Should I live in EDINBURGH? | Living expenses in Edinburgh (Scotland).

i went to edinburgh in october to find out whether i like to live there in the future so i asked questions about living costs and life in edinburgh to julia and katerina who lived there for many many years [Music] i traveled from nottingham to edinburgh by train and i only paid 65 pounds return included [Music] it took me three and a half hours of traveling and the view was breathtaking i stayed for three full days in a cozy hotel which i'll tell you about and show you in my next video before listening to my two interviews i want to show you a few amazing places i visited in edinburgh hi everyone i'm going to explore this city a little bit right now i'm going to carlton hills [Music] lucky are the ones who live in edinburgh and get to see this view every time they want i thought it was going to be a little bit harder to come here but actually it has been much easier and there is nobody around on my own i just saw a lady with a dog and that's it there is to say that i picked the right month to come in edinburgh because it's autumn and the colors in edinburgh are so so beautiful autumn in edinburgh is something that you have to see for [Music] yourself [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so my i'm in my hotel room we've just been to edinburgh castle and also victoria street and royal mile but now i have to go out again to meet katerina she also has a youtube channel she's the right person to ask questions about edinburgh since she's been living here for so so long so let's go ah also before before going outside i wanted to show you what i bought i have a huge collection of magnets this is the magnet i bought i think it's really cute and it was 399 pounds i've been here for nine years and a bit short version is i came here to study and one of the universities here had a course that was like specifically what i wanted to study which was creative advertising at napier university but long version is that one of my best friends had a boyfriend here and she wanted to move here and it just was this practical thing i always really wanted to move to great britain so i was like oh this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity let's do it and it happened yeah actually now that we're in lockdown i'm really missing a lot of my friends and family from back in prague so i think that both simon and i would quite by the way simon is my boyfriend if you don't know if you don't follow me and you don't know who simon is my boyfriend anyway simon and i are kind of thinking about maybe after this is over to take a half a year or a year back in prague but um i do think that this is my like long-term home uh rent we live in a two-bedroom apartment which is fairly big it's not in the city center but it's kind of close to it so it's like walkable distance from the city center and we currently pay about 920 pounds a month which is pretty low for like i would say the whole of uk city standards and like how big it is and how pretty it is but i think that if you were looking for the same flat now it would probably be about 1200 because uh we have been there for about five years now and there have been a lot of like constructions around it and things like that and i think that's what kept the rent low there were just you know inconveniences that made the flat owner not comfortable with making the rent higher on top of the 920 you have to pay the council tax which is something that you have to pay everywhere in the uk and it's just such a bummer because you always go on like gumtree or zupla and you find a flat that's perfect and it's affordable and then in the end you magically pay 350 quid more than you saw on paper or food expenses um that kind of depends on how much you want to like cook yourself or how much convenience you need when i moved here i budgeted about 25 pounds per week as a student for groceries but also like toiletries and things and that wasn't much even then almost 10 years ago but i think that nowadays uh in a couple we probably spend just over 50 pounds per week for food i think that it's actually more yeah and it's more budget-friendly to cook for two people instead of just one person so you know get yourself a boy you're gonna save money obviously it is super beautiful and it is also very walkable which is what i really really enjoy and take advantage of on daily basis i don't think i've taken the bus in like a year and a half now it's it's crazy it's just so often you find yourself in a situation where walking as long as you enjoy walking and you're a fairly fast walker um walking is actually faster than taking the bus and um the buses are also not super cheap the cons i'm so in love with this place i can't think of any bad stuff well it's expensive it's one of the most expensive places to live in the uk so yeah but you're kind of like paying for all the beauty and history and also like the culture that you're getting um throughout the summer you know when you get all the festivals and um it's not just the french festival and you know the theater festivals of august but there's a lot of other things a lot of other events going on all throughout the year i actually thought it was cheap you know it was a cheap city but turns out it's not another con would be the weather uh what you can see right now around me is not the standard right now in 2020 we actually had