Author: Colleen

If you’re moving to London and have already “Liked” us on our new Facebook page, awww, we’re sure feeling the warm fuzzies! If you haven’t yet, perhaps you aren’t aware that London Relocation is in the process of phasing out its Facebook profile in favor of its PAGE: www.facebook.com/LondonRelocationLtd.

Liking us there is so simple, really…like a flick of the wrist, literally accompanied with a click of the mouse. Bodda-boom, bodda-bing. That easy, so why not try it now? www.facebook.com/LondonRelocationLtd
(in case you missed it before).

And wait! Oh look what we have here…why yes, that would be a Facebook icon on the right-side of our screen here where you can access that same Facebook page link.

Hint taken?

Okay then, moving on. What you stand to benefit from “Liking” us on Facebook are daily updates on what’s going on in London, our blog posts, and, oh, whatever’s on our minds that we think you’d be interested in whether before, during, or after your London move. This is yet another way for us to open the lines of communication with you for more personalized interaction than mere words on our website. We’re interested in hearing from you, too! What questions you might have, what advice and notifications you think we and your fellow London Relocation-Likers might benefit from—throw us what you got! And in the meantime, you can also expect to see these regular features on our page:

Monday Moving Tips - Advice on how to prep for moving to London and settling into your London apartment.

Thankful Tuesdays - An opportunity for us to thank our London Relocation clients and share their testimonials.

What’s On Wednesdays – What’s going on in London that particular week.

Travel Thursdays – Ideas for where to travel with London as your new departure point.

Friday Night Out - A new venue featured each week for steppin’ out for a night in your new city.

We thrive on the quality interactions we continue to have with folks like you, so do pop by and visit London Relocation on Facebook!

Image via Wikipedia

Author:  Colleen

Hello everyone who’s moving to London! I’ve decided it’s time once again to deliver a list of top posts…usually I do five, but today will double the pleasure with ten. The reason why I do like to compile these lists now and then is to unearth all the useful tips that get buried deeper and deeper into our archives with every new daily blog update, as well as compile it for you in a convenient, one-stop package. So today, if you’re looking to familiarize yourself with the London property market as you research your UK relocation, you’ll want a handle on the differences to expect where the lettings industry and London apartments are concerned. (All of the posts listed below, FYI, can be found among others in our “Rent in London: London Apartment Tips” category.

Now let me hear that drumroll…

1. “What to Expect in a London Flat” – Our seven-part series describing different features of the average London apartment.

2. “London Relocation’s Property Tip-o-the-Day” – Doing the math on what it costs to rent in London.

3. “Brief (or Grief) Counseling on Council Tax” – What the council tax that you pay on your London apartment is and how to deal with it.

4. “M.L.S. = M.I.A.” – How to talk the talk and walk the walk with London lettings agencies.

5. “Transferring Money: How to ‘Sort’ the bank codes ‘SWIFT’-ly” – Making sense of your UK banking numbers for making payment on your London apartment.

6. “If It’s Too Good To Be True…” – Avoiding online property scams.

7. “Moving to London and Feeling Like a Griswald???” – Never fear, London Relocation is here!

8. “What You London Lettings Agents & Landlords Talkin’ ‘Bout?!” – Further deciphering the way the London lettings market operates.

9. “Americans Moving to London: Finding the U.S. in the UK” – Neighborhood guide on where the Yankees tend to flock in London.

10. “Some Neighborhood Know-How on Where to Live in London” – An ongoing series breaking down the London postcodes and giving brief overviews of each. Some day I’ll finally get around to the southeast…

I imagine what they say about having children goes for relocating to London, too: you can read as much about it as you want to, but you’ll never know what it’s really like until you do it. True. But I hope in the meantime that reading through the above (as well as the countless other posts we’ve written here on our blog) will at least start to manage your expectations so that you aren’t completely caught unawares. And, of course, to supplement this information and customize it to your particular needs, I encourage you to speak to a member of our London Relocation staff—we’re all here to help you!

