Travelling to Belfast versus travelling to other UK uni cities
Three Â鶹Íø students from England talk journey times ¨C and prices ¨C when travelling to Queen¡¯s.
Meet our GB panel
Our panel: (Left to right) Gabbie, Maisie and Alice
Gabbie Dancer is a Criminology student from London.
Maisie Wilkinson is a History and Politics undergraduate from Lancashire.
Alice Poole is an Architecture student from Cheltenham.
¡®It¡¯s faster to reach than most English universities¡¯
Maisie: ¡°My insurance university choice was in London, for me that is a four-hour drive and two hours on the train. And it¡¯s expensive as well, about ?100. When you compare that to the cost of flight to Belfast¡ I flew home on a whim the other week and did it for like, ?50.¡±
¡®It takes just over an hour from London¡¯
Gabbie: ¡°Belfast is really not that far. For me, it¡¯s just over an hour¡¯s flight. My first choice was Durham which is like a five-hour drive from home. It feels longer because you have to take a flight and there is sea in between but, in time, its quicker.¡±
¡°I had to catch the first flight and the last flight of the day for Open Day and I absolutely fell in love with it. I had prioritised Russell Group universities, but I came over and realised I can get there and back on the same day. I remember thinking ¡®I can see myself here.¡¯¡±
¡®The flights are super cheap¡¯
Gabbie: ¡°I can get home for ?30, ?40 return. It¡¯s not that expensive. You can get trains in England that are ?200 just to get from one end of the country to another, so in comparison it¡¯s not that expensive.¡±
Alice: ¡°It¡¯s much cheaper than a lot of my friends getting home from English unis. I was talking to a person the other day who claimed he got a flight home from Belfast to England for ?9. I need to work out his tactic. I¡¯m going home next weekend and it¡¯s really cheap and easy.¡±
¡®You can land right in the city¡¯
Maisie: ¡°I like the drive from Belfast International Airport because you go through all the green pastures and suddenly its more built up and you are in the city. I come from a small town, so this is very exciting.¡±
¡®Your family will love it too¡¯
Alice: ¡°My mum and I made a list of all the Russell Group universities that offered Architecture and then we did what we described to my dad as ¡®important uni visits¡¯ but we basically went on loads of girls weekends and saw loads of lovely cities. I¡¯d never been to Belfast before and we just fell in love with it, we thought, oh this is amazing.¡±
¡°My parents fell in love with Belfast. My Dad always says, ¡®Oh I¡¯ll come and see you.¡¯ But it¡¯s not that he wants to see me, he just loves Belfast!¡±
Gabbie: ¡°My dad is the same. My dad drives over, so he comes here for five days at a time and he¡¯s like, ¡®Right, we¡¯re going to the Titanic museum then we are going to go and see the rope bridge and the Giant¡¯s Causeway¡¡¯¡±
¡®It¡¯s not like travelling ¡®abroad¡¯
Alice: ¡°You barely need your passport, you just need ID. The first time I came over, I remember holding out my passport. They were like, ¡®I don¡¯t need to see your passport¡¯.
Gabbie: ¡°I noticed how friendly everyone here is on my way through the airports. I was coming through London airports where no one will help you; no one will make any eye contact. I flew over here and even when I was going through security, people were like, ¡®I hope you have a great day.¡¯ Everyone is so friendly. I¡¯m so not used to that.¡±
Alice: ¡°Yeah, like I flew home at Christmas and everyone at airport security was wearing Christmas jumpers. That would never happen at home! They would be like, ¡®right, move!¡¯¡±
Unsure about whether to make Queen¡¯s your firm choice? The GB Scholarship is a great incentive.
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