one of the nicest years i've ever experienced here which is obviously super frustrating because for half of it we weren't even allowed to leave the house but yeah it's um people would usually expect that it's really rainy here but in fact it's just super windy also like in winter days are extremely short people here are kind and polite uh they will help you if they feel like you need help they will ask you if you're okay and also what i like is that if they had a bad day they are polite enough not to feel like they should make everyone else's day bad as well uh coming from czech culture i feel like a lot of czech people kind of have a bit of that vibe and i was never a big fan of it so um it's actually really nice that here people do not do that in fact i saw a girl who was crying at edinburgh castle i think they were scottish people they both approached her and asked her if she was okay are you sure are you okay and this doesn't really happen in england where i live also what i've noticed about scottish people is that they genuinely ask you questions and they want to listen to your answers but in where i live they just do it for the sake of keeping the job absolutely like this is such a great place to live i think that it's perfect for anyone who wants to have a bit of like personal space and also be close to nature because edinburgh has a beautiful beach um as sunny kendo's because she went to portobello this morning uh we have a great like old volcano in the in the middle of the city which is insane like so many people and it's such a big park so basically you can live pretty much anywhere in town and you will have pretty easy access to the big park hollywood park with arthur's seat and the craigs and all of that and once you kind of get inside there and you're like between the two peaks it just feels like almost like you're in the highlands it's you can't see any of the city so if you're the sort of person who likes the convenience of living in the city you know having access to medical centers and schools and good restaurants and culture but at the same time like you don't like to be like suffocated by that sense of like a big city like new york or london then edinburgh is not like those cities at all there's not really like that many people except for during the fringe during the fringe a lot of people who are like me just get very very angry because suddenly there's like double the amount of people living here for a whole month yeah that can be a bit anxiety inducing but outside of the fringe you should totally live here i personally i do feel super safe in edinburgh i again i come from czech republic and i wouldn't say czech republic is unsafe but i've definitely been mugged in czech republic and like i've definitely lost stuff to crime let's put it that way in edinburgh that has never happened to me you can leave your phone on like a restaurant table here and like not think about it twice i'm not recommending you to do this like don't you know don't do it but if it happens it's probably fine as a matter of fact one time i left a brand new phone in a taxi and the cabbie drove it back to my house like outside of his shift like he finished his eight hour shift and then he was like oh i found your phone and he went from like outside of edinburgh he drove to my house in edinburgh just to return it so like for example leith leith used to be one of those areas where you know people wouldn't recommend you to go but nowadays i'd say you should definitely go to leith it's a great buzzing trendy place with a lot of great eateries great food a lot of young people live there because obviously these areas that don't necessarily have like the best safest name are much cheaper than like the pretty center one time when my sister was visiting we were walking through basically an area that's like just adjacent to the city center just like by princess street and they were like police cars and they had that like police tape and there was like a splash of red on the ground and i was like it's kind of like it looks too red to be blood later on we found out it was blood because some like mafia boss got to leave the prison for like one day for like his nephew's birthday and someone drove up to him on the street and stabbed him so that's like that's the story and also remembering that i actually like walked past that like splash of blood it that's like the only criminal story i can think of but if you're not a mafia boss nobody's gonna stab you you're fine hi i moved here in 2016. so i've been living here for nearly five years why the city so i came here to study at university the main reason i chose it was because i get free education here for university while everywhere else i had to pay 9 000 pounds a year which i'm not a fan of so obviously i wanted to go with the cheaper option definitely not during like my time at university uh i don't think there's anywhere better to like study um obviously now i'm at the end of like my time at uni i'm in my last year so it would it would be nice to maybe go live somewhere else but i would still stay in scotland i probably would just go to glasgow or even in the highlands but i would stay in scotland with the pandemic and everything it's not very easy because obviously a lot of people have kind of been laid off and now are looking to find something but generally without the pandemic in question it's it's okay it's not too bad there's