scoobymcdoo wrote:Hiya
Petrol is slightly cheaper than UK (not much in it though).
Public transport is excellent where we are, it is cheap and reliable (if you are comparing to the UK)
Salary wise, we swapped pounds for Euros and went to one salary (me not working). We are surviving really easily.
Drinks in bars are nothing more than you'd pay in London.
Alcohol in shops is comparable...good selections of wine at our Alko (state run offies)
We have a company car which we pay tax on (likie UK). Cant help you with regard to importing cars/buying cars, do a search on this site and there is loads of info.
Cars are LHD- took a few drives to realise that I couldn't change gear by winding down the window! Speed limits are much slower than UK- motorways are 80 or 100km/h
Weather is not a problem...you acclimatise really quickly. I love the snow and the cold...minus 5 does not feel cold any more.
We've rented out our house in the UK and rent here. We have found rent much cheaper here with none of the hidden extras like huge council tax, water, gas, electricity etc.
Mobile phone rental is much cheaper as are calls, I used to pay £18 per month just to have a phone, here I pay 3 euros a month!
Its a good country...apply for the job and enjoy the experience!
HTH- these are just my opinions that I have formed in the last 9 weeks, others may disagree with me!
Hannah
A small point, but I'll mention it anyway. Motorway speed-limits - and those on many other major roads - are seasonal. In other words, the limits are reduced between roughly November and March/April to take account of perfectly normal road conditions that you in Britain would associate with "icy roads cause chaos and massive pile-ups".
Most "non-urban motorways" will have a speed limit of 120km/h in the summer months (slightly HIGHER than the UK 70mph), but this drops to 100km/h in the winter months. Roads pegged at 100km/h will often (but not always) drop to 80 km/h. When you've driven behind a sixteen-wheeler in a powder-blizzard on somewhat rutted roads - it's the studded tyres that do it, and the asphalt suppliers LOVE it - with about four inches of snow under your tyres, you'll see the wisdom in dropping the limits.
You can usually squeeze an extra 10% out of the limits before you'll get stopped, especially if conditions are not life-threatening out there, but the BIG difference is that if you DO get nicked for speeding, you'll be crying for Mummy. This is because speeding fines here are income-linked, leading to some slightly ludicrous situations with options millionaires or ice-hockey jocks that make the silly papers abroad.
The odd thing is that most Finns do not actually MIND this arrangement - they seem to find the intensely egalitarian "pay according to your means" approach in tune with their way of thinking. Most ex-pats find it hard to understand (
see threads here passim).
Best things about Finland: 1 and a half times the size of the UK, one-tenth of the population. Room to move. And you don't get traffic jams caused by paranoid parents picking their kids up from school so they don't get grabbed by the bogey-man. Just bung 'em on the bus.
Thirty worst things about Finland: Every day of November. Book your trip south
NOW.
Preferably before you come.
½
