London Relocation Blog

The Road Much Taken

March 10th, 2010

Good morning, Alice!

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” as Robert Frost once wrote, and while I need not cut through the woods to get to work, today I did contemplate the choice between two roads. While it isn’t the shortest way, today I couldn’t resist taking the Portobello Road route to the office. Most folks know the famed street as where shoppers come in throngs to rummage through the antiques and clothing at their Saturday afternoon leisure, yet there’s something so enchanting and intimate about strolling down this road in the morning when it’s only just waking up from its beauty sleep. The silence is delicious, my morning-walk soundtrack consisting of not much more than the whistling of a man painting the wrought iron fencing in front of a pastel mews (near where George Orwell used to live) and the odd shop owner beginning to unpack their wares out on the sidewalk. A truck rested patiently at a curb, waiting to bestow its casks of Liquid Happy at one public house.

In the quiet, then, was excited anticipation of what the day would bring. This is a street that is eager on a daily basis to welcome its people and hold them tight in its comforting embrace, bringing them cheer on so many aesthetic levels. Most would opt for this bustle of the later day, but me, I’ll take the morning Portobello Road less traveled by, and that will make all the difference.

(Of course, it may not be convenient to experience Portobello in this way unless you, too, work or live here…why not let London Relocation Ltd. help you out with that?)

Tags: cafes and restaurants, London places of interest, london relocation agent, London Relocation Ltd., London Relocation Services, London things to do, Notting Hill, Portobello Road, west london, west london relocation
Posted in London Tips & Culture, recreation | No Comments »

London Logistics: Finding the Best Schools

March 9th, 2010

Relocating to London from abroad is a daunting task on a vast array of levels, but one aspect that is particularly of concern for families moving over is where to send the kids to school. For many parents, their children’s education is of utmost priority, and many who contact us specify that where they live will be dictated by what school their child enters. So, if choosing the school is required before you can make decisions on everything else, where can you turn to?

The Good Schools Guide offers an annual book that should cover just about every question a parent would have regarding the selection of a London school. The education system operates differently here than in other countries, so there are different classifications of schools to understand that can become very confusing—for instance, what is called a “public” school in the States is considered “private” here, and vice-versa. The website itself (http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/) offers comprehensive guidance as to admissions, exams, international schools, Special Education needs, fees, tutoring, etc., so this is your essential resource in initiating your research process.

Just as you educate yourself on schooling options, London Relocation Ltd. will educate you on the property and cultural climate here in London so that you find your optimal neighborhood in relation to the school’s location.

Tags: canadians moving to london, good London schools, Good Schools Guide, London Relocation, london relocation agent, London schools, Moving to London from US, relocation specialist
Posted in London Tips & Culture, visas, banking, & other logisitical issues | No Comments »

London Logistics: Public Transport

March 8th, 2010

London is a city set up well for walking and public transportation–I simply see no point in having a car here and would never want to fight that traffic on my own. Whenever you need to plan how to get from A to B via train or bus (and would like to gauge the amount of time to allow for this travel), we recommend that you bookmark the Transport for London website: https://www.tfl.gov.uk

Here, you can find route maps, timetables, how to buy tickets (including procuring your Oyster card) or use the Journey Planner feature to enter your starting and destination locations. The site also posts live service updates or, for your added convenience, you can consult the Travel Tools page to sign up for mobile travel alerts or email notifications of weekend closures–there is always one line or another that is closed for scheduled engineering works over the weekend, which definitely cramps one’s plans when you show up at the station expecting service to run the same as it does any given weekday.

London Relocation Ltd. has your flat-searching transportation covered, as we hire a driver for the entire day–but when you’re officially on your own, TFL will be a necessary resource. Happy travels!

