I’ve left this blog pretty dormant for a while, because, well frankly, I haven’t had a lot to write about (or at least nothing I felt like writing about anyway). Recently, though, I’ve made some big life changes and I thought I’d write about them and what I’ve learned from these life changes. The big change is that in April of 2017, I moved away from Los Angeles and am now living an ocean and continent away in London, England. Why there? I’ve worked for a multinational company for a little while now, and honestly, I had been hoping for just an excuse to come out to Europe for a week or two. As I kept hearing about opportunities more and more, I prodded and patiently (and not so patiently) waited for a opportunity, and when my bosses told me they were giving me a visa to move, I knew I had to take the chance because I never would get another chance like this again.
I thought today I’d share some quick hit observations about the move to London, and perhaps if I get interested or (if a reader is interested), I can write up about a topic more at a later time. Here are some observations I’ve made about London since I’ve moved here:
- Immigration is hard. And to think I did mine fairly easily, as my job paid for a lot of moving expenses, I make a decent salary, and I didn’t have to learn a new language or learn too much of a different culture. Even with open borders in Europe, I’d still say things can be tough for moving from country to country. I told my parents after I moved here that I couldn’t imagine how they did immigration back in their time. I’ve learned to appreciate their situation back in the day more for sure even if I didn’t fully experience it myself (thank goodness I didn’t).
- On a lighter note, there are two Youtube Channels I really recommend before any one comes to the UK as a tourist or as an immigrant: Anglophenia and City Hacks London. They both have pretty good explainers on things about Britain and London itself that I wish I had known before I left.
- A friend of mine told me about a great website for any one who is moving to another country: Teleport. It has two major features: 1) it asks you personality questions and gives you possible places you would like to live based on your answers and 2) it provides checklists for the process of moving to your destination of choice. Was definitely handy for sure.
- Banking is much better here than in the states. Yes, while the United States has for the most part eschewed paper checks, they’re still a far more common sight than they are in Europe. Your primary banking account isn’t even called a checking account, but called a current account here in the UK.
- Unfortunately, because of American tax laws, there are a few added complications being an American living in another country. I’m still dealing with this and don’t know much about it right now, but since I like personal finance, I’ll probably write a blog post at a later time talking about dealing with money in both countries.
- Food is better than I expected. I’ll admit, I still make fun of British food (as let’s face it, the country isn’t known for it’s cuisine quite like Italy, France, Japan, or Thailand), but there’s a lot of variety in food more than I expected here in London. There’s a lot of different kinds of food just like in metropolitan cities in the States. It’s been fun exploring these different places for sure.
- Weather is terrible compared to LA. That’s true of most any place in the world, but I think that’s very true here with all the rain. If you like that though, you’ll love it here.
- Perhaps I’m using them wrong, but seems like common household fixtures and appliances aren’t as good in the UK as they are in the US. Toilets seem to sometimes require a few flushes and dryers take much longer than in the states. It seems a bit odd.
- I like taking the train to work a lot, though I will say I miss my car for the grocery store.
Alright, those are some quick thoughts I have on my move to London so far. I will have more blog posts on travel, finance, and perhaps a few other thoughts on London and other places. If there’s anything else you want me to over, let me know in the comments below.