Relocation to London – Sunday Brunch is Here! - Portobello Road Market - Image via Wikipedia

The most fabulous thing about your relocation to London is the fact that “brunch” is indeed an international phenomenon. If you were worried about what will happen to your tradition of Sunday Brunch after your international relocation, never fear, London is ready for you.

Even though we are heading very firmly into the winter months, it’s still a superb way to spend a Sunday morning after your relocation to London. If you’re living a little way out of the city center, just hop on a tube: Sunday is a great time to practice your tube travel if you’re just arrived and are somewhat apprehensive about the whole ‘Tube’ thing.

You can walk up a good appetite by taking a meander through one of the Royal Parks and then head off for some early season Christmas shopping and then a hearty brunch at one of the bistros and eateries that specialize in the brunch experience.

Traditional Elegance or Modern Trends – The Choice is Yours

Dean Street Townhouse is a rather elegant boutique hotel that does a superb, if pricey, Sunday brunch menu. It’s up market and trendy, while retaining a certain timeless British splendor. You will have to book in advance; it’s terribly popular with the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. If you’re looking for something a little more casual, yet still buzzing, and a venue where you can enjoy a relaxed brunch, then head to Electric Brasserie on the Portobello road. Fabulously trendy with both indoor and outdoor seating, this restaurant is firmly established on the brunchy map.

Again, it might be wise to book in advance to ensure a table, but a Sunday brunch and then a stroll through the famous Portobello Road Marketmake for a great way to spend your Sunday. Try as much as possible to spend time exploring the city after you’re relocation to London. Don’t be put off by the winter weather; Londoners are out enjoying everything that this fabulous city has to offer, every day of the year.

Author:  Colleen

Londoners shop 'til they drop along Notting Hill's Portobello Road Market - London Relocation Services - Image via Wikipedia

A relocation to London is more than just moving from Point A to Point B and having new experiences. It’s also accomplishing the same everyday stuff you’ve always done and will still need to do. Ask any expat: figuring out where to buy what is tough. Luckily, London Relocation knows the best places to shop and can advise on what’s available in the area of your new London apartment.

Clothing
Most London neighbourhoods have what is called a “high street,” which is a main street lined with mainstream chain stores. To centralize your shopping, Westfield has massive malls located in Shepherds Bush and now Stratford City in London. Designer and vintage boutiques likewise scatter the city—it’s all a matter of knowing where to look, from the fanciest to funkiest of neighbourhoods. You’ll discover so much on your own, but your London Relocation agent can point some out in advance during your flat search.

Groceries
Top London grocery chains include M&S Simply Food, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and The Cooperative. Expats from the States also seek out stores like Partridge’s that import American foods. (London has specialty stores accommodating many other cultures, too, so let your London Relocation agent know your food requirements.) Another alternative that makes for a pleasant outing is finding fresh produce and meats at any of London’s farmer’s markets—most renowned is Borough Market near London Bridge.

Best Values
High streets usually feature clothing shops like H&M, Zara, and Topshop that offer the latest trends at reasonable prices. Market stalls can offer cheap deals on clothing, too. Consider those on the east end around Brick Lane, in the west along Portobello Road, or north at Camden Market. UK online shopping sites like ASOS.com sell clothing at less than retail prices. Grocery chains like Asda, Morrisons, and Iceland offer cheaper prices, as do online grocery shops like Ocado.com that keep prices competitive. Online discounts also abound to keep London groceries affordable:

www.hotukdeals.com
www.supermarketvouchercodes.com
shoppingcodes.co.uk
www.savacode.com
supermarketcoupons.co.uk
www.nectar.com

Best Quality
Some of London’s poshest clothing shopping to be had is found on and off streets like Regent Street, Knightsbridge, Sloane Square, and the Kings Road. For food, the world’s largest Whole Foods is located on Kensington High Street. M&S Simply Food and Waitrose arguably offer highest quality bang for the buck versus non-chain specialty food stores.

There’s loads more shopping alternatives out there, though. And quality, prices, and locations will vary, so your London Relocation agent will let you know what’s available in your specific London neighborhood.