always kind of jobs going about and they're not bad they're like cafe or like bartending kitchen staff so they're quite good jobs but obviously right now it's just it's a bit tough but usually there's plenty of jobs and you can always kind of go into a shop or like a cafe or whatever and ask them if they're looking for help and sometimes they won't even have made an ad for it and they'll be like yes we are looking for help that's really good it's also quite good because obviously you can go to like the job center and they will help you with the process and if you can't find work after a certain time you can like apply to be on benefits which obviously helps pay for rent and food and everything you just receive so much support they're so nice scottish people are lovely they're so welcoming they're really curious to kind of get to know you wherever like you can be just walking in the street and you're waiting on like a bus they'll just talk to you and it's so nice it's really nice because it's not in like a weird way they don't ask like oh how are you just because yeah they actually want to listen which is strange because they called the city east they called the people up doesn't apply to scotland i think they just heat themselves up with like whiskey and beer so they're actually really warm at heart and if anything like the cold kind of brings you together yeah especially if they're kind of like young professionals or students but even if they're older it's just really nice it's really welcoming and it's really easy to integrate into because there's so many services that will help you kind of integrate and there's so many social groups and also like mental health uh services that will help you you know if you're struggling so i would definitely recommend it what are the differences between scotland and england uh there's a very big difference between scotland and england far from like the language even the language is different really it's complete like mentality that scotland and england have scotland is much more eu-centered yeah and it's much more open to immigrants and they kind of you can tell that they really value the the inputs that kind of having immigration has to the culture and they don't see it as us kind of taking over or infiltrating or anything whilst i feel like england isn't as good for like integration of immigrants or foreigners first thing i would say to do is register yourself for a gp because then that gets kind of your healthcare sorted and in case something happens you're fine second thing to do go out for a pint and that's kind of kind of how you get to know your community as well through the locals and just the bar staff and they can kind of give you lots of places to go to what to do and it also gives you kind of just a sense of like home because you kind of just know some people third thing to do go up arthur's seat uh which is the the volcanic rocks that we've got because they're really pretty and you can see all of edinburgh from there i wouldn't recommend going to the castle because the castle is pretty to look at can't see from here it's free to look at but it doesn't actually have much inside it's actually a bit empty you go up carlton hill and then go to portobello and you can get there by bike as well it takes like 30 minutes from the city center like you can just rent the bike and then just to drop it off there so you don't even have to like bring it with you or you can take a bus like the bus services are really good they take you anywhere there is a leak and it used to be kind of like the dodgy place however now it's a bit safer and now portabello has kind of become the little bit sketchier place okay um however i've never felt in danger even walking late at night obviously like working in a bar you sometimes have to finish really late like i've come home sometimes at like 3 a.m yeah um and i've never felt like unsafe it's always been fine even when like you know you go for a night out and you're a little bit intoxicated i've always felt safe and people will help you if they kind of see that you're in trouble so yeah it's i'd say it's very safe okay definitely safer than rome i felt quite safe in rome really yeah oh yeah [Music] it's a little bit expensive definitely if you come from a city that's maybe doesn't attract as much tourism it's not as expensive as london but it's not far off so like for example i live in a two-bedroom flat and that's 4 40 a month only for me not shared um and then bills are not on top of that so bills would maybe come to maybe like 20 or 30 pounds a month job-wise i'm working right now part-time in a bar and even though with the hours i do i can still make enough to pay rent how many hours do you work so i work part-time and i mean on average around 19 hours and you're able to pay rent i'm able to pay rent however that's also because i am 22 so the pay grade for me is 8 20 an hour so it's a bit different for maybe like people who are under 20 because they get slightly less but even then if you work full time you can definitely pay rent if like your rent is about for 400 pounds a month another good thing about scotland in general is that you don't have to pay for water the only thing you pay bills wise is energy and gas healthcare is free as well the same goes with sexual health they provide you with like any contraception that you need even if it's the pill yeah you don't have to pay