@swei said:
hihi,
I would like to buy my air tickets in advance to save on $. Son is going imperial. I’ve got following dates
arrival at hall : 26 Sep ‘26
When do you suggest we arrive? will there be any pre start activities? and also how long we (parents) should stay after sch starts? 3 days ok?
my current plan is to arrive in 21-sep and leave on 30-sep. Is it too many days?
hopefully someone can share if you send your kids in recent years.

You probably already know this, but if you arrive before the hall is ready for him, you will need to arrange other accommodation.
How far in advance you arrive really depends on what you want/need to do with/for him. My husband accompanied my daughter to the UK when she started her first year, mostly to ensure that she could get her bank account opened and a mobile phone plan, and provide her with more baggage allowance. (I was prepared to just wave her off at Changi, but I guess fathers feel more protective of daughters?) He probably didn’t need to be there more than 4 days in total - 2 days before accommodation opened and another 2 days after. He actually stayed a week, but luckily had other people to see otherwise he would have been very bored.

Once hall is open, your son may appreciate your help in buying stuff for his room on the first couple of days; besides that, you probably won’t need to be there, and may not have much opportunity to spend time with your son as he will be busy with freshers’ activities and making friends. If you have other things to do or people to see, that would be good. If not, I think you could plan to leave a couple of days after hall is open.

You can pm me ️