Lots Road Auctions - London Relocation Services - Image by Monica Arellano-Ongpin via Flickr

Author:  Colleen

One very cool thing indeed about moving to London and setting up shop in a new London apartment are the vintage possibilities. In a very old city that has accumulated a lot of very old stuff, there is a constant turnover of furnishings and decor as it’s out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new…or in-with-the-old, for that matter.

Turn on the telly and you’ll see that antiquing is a classic British pastime. The UK is where the “Antiques Roadshow” was born, and shows like “Flog It!” reflect the popularity of auctions. You can go highbrow at one of the Christie’s fine art salerooms on King Street or Old Brompton Road in London, or just take antiquing at your own pace without the competitive pressure of bidding with a stroll through any of the famed Portobello Road shops. If you’d like to give the live auction scene a try, though, check out Lots Road in Chelsea. Located just off the King’s Road, this massive saleroom auctions hundreds of lots every Sunday. Both antique and contemporary goods are for sale, which you can browse at their website or just visit first-hand.

My husband and I wandered over to Lots Road yesterday, just to sift through other people’s old crap for the heck of it; one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as they say. It’s fun to think about what valuable or sheerly conversational pieces we might one day collect for when we repatriate to the States and need to fill a new house. (Afterward, we treated ourselves to brunch at the darling Megan’s Deli nearby on the King’s Road. Its quaint, country vintage atmosphere inside and garden out back preserves the charm of one’s antiquing afternoon.)

Just another option to consider if you’re in the midst of an international relocation to London and leaving your furnishings at home. Even furnished London apartments may need an extra piece here and there. Or maybe you’re simply interested in collecting the fine or quirky items the UK has to offer, wishing to join the natives in this cultural ritual. Going once, going twice…you’re SOLD! on the idea already, I can tell.

Moving to London – Think about Where you want to Stay.- Image via Wikipedia

If you’re moving to London and your London relocation agents are on the hunt to help you find a place, then it’s always handy if you have a basic idea of what you’re looking for. That’s assuming that you haven’t gone over to get a firsthand view of what’s available. There are a number of areas for you to move to move to suit your needs.

Notting Hill is a start. Largely because of the movie, obviously. But the area also has more to offer besides the locations featured in the movie (though Portobello Road would be a likely first stop for many Americans given how prominently it is featured as a location). Notting Hill also has many things to do during the day, it has a vibrant nightlife, and you can also visit Kensington Gardens to take in a fresh air experience if you just want to get away from the hustle and bustle of it all.

If you’re looking for something that will allow you an easy access to London’s nightlife, look to the West End. It’s certainly a more upmarket location, but if you do live there, you would have your choice of restaurants, theatre shows and other aspects of the London nightlife.

As an American, St John’s Wood might hold special appeal for you seeing as it does have an American School (the only American School located in the city of London). St John’s Wood already has an established community of Americans living there, so moving there should be particularly attractive given that the presence of your countrymen should help you to acclimatize.

Moving over with your family means finding an area to accommodate your needs. Barnes, situated right across the River Thames from Hammersmith is a suburb that has a growing community of young professionals. There are primary schools, nurseries and London city itself is easily within reach given the convenience of public transport.

That’s only four areas, but we’ll be exploring some of the most popular neighborhoods that have been identified by expert relocation companies to consider if you’re moving to London. Regardless of you final choice, always remember that you and your London relocation agents should always consider your situation and your best interests when moving.

The London stage for star-spotting isn't always in the theatre - it just might be on your sidewalk after your London move. Image by AndyRob via Flickr

Author:  Colleen

Now, if you’re just completing your relocation in London, you’ve probably had up to this point more pressing matters on your mind than star-spotting. So now it’s time to get out of that London apartment you’ve spent so long settling into (thank goodness it didn’t take you long to find it in the first place thanks to the London relocation agents at London Relocation Ltd.!). If you literally want to star-gaze (or should I say, “lit-rally,” like the Brits), you can head over to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. But if you’re after the stars of this earth, the ones that trod on the ground with us with heavenly bodies of their own (eh, sometimes), then London is the place.

