Visiting UK, advice?

I'd just book direct with the airline... Wife and kids on the same booking together on outbound and return flights, and just buy a one way for yourself on the same outbound flight but a separate booking.

I'd guess that's the most straight forward way to do it.

You might find it costs the same just to buy 4 returns, with the same return dates, then just ditch your return flight. That way you don't have to pay for seats to sit together etc

Yes it would be worth looking at the price for both booking strategies.

I d book each leg individually or you will have to book hold luggage for both legs.  I only needed a hold bag for outbound, not return, but couldn't do it I had to buy outbound and return, c 70 quid alicante Manchester.

Forums suggested it could be done, I phoned Ryanair customer service, it cannot.

Buy your car excess insurance from a third party. It seems to be standard to greet you at the airport with “ Are you happy with a £1500 excess, we can reduce it for £35 a day”

Well flights are booked and ended up daughter booking her own and then wife and I booking separately but sitting together, thought maybe sitting away from daughter might be useful if little'un gets fractious!).

Thanks for the tip on excess ampthill, the car costs are astronomical! Baby seat around a hundred pounds depending on company!

I'm guessing my Portuguese driving licence won't be a problem with car hire?

I’m guessing my Portuguese driving licence won’t be a problem with car hire?

Check with your hire company... it is in reverse you need to take a specific form. I think this is basically for the car hire firms though rather than legal

Biggest issue now is not having a credit card for collecting the hire car, surely I can't be unique with this. UK driving licence exchanged for Portuguese one and no income so no credit card?

I just had a look at my Portuguese account (more in hope than expectation), clicked the button 'Apply for Credit card' ...... in so many (portuguese) words 'No'! At least they didn't mess me about filling out forms before then saying no.

I think the bigger companies like Avis accept Visa debit or Mastercard debit. But if you don't take the full insurance cover they will want to hold the excess from a card, which you don't really want on your debit account, so it may cost (much) more.

Also be aware assuming your licence is not in English (and you would effectively be renting outside Europe) some companies may want a translation or International Driving Permit. Best to read the T&C or ask by company.

Konagirl, thanks, I think having read through that that the licence itself is ok.

The car is from Keddy, which is a subsidiary of Enterprise.

...... anyone South Bristol hire a couple of cargo bikes and a standard urban bike with baby seat?! 🤣

You can ususally take baby seats on planes free - we have dropped them off at the excess baggage and collected at the other end no problem. If they are just booster seats then some airlines let the kids sit on them in the plane.

I hired a VW

people carrier last week to take wife and all four offspring away in the UK last week. Used Enterprise and they say 'No Debit, Only Credit cards' all over the website , but a phone call the day before pickup allowed them to do an ID check first so I could use my debit card.

NB a)the rental was already paid for, the credit/debit card was just for the security deposit.  b) I'm UK based , with a UK driver's license.

You can probably get third party excess insurance which will cost less than Keddy want - think I paid £42 for an annual multi-booking policy which is less than Hertz wanted for one week.

james-rennie, yes hopefully that's what I will be able to do, trying to find a line of communication took some doing!

ratherbeintobago, although the third party option was cheaper it was only by two or three euro, I've booked everything via RyanAir. Not too concerned about the car, I've got a few weeks and it's free cancellation up to 48 hr prior.

ji, I did wonder about that, then again it'd be almost as cheap to buy one on arrival then leave it with family to use or sell after the trip..... If the arrival wasn't in the evening.

Then again, both the seats we have here are lumpy units and I wouldn't fancy carting them about in the airports.

Well it looks like I'm stuffed as far as hiring the car goes! HSBC (UK) say I have to be UK resident to have credit card (and no doubt an income too), Santander (PT) need an income too before entertaining the possibility, annoying as my pension is due November.

Communication with Europcar was no less fruitless, after explaining the situation their reply was:

Dear Client 
 
Thank you for your email.

According to your request we confirm that unfortunately it's mandatory to have a credit card in the name of the driver.
 
If we can be of further help do not hesitate to contact us.

We hope to see you renting with us again soon
 

Best Regards

<blank>

..... 'If we can be of further help' .... 'help'?

