Jersey (Channel Islands)

Well to start with Jersey island, we heard about it while in India but never thought we would landed here for 3 months in summer 2008. But we are and very pleased to be here.

=== Location: ===
As many knows it is southmost part of UK, around 100 miles from UK and 7 miles from France. Largest of 4 channel island.

=== Connectivity: ===
You can either reach Jersey by air or sea. Though fares are not much ...
...most common airlines coming to Jersey with recently started of Easyjet. Average time of flying is 30 min to 1 hr.
Condor ferries is popular ferry service from UK to Jersey which take around 4 hours when there is good weather. HD ferries has recently shut down their business for Jersey.

=== History: ===
It is historical place due to its location but I am not much interested in that so dont know much. Only knows that even ... more

Well to start with Jersey island, we heard about it while in India but never thought we would landed here for 3 months in summer 2008. But we are and very pleased to be here.

Location:

As many knows it is southmost part of UK, around 100 miles from UK and 7 miles from France. Largest of 4 channel island.

Connectivity:

You can either reach Jersey by air or sea. Though fares are not much different advance booking in flight might be cheaper sometimes for family. Flybe, Flybmi, British airways is most common airlines coming to Jersey with recently started of Easyjet. Average time of flying is 30 min to 1 hr.
Condor ferries is popular ferry service from UK to Jersey which take around 4 hours when there is good weather. HD ferries has recently shut down their business for Jersey.

History:

It is historical place due to its location but I am not much interested in that so dont know much. Only knows that even though it is near by France it is part of UK and during world war 2 Germans had ruled this island for five years. Many castle and bunker points are there on outskirts of it.

Area:

It is 45 sq mile, 9 mile by 5 mile length and width respectively, but dont imagine as small place as it is seen from area. St. Helier is capital city located in south and there are other 12 parishes.

Language and Currency:

Main and official language is English. Jerriars is local language while many people speak French also. I learned some basic french from Alliance Francis, St Helier as most of street names are in french.
UK Pound is acceptable here but it has own Jersey pound which is equivalent to UK Pound. Jersey pounds are not acceptable in UK.

Specialities:

Jersey is famous worldwide for cows,dairy products,potatoes and knitted industry. Knitted T shirts named Jersey after this island. As per my point of view economy and finance system is also speciality here. As per stastics, Jersey economy is third highest in world which makes this place costly

Tourism:

Jersey is most famous as tourist place for short breaks. It is warm and hottest destination of UK (In month of July temperature reminds me Indian summer). There are lots of tourist attraction and if you want to see all you certainly need more than 10 days with enough cash in pocket. Jersey tourism have good offers time to time. So you can visit toursim official website www.jersey.com for current offers. Also it has good narration about each attraction activities.
It has stunning and beautiful beach. I have been to St Brelade beach, St. Aubin, Grev de Lacq, Gorey pier but St. Brelade beach is one of best site. Jersey has mixture of sandy and stone beahces so make sure before visit where you want to go. Most of south and west beaches are sandy while beaches in North are stone beaches and less reachable.
Gardens and family entertainment comes next after beaches. Samares Manor is most famous garden. For family entertainment Living legend and Amaizin maze park are there with Jersey bowling near Airport. I have been to Living Legend and it is fairly good in free visit area. Go carting, golf and audio video show of Jersey experience in Living legend has entry fees.
There are lots of things to write about all attraction and cant mention everything here. Each attraction need special review.
But I would like to point to Jersey pass developed by Jersey tourism. It is combine pass to get entry at many attraction and visit it in relaxed way. 2 days pass cost 29 while 6 days pass cost 59. It gives access to -
Aquasplash
Durrell Wildlife
Jersey Bowl
Jersey Museum
Jersey War Tunnels
La Mare Wine Estate
Les Mielles Golf and Country Club
Living Legend
Maritime Museum
Mont Orgueil Castle
Samares Manor
But make sure to be familier about attraction before going or buying pass. If you want to visit all pass is certainly cheaper than individual entry fees. You can buy online at www.jerseypass.com