What I like about London is that it’s the Hollywood/Washington D.C./New York/Chicago/San Francisco of England, all rolled into one. People in the States will head to LA to join the paparazzi in star-spotting, but not everyone necessarily comes to London to do so, because this city serves so many additional functions beyond that. As a result, the celebrities seem more comfortable stepping out of the woodwork to enjoy a relatively more normal way of life. Not that England is without it’s share of the paparazzi—tabloids are just as if not more ridiculous here than in the States—yet somehow celebs can make it outside without being constantly bombarded.

So what I have learned in my personal experience living in London so far is that one of the best ways to spot the stars is at the cafés of trendier neighborhoods. What is also key is to not be trying to find them; they’ll turn up when least expected. So far I’ve sat right next to Maggie Gyllenhaal at 202 Café in the London neighborhood of Notting Hill on Westbourne Grove, and just last Thursday I think Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson held the door open for me at Caffè Vergnano 1882 (near the Leicester Square tube station on Charing Cross Road, London’s theatre district). London Relocation colleagues came to work one day telling me how they saw Woody Allen sitting right inside Notting Hill‘s Beach Blanket Babylon, where he was filming on the street right outside with Naomi Watts and Antonio Banderas—I recall having to scoot through their set really quickly coming in to work that day before they shot a rain scene (as if they couldn’t have just waited another couple hours for London to provide one of its own )! My friend recently brushed past Jason Schwartzman amidst the shops and cafés of Portobello Road, and another had seen Jude Law at a Starbucks in Hampstead (also spotted in Hampstead: Ricky Gervais). And I must say getting a glimpse of the royals during the Royal Wedding was quite exciting; those attending Trooping the Colour last weekend would’ve gotten a second chance at that, and we now know from the local papers how much Will and Kate love hanging out on the Kings Road and other locations in Chelsea, Kensington, and Knightsbridge…at least they did before when still living London, but it sounds like they’re coming back soon to live at Kensington Palace (by the way, like how I just equated royalty with celebrity? Is there a difference anymore?).

But if you’d like to have more control over when destiny brings you and the stars closer together, then definitely take in a London show where the A-listers step out on stage. So far since moving to London, I’ve seen theatre performances by Kevin Spacey, Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Elisabeth Moss, Ellen Burstyn, and Carol Kane, right from the first few rows where you can actually see the spit when they deliver their lines. You can also register with the Applause Store and get tickets to be in the studio audience of locally-produced television shows. Or do what one of my friends does—sign up with a casting agency to be an extra and spend a day or so on the sets of movies filmed in England (my friend has played a witch in the last two Harry Potters!)

Maybe this stuff isn’t your thing, or maybe you’re ready to be star-struck. Either way, “the world is a stage,” so your international relocation to London will put you in the spotlight of an exciting new life. Contact us if our London relocation services can help cast your fabulous new London apartment rental!

Living In London – It’s All About You Part I- Image via Flickr

The most important part of your search for that perfect new London rental is going to be your personal circumstances. You may be thrilled by the idea that you are moving to London, but the hunt for a neighborhood, will not just be determined by the fact that ‘everyone’ lives in Notting Hill! You cannot approach living in London by looking at the neighborhood alone. A better way to start looking for your new home is to make a list of YOUR needs. It’ll narrow down the search substantially and you’ll be able to find a London apartment that caters to all of your requirements.

Working It!

This is going to be the biggest factor in choosing an area and London rental home when you are moving to London. Where you work is the first item you need to look at. If you have a job lined up before you are moving to London, you need to look at how long you are prepared to commute each day. An average amount of time spent on a one-way journey to work is about an hour. If you’re prepared to spend more time getting to and from work then you may be able to live further out of London and enjoy some of the countryside. If you can’t stand the idea of spending an hour on the tube each morning, then you may have to live close to your work so it’s only a short bus ride away.

Simply Social

If you already have friends living in London then you may want to live close to your social circle. This is quite important if you are an American moving to London. You’ll want to be able to mix with people from your own country and it might be easier, certainly at the beginning, to rent a London apartment close to your countrymen. Remember that London is a massive city, and even if you do have friends living in London, the sheer scale of the place might make it difficult to get together regularly. If you’re friends form back home are important to you then you should talk to them before you arrive about finding a new London rental close to them.

Shopping in London after a London move - Image via Wikipedia

Author: Colleen

Moving to London from the US has made me realize how much there is to see in this fine city and how much simply cannot be seen during a single visit. Every time I have a guest in town, I’m overflowing with ideas of what we could see and do based on my own faves and their interests, but we can never cover it all.

