought the amount to £1,697, which equates to 1,979 Euros.

He then found out that a three-bedroom apartment in the Les Corts area of Barcelona would cost him just 680 Euros, with Sam adding, “I used to live there, and being a fairly upmarket residential district, it’s a very decent and fair comparison to West Hampstead.”

Sam took his experiment seriously, explaining, “There are, of course, cheaper flats, but I was trying to compare apples with apples, even in spite of the three bedrooms.”

The three-bedroom flat also includes three balconies, and is within walking distance of the metro, while Les Corts is a reputedly safe area of Barcelona. There’s also no council tax in Spain.

Sam’s biggest hurdle would surely be the expensive flights to and from London each day, however he was able to find cheap return flights from Barcelona to Stansted Airport in London, for just 34 Euros, courtesy of the budget airline Ryanair.

He then added 6 Euros to get to and from Barcelona’s el Prat airport, as well as 17 Euros to and from London’s Liverpool Street, which is walking distance to his job. All of which meant he was spending 57 Euros a day on travel.

All in all the cost for him to live in Barcelona and commute to London came to 1,592 Euros, which was 387 Euros cheaper than living and traveling to his job from London too. Sam added that the living situation in London is now “beyond crazy.”

[Image via Diliff/Wikimedia]

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