HAVE QUESTIONS? CALL US

Toll Free: 1-877-778-3487

Direct: +44(0) 20 7313 4580 | 14-16 Westbourne Grove, W2 5RH

CALL US NOW: +44(0) 20 7313 4580

Posts Tagged ‘Americans relocating to London’

Relocation to London – You’ve Arrived! Now What?

Friday August 5th, 2011

Relocation to London – You’ve Arrived! Now What? - Image via Wikipedia

If the official side of your relocation to London is getting you down, you need to remember that you’re moving to one of the most fascinating cities in the world. Part of your relocation to London planning should be to make a list of the attractions that you absolutely-have-to see when you arrive.

This is the time to act like a tourist. Get out your camera and enjoy the tourist attractions that London does so well. Before too long you’ll be settled into a new job, a new home and a new life. You don’t want to miss out on the sense of wonder and awe that you will feel as a tourist in London.

Relocation to London – Tourist Tours – The Tower of London

Arguably among one of the most famous landmarks and tourist attractions in London. When you’re settled into your routine of work and home after your relocation to London; you may just miss the chance to visit one of the most historical and interesting sights in the city.

Located on the banks of the River Thames, the Tower of London has survived wars and bombings to remain resolute and a stalwart sign of the power of England. The Tower of London was built in the reign of William the Conqueror back in the 11th century. At different times in history it has been seen as a sign of freedom or as a powerful symbol of an oppressive regime. It all depended on who was locked in the tower.

It has been in turn, a prison, a fortress and even a palace for the reigning kings and queens of England. Despite its gruesome reputations for beheadings and torture, only seven people were executed within the Tower walls until the start of WW1. Most executions in London were held on Tower Hill which is a little way to the north. During WW1 and WW2 the Tower was used as a prison and saw the execution of 12 men for espionage. Bloodthirsty lot!

When you arrive after your relocation to London, you should get a ‘London Pass’ which allows you to travel to and visit a number of important tourist attractions for a discount.

Tags: Americans relocating to London, London, relocation to london, River Thames, Tower Hill, Tower of London
Posted in: Relocation to London
No Comments »

An American Expat Living in London: My Countries ’tis of Thee

Monday May 30th, 2011

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 23: Soldiers on horseba...

US stars and stripes alongside the UK Union Jack - An American Expatriate Patriot in London! Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Author: Colleen

Moving to London is a life-changing event that had wrought massive homesickness when I first moved over, which recurs each time I visit home and must return again. It’s funny, though, how after a couple years I did start finding myself a bit homesick for London instead during my first days visiting home—I miss my husband, my cute lil’ London apartment, my London friends, London architecture and culture, and just my casual London everyday existence as I’m taken out of my routine.

And yet here I sit, in my childhood bedroom the day before returning to London after two weeks in the States, and I find myself now acclimated back to my Chicago way of living—my family, my parents’ cute lil’ yellow house, my Chicago friends, Chicago spaciousness and convenience (like my car!!!), and just my casual Chicago everyday existence as I’m reinserted in my old routine.

It kinda sucks. And yet it’s also kinda great. This is the expat experience of straddling two homes, the home where you live and the home where you came from, though “home” might be, for some, not a matter of geographic location but where your heart resides. In my case, my heart is still in Chicago, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t made room in it for London. I feel like it’s thanks to my current London expat life that, when we repatriate, I’ll be able to embrace my Chicago life with an expanded outlook that will appreciate it differently, and perhaps I’ll live it even better from where I’d left off. For as much I’ve remained the same, after moving to London, personal growth and awareness have snuck up on me .

Being an American expat living in London means having to say goodbye more often than I’d prefer, but it’s also getting to say hello with more and more enthusiasm with every next embrace. It’s focusing your lenses to better see what matters, taking stock of what’s no longer in your backyard and relishing what you do have for the time being before life takes you on another journey somewhere else or from whence you came. And just when you might think you’re only relocating to London for a job, studying abroad, or meeting new people, you just might find you’re moving to London to meet yourself again.

