Tag: living in London

If you’ve recently arrived to the urban jungle that is London, here are three happy trails that you can take to fall in love with this amazing city.

The festive season can be a challenging period for those of us living overseas. But there are things we can do to ease the longing for what we miss at Christmas.

It's about this time of year that you begin to question the whole enterprise of being an expat.

You have recently arrived in London and have gotten crook but have been too busy enjoying yourself to sort out your medical affairs. There's no need to reach for the panic button just yet,. There are plenty of ways to seek medical advice in the UK that won’t leave you ...

If you have ever rented a bedroom, or even just a share of a bedroom in London, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Once out in the open air it doesn’t take long to start connecting the dots. You can quickly learn there’s no need to take the tube from Covent Garden to Trafalgar Square.

Have you have ever had to survive a dismal London winter? Oh yes, it's worth a moan while you yearn for home.

Talented young Aussies full of gumption and romance have been coming to London since forever. Why?

Fellow Aussies could wax lyrical to me all day about the brilliant beach BBQ they have on Christmas day followed by Boxing Day with beers in the pool, but frankly it falls on deaf ears. To me, nothing beats a cold Christmas, so while you’re in London.

So you are coming to live in London. How do you find a place to live, find a job, get a UK mobile phone, open a bank account, register with a doctor and make new friends?

Rather not Uber? London's black taxi's are part of the authentic London experience. And you could even try a rickshaw.

Yes, we understand that in the eyes of many Brits we all come from a land of sun, surf, sea and sand. So, why would we ever choose to live in the cold and wet? We love you! Please be nice...

Life in the UK doesn’t always mean a series of problems to be solved. Here’s how ladies should see the silver lining on London’s grey autumnal clouds.

Stepping past the Tube barriers at Richmond is like walking into that delightful English village of your imagination.

Too often in London expats find themselves clinging to home, often materialised in yet another night getting wasted in the same bar with the same people. This is nice, sometimes. But how is it possible to grow?

I dirtied up my spotless trainers to ensure that they didn’t look appealing enough to steal, before daring to set foot into the tower block estate. I was in for quite a surprise...

Australia may have a cockroach problem and the spiders are huge, but at least you can deal with them with a can of bug spray. London's mice are a different kind of fret altogether.

Career isn't everything and why be rich when you can travel and have the time of your life?

Take your Monopoly piece with you and stay out of jail (down behind Kings Cross, by the way) and keep an eye out for the little man in the top hat.

Tea is supposed to brew before adding milk, however this is London and if the coffee is burnt and bitter you can assume the tea will be scalding and flavourless.

Forget about Brexit, Wimbledon, and even the football World Cup; instead for the next three months it will be all about the heatwaves.

Believe it or not, Australians are not the only expats in London. We aren’t the only ones who like to make a bit of homegrown noise every now and then, so there's no need to be embarrassed about it.

Every Australian who has lived in the UK has experienced the delights and horrors of sharehouse living; particularly when it comes to overseas guests. You need t work out a policy early with housemates to ensure your expat sanctuary doesn’t become a 24/7 motel.

Had I finally found where I was meant to exist in the world? Did I belong in the UK more than I belong in Australia?

Home is beckoning and you are ready to pack up and leave London. Before you do, think about all the things you're going to miss about the city and make the most of the time you have left. Or if you are long gone, here's some reminiscing.

They are the pompous type that treat Aussies and Kiwis as though we are Neanderthals with little to no knowledge of history and culture.

When you make the big jump for a stint in the UK, there's a lot in your life that is going to change and you will need to adjust in a major way. Here's some top advice on how, from someone who has taken the leap.

Is it really worth the effort of making new friends with other travellers if they are only about to wave goodbye?

Get ready for amazing queues, multiple travel adapters and the 'Heathrow injection'. Living in London is a life changing experience in more ways than one.

Researchers discovered what we suspected all along... Britons have already decided where in Australia they would really like to live.

THE EXPAT MIND: If you have come to London to develop your career and establish a new life, making progress socially or professionally can be tough at first. Living here is rarely boring, though.

As police question two suspects over the Parsons Green Tube attack, Australians share the fear of being caught up in yet another terrorist incident in London.

We’ve all done the pints, fish-n-chips, the Crown Jewels and Pimm’s at Wimbledon. But there’s so much more to London, says expat Aussie author Joy Rhoades.

What Aussies in London really like are also the things they’re too ashamed to admit to friends and family back home, or things they just won't get.. like Primark, Jeremy Kyle and Snakebites.

Thinking of moving to the UK? Is it best to live where other expat Australians have gone before or would you prefer to trailblaze further afield and leave old London town behind? Find some answers, here...

Don’t remember what happened last night, or the night before? Or the night before that? Drinking in London is a nightly affair rather than a weekend pastime, which makes attempts to sober up even more difficult.

Finding a room, flat or house to rent in London is mayhem. It doesn't matter who you are, what you offer, or how much you are willing to pay, the entire process sucks.

Having witnessed it happen to many others before me, I decided to prepare well in advance for my return to Australia. But you get lost in the London life and suddenly months become weeks and the last-minute panic sets in.

THE EXPAT MIND: If you fall in love with someone from overseas and the relationship becomes serious, it may create a real dilemma about your future. Why and what should you do about it?

THE EXPAT MIND: Do Aussies who venture overseas to live do so because they don't feel entirely at home in Australia. Are they are looking for something or somewhere different - a place where they feel that they might actually belong?

East London has become the hippest and most happening part of the city and I recently discovered that the best way to get under its skin is from a kayak.

You might know what flip flops are, but do you know what they call undies? LAURENCE DRISCOLL helps us traverse those first few months in the UK when you come from the land down under.

'Culture shock' is the term usually used for an immigrant or tourist becoming disorientated when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life. But could it apply in reverse when you are trying to integrate your way back into life after returning home?

LONDON'S 10 TOP GREEN SPACES: The concept of ‘going to the park’ in Australia conjures up images of children’s birthday parties and unruly teenagers looking for a place to drink after dark. In London, the park stands for something completely different.

Why have they given me a fork? Kebabs aren’t meant to be civilised!

A romantic offer only Londoner could successfully deploy and fall for...

A simple trip on the bus makes an Aussie expat question her perceptions of what common courtesy is. Are Aussies more polite than Brits?

Most Aussies coming to London aren’t making a permanent move, so finding affordable options to fit out their new home is a must. There's markets, and then there's Argos...

It took a chance encounter with a barfly and his dog at the pub down the road for this Aussie expat to discover he was a London local.

But don't just think the expat affliction of acquiring an English accent is necessarily about contracting posh, clipped tones and a habit of saying yo-gurt, instead of yogurt.