Commuting to Sussex from North London

Hi, I'm going to be attending a Masters at Sussex this year and I'm currently deciding between commuting from North London to Sussex or finding a place to rent in Brighton or preferably Falmer. Has anyone got any insight or had to make a similar journey and would recommend for or against it?

Reply 1

Trinculo

Crazy idea

But you can get the train from Mill Hill Broadway to Gatwick or any number of coaches from Golders Green

University of Sussex

Brighton

Reply 2

Drunk Punx

You're gonna be relying on the Southern/South Eastern rail network, so all I can really do is wish you good luck.

Reply 3

Dez

North London to Falmer is going to be an incredibly long journey, not to mention stupidly expensive in rail fares. Even with Brighton's absurd rent prices, it's going to be cheaper for you to move home.

Reply 4

TSR Community Staff

I wouldn't advise trying to do that trip regularly. It will take hours each way, assuming everything runs on time.

I've fairly regularly made the trip from Brighton to North London and back by both train and car and it's not quick.

If by train, once you get to Brighton you'll then need to get a bus out to Falmer campus.

So depending on how often and the times of day you need to be at the university, it wouldn't really be a feasible option to commute down.

Reply 5

Juno

I commuted to Bromley from North London for a while and it was awful. Your journey will be much longer and thus much more awful.

Reply 6

Firefly13

I commute from Kent (almost East Sussex) to Central London for uni, which takes me about two hours each way if the trains are running on time. I don't mind trains and I get a lot of work done on my journey, but it's still pretty hard (especially when SouthEastern stops working :angry:

). I just can't afford London prices and it worked out cheaper for me this way.

It is possible to commute from Sussex to London, but I wouldn't recommend what I do to anyone who doesn't like mornings (I often have to get up at 6am) and trains. Brighton to North London is insane - you could do it but it will cost you a fortune and you won't get much free time. Unless it's impossible for you to move closer then I'd recommend against it!

Reply 7

King_ajk

Original post by Firefly13

how was your uni experience, considering the travelling was it easy to make friends

Reply 8

Firefly13

Original post by King_ajk

how was your uni experience, considering the travelling was it easy to make friends

I had a great time a time uni. I didn’t have to miss anything I wanted to go to because of the distance (if it finished late I just stayed at a friends house), it just meant I had to plan things a little more carefully.

I stayed in halls in my first year so I already had a good group of friends before I moved further away, but it didn’t stop me making other friends in my later years. I can’t say if it would have been any different if I was commuting from first year before I’d made some friends though - you’d have to ask someone else for their experience about that!

Overall it was fine. I usually get up at about 6am so the travel was never really an issue for me and it saved me so much money. I really don’t think it affected my social life because My friends all understood and were really good about making sure I had time to get there with the train station. I also much prefer the area I lived in because off of how quiet and green it was compared to London!

I would do it again in a second, but it’s not for everyone. If you want to go out every night it may be a lot harder for you (I love a good night out, but just not every week - which again made things easier for me) and if you don’t like getting up early/travel then it may be worth looking at other options.

Hope this helps!