NYC to London - Page 2

Fucking A. The greatest. If you have a refined aesthetic, you'll love everything about it. Dumb people hate it. So do Frenchman. One thing, hope you're rich. Don't ever convert the London price to US dollars. Your balls will suck up into your body cavity.

Hey, if you want some advice of where to eat/drink around the canary wharf area, drop me a PM as I live near Stratford (London).

Same as NYC but with less of everything, and most things not as good. Fugly city for the most part. People live in cliques (Italians with the Italians, French w the French, etc...) and weekends suck for the most part except for some good clubbing if you're into that. Best part is that you're 1 to 2 hours from tons of great places to spend your weekends - so do that.

I've lived in 9 countries across four continents so far, and London is definitely one of the most dynamic, cosmopolitan places on earth. You can find excellent food across the entire price range, and for certain cuisines (e.g. Indian, French) I would argue that it's more authentic than you would find in NYC. Price/quality for rents is horrible - even by NYC standards - figure 500-700 GBP a week for a studio or 1 bedder in a good neighborhood. I would take the commute hit to live in the West End (Chelsea, Knightsbridge) since there's much more ambience and you'll have most of what you need within walking distance.

Nightlife is all about the clubs and private parties. Women are the EEs already referenced - although Latin Americans and Asians are well represented. It's ridiculously easy to meet and chat up women in London... just so happens that most of those you'd want to chat up are foreign-born. I'd actually give London the nod over NYC for the ladies.

Weather sucks, as you know, but the rest should be all good.

Not from UK, but worked in London for a while, so here is my two cents.

Working in Canary Wharf is not a good combo with living in a good neighbourhood as most of them are on the western northwestern part of the town while Can wharf is east. Lunch in the city and canary wharf is just very expensive as they know the clientele is pretty affluent. If you're willing to walk 15-20 mins to a not so nice area you'll find equally good food for £5 less. Most of us take that stroll when to get some fresh air instead of saving a few pounds on the food. Not so familiar with canary wharf, but if you're working in the city, you'll have a few nice spots walking straight east from liverpool street station. (Brick wall and surrounding area, nice to see as a tourist as well). Might be a bit "dirty" for some tastes, but I like it for the variation.

Agree with the others on areas to live. West is generally better as long as you stay inside zone 2. North along northern line is nice as well i.e hamstead heath/highgate (where I have stayed when working there) apparently not far from another poster in this thread.

I guess you can't do much about working in canary wharf, but I would say that commuting-wise city > can.wharf, so if you can change, you will have a lot of nice places inside 35 mins.

Women: Very low standard, some nice ones working in the city, odds are big that they come from the business school in Stockholm. Can't really compare with NY since I haven't lived there, but I would say low at least in a western european setting. Lot's of russians though, so if you're into that look it's (almost) ok I guess.

Pricing: Already covered, insanely expensive to live in a decent area.

Salaries: Bonuses might be taxed higher, but I guess that's the case in a lot of countries.

Londoners are quite inward in the start, but once you join them on the pub it changes. London Bridge is not bad but would def. not be my choice. If you want to stay south of the river you should again go west towards wimbledon. Some nice areas around the northern line where a lot of (not so senior) bankers live. If you like more exotic eastern-influenced (bangladesh/india) then east is ok, but those areas have higher crime rates. Avoid north/east (tottenham area, homeplace of my dear team is unfortunately a rough neighbourhood). Greenwich is a ok area along dlr, but is more of a village feeling than cosmopolitan.

I'd +1 most of this, and I'd add that in London I recommend living where you are likely to go out rather than where you work. You will wake up every morning to commute to work because you have to, but you dont want to be sitting at home all the time because your friends are going out across town and you dont feel like getting on the tube.

K

I moved from NYC to London in September. Most of the folks I know ended up sharing a flat; however, if you're working in Canary Wharf you can find some nice studios down on the Isle of Dogs / Docklands area, but that's a bit residential. The 135 bus runs from the Shoreditch area through to Canary Wharf; that bus route swath might be a good place to look. London Bridge area is fine, but I think the commute would be more of a pain than it'd be worth. Not sure of your age, so perhaps east London won't be your thing, but I find it to be a fun place to live. (I'm still on the younger-side of middle age but not a big clubber or drinker).

As for food - Mexican is indeed in short supply. However londonburrito.com might help you out. Wahaca actually had some not-bad stuff. Spicy and everything. I say this as someone who grew up spoiled with excellent Mexican food choices. Pizza by the slice is either non-existant or (in my opinion) nasty super-thick-crust stuff. But there are a few restaurants that have opened recently that sell pretty nice crispy-crust pizza.

I was spoiled in New York in that I thrice lived right near beautiful parks; when I go for runs now it's mostly on the street. But there are nice parks; they're just a bit of a trek for me to get to.

Yes, the weather can be grating. But whatever. I love the architecture and the history of the city. The museums are great, and the culture is interesting and more varied that I think it gets credit for. And yes, the travel out to Europe is great. In the four months I've been here I've visited Barcelona, Dublin and Paris, and taken a couple of day trips out of the city. Berlin, Bruges, Amsterdam and Edinborough are next on my list.

Basically, I find that in this case, like in most cases, it'll be what you make of it. If you come here assuming it'll be too expensive to have a good time, that the food will suck and the women will be unattractive, that's what you'll find. But if you come here thinking you're going to have a good time, see things you've not seen, and meet up with cool people, then that's what youl'll find.

If you have any specific questions about any of the logistics of being an American in London (like the pain that is opening a bank account here), feel free to pm me.

Best of luck!

That could be all over central london. From west end clubs to the east end clubs. Different clientele though. In general more posh the further west you go.

London Bridge, parts of Bermondsey, try Bethnal Green, Shoreditch, Hoxton, used to live in Dalton and now east london line is opening up soon so more appealing to get to Canary Wharf.

I love living here - you can go to the theatre, and an s&m club all within a mile of each other and then onto an all weekend club and go home and shower for a 9am start. Also, have visited 4 european countries this year. Trying to beat my record of 18 weekend breaks away which I did in 2007.