Author: Colleen

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

27.10.08

Other random observations/doings in our first weeks: Where television is concerned, we haven’t had that much exposure, but enough to surprise us over how much U.S. Presidental coverage there is (and, of course, we arrived here just as the economic shite was hitting the fan everywhere in the world) and enough to engross us in a new favorite realty show, “Coach Trip.” Further, the Cadbury “Twisted” candy bar commercial holds ridiculous power over me, actually managing to break through one of my infamous cold shoulders and render me giggling uncontrollably. Regarding the shops, if you eat in at Starbucks, you are served in an actual ceramic mug, there is a T.J. Maxx equivalent named T.K. Maxx (for whatever reason), and we have found our grocery options to be Marks & Spencer (higher end, but great ready-to-cook/serve prepared meals), Sainsbury, Somerfield, and Tesco. I had a giggle the other night when I opened our carton of eggs to see, plastered to the side of one, a white feather—these English eggs must come straight from the chickens’ vajayjays! We have found a Home Depot equivalent in Homebase, where we purchased topiary boxes and plants to plant ourselves for our window ledges. Perhaps my most precious shopping experience so far, though, has been the purchase of a special little bear from Darkest Peru at the real Paddington Station. I also bought a fabulous scarf at a little boutique on Portobello Road in Notting Hill.

Well, for whatever in the heck that’s worth. Just thinking of that Cadbury ad still makes me giggle, and it wasn’t long after gifting my nephew the Paddington Bear that month that I found myself back at the official kiosk in Paddington Station purchasing another one as a Christmas gift for his mother, who might have otherwise stolen it out from under her own kid in his sleep. I still find feathers on my eggs now and then, and I continue to *heart* Portobello Road and Notting Hill in general, as it’s the fabulous locale of London Relocation, but of course, and honestly a big fave of American expats moving to London—we show London apartments there all the time! Now, my journal does go on to chronicle some local UK weekend excursions that we made early on, but I think you can use a break from my “Dear Diary,” no? I thus conclude my lil’ “Moving to London: The American Expat in London Diaries” series and hope it at the very least showed you some glimmer of my sincerest, deepest felt empathy for you as you make your own London move.

Author: Colleen

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

23.10.08 [continued]

Random observations that I’m for whatever reason compelled to document: the crazy, cussin’-n-spittin’ old man that I thought would knock me down in the Brompton Cemetery (the first of many crazy old men talking to themselves encountered on the streets); the bitter American woman loudly proclaiming to her male companion (husband?) at the pub that the English are “arrogant bastards,” as she then exits dramatically, expecting her man to be right behind her, but who instead dumps her remaining beer into his own glass and chugs it, and then follows her out with a too-small-for-his-stature backpack slunk onto one shoulder; the recurring fashion—black opaque tights with denim skirts, skinny jeans tucked into boots; two sightings of paramedics tending to a victim lying on the sidewalk/street (I don’t know, I just think it’s strange I’ve never seen this before, but now have twice in my first 3 weeks weeks here); a drunk guy kicking a moving car in Piccadilly Circus and the driver flying out to knock said drunk down on his ass in one blow (he actually skidded on the asphalt, and the argument ensued for longer than the dudes’ respective woman friends and rest of traffic would have preferred).

Ah, yes. Gotta love the London nightlife in its most touristy spots. Piccadilly Circus is certainly not one of my favorite spots, though I do enjoy venturing to London’s theatre district for live performances as well as just reveling in the vibe of the bright lights, restaurants, and theatre-goers (our next show will be Flare Path, starring Sienna Miller). And for the record, I do not share that boozy American woman’s sentiments! But I was dying of curiosity as to what happened to piss her off so much…

But my gosh, in reading this entry over, I’ve painted a violent picture of London! Please take my word for it that these are not things I’ve seen in abundance since then. More likely, this was the perspective of a sheltered gal who was getting used to living in a city again after a few years in the suburbs. Anyway, join me tomorrow as I conclude my “Moving to London: The American Expat in London Diaries” series with more of the randomness that followed my London move.

Author:  Colleen

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

23.10.08 [continued]

Just waiting for the British Gas repairman to return from the shops with what will hopefully be the solution to our towel rack/radiator issue. It is so freaking cold in here in the meantime…I’ve started to get fit again with all this city walking, with walking to and fro London real estate offices and properties a dominant activity that first week and a half. Thanks to all of those numerous lettings agencies for playing a role in the process of looking for and, yes, finding a home. After viewing 23 flats, #23 was, in fact, the charm. It was so close to being #22, but we finally saw past that one’s balcony to fully see the traffic, the lesser storage space, the smaller bathroom, the crappier entryway, the questionable furniture. Our abode now, on the other hand, is off a side street. It has a lovely entry with well-preserved period banister and fixtures (moldings, etc., even in the unit). It has a huge bathroom on a lower level that I guess used to be the kitchen, and the kitchen, now off the main room, is newly refurbished—I find it so interesting that they place washing machines in the kitchens. Suppose it makes great sense, doesn’t it, when there isn’t a  special room or closet for such. Much better than hauling crap down to a communal facility. No balcony, but access to a communal garden on the next block. Our boxes are supposedly in transit on the sea and will arrive by the first week of November. Meh. In any case, it is definitely pleasant to now have a place to call home, and I am nesting .

