Turbosnow

Hello there , I am a regular on the NASIOC boards but I thought that this would be a better forum for my questions. I was born in the US, but my mother is a british citizen and her family all lives in england. This week I have an interview for a good position with a company in London.

Basically I'm Looking for advice on wether it would be a good idea to make a move to london. I currently live in a smallish city in upstate NY. It is suburban but semi-rural. I have been interested in moving to a more comsmopolitan city for quite awhile. I spend a great deal of time in New York city, so I am well aware of the general differences in lifestyle.

The uk has been attractive to me partially because of the family connection, also because of all of the cool cars that are unavailable in the US. In addition I am attracted by the less-stressful lifestyle (that I percieve). British folks seem to be more inclined to work to live rather than live to work.

So what do you friendly folks think?
Can a yank make it in london?

fatherpierre

If you like rubbish lined streets, high crime, terrible, over-crowded trains and stupidly high house prices then London's the place for you!

fatherpierre

I'd say the perception of working to live you have is wrong too. Brits work the highest average hours in Europe.

Not trying to put you off or anything

[Edited by fatherpierre - 5/19/2003 9:56:36 PM]

unclebuck

don't do it mate....really...not London...

UB

Turbosnow

Jeez that souds an awful lot like NYC except substitute grabage for the more genteel rubbish and gun violence for crime Oh yeah , New Yorkers also have really abrasive accents. .....

Turbosnow

"I'd say the perception of working to live you have is wrong too. Brits work the highest average hours in Europe."


But ya'll do get more than two weeks of vacation a year, right?
Rightn now I work between 50 and 60 hours a week for not a terribly good salary with 2 weeks of vacation. I also have to pay for a lot of my own healthcare and I can't buy a lotus elise........

fatherpierre

Well there is no real London accent as much of the population are from elsewhere! You can sit on the tube for 30 mins and hear every language other than English.

If you do come go to Whitechapel station on a Sat afternoon - you'd think you'd been on the fast train to New Delhi.

London's not like the rest of the country. Think of it as a country within a much nicer country.

Little Miss WRX

Greetings Turbosnow....I recognise your username from the old i-club - I rarely look at the new split boards now. LOL
Welcome to Scoobynet.

How about doing a trial move here to see if you like it?

Turbosnow

Little miss, hello, I don't look at I-club much anymore since the split, I guess I just gravitated towards NASIOC.

I'd like to do the trial thing but I'd be leaving a good job and two cars and a lot of friendships behind, so I want to be relatively sure that it will be worthwhile for at least a few years. I spent a week in the UK in Feb and it was really nice, but I didn't spend any real time in London. The job itself seems really interesting and would require travel to the Netherlands and Germany, which would be great. I don't even have an offer yet, so I am probably jumping the gun, but I figure if they are bothering to give me an interview from the states, they must be pretty interested.

planky

Sarf Londons nice and if you move near me,you'll be amazed how more civilised and cleaner it is this side of the thames

Btw i love living in London best city in the world

Tim-Grove

Maybe live out of London and commute???

fatherpierre

As long as getting anywhere by car quickly's not high on your list of wants!

stiscooby

You must be mad!!!!

I have just come back this weekend from a holiday in the US. Spent first part of it in New York and loved it, didn't wanna leave (1st time there)

We noticed straight away the different attitude people have over there (better of course) more polite etc, always talk and help you out. Felt allot safer walking around New York after dark than we would walking around London.

Plus everything over here is a complete rip off. It is a joke.

Can understand your reason though, because of family etc, but the people I know who use to live here and moved to the US say that they couldn’t live back here now when they have came over for a holiday to see relatives etc.

As said above come over for a trial period if you can to see what it’s like.

Good luck in whatever you end up doing

It's funny becuase we say the same things about people over there as regards working to live we think you have the better life

[Edited by stiscooby - 5/19/2003 10:56:07 PM]

stuckhere

If you like NY then you'll love London just tell everyone you meet your Canadian lol!!
Ahh only kidding dude I used to live there about 10 months ago rents expensive if your in central London or you get the choice of commuting and cheaper rent which tbh sucks but then again if you want the car then you have to commute, owning a car in London is expensive.
My experience here is that the people are NOT friendly (I think its just a southern thing?!) and the cost of living is not that much cheaper than London apart from ciggies!
OK I'm going to stop before I get carried away.
I've done what you are planning on doing but the other way round and sadly its in Texas!
You'll have a blast go for it and if you don't then you can always go home, right?.