Tags: Americans moving to London, canadians moving to london, journey planner, London Relocation Services, London transportation, Moving to London, Oyster card, Relocation agent london, TFL, Transport for London, tube map
Posted in London Tips & Culture, transportation, visas, banking, & other logisitical issues | No Comments »

London Locations: Hampstead

March 6th, 2010

This semi-sunny, on the cusp of Spring day compels me to recommend a lovely spot in Northern London where you might fancy living if you’re moving to London, or to at least visit: Hampstead. Maintaining a village atmosphere, this area experienced population growth during the Victorian age, to which many of its quaint buildings date back. It is known as an artistic and literary haven, and no doubt Hampstead Heath has provided much of such inspiration over the centuries. Nearly 800 acres in size, the Heath is an immense bounty of green space to be had in London. With its wooded trails, open, rolling meadows and ponds, it’s a tranquil retreat from urban life that is easily accessible from the city center. Even just strolling through the pristine, postcard-perfect residential streets is a calming treat that takes you back to another era. One particular home of interest in Hampstead is Keats House, where the poet lived from 1818 to 1820 and wrote some his most notable poems, including “Ode to a Nightingale.” The Spaniards Inn, which Keats himself liked to frequent (as did Lord Byron) alleges that this poem was written in its gardens; whether true or not, I highly recommend this pub as a stop for food and libations. It has a charming beer garden, and whilst sitting there you can revel in its history–it dates back to the 16th-century and is even mentioned in classic literature like Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

It’s true that this is a very expensive neighborhood to live in, so if it’s a bit outside of your budget, you can content yourself that London Relocation Ltd. will place you in a lovely locale that meets all your needs and will be close enough to public transport so you can catch the Tube to visit Hampstead whenever you want–take the Northern Line to either Belsize Park or Hampstead stations and step right onto the high street to delight in its cute boutiques and cafes.

Tags: Americans moving to London, canadians moving to london, Hampstead, Hampstead Heath, london relocation agent, London Relocation Services, Moving to London, Northern Line, relocating to London, relocation specialists
Posted in London Tips & Culture, recreation | No Comments »

Hitting Your New City and Making Things Happen

March 4th, 2010

The following is a guest post contributed by one of our London Living Londonistas, Melissa Mehta. Melissa is a performance coach who supports people building a new life in a new place. She’s had her own adjustments to make in the past, swapping the gritty grey-ness of Nottingham for Honolulu, and then coming back again. We here at London Relocation Ltd. especially appreciate Melissa for the empathetic and caring voice she lends and look forward to future collaboration with her as an extension of our home search services.

A new city. A new country. A new home. A new job. New friends. How exciting! How challenging! And sometimes, how overwhelming….

Starting a new life in a new city is not for the faint of heart. A certain amount of disorientation, trepidation and frustration is often encountered in the quest for a new home, a new job, somewhere to go on a Friday night and some people to go with. Even something as bland a trip to the supermarket can be a struggle, as we get to grips with new and unfamiliar brands.

There’s often a need to take a deep breath, grasp our courage in both hands and go for it. Then we’re often rewarded with that big kick of excitement, discovery and adventure. But when things aren’t quite falling into place as we’d like, what can we do to encourage the universe to go our way? Generating a bit of luck can swiftly turn daunting prospects into exciting adventures.

It is possible to increase the frequency of good and helpful things happening by creating opportunity in the most unlikely places, with little resources and a small amount of effort. This will get us back on track and make the process of building new life in a new city far more enjoyable. And here’s how.

1. Be clear about what you want

What do you want? When? Where? What does it look like? How does it sound?

You want to use your new location as a base for exploring Europe… which countries, what time of year, what will be your most eagerly anticipated destination, who will you go with, when will you leave, how will you fund it, what will you pack?

Or perhaps you want to take the opportunity of starting again in a new city to take up a new hobby. What will you be doing, what will you look like, where will you be, who will you be with?

May be you’re after a new job… what’s your ideal position, where would it be, who would you be working with, what would you be wearing, what would you be earning?

A clear idea that you can daydream about in HDV and surround sound is much more likely to become reality than a vague and ill-defined notion. Your brain can’t tell between real life and strongly imagined scenarios, and will start to believe your dream is real. The more you convince yourself it can happen, the more likely you’ll take action to bring your dream to life. That’s what generates what some people call ‘luck’. It does really work.

And if you know exactly what you want, you’ll be able to share your dreams with others and they just might be able to help you.