But I’ll be damned if we’re not tryin’ this week! As I’ve been chronicling so far, this American expat in London and my good friend visiting from the States are painting this town red, white, and blue in the spirit of the Union Jack and our Star-Spangled Banner. Yesterday, we tackled the big stuff central to London tourism, and today we decided to get our shopping thang on in west London.

To start, the iconic red double-decker bus is always a nice transport option to have your guests try at least once, and make sure they sit up top! It sounds cheesy, but when you haven’t ridden on one before, you really do get a kick out of the elevated perspective as well as how those drivers manage to maneuver through the twists of these narrow streets. So I chose this option for getting to Notting Hill so that my friend could take in the scenery that one misses in the Underground. Hopping off at Notting Hill Gate, Portobello Road was my friend’s request to scope out the famous market and its antiques, fashions, and foods to be had. In addition to me pointing out the usual sites from the film Notting Hill (the fake travel bookshop, the real travel bookshop, the house that no longer has the little blue door…), my friend acquired a couple fabulous bags, a necklace, and properly hokey Royal Wedding souvenirs for friends and family. Score!

Given our not-so-early start this afternoon, we then decided to high-tail it to the British Library so we could see its manuscript room before it closed (my friend is a librarian in Los Angeles, so just as bookish as I am if not more!). The tube was our best bet for transport in this case: Central line out of Notting Hill Gate to Holburn, where we could connect to the Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross Station. Once you pass the impressive, almost Candy Land-ish St. Pancras station/hotel/London apartment building, the library is just at the next block, where you can see several stories of books (literally) on walking in, and across the atrium and to the left you’ll find the room of literary treasures that includes Jane Austen’s writing desk, Charlotte Bronte’s handwritten Jane Eyre, Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March,” the Magna Carta, back-of-the-envelope lyrics (again, literally) of The Beatles, star charts, and religious texts including the Gutenberg Bible. And it’s free.

But enough of the intellectually and culturally significant. It was time for more shopping. We returned to Kings Cross and hopped the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus for the famous Oxford and Regent streets—for an American frame of reference, I’d liken this area to NYC’s 5th Avenue and Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Feeling a little peckish, though, we first bopped over to the Soho branch of Pho for some healthy Vietnamese cuisine and my previously-blogged-about weasel poop coffee. You heard me. And what can I say? It was on my friend’s must-do list!

Next on that list: Liberty of London. Ahhh…we spent such a nice amount of time there. Liberty has an abundance of beautiful, beautiful items—clothing, books, furniture, homewares, toiletries, crafts, fabrics (of course!), and on and on—but just being inside there is an experience, and you’ll likely find yourself suddenly desperate to purchase something tattooed in one of its famous fabric prints just to be able to carry a bit of that specialness home with you. It makes me wish I could bear blowing my nose into cloth so I could one day finally justify buying one of those pretty handkerchiefs… Bah! I just don’t think I could do it.

So, once again, we find ourselves home at my London apartment and kicking our feet up with a glass of wine to decompress from another day of covering a lot of London ground. What tomorrow holds the UK weather might just have to determine for us… I’ll be sure to keep you posted should you find any of our excursions remotely in keeping with what you might like to do yourself once you relocate to London!

Living In London – Notting Hill – The Portobello Road Flea Market - Image via Wikipedia

When you’re living in London you’ll find loads of interesting places to visit on your exploration of the city. It doesn’t matter where you decide to live when you move to London, everything is within an easy tube or bus ride away and you’ll be hard pressed to spend any time in your new London rental when you’re living in one of the most vibrant cities in the world.

Notting Hill – Portobello Road Market

You’ve seen the film, now it’s time to step into the streets of this famous area in London and discover the Portobello Road Market that is held every day of the week except Sundays, which is when Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts sit on their bench in the garden! The best way to really explore the Portobello Road Market is to start at the entrance which is near the Notting Hill Gate tube station. The market stretches along the road for nearly two miles and on a Saturday it take you a few hours to make your way through the throngs of tourists and traders. You’d best come with plenty of time and a bit of cash to splash at the diverse stalls and shops in the market.