I tell you, “America the Beautiful” literally brought tears to my eyes for the first time when I listened to it yesterday with new ears; my heart likewise wells with pride when I see the Union Jack flag flapping amidst Britain’s celebrations. I’m proud to be a citizen of one fine country while the resident of another, and perhaps, in future, instead of singing the words to “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” or “God Save the Queen,” I’ll just hum the sweet little tune that accompanies both (FYI, if you didn’t realize that…) so I’ll never have to truly say goodbye to either.

Bidding all Americans (whether home or abroad) a happy Memorial Day today! I’m off to go celebrate it here Stateside.

Tags: american expats in london, Americans relocating to London, celebrating memorial day in london, flats to let in london, living in London, london move, london relocation agent, London Relocation Services, Moving to London from US, rent london apartments
Posted in: Living in London, London Relocation & What People Say About Us, Moving to London: Tips & Culture
1 Comment »

Expat Phone Home

Monday November 22nd, 2010

Author: Colleen
If you’re moving to London away from your home country, you can initially feel alien-ated indeed (*wink-wink* *nudge-nudge*) without your old phone and a contact number beyond that of your hotel for your first days. Well, luckily London Relocation Ltd. will help limit the amount of time you need to spend at the hotel via our one-day flat-finding service, which allows you to then set up a landline phone, if desired, straightaway in your new London apartment. There is also the mobile phone (see my “Buying a UK Phone is ‘SIM’-ple!” post), which will require a UK bank account and address.

Until the phone was squared away, I felt tremendously detached from home…so what in heckfire was I thinking not to phone home using the internet??! I was aware of Skype, but I guess just not educated on how handy it really is, and honestly after 2 years living in London it’s only been in the last few months that I’ve finally started using it.

Skype is perhaps more of a household name now than it was those couple years ago. When you register for an account, it’s free to call other Skype users, or from 1.6 pence a minute for pay-as-you-go calls to worldwide cell phones and landlines. With a monthly subscription, you can pay less than £5 per month for unlimited calls to the U.S. and about £9 worldwide.

My parents don’t yet have Skype, nor do they have a webcam or fast-enough connection beyond their original dial-up service, for that matter, so I pay for the unlimited service to call their landline. While I’m sad not to be able to see them, the sound through my Mac is great, and (opting not to use a headset) it allows me to just kick back and speak into the air as I would if they were right there in the room…which is a plus when our 2-hour calls otherwise bruise the cartilege in my ear with a phone pressed against it . But when you can phone someone with the vidoeo functionality, it’s terribly fun and the closest thing to having them with you. I love when our visitors call home with Skype at our flat—absolutely heart-melting to see their children’s wee faces speaking to them, probably too young and already too tech-savvy to process what a big deal it is to be able to talk to your parents across an ocean…and on a computer! This child of the 80s is convinced we already live in the sci-fi future…

You can also look into video conferencing via MSN Messenger or, if you’re a Mac user, iChat. I have no personal experience with either of these, so if you do, share your thoughts! Or how about other such international internet services (like Yahoo Voice??)? Any ideas that have worked for you?

At any rate, this has just popped to mind in light of the impending Thanksgiving holiday that many American expats in London will be celebrating thousands of miles away from their loved ones. So with that heart glowing, reach that long, just-as-freakishly glowing fingertip out and touch someone…by tapping your keyboard first .

Tags: Americans relocating to London, calling home from abroad, calling internationally, calling long-distance from uk, colleen, dialling internationally, getting a phone in london, Greenwich, london apartments, london move, London Relocation Services, looking for a london apartment, mobile phone sim cards, moving to London from the US, MSN Messenger, relocating to London from Canada, rent london, setting up phone service in london, Skype
Posted in: Moving to London: Tips & Culture, Relocating to UK: Visas, Banking, & Other Logisitical Issues
8 Comments »

Top 10 Just-Barely-Off-The-Beaten-Path Things to Do in London

Wednesday October 27th, 2010

Author: Colleen

As I’ve mentioned time and again, ever since I moved to London, England, my husband and I have been playing host and hostess with the most and mostess to a plethora of out-of-town visitors (see my previous posts on hosting guests for some advice on how to swing it successfully with your London flat as their home base). Most guests are visiting London for the first time, so I usually refer them to my London Bundles blog series (the Thames Circuit and Government Grouping hitting most of the big and more obvious London tourist attractions), but for those who have already been here and seen the major sites, I like to recommend the following, among others I’m probably not thinking of now :

1 – One of our favorite pubs is near St. Paul’s on Fleet Street, called Ye Olde Cheschire Cheese. It was rebuilt in 1667 after burning down in the Great Fire.