2. Talk about it

Once you’re clear about what you want, start talking about it. Brits may seem unfriendly, but we’re mostly just a little bit shy! Most people will be inspired by your boldness, openness and honesty, and may offer support. That help may be the piece of luck that you’re after. If you know 5 people, and they each know 30 people (they’ve been here longer than you), you have network of 150 people within easy reach. Someone’s bound to be able to help.

A note of caution. Dreams are often fragile. Do not share you excitement with doom-mongers and naysayers. Their cynicism and negativity may infect your beautiful dream, and destroy your belief that it can happen.

Find out where people who share your dream hang out, and go talk to them. Try Meetup, Facebook and Linked In to find likeminded people who will add to your enthusiasm, rather than trample on it. Lucky people generally have big networks, and are eager to help. So go and meet them! Get a business card printed, even if you’re not in business. It’s easier to exchange contact details that way.

And email them the next day to say it was good to meet them, and pass them on any useful snippets of information about anything you talked about. Show willing and cultivate your network!

3. Ask and it is given

Ask people for help. It’s not rude or pushy, unless you ask in a rude or pushy way. People like to be asked, it makes them feel valued and respected. Who can resist the approach ‘I’m really interested to hear what you think about….’?

Hint: Ask people for something small requiring little effort, such as an opinion or a contact, rather than any action. If you ask your friend if they know someone who could help, they may well end up offering to help you themselves. It’s easier to ask when a ‘no’ doesn’t feel like rejection.

Be bold. If the best person to help you is a world famous expert, drop them an email. It’s very likely they were successful in part because of their audacity. They will be impressed by your gutsiness.

Whether you get help from Richard Branson, or Sam next door, always say a sincere ‘thank you’ immediately, and then follow up with a note or an email. People who feel appreciated will try even harder to help you next time.

4. Say yes

When a new opportunity comes your way, say yes. Don’t think about it too much, just say yes. Even if it’s really unrelated to your dream, say yes. If you’re hanging out with likeminded people, the chances are there will be a link somewhere. Even if there isn’t, you will open up your existence to new opportunities and people, and that’s where the excitement lurks.

Happy exploring,

Melissa Mehta

Tags: Americans moving to London, canadians moving to london, flats and apartments to rent, Impetus Coaching, life coaching, London Living, London Relocation Services, Melissa Mehta, moving to London England, relocation agents
Posted in London Tips & Culture, visas, banking, & other logisitical issues | No Comments »

February Guest Blog

March 2nd, 2010

This February-in-review blog is brought to us all by Sue Hillman of It’s Your London touring company. Providing custom tours of London tailored to your personal interests, It’s Your London will help you make the most of your time in this phenonemonal city. (For more information, see our previous blog on It’s Your London as well visit www.itsyourlondon.co.uk)

Your London Relocation review of February 2010 in London is rather different from usual as I spent most of it in Africa! I was lucky enough to take a big trip by road from Cape Town to Victoria Falls and had a wonderful time seeing amazing scenery, beautiful animals, great sights, blue skies and starry skies and it was hot, hot, hot!

I’ve attached just a few snaps at the end to give you a flavour of southern Africa but will turn my attention to London first and let you know what the remaining week and a bit of February’s been like.

A weather update to start with. Returning from the heat of Africa to the on-going winter in London was a real shock although everyone kept saying that it was much warmer than it had been. Snow was still falling all around London, tho’ not in London itself, so much so that a long awaited visit from a friend in Oxfordshire was cancelled as they were snowed in and that’s only about 30 miles away! Since then we’ve been rained on, daily, so thank goodness for lots of indoor things to do in London!