..... 'We hope to see you renting with us again soon' ..... 'Again'?

Ferry and your own car a possibility?

I m pretty much like you, uk non tax resident, but I got a uk credit card in 2 mins from my uk bank via the app.  I only got it as free and cashback on supermarkets.  Useful to have a backup, you certainly need it for car hire.

Discussed ferry on the way home earlier but three of us and baby are going over for a week and I'm staying on for a couple of more weeks to help care for my dad (dementure) to help my sister. Could be an interesting booking process with the ferry (three+1 passengers outbound and only one return) although flights are already booked, though I guess we could forfeit the out bound for the family if that doesn't risk any 'issues' with the return trip. It's all getting very expensive.

Looked at ferry and in hindsight it might have been a better option from the start as overall it would've cost only a couple of hundred more but now the flights are booked it's non refundable so flights it is.

Just done some digging on this for us. I live in France and no longer have a credit card (not many people do here...the culture appears to support living within ones means 😉 ). I always knew you generally needed a credit card for UK car hire, but have certainly got away without it upwards of 5 times. However you forced my hand to do some research....and I came across this:  https://www.enterprise.co.uk/en/help/faqs.html .... so debit card ok for most enterprise hires.

Also lots of other hits for 'credit card for car hire?' on Qwant search engine.

Have a great trip back home, and hope lookingafter your dad goes ok.

Thanks Mugsys_m8, I hope that has solved that problem  ..... but it throws up another small issue in that they want an address you will be staying at (no problem*) but also proof of return travel, seems a bit ironic, as I'm coming back to my childhood home! hopefully I won't be forced to plump for a return date yet as I'd prefer it to be flexible in mind of the fact my father may not be happy with me being there and I may need to go home sooner.

*had fun at passport control in Buenos Aires a few years ago when we visited our daughter (who lived there for three years), they wanted to know her address, we didn't have a clue as she was collecting us from the airport! Eventually after some mild panic they just accepted we were ok and let us go.

Interesting little aside:

A friend in Portugal had visited UK quite a few years ago and came back to Portugal with an amount of paper notes cash, he forgot about them till recently and took them to the bank to exchange... to be told by them (Portuguese bank) they could not accept as the notes are no longer in circulation.

IIRC, UK banks will still accept the old notes? And I assume they will need to be deposited into an account rather than a straight swap for new ones?

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/banknote-exchange

Might be possible at a Post Office depending on the age of the notes?

Don't book Ryanair (if you must book Ryanair...) except through their site. They are having a tiff with some of the agent sites (I used Lastminute), and are forcing passengers to re-verify their identity to allow you to online check in (involves a fee, and taking photos of your passport, then striking various selfie poses until they're satisfied).

Quite a palaver.

Had similar issue booking train tickets via Trainline last year with cancelled return trip and trying to get a refund.

IIRC, UK banks will still accept the old notes? And I assume they will need to be deposited into an account rather than a straight swap for new ones?

It always used to be possible to do a straight swap old notes (or damaged ones) for new ones at banks. Not sure if it still is, I suspect it's not a legal thing just a service offered.

On another related subject, I'd like to get a payg sim for phone, my phone can take two sims (Samsung A23), how straight forward is that in practice? also in Portugal I'm on Vodafone, will I need to use same in UK or is another sim free to be another provider? If so any good deals? I'll be visting for about three weeks.

Don’t book Ryanair (if you must book Ryanair…) except through their site. They are having a tiff with some of the agent sites (I used Lastminute), and are forcing passengers to re-verify their identity to allow you to online check in (involves a fee, and taking photos of your passport, then striking various selfie poses until they’re satisfied).

Quite a palaver.

I had to do that this week. The fee was 59p...

You should be able to pick up a pay as you go sim, usually with credit already loaded at the airport or fairly easily.

Possibly even order one online to be delivered to your parents house?

Yep, whenever I go to the uk I just get a sim and uk # for the time I’m there. The vending machines at Heathrow were well priced

I got an o2 payg SIM for uk visits, free from shops or online but it has to be sent to uk address.  I just put 10 quid on it, lasts a month.  Read the reviews of the cheapies so went with o2.