I specially want to mention about Corbiere light house and Waterfront building. Corbier light house is historic place with amazing views in surrounding. It is perfect in sunny weather with low tide timing. You can walk to the light house from bus stop which is around 0.5 mile.
Waterfront is latest sensation of St. Helier which consist of Aquasplash (swimming pool and gym), Cineworld multiplex, KFC, Pizza hut and other one restaurant. It is must visit if you are looking for cinema and good fast food.
We have been to Jersey Pearl, Jersey woolen mill and Jersey Goldsmith lion park. If you like jewellery there are the places for you.

Hotels:

There are many hotels to choose from, but if you are looking for budget hotel go for self cateroing. I would recommend Hotel Sarum due to its cost and location. It is situated at 19, New st. Johns road, St Helier. It has good facilities with only rooms, B&B,1 bed flat etc.

Shopping:

Although it is VAT free I never found practically any item cheaper than UK mainland. 1 L milk cost you 1 pound while 500 gm onkeen yogurt cost you 1.33. This is to give idea about cost in Jersey.
King street and surrounding lateral streets are hub for shoppers in St. Helier. Many high street brands are here like M&S, Next, Bhs, Monsoon, WHSmith, Woolworth, East, HSamuel, Espirit, Accessories, Mothercare, Boots and so on.

Transport:

Jersey has network of bus run by two different companies. The main bus station is Liberation bus station right behind tourism office which is very modern building. There are two types of route. Island explorer bus route (red,green,yellow and blue) which is specially developed for tourist covers almost all attractions and run on outer area of island. Other are normal bus routes passing through the island.
Single fares are of 1 or 1.5 pound depending upon distance. One day pass cost 6 pound while weekend pass cost 10 pound.
But please check timetable before buying pass as there is very less bus (or no bus on some route) on Sunday. We bought weekend pass and regret it later.
The main disadvantage of buses are frequencies. At one place one bus comes every one hour which is irritating in remote areas.
You can find more about bus network on www.mybus.je

Life in Jersey:

After living in London when you arrive at Jersey you will feel a whole different world. It is cool, relaxed, less populated and give you peace of mind. Main thing is the crime rate is almost zero or very very less.
We were hesitated to live here after being in crowded Indian cities and London, but it has certainly change the view.
Someone told me it is place for retired people after working in UK/Europe and I noticed same. Old age people are more who enjoys their retirement. People are very rich, literally!! and very friendly and honest.
As non european you will face some difficulties also. First and most important is grocery. I couldnt find asian grocery here, only some of there are available at Channel Island co op society store. Then I started buying from websites like www.itadka.com and www.spicesof india.com
Another difficulty is getting accomodation. There are some housing qualification required for accomodation. Most of short time visitor and employees falls under non qual category. For this category rent is amazing high. Average cost of 1 bed flat in St Helier is between 1100 to 1300 pound a month which is double than any UK location.

Battle of Flowers

We have not visited famous battle of flowers museum but we saw battle of flowers carnival ourself. It is two day carnival organized around 15th August every year. I saw moon carnival on second day. It is truely amazing to see decorated vehicles of different parishes competing each other to entertain crowd. Full of light, sound and ofcourse flowers. You will never see flower arrangements anywhere. I will upload pics soon to give idea.

Another exhibition we visited during our stay was vintage car exhibition which held once in June month every year. You will be surprised to see huge collection of vintage car of resident in such a small place.

Well I can keep writing about Jersey as it is whole different experience in Life. It is now buzzword as finance industry is growing in island. I recommend someone looking jobs in finance sector must dig jobs in Jersey.

If you are in UK it is good for short break and worth visit once.

Update:
In winter many of attractions are closed and also you can not enjoy watersports much. The local bus services has less frequency in winter as there is different timetable in winter and summer. So I would not recommend it for christmas or easter holidays 

...less