The weather was kind to us all for the big celebrations for the Chinese New Year as we welcomed the year of the Tiger to London. The area from Trafalgar Square through to Soho was packed with visitors and residents enjoying the explosion of red lanterns, firecrackers, Chinese music and the massive choice of restaurants packed into that small area. There are also the dancing dragons who visit each business in the area to bring them good luck by eating the salad left hanging for them, accompanied by huge drumming! The Chinese have been in London since the earlier 19^th century and the UK has one of largest Chinese populations in Europe – our long association with Hong Kong having a major impact here. The focus of Chinatown is Gerrard Street and the local council have marked the area with bilingual road signs and you can’t mistake where you are even on a normal day as there is a massive arch and more Chinese restaurants than you could ever get through. I’ve attached a few photos to give you a flavour of the day and the area – it really is a fun time of year to be there. London is brilliant in this way, the world comes to us and sometimes a day out can feel like you’ve travelled far away!

One of my favourite shops in London is the Travel Bookshop, made famous by the film Notting Hill and I rarely visit there without buying something as my bookshelves will testify. They have all the guide books and travel literature you could ever want, and maps and CDs. For the movies buffs here’s a little Notting Hill the film info – this shop was the inspiration and you certainly get that feeling when you go in. However, the interior filming took place in a studio and the shots from the inside of the shop onto the street were taken in Portobello Road, round the corner from the Travel Bookshop itself as you can tell when you look out from the actual shop. This doesn’t stop the constant stream of tourists taking their photo in front of the shop (here’s a photo but without me in front of it). As well as selling lovely books they have just started a series of talks from travel writers so we went along to hear Hugh Thomson tell us about his book Tequila Oil Getting Lost in Mexico. It was an interesting and entertaining session so I bought the book (of course), got it signed and found out that tequila oil is a drink to be avoided at all costs for one’s health, the word tequila really is a clue here!

Gallery preview evenings are another joy on a winter’s evening. Muse Gallery on Portobello Road was hosting Justin Piperger’s new work. There were big bold colours, some cartoon works and others which incorporated household items like clocks and tea towel holders! I wasn’t really sure about it all but loved a couple of the big bright pieces and the prices were reasonable but money is a bit too short after the big trip to even start thinking that way….

One more outing to report was to see the Noisettes at the Roundhouse in north London. The Roundhouse is a fascinating building and derives its name from its shape, a round building which was formerly a railway turntable shed, somewhere that steam engines could be turned around as they could not run well backwards as happens now. Over the years it has had many reincarnations as an arts venue. Fingers crossed the current one seems to be working. It’s great for large scale events and I’ve been there to see amazing shows like one where the acrobatic group used the space on the walls and under the roof for their performance, while the audience stood, with some trepidation, in the centre of the floor space in the dark waiting for someone to fall on them! The Noisettes are high energy and fun with a good range styles but mostly a rocking sound. Their lead singer Shingai Shoniwa is a human dynamo and hard to photograph as she never stands still! The other photo is of the amazing Roundhouse ceiling.

March’s blog will be back to normal and I’m looking forward to a bumper month.

Here, as promised are just a few photos from Africa: Cape Town, Namibian sand dunes, elephants, close up to a cheetah, lions and there are so many more…..

Sue

www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Tags: Chinese New Year, It's Your London, London Relocation Services, Noisettes, Notting Hill, relocation agency london, relocation london england, relocation specialist london, the Travel Bookshop, west london
Posted in London Tips & Culture, recreation | No Comments »

Speaking the Queen’s English (Signage)

March 1st, 2010

Today’s English lesson is dedicated to those words/phrases commonly seen on signs all over London:

Takeaway = Carry-Out

Way Out = Exit

Mind the… = Watch Out for… (e.g., “Mind the Step,” “Mind Your Head”)

Baggage Reclaim = Baggage Claim (“Reclaim” does make more sense, doesn’t it?)

Queue up = Stand in Line

Diversion = Detour

Give Way = Yield

Dual Carriageway = Two-Lane Highway

Humps = Bumps (as in road bumps…get your mind out of the gutter)

As you can see, while using different phrasing, the London signs are nonetheless quite self-explanatory, so you won’t have too difficult a time understanding them. And the signs in this city that you will be most grateful for are the ones painted where the sidewalks meet the street: ”Look Left” or “Look Right.” Now that is tricky, but I promise you’ll get the hang of it to the point where you’ll be forgetting the correct way to look back home! And regardless, when you’re exploring your neighborhoods and finding your London flat through London Relocation Ltd., we’ll always point you in the right direction.