During the week, the Portobello Road Market is where the locals in the area shop for fresh fruit and vegetables, which is usually found between Westbourne Park Road and Colville Terrace. They offer a range of the freshest fruits sourced from all of the countryside. On Friday and Saturday the funky street fashion designers come out to play with a huge range of stalls selling everything from the latest street fashions to retro vintage wear with a modern London twist. Also on Saturday is the antiques market where you can see some splendid examples of antique furniture, and bric-a-brac.

It really doesn’t matter which day you visit the Portobello Road Market – if you’re living in London, you’ll want to come more than once anyway- there are always outdoor cafés and restaurants serving international food and light meals. Living in London is an adventure and visiting the Portobello Market is a great way to get accustomed to the accents and the way that Londoners live life.

Living In London – London In-Depth By Area – West London- Image via Wikipedia

If you’re moving to London you’ll want to get a good idea of what is available in the different areas of this massive city. Your choice of London rental will be determined by how far you need to commute to get to work every day, if you have kids and of course, how much you are willing to pay.

West London – Notting Hill

If you’re going to be living in London then Notting Hill is one of the most famous suburbs in West London. Everyone remembers the movie starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, and this has brought the prices of London rentals in this area to a premium. You can expect to pay £1200 per week for a small London flat to £8000 per week a large family home. Very close to central London though which makes for an easy commute into work this is one of the most vibrant suburbs in London.

Council Information: Notting Hill falls under the Council Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and annual taxes range from £1000 – £ 2400.

Transport: there are many trains and tube stations in this area and you can use the Notting Hill Gate Station on the District and Circle Lines, of the London Underground as well as Shepherd’s bush and Holland Park which are close to Notting Hill. Central London in less than 15 minutes means this is a great suburb for commuters. The number 954 bus from Notting Hill takes you right into Piccadilly Circus.

Shopping: You can find a number of Tesco grocery stores in the area as well as a Marks and Spencer’s Simply Food in Notting Hill Gate.

Doctors: The Portobello Medical Centre and the Notting Hill Medical Centre both have excellent surgeries with a full range of healthcare professionals on the NHS.

Other Amenities: The Notting Hill carnival is an annual event that takes place during the late summer. Portobello Road is the street where Hugh Grant had his bookstore in the film and it is filled with interesting stores and stalls in one of the most famous and fascinating flea markets.

Living in London – Not Notting Hill-Image via Wikipedia

London has had an influx of American nationals being shipped over for professional reasons, this accounts for the large population of Americans moving to London. As a result there are some areas in an around London that are overrun by US expatriates i.e. South Kensington, Notting Hill and Chelsea, all offer London rentals, London flats, and London apartments. There are other neighbourhoods in London that have been overlooked and have proved to be low-cost and above-board. These would include Marble Arch with housing prices estimated to be 25 percent less than those in other commonly situated expatriate populations, the same of which can be true for London rentals in those areas. Edgeware Road is located in Marble Arch and two blocks south of that road is an assortment of flower shops, wine merchants and cafes. It might be considered by some to be a boisterous main road but it essentially gives the area a unique buzz which is further complemented by an abundance of remarkable Middle Eastern restaurants to what might otherwise be an average charming neighbourhood.

In central London, West of Marble Arch is another residential London rental neighbourhood known as Bayswater.  Bayswater boasts enchanting surroundings with its collection of awe-inspiring picturesque squares which are almost completely unchanged from the time of their original construction. It is located in an ideal spot where you are able to explore the most famous London market, Portobello Road as well as areas offering shopping, restaurants and colourful Victorian architecture i.e. Westbourne Grove Road and Notting Hill. Bayswater also features several appealing white-faced Victoria townhouses which serve as B & Bs and hotels intermixed with London flats. Notwithstanding its villagey pockets, Bayswater may not be the upmarket Notting Hill but it will acquaint you with Britain’s loveable distinctive features where the bona fide Londoners live, eat and drink.

Now that you have decided you are moving to London get ready to be part of the cultural exchanges and connections, as there are a number of interesting places to visit and things to do, all within easy striking distance of central London and not all of them overrun by tourists. So let your adventurous new life moving to London begin!

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” —Samuel Johnson, 1777.