Ahhh London. We all have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this city. We love to hate London, and hate to love it, but by no means do we ever actually imagine being anywhere else.
Here’s some fun things that I’ve learned so far in my three and a half years here that I never necessarily expected to find when I first moved. The good, the bad, the whiney.
- Foxes are everywhere
- Urban deer are becoming a thing
- You walk, a lot! Invest in comfy shoes, STAT.
- Commuting 3km takes thirty minutes. Minimum. Everywhere in London takes at least 30 minutes. Standard journey time.
- People who live in Brighton sometimes have a shorter commute than you do from Clapham
6. Summer is actually quite humid
7. Theatre tickets are actually really expensive and despite thinking you’ll go ALL the time, you see one show every three years on average.
8. Parks are everywhere. It’s glorious.
9. You can drink booze pretty much everywhere.
10. You can also take dogs pretty much everywhere.
11. Scoring a front-row, right hand side, top-level seat on the bus is like gold. No matter how long you’ve lived here.
12. People don’t have a side of the path to walk on. There’s no keeping to the left or right. It’s everyone for themselves.
13. No matter how chilled or relaxed you are when you get back to London from a holiday, the second your feet hit the ground you’re in a rush to get anywhere and everywhere, knocking people out of the way just to get through passport control.
14. You can buy incredibly cheap £10 flights around Europe – bargain! But then you need to fork out £50 for luggage, another £30 to get to the airport in the middle of nowhere, a few hours of commuting plus an inevitable delay. Probably on a hangover.
15. Finding an affordable flat with actual space, a clean bathroom and good flat mates is like finding a fucking unicorn.
16. The sound of foxes having sex is terrifying
17. It pretty much never gets dark in summer. Until about 10:30pm. Which is kinda like never (unless you’re from Norway).
18. Keeping on top of all the new things opening up is pretty much impossible and there will be hundreds of pop ups, restaurants, exhibitions, gigs, bars, giant adult ball pits and owl cafes that you talk about going to and never do.
19. You will basically never make it anywhere without your Citymapper app.
20. There are thousands of people everywhere. At all times. Ever.
21. No matter how hectic, crazy or unaffordable London can get, you will fall in love and fiercely protect it when any non-Londoners try to slag it off. By this point, you’ve entered the equivalent stage of a committed relationship with London and in the wise words of Carrie Bradshaw, we can’t have nobody talkin’ shit about our boyfriend.
Kamila x
LNG
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4 thoughts on “21 unexpected things you learn after moving to London”
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I especially agree with 21!
I have been searching for a good blog to reference for my eventual move to London. I am from Philadelphia, studying abroad here in London. I have only been here for a little over two months and already fully agree with all of your above statements! Getting used to pushing doors open instead of pulling is the hardest thing for me to remember! I can’t tell you how many times I have thought a place was closed because I forgot to push! I have fallen in love with this city though, and I would love any advice that you might have in regards to uprooting your life and moving here permanently! Thanks so much!
There will be times the city can feel lonely and daunting, but we’re all in the same boat and nine times out of ten those people you think are too cool and busy to make a new friend are probably just as keen to buddy up as you are
Great post even for a life long Londoner like myself. Don’t agree with no. 21 though!
http://www.CityFoodBlog.com – my guide on what to eat in London