for any of that pros and cons of edinburgh pros i mean you get to live in like such a pretty city every day you wake up and it's like wow healthcare is free which i mean and it's very like accessible it actually works it's not like it's free but then it lacks it's it actually properly works it's very student-friendly because it's like a university city there's student discounts everywhere it's rare that you go somewhere and they won't have any student discount it's also very eco-friendly as well there's printable bikes that you can take instead of taking the bus or like an uber also the back the buses they emit less co2 than normal ones also the best place to be vegan in edinburgh in in the uk you don't have any cons rent can be a bit much sometimes it's very cold so i study at edinboro napier university and i do interior and spatial design and i'm currently in my fourth year it's very challenging because obviously it's a very creative course and it it has both architectural elements and design elements so it's quite it's quite intense but you learned lots and they my university is also quite good for kind of preparing you for the the real world you want to call it that and they're also very friendly to kind of students that have to work part-time which i really appreciate because obviously i'm working part-time if you can go for like edinburgh university i definitely would because obviously it's a it's a better university than napier in some areas it just kind of depends for what subject you want to go for because obviously they both have pros and cons thank you so much julia and i studied in rome together in high school and we've met seven years later in edinburgh so we decided to catch up on our life [Music] so i'm back in nottingham and i'm ready to tell you whether i like to live in edinburgh one day or not before that i want to share with you a video that might interest you it's called how expensive is edinburgh which is made by caterina her youtube video is very informative she goes through how much she spends every week and every month and she tells you about the transport in a very detailed manner it's linked above and also in the description box after talking with julia and catalina i concluded that yes edinburgh is environmentally speaking a very beautiful place to live people there are surrounded by nature autumn the foliage the colors are so so beautiful and there is a beach i always wanted to live next to the beach and portobello beach is not too far from the city center of edinburgh it's just a matter of a few minutes by car or by bus or even by bike edinburgh has a good point for the environment socially speaking has again a good point edinburgh has nice people and how good people are is a major factor for me i don't want to live in a place where people are reserved and cold all the time grumpy and busy after working long hours however economically speaking it doesn't have a good point that's the downside of living in edinburgh like julia said it's an expensive city to live in and it's not too far off from london the price for rent food car insurance can increase in the near future especially after brexit however like caterina said you are paying to live in a beautiful city how expensive is edinburgh shouldn't be a big issue if you are able to cover all the expenses politically speaking edinburgh and scotland in general is left-wing it's pro-immigration and it's eu-friendly however let's not forget that edinburgh is still part of the uk edinburgh will be affected by brexit and for those people like me who want to enjoy all the eu european perks and benefits edinburgh might not be the right place to live unless scotland becomes independent from the uk and to my question should i live in edinburgh my answer is no unfortunately i hope all this information has helped you to better understand where you want to live next it did help me and i hope it's going to help you as well before ending this video i wanted to apologize about the audio quality i did invest in a microphone before going to edinburgh but because of a huge mistake i made the audio turned out to be awful before closing up i want to tell you that i want to make similar videos in other cities in the uk such as london birmingham manchester glasgow and other cities in the uk and hopefully abroad to show and inform you about living costs and expenses and everything about a city which i think is very beneficial for you to understand where you want to live next and also for me to find my right place to live having said that don't forget to comment you know to just communicate with me and also for the youtube algorithm like and subscribe to my channel for more videos and also to know more about nottingham which is the city where i live at the moment and see you in the next video

Channel: Solo Ann

Views: 159,779

Rating: 4.9019356 out of 5

Keywords: Edinburgh, Scotland, Edimburgo, Scozia, Glasgow, Scottish People, Victoria Street, Edinburgh Castle, living in Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Student life in Edinburgh, Russell Group, Calton Hill, Portobello Beach, Edinburgh nature, Uk, Scottish Parliament, Royal Mile Edinburgh, Azuma Train, Edinburgh Waverley, Edinburgh Napier University, UK living cost, Rent in Edinburgh, Jobs in Edinburgh, Accommodation in Edinburgh

Id: rIqsjU6_8r4

Length: 28min 11sec (1691 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 27 2020