I won’t lie. There were some doozies among all the London lettings agents I worked with. One in particular twice took me into a flat in which the tenant wasn’t expecting us—when one woman opened the door in her bathrobe, the first thing the guy thought to say to her was, “Nice legs.” Umm…You don’t really know quite what you’re getting into when you set foot inside one of those estate offices. My uneducated search simply began at the first one I saw down the street from the hotel, and I just hopped along from there. Some have integrity and represent only quality flats, others just scramble with what they can get and will say whatever they must to get you to sign the lease so they can get paid—they don’t necessarily care about you, because you are not the one paying them (except in administrative fees); the landlord is. So they’ll be nice to you until you’ve signed on the dotted line and transferred all your money; whether they’ll have your back after that remains to be seen.

That’s what distinguishes the London relocation agent from the lettings agent. In addition to sifting out the good from the bad agents and properties, our promise & guarantee states,

“YOU come first until you’re happily settled in your new home. We stand by you. We care.”

To read more about making the relocation versus lettings agent decision, please read my posts, “London: Relocation 2” (guest post at Lotus Events’s website, our recent client!) and “Top 5 Reasons to Use a London Relocation Agent Vs. Doing it on Your Own.”

Author: Colleen

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

23.10.08 [continued]

Basically every night has been a night out at some pub or restaurant given that we’ve only recently acquired a kitchen and still need to do some grocery shopping. I tried to subsist during my days at the hotels on granola and fig bars, Nutella, bread, and bananas (and then the countless croissants I’ve eaten almost daily), so am now looking forward to some real homemade meals (hmm…therein lies the challenge…). I suppose I should mention that we shifted down the street to the Premier Inn on Knaresborough for our 3^rd week to change things up a bit. Wise decision. Our room was much bigger, warmer, and overall more accommodating, and, better yet, we didn’t have to face the reception staff of Enterprise anymore. That was getting so old, leaving and retrieving the key at their desk, getting called after constantly to settle the bill when I myself had no power to do so sans credit card (I cut them all up prior to coming here…a test in spending control) and Ryan (the one with the credit card and UK debit card) for whatever reason was free to go each morning unhindered. Those women were just so smug…not like the friendly staff at Premier, who so kindly stored all our shite that one day to free us up for a mini-weekend trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Ha, I’d totally forgotten about how bitter I got toward the hotel staff . Not their fault, really, it just compounded my feelings of vulnerability in being so limited in so many ways those first weeks. As if it’s not unsettling enough to not yet have a place to call home, where there’s no credit history, there’s no credit card either. My husband and I lived here about a year before we finally got our UK credit cards after, logically, establishing some UK credit. And though my husband was issued his debit card by our bank straightaway, his second-class citizen of an accompanying spouse had to jump through hoops and wait several weeks to get hers. Grrr!! Yes, I still had my American debit card, but, as I said above, no credit cards, which I suppose was my fault, but I was trying to be responsible in leaving any and all U.S. balances at ZERO once we moved and I was unemployed in the UK for a while.

A huge section I’ve skipped over in my journal here related to night after night out with our friends. Needless to say, as isolated as my first weeks as a London expat did feel, we had a surprising number of friends from the States who already lived here or were traveling through on business. Paths criss-cross like mad here in London, I swear, so please read my post “This is Your London Life” for a glimpse of the surreal interconnectedness this city can offer just when you’re fearing a London move will sever your ties!

Author:  Colleen

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

23.10.08 [continued]

I suppose in resuming my recap of the past weeks, I’ll continue to extract from my mock entry last time. “Wandered around…Got lost.”…my day of wandering brought me to an intriguing cemetery off Old Brompton Road. It is huge, and become a sort of inspiration for me; it is so serene, yet full of life in the walkers and joggers that pass through and the squirrels and crows that reside there. Other walks have taken me to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, where I once sat to watch a little kids’ football practice, by all the shops along the main streets of each local area, like Kensington High Street, by a warm and inviting bookstore glowing orange on a black, rainy night when I legitimately was lost and soaked (which I later figured out was Daunt Books on Fulham Road). Just having stopped in for a break from the cold and wet, I left without purchase and continued to meander my way back to Earl’s Court. A couple days I went to the city to walk the South Bank that I love and view the Tower, successfully then losing myself in the business district and looking to St. Paul’s as my guide.

