Moving to London from New York - Image via Wikipedia

Author: Colleen

Yesterday I began to speak of ways in which London is similar and different to NYC considering the number of Americans moving to London from New York every year. I discussed, in a nutshell, my observations of NYC (particularly Manhattan) as a frequent visitor as well as drawing from my husband’s experience as a one-time New York resident. So, today, I’ll delve into how I think London takes New York’s qualities as a cultural, financial, and historical center even further.

London has even deeper layers of history, more varied movements in architecture, and greater diversity in its cultural demographics. London also works hard, but it plays hard, too—it knows when to go home and live a personal life. In addition to superior work-life balance (to which my husband will attest time and again, especially with 5.6 weeks of mandated vacation time not even including all the UK bank holidays), London is also a city that lets you be as fabulous as you want to be while also casual as well. It feels more like Chicago to me, actually, with its more residential-feeling neighborhoods and low-key pubs where you can just be yourself without trying to impress anyone.

London also has a far less convoluted subway system! It’s extensive and intricate, yes, but the London Underground’s color-coding system and titling of train lines is so much more comprehensible to me than New York’s subway ever was with its alphabet soup of numbers and letters. New York’s subway lines were also built beneath the roads, running predominantly parallel with them underground, which doesn’t make for the most efficient connection between points A and B. London’s tube, however, crisscrosses as necessary down there and even has multiple layers of underground trains. Individual tube stations have escalators and lifts (elevators) that will take you to one train line or even deeper into the bowels of the London Underground for another (pay attention to how much smaller trains are on, say, the Piccadilly Line, which runs deeper than the District Line to accommodate narrower tunnels further underground). I’ll grant that New York’s subway tops Chicago’s “El” train, but London’s got them both beat. Oh, and FYI, “subway” in London actually means “pedway” as we Americans would know it—i.e., they’re underground pedestrian tunnels for walking beneath roadways, not for trains.  

I could go on and on about the merits of each city, but the last two days have captured some key aspects that make a difference for me as an American expat living in London. My husband’s relocation from New York to the UK was a significant step in a better direction toward a more sustainable lifestyle, and I see the difference in his stress levels and life perspectives already after living in London for going-on three years. So if you’re likewise making the move from New York to London, you may be heartsick to leave as fine a city as NYC, but just know that London will not disappoint with regard to what you’re used to and how much more it will expose you to. 

Moving from New York to London - Image via Wikipedia

Author: Colleen

London Relocation has had a sizable percentage of clients moving to London from New York. I personally have New York City on the brain these days because I’m heading there tomorrow! Indeed, I’m writing from Stateside already as I’m visiting my folks in Chicago before spending a long weekend on the east coast with a couple of my best girlfriends. So excited! I haven’t been to NYC since my husband and I were still engaged and I was visiting him where he lived at the time in Manhattan—where he lived, in fact, until we relocated to London from the US together shortly after our wedding.New York is consequently a source of great nostalgia for me. My husband and I created many fond memories there as our relationship developed beyond the solid friendship we’d had for many years when both living in Chicago. New York was always, actually, the city I’d assumed I’d be moving to from Chicago when we were married until a job opportunity took us to London instead. Do I regret that? Not at all. Given the choice, London wins over New York for me, hands down. Yes, I © NY like everyone else, but I love London more.

Let’s consider why that might be…

Though I myself never lived in New York, I visited frequently enough to see for myself the observations my husband had also made as an NYC resident of over four years. New York has a vibrancy that is alluring at first, that’s for certain; it’s an energy that makes you feel alive and in the middle of it all for a while until you realize that the energy is actually intensity (or “neurosis,” as I believe Evelyn Waugh put it in his novel Brideshead Revisited). New York—or Manhattan, at least—is “need that done yesterday,” putting in your face time whether it’s productive or not, and going places to see and be seen, in my estimation. I like to get dolled up as much as the next lady, but Manhattan was never a place in which this Midwest gal felt totally comfortable sporting her good ol’ baseball cap. What it was, though—what it is—is a cultural as well as financial center, the intersection of nationalities as a historical port of immigration. It’s cosmopolitan, fashion-savvy, and the fruition of history and where history is still made.

It also offers access to breathtaking natural landscapes just a short drive outside of the downtown, both in New York State and New Jersey, perfect for if you’re outdoorsy and enjoy hiking, biking, camping, etc. Likewise, as a major hub for flight traffic, other cities and states become that much more accessible. Nice retreats, then, to escape the teeny tiny New York apartment you might be living in and spending a fortune on, akin to rent prices for London apartments.

That is among what it does share with London…London just takes it a step farther.

I’ll share with you in what ways I feel it does tomorrow, in hopes that it makes you feel even more excited about your London move, especially if you’re relocating to London from New York!