2 – My personal favorite place is the old Victorian cemetery in our neighborhood—perfect October atmosphere —and you can visit any of several of these that comprise the Magnificent Seven all around the city (including the best-known Highgate Cemetery)

3 – Near Highgate is the lovely Hampstead in North London. It has a somewhat village-type atmosphere and is just off the immense Heath, a 700-acre or so park with hills and ponds.

4 – Camden Town is an edgy, alternative part of town with pubs and markets along a canal.

5 – Brick Lane on the East Side is cool—a long strip of Indian restaurants and a cool network of quirky vintage and kitschy shops. This is the area where Jack the Ripper did his deeds, so these are very old, narrow, windy London streets, though not all the original buildings still stand after the Blitz.

6 – Notting Hill is darling along Portobello Road—boutiques, antiques, and clothing/food markets.

7 – Kensington Gardens make for a nice stroll. Kensington Palace where Lady Di lived is there and has a quirky, avant-garde exhibit called Enchanted Palace going on while the palace undergoes renovations.

8 – Chelsea is a cute and happenin’ area—a lot of shops/markets off the Kings Road, which leads into Sloane Square, which also has nice London shopping without the mania of Oxford and Regent Streets.

9 – Speaking of Oxford and Regent Streets—these are two intersecting streets basically like New York’s 5th Avenue or Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and very touristed. BUT just off of Regent Street is a cool network of little streets and buildings, filled with shops, pubs, and restaurants. The area generally surrounds Carnaby Street in Soho, and there’s an amazing Victorian-era department store there called Liberty with a faux-Tudor facade.

10 – As for museums, a really cool one that is kind of tucked away is the Churchill War Rooms, located in the underground bunker where Churchill and his cabinet strategized during WWII.

Oooh, and as a bonus #11, even if you don’t like modern art, if you dash across the Millenium Bridge, the cafe/restaurant on Tate Modern‘s 7th floor offers the most amazing panoramic view of the Thames and St. Paul’s. Totally worth grabbing a snack or cocktail to just rest there and take it in.

image from think-in-pictures.com

Remember that these are things to do in London that YOU may enjoy as well after you move to England and desire to take in as much as you can of its wondrous capitol city.

Friday Festivities on London’s East End

Friday September 10th, 2010

Author: Colleen

Today proved to be a fun one indeed for two American expats in London. This West-Side gal joined forces with an East-Side Londonista to explore “Secret Subterranean London,” a quirky and haunting exploration of the bowels of this fine city on exhibit from 10-15 September in Shoreditch. While not exactly what we expected (we thought we’d be spelunking deep into the labyrinthine tunnels of London’s underbelly), it was nonetheless yet another superb example of the more random, avant-garde experiences to be had in London, transforming what could have been an average walk down the street into an atmospheric and arty interpretation of London’s underground world—ideal for setting the mood for an impending autumn and Halloween, mwah-ha-ha-haaaaa…

From the Illumini website:

“The old rustic subterranean dark labyrinth, with its many rooms, alleyways and cells, will be transformed into several areas of historical underground London, eg: world war bunkers, disused station, crypts, historical waterways and many more, long forgotten hidden secrets of London.”