I cut out the part where I was obsessed with a book I wished I had bought at Daunt, but couldn’t remember the title or where the bookstore was—so funny to think how disoriented I used to be on streets I know so well now! Mixed in with my wanderings those first days was of course also the practical, first and foremost looking to rent a London apartment. And as a trailing spouse who moved to London for my husband’s job, it was only a matter of time before I had to look for one of my own. All in due time, however. If you’ll be in a similar situation after your London relocation, if you’re able to take some time to just acclimate and “be” for a while, don’t feel guilty doing it. It’ll make make you and your partner happier in the long run the more familiar you are with your new environment, feeling a part of it and taking the time to make your London apartment into a London home, which my journal will speak to next week.

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

If you’re relocating to London and didn’t read my post yesterday, I’d initiated the major sucking up of pride and privacy to share my personal journal on first moving to London in 2008….maintained until living in London began to feel more like the everyday than a vacation.

The first entry is a continuation of the one before, and necessary context is as such: adding to the transitions of quitting a job and relocating abroad is the fact that we were just married that June and maintained our long-distance relationship between Chicago and New York until moving to London! That’s right, London is the first city my husband Ryan and I have lived in together since Chicago in 2004, if you can believe it (I still can’t).

21.10.08 [continued]

…See, now in extracting those details I have found myself unexpectedly reliving my first couple weeks at the The Enterprise Hotel, Ryan’s and my first home away from home, where we first arrived on a shockingly sunny, gorgeous  day. September 28th, to be exact, as we flew overnight. The lobby and restaurant of the hotel seemed updated and nice enough, yet the rooms evidently retain their English charm…in that they are tiny and cold. Whatever, it suited our needs (even though our luggage consumed half the room, even with 2 pieces stored downstairs), and the location was excellent. Hogarth Road extends directly from the Earl’s CourtTube station and is accessible to pubs, shops, cafes galore. We became so smitten with the area, in fact, that we’ve decided to stay here and, thus, just moved into a flat of our very own (our first together) yesterday.

More details on that later. I actually need to dash right now to catch the Tube to the city for my 2nd religion/science debate at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Last week’s debate centered on the Big Bang, and tonight is Evolution. That being said, gotta go so I get a seat.

23.10.08

The St. Paul’s debate the other night was great – unlike the prior one, there was an atheist in the panel, so that stirred things up. As did the clearly more ornery crowd who kept moaning about the echo – to a good end, though, as they did rectify the sound issue that had likewise been present last time. Next week is Body & Soul, i.e., debating whether there is a place in the human genome for the soul. I admittedly tend to tune out whenever anyone has been talking too long, and focus is even that much more of a challenge when the eye has a massive dome and intricate mosaics, sculptures, and paintings to wander about. A surreal kind of solitude even in a room filled with people. The intellectual, the curious….

A friend has teased me for my crush on Paul—yes, as in the cathedral—because I tend to mention it a lot in my blog posts. Well, this entry here is a clue as to why. I explain it in my “Found Your London Flat? Now Find Your London Deep.” post, but will say again here that, regardless if you’re religious or not, finding a quiet time and place for thought and reflection is invaluable after a London relocation when you may be re-evaluating a whole new personal and professional game plan going forward (prevalent among trailing spouses like me). St. Paul’s was that place for me at that critical time, and I’ll always carry that peace and introspection with me. May you find the same after your London move, and stay tuned tomorrow for another installment of “Relocating to London: The American Expat in London Diaries.”

Relocating to London - Image via Wikipedia

Author:  Colleen

If you’re relocating to London (like I did over a couple of years ago), for the next few posts I’m going to be sucking up an amount of pride and privacy on your behalf. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t assume it’s going to do you any good, but hoping it offers some empathy as you get yourself situated. The thing is, I’ve always been a bit of a Dear Diary kind of gal, and while I no longer chronicle daily experiences as an adult, I always do record my travels. So upon first moving to London, I figured I ought to try the same at least from the get-go…that is, until living in London began to feel like the everyday to me and not a vacation. There’s not too many of these entries, but I’ll start sharing what’s there.

To give a little necessary context, I moved over as an accompanying spouse for my husband’s job. I taught high school English back home, but UK visa delays prevented me from procuring work prior to our London move. So, basically, when we finally did move over, it was my job to find us a London apartment to rent, unpack our crap and create a new home of it, job-search, and otherwise wander the city and pick my nose.