Tags: Americans moving to London, British vs. American English, london home search, london location, london relocation agent, London Relocation Services, Moving to London, relocation specialists
Posted in London Tips & Culture, language barriers | No Comments »

Reward a London Recruiter’s Social Media Efforts!

February 25th, 2010

Hello all! In this modern era of social marketing, people across the globe have been increasingly shedding paper to connect with one another over internet. It’s the immediacy and multimedia that the web offers that makes this such an appealing means to market one’s self or business, and it’s obviously something that we at London Relocation Ltd. are partaking in more and more each day. But this isn’t about us.

It’s time for casting votes for the Social Recruiting Awards (SOCRA), which seeks to recognize the outstanding online presence of recruiters. Today, we want to give props to the social media efforts of a brilliant business that works in collaboration with us to assist North Americans with moving abroad. As I’ve written in a previous blog post, Classroom Canada is an organization that assists Canadian and American teachers with finding employment in London schools. Its owner and operator, Victoria Westcott, is a Canadian teacher who has had firsthand experience living and working in London, and her passion for both the education field and sharing her expat experiences with those making the move themselves has yielded a myriad of online resources, from blogs to e-books, aiming to assist others with their understanding of English culture, be it with regard to work or pleasure. Her practical guidance offers an empathetic voice that knows both sides to the story, so we cannot applaud nor promote her efforts and superhuman energy more!

I can keep expressing this until I’m blue in the face, but the purpose of this post is to give YOU a say in it, too! If you know of Victoria either through Classroom Canada or her e-published works or become familiar with these resources via the links provided here and like what you see, you can express your support by participating in the SOCRA Awards. Here you will find information on Victoria’s Guide to Teaching in London: A Survival Guide for Canadians and cast your vote.

Bravo, Victoria, for all the time and enthusiasm you devote to helping others–we can’t think of anyone else who deserves recognition more. London Relocation Ltd. shares a common purpose and finds great solidarity with your mission!

Tags: americans moving london, canadian immigration london, canadians living in london, canadians moving to london, Classroom Canada, london relocation agent, London Relocation Services, social networking, Victoria Westcott
Posted in London Tips & Culture | 1 Comment »

London Relocation Loves Little London Observationist (say that 5 times fast!)

February 24th, 2010

Today I’ve decided to blog about another blog, feeling ever so compelled to give props to quality London blogs that I stumble upon. There are infinite sites out there cataloguing the usual touristy things to do and providing logistical advice, but what I find in the Little London Observationist are delightful snippets out of an everyday Londoner’s life. Why I think anyone consulting our website might be particularly interested in this is because its author, Stephanie Sadler, is an American expat who seems to be having a passionate love affair with her new London life and truly optimizing her everyday urban experiences. Through her flair for writing and photography, Stephanie presents us with visually and verbally colorful bite-sized candies of an edgy, cultural London existence, be it her own daily updates or perspectives contributed by others under the pages “Guest Posts” or “Listen to a Londoner.” Expats can find empathy on the “Expat Page,” and those seeking some cultural infusion can consult the “London Art Spot” or Stephanie’s own “Bookshelf.” Also to be had in this thoughtful Valentine to the UK capital are a directory of links to other London-related blogs (including London Living!) as well as special-interest links for social activism and the arts.

London Relocation Ltd. hopes you’ll likewise immerse yourself in your new surroundings once you’ve relocated to London. There is so much you can learn on your own from simply allowing yourself to meander through the streets without a map or a timepiece—that’s when the discoveries happen and you chance upon the little pockets that will come to mean so much to you. And it’s when realizing that there are others who are likewise forging their own paths and uncovering glittering nuggets of experience that it becomes so valuable to have a resource like Little London Observationist to be aware of that which you might have overlooked and plot new trails going forward. Happy London living to you!

Tags: american expats in london, Little London Observationist, london home search, London Living, london location, london relocation agent, London Relocation Services, Moving to London
Posted in London Tips & Culture, food & beverage, recreation | 4 Comments »