While the dank darkness and howls of this underworld make one forget whether it is day or night, we did reemerge into the afternoon light and found ourselves feeling a bit peckish. A wander towards London’s well-known Brick Lane guided us past darling vintage shops and exotic restaurants; just seeking a light bite and an afternoon brew, however, we opted for The Big Chill Bar for deelish veggie snacks (I’m not even a vegetarian, but I couldn’t resist the butternut squash empanaditas and still managed to tuck into my friend’s flatbread and hummus as well). Still feeling a bit thirsty, we respectable ladies somehow found ourselves in a favorite pub of London prostitutes past *blush*…none other than the 18th-century Ten Bells (just near Spitalfields Market), which Jack the Ripper‘s victims would frequent. Nothing foul was afoot there, except perhaps an eccentric former house member of UK’s Big Brother sitting right outside in her signature hat. Thirstier yet, we capped off our evening at Grapeshots wine bar, tucked away in a wee alley near London’s Liverpool Street Station.

Such a fun, fun Friday in London, and such a refreshing change of pace from the usual gentrified West End where we Americans tend to flock in droves. I am more than convinced that London’s East End is highly underrated, particularly from the general expat point-of-view, so I highly encourage you to check it out as you research your London relocation or, if you’re already here, as you contemplate what new London terrain to explore on a leisurely day or night out.

Tags: Americans relocating to London, brick lane shops and restaurants, colleen, east london relocation, Eastenders, good wine bars in london, London East End, london jack the ripper tours, london liverpool street, london move, London Relocation Services, london spitalfields market, London Underground, moving to London England, places to live in london, places where americans live in london
Posted in: London Food & Beverage, London Recreation, London, England History, Moving to London: Tips & Culture
1 Comment »

Americans Moving to London – Finding the U.S. in the UK (Part 3 of 3)

Thursday July 1st, 2010

Before I continue yammering on about Americans relocating to London, allow me to bid our fine Canadian expats a happy Canada Day! Festivities in London are underway: http://www.canadadaylondon.com/

And now, to conclude my brief series on where Americans like to live in London:

(This excerpt is adapted from my 17 May guest post on Anglotopia.net, a brilliant, comprehensive resource on all things UK that I highly recommend to all Anglophiles!)

St. John’s Wood

Perhaps the most blatant draw to St. John’s Wood for Americans is the American School in London (ASL). The only American school located within the city of London itself, ASL’s American curriculum automatically attracts families relocating from the United States to provide children with continuity in their education.

Regardless if one’s child is not enrolled in ASL or one does not have children at all, the neighborhood has a ready network of Americans (the St. John’s Wood Women’s Club being one resource) and meets a high standard of living. It is certainly one of the more expensive areas to live (Paul McCartney lives there), with a gorgeous brass-fixtured Tube station and darling cafes and shops to wander around in a safe, quiet, and family-friendly environment.

Perhaps one of the more fun features of SJW is Lord’s cricket ground, the “Home of Cricket.” American sports enthusiasts can attend a match there and figure out first-hand whether cricket moves more slowly than baseball

(And since this post first published on Anglotopia.net, a helpful commenter added that Panzers Deli is a big draw to the neighborhood for its American foods!)

Islington

Now, this is not one of the more obvious choices for Americans, but I would be remiss not to mention Islington as a neighborhood of growing attraction. It has an edgy, artsy feel mixed with increasing gentrification (think Chicago’s Bucktown/Wicker Park or New York’s Greenwich/West Villages), so its great social scene (commencing immediately along Upper Street just outside of Angel Tube station) ranges from super-casual pub to super-swank club.

In addition to the nightlife, this North London neighborhood’s closer proximity to the city center renders it desirable by expats wanting a shorter commute to work.

Moving to London

Regardless of where you decide to live in London, opportunities to network with other Americans abound. The expat community is spirited and open-minded, so you’ll be deeply enriched by the global experiences of others who have relocated like yourself.

While this empathy is great (and vital for some), a major part of the expat experience is also to cast off a bit of what you knew at home to take on the new challenges and joys of a different cultural environment. In this case, don’t worry that living in a popular American neighborhood will mean sheltering yourself from the international community—such couldn’t possibly happen in a city as diverse as London!

Tags: American School in London, Americans moving to London, Americans relocating to London, Anglotopia.net, Canada Day, Islington, London Relocation Services, north london, Panzers Deli, St. John's Wood, west london relocation
Posted in: London Food & Beverage, London Neighborhoods, London Recreation, Moving to London: Tips & Culture, Rent in London: London Apartment Tips
5 Comments »