Planning my move! Help please. :)

So, I’ve had enough and am making the move to London June 13. I am currently in Montreal. This is the first time I do this. I’m both excited and scared sh*tless.

I have no job but, I figure that with a little bit of elbow grease and a can-do attitude: I can find a job. I already have an EU passport so, working restrictions won’t apply to me.

I do have some other things to take care.

* My car lease expires June 7.
* My apartment will be transferred on May 1st.
* I have all my personal items to sell.
* I figure 2-3 suitcases full of clothing will suffice?
* Deregister my RRSP
* Liquidate my TFSA, Bank Account etc..
* I have already been in contact with Lloyds in Toronto, the account opening is in process.
* Finding a place to stay in London. This is proving to be the biggest challenge as I do not know enough about the city to qualify certain areas as safe/dangerous. This is why I come here, looking for other Canucks in the UK. Can anyone recommend any neighborhoods which are safe and clean and whose rents are not tantamount to extortion?

-- Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:54 am --

Anyone out there capable of throwing me a bone?

My criteria for living in London is to be on a good tube line. Which I think are the central, Piccadilly, Northern north of the river as I find south of the river too congested). As well the Jubilee line is a good one but over the past 4 years it has been closed on weekends a lot for engineering works, not sure what the plans are for the next while though.

Over the 4 years I've been here I have lived in Sheppard's Bush, Notting Hill, Camden Town and now Bow/Mile End in east London. You can get a pretty good feel for an area by walking around for a bit.

Going out to Zone 3 can make a big difference in lowering rent (though keep in mind your cost of transport will be a bit higher as well). For example flats in Balham are cheaper than in Clapham, it's a nice area and as a bonus you have the both the national rail overground trains (which you can use your oyster card on) to Waterloo and the Northern line for transport. Another bonus for Balham is you get on the northern line before the worst of the crowds at Clapham.

If you have questions on specific areas let me know.

Michelle
http://www.bluenosegirl.com

Where to live in London causes endless debate even among Londoners and it's all down to personal preferences in the end.

The thing about London is there are no *really* bad areas in the North American sense i.e. areas you probably won't get out of alive. "Rough" areas often have little corners of gentification and "nice" areas can have pockets of roughness, so it's all rather mixed.

The trick for an easy life in London is to find a job somewhere near where you live or somewhere where your commute heads you out of London rather than into it.

I would also say don't get too hung up on tube lines. Now that National Rail is on the Oyster system it's worth looking at places with a good NR system too.

My suggestions for what they're worth and I know south London better than north:

Croydon: It's in Zone 5 but National Rail takes you to London Bridge in less than 15 mins, Victoria in about 18 mins. Trains are frequent i.e. more than one every 15 mintues with a 24 hr service. There's a fair amount of local work and, by London standards, it's good value for money.

Sutton, and Bromley: similar story though rail services slightly less good.

Stratford: Very good rail and tube services, and booming due to Olympics - a fair amount of local work.

A lot of inner London areas manage to be both rough and expensive e.g. Brixton, Hackney but are still popular with certain trendy professionals. If that's your thing New Cross probably offers slightly better value.

I would recommend keeping your options open with work locations. A short journey is always preferable, but also important is having a backup option for when lines go down, or there are major delays. The further out you live or work the more difficult getting home becomes when something goes wrong.

I was offered a job in Cryodon when I first moved here and I turned it down. I wanted to experience London daily, not commute out to a suburb and experience London on the weekends. Also the more zones you go through the more you will pay for your monthly/weekly/annual pass.

I'm glad I avoided it when I first got here and had the working in London experience as I now work out in a suburb, have a long commute and the area that I work doesn't have much character, and so the social aspect of work life is limited as there is no where to head after work. Also trying to get back into town to meet up with friends or see a play/ballet/show etc. after work becomes a lot more effort and stressful. So I would avoid working in the suburbs if you can if you want to get a real feel for London life.

ohhh lovely Croydon....lol I went there with a friend when he got his ILR visa. It's funny in a sense that it seemed like a typical Toronto suburban neighbourhood yet everyone in London thought it a complete dump.

My friend lives in Clapham Junction and was cute enough (and by cute enough, I mean I'm looking for flatshares in the Clapham Junction/Clapham Common area myself). I quite like the area - on the National Rail line which brings you into either Victoria Station or Waterloo Station in a matter of approx. 10 minutes. Clapham Common/Clapham South seem like quite cute places as well with the Northern tube line running through the area. Balham might be another option.

Battersea is a nice area (cheapish too) but doesn't have the greatest transport lines.