[Edited by stuckhere - 5/19/2003 11:07:35 PM]

Apparition

Stiscooby........ the attitude is different because you were an english person in NY .
Turbo... as suggested, try it, but live out of the city. Commute in, that way you get the best of both worlds.

bigsinky

why the **** would you want to come to a $hithole like the UK. stay in the US m8 were you will be better off, beleive me

Turbosnow

It's funny I think we're all (myself included) sufferring from a litte of the "grass is always greener" syndrome. I see better indian food, tons of cool cars that are unavailable here and no fear of getting shot. It's odd that one would feel safer in NYC than london, our criminals carry machine guns. They told me the salary range today and it seems pretty decent, although I'd like an opinion form you all. Is 35 to 40k pounds per year livable in London? It seemed reasonable. Rents seemed to hover in the 700 to 800 pounds per month range, and I figure that at least food would be cheaper than a straight dllar exchange. Mostly I'm kind of stuck in a rut in suburbia, a bit isolated from the real world, and I honestly wouldn't really want to live in NY. The whole vacation time isue is also huge for me as I really like to travel.
Thanks to you all for taking the time to tell me what you think.

JackClark

You have to give it a try! Get over before November and you can suffer the Rally GB.

jasey

If it was as easy to get into the USA as it is to get into the UK the UK would be empty !

When I left London - about 15 years ago it was because;

I lived in Teddington and worked in Westminster - a distance of 13 miles. I got up at 5:45 and got the train at 6:45. Got into the office at approx 8:30 (depending on the poor train services). Work until about 18:00 and then head off home (quite often via the pub). Got home at 20:30 (if no pub) or 23:59 ish (having been to Shepperton on the train (asleep)). Did this when I was between the ages of 18 and 24 and it was fantastic - However the thought of doing it for 40 years made me evaluate and get out !

This was 15 years ago - when the train service was quite good - by today's standards (But I still get cold shivers when I hear the name Jimmy Knapp - ****)

If you are young - go for it !
If you are an old git - stay where you are (and can you get me a green card ?)

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Give it a go, you'll find that most prices over here are pounds for dollars anyway!!:
Alcazar,(who'd LOVE to live outside the UK!)

TopBanana

I'd recommend you live outside of London and commute in.

Mr Gee

Move to Honollulu !!

Hicky

I commute into London on the train, must admit been lucky, it only takes 40 mins (when everything works) 98% of the time. You can live in London and still travel for longer!

I reckon you should commute, either that or move to Australia or NZ!

EVOVI

You reckon you will earn £35-£40k a year....and you want to rent a nice place and get a nice car.....
God knows what the rent will be but a 1 bed flat will cost about £220k to buy...
As for a nice car...No point in London.If you find anywhere cheap enough to live you won`t have a garage and will have to leave it on the road overnight,Don`t expect to remain claim free on your insurance..Driving is a nightmare..£5 just to drive into town,parking meters everywhere and nobody can drive in london.Most don`t have insurance let alone a licence.***** on bikes cutting in here there and everywhere,cabbies owning the road,buses go where they want....
The underground is hot and smelly...You pay your money to stand eyeball to eyeball with some stranger or to smell someones sweaty armpit...If animals got treated like you do on the tube there would be an outcry..Buskers,tramps and Big issue sellers everywhere,not to mention the pick pocket gangs...
Other than that it is a lively place........

stuckhere

I was earning between 35-40K a year and paying 650GBP a month for rent which included all bills but no phone calls. And this was in a small, actually VERY small two bedroom apartment in Pimlico.
Sharing is cheaper and if things go wrong its a lot easier to get out of than renting a place by yourself and being stuck with a 6-12 month lease, that way you get to make buddies quicker to.
If you want to commute and pay cheaper rent then be prepared for a fairly long journey on the trains which are terrible but its just a way of life there now everyone seems to accept it.
If you like currys, fast cars and want to travel then go for it.
Everything you want is there. And I would say London is alot safer than NY IMHO.

Andy Hall

I have some friends who are English but had been living just outside NY for 7 years. They decided they wanted to move back to UK for the kids school / families etc, got here and couldn't wait to get back. It took them 18 months to do it but they said the quality of life over there was better, salaries were better, could get a house over there 4 x the size they could here and the schools over there actually turned out to be better.

Turbosnow

Hey, here's an idea anyone that wants to move to the US, I have an apartment and a subie (2002 WRX). We can trade, I move to the UK and you move to the US. Now, my apartment is in a converted barn so it is quiet and private, if a little in disrepair. There is a 2 bay garage below the apartment and lots of parking in front. The rent is cheap, and the only real problem is the utter lack of good jobs in the area. If you want the subie, you'd have to take over the payments, as I'm not paing for something that I'm not driving. That is of course unless you have some equally cool car in the UK for me to drive.

Any takers?

JackClark

London Translation.

Now, my apartment is in a converted 1 bedroom house so it is noisy, shared by 10 people, and in a state of disrepair. There is a petrol station below the apartment that doubles as a drug dealers car park and no parking in front. The rent is expensive, and the only real problem is the utter lack of good jobs in the area.

JackClark

I still say give it a go, London's a great town and the women are the best in the world.

jasey

Jack - you missed "I used to have a great car but it got nicked - by a gang who held me up at gun point - I was going to shoot the ******* but realised I would be in more trouble than them !"

TurboSnow - In America you can shoot criminals that come to steal your hard earnt possesions - in the UK you have to make sure you give them enough or they can sue for loss of earnings