And so, *ahem*:

21.10.08 [as is writ in the journal...that's the European date format, which places the day before the month, FYI]

I sit here with pen in hand wondering why it is so difficult for me to get started. I suppose it’s because I don’t know quite how to approach writing of my daily life in one of my travel journals. Ordinarily, the everyday stuff has no place here, but I find myself in, what is for me, an unusual situation. How am I to chronicle a life abroad? Not just touring this time. Living. Getting settled. Eventually, getting a job. In London. At first I thought maybe I’d do little daily entries of my days in brief (at least these introductory days of unemployment): “Woke late. Wandered around. Had a chai latte and croissant at Starbucks. Got lost. Found my way back. Contacted a negotiator [lettings agent] and viewed some flats.” But I didn’t, and I’m not sure why. Probably laziness, as once I get my journals going, I don’t really want to reduce them to succinct statement of fact; I want them detailed so I can live and breathe them again whenever I pick up one of these leather-bound tomes of my international existence. I want details like the luxury of sleeping in for the fifth month of a prolonged summer vacation, yet the stress involved in such when the maid at the extended-stay hotel knocks on the door and I have to flail out of bed with an apology and request that she come back later, afterwards feeling like the biggest loser, the only one in the hotel without a purpose demanding that I be up and showered and dressed by a respectable A.M. time. The same shame occurs when I preemptively hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign to avoid the aforementioned stress, as I am then stressed when imagining the neighbors can hear what I’m doing (the re-chaining of the door from within after opening [it being] the dead giveaway) and the maid seeing my sign and shaking her head in judgment. Tail between my legs, I slink back under the sheets and bury my shame in 2-3 more hours of sleep…

Hey, I never promised it would be interesting. Just the beginnings of real, authentic thoughts of an American expat living in London for the very first time, and not even in an actual London apartment yet. It may sound mundane, but, like it or not, this is the common existence for the trailing spouse or partner at the outset, until we make our own friends and find our own jobs in London or discover other outlets for our skills and passions. It’s a displacement that takes a while to adjust to, but I promise that there is no more engaging place to do so than London, and, honestly, hiring on the services of a London relocation agency will expedite that transition. Don’t wait as long as we did—3 weeks in a hotel!!! Meh, more on that in my next installment of “Relocating to London: The American Expat in London Diaries.”

Image via Wikipedia

Author:  Colleen

For those of you who haven’t yet relocated to London and may not be familiar with Marmite, it’s a condiment that consumers either love or hate. And, indeed, some expats moving to the UK and renting London apartments share a similar love/hate relationship with the experience, though, instead of feeling either/or, it’s a little of both.

I believe London is an ideal start for North Americans wanting to try out an international experience because there is reduced culture shock—it’s more Western than continental Europe, so the day-to-day experience isn’t much of a jolt. And I’ve already lauded the at-the-very-least 10 reasons to move to London. That being said, an example of what one may have to acquire a taste for is living on a smaller scale, both physically and figuratively.

In the first sense, buildings and streets are smaller and narrower, as are the stores. Shop for groceries more frequently and in smaller quantity, and, as storage place is limited in most London flats, don’t bring everything from home. Get used to doing laundry in your kitchen, buying smaller jugs of milk, and stowing clothes away in containers if not giving them away entirely, to name a few other minor adjustments.

One also has to scale back here in terms of energy and overall budget. I find gas and electricity, for instance, to be much more expensive than what I paid at home, so am constantly turning lights or the heater on and off as necessary as well as drying clothing on racks. Air conditioning is a rare feature, and prepare to be taxed on any common excesses—owning a TV, a car, etc. A large proportion of your income will go to paying rent on your London apartment (unless your employer is covering the cost), so you’ll want to live modestly in other respects of less priority. One thing you will need in abundance, however, is patience for enduring slow responsiveness in service.

*grumbling with something akin to (though much milder than) HATE*

Overall, however, you really do learn what you can live without and start to make more conscious choices, which I think is a good lesson.

*nodding and humming with something akin to respect, if not LOVE*

The fact is that in the course of an international move things will be annoying. Things will go wrong. The unexpected will always occur. But if you can take these things in stride and understand that there are trade-offs, you’ll soon recognize that what you’re gaining in exchange for what you lose is an invaluable experience that you’ll carry with you for a lifetime. For a lot of us expats, it’s only a temporary situation anyway, so you have to enjoy it for what it is during that time.

The best advice I can give you for making the London move, then, is to be open-minded. Don’t expect the UK to be exactly like home. If you want it to be just like home, then an international move might not be for you. Spread marmalade on your toast instead of Marmite.

It’s important to respect the ways of the nation you move to and know that you can learn from them, just as the people there can learn from you, too. To maintain this positive sort of engagement with your new surroundings, you have to be positive yourself. At least give that salty, super-concentrated vegetable stock a go with a tearful squint and a grin.

My personal verdict? I do hate Marmite. But I loooove London!