American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
#16
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,477
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Scout like what you wrote..
#17
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Possibly my wife's biggest pet peeve when we lived in Britain was so many of the sinks having separate hot and cold taps (even in quite new build houses). She still goes on about it eight years after we moved.
#18
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Be prepared for the houses and the yards and gardens to be much smaller than you are used to. Be prepared to be scalded when you are washing dishes or attempting to take a shower with a mixer tap. Be prepared for it to rain or be cloudy with no sign of the sun for days and even weeks on end.
#19
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Mixers common here then? Our apartment has them in the kitchen and one of the bogs, but our last place didn't and I can't say from what I've seen in Maine and MA for there to be much difference on that to the UK.
#20
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
And that was all she found wrong with the UK? The taps?
#21
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
If you go read over in UK-Yankee apparently it's quite a big deal, the lack of mixer taps
#23
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Since I was a little girl, I have always dreamed about moving to England, now I find myself looking to move there with my boyfriend sometime by the end of the year. He is originally from Southampton and has been away for several years and is ready to move back home. While the idea of moving to another country sounds exciting, I know realistically there will be many challenges that I will face. !
I think you're going to love the experience -- the people are lovely. I love the pub culture and how happy-go-lucky the people are. Everything is smaller and more contained, I love that aspect. I just felt much more at home there so much more than I have ever felt here in the States on moving here. I think Scout says whatever I've not said in her post.
Personally I think I could be very happy there. Funnily enough it's my hubby who baulks at the prospect. He's thinking of the practical aspects like finances etc. and I think I know where he's coming from. So I guess it ain't happening for us, not in the near future anyway. But who knows maybe someday....
Good luck my dear. Just go ahead and take the plunge I don't think you will regret it. From what you say here, I think you will be very happy in good old blighty
#24
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I think you need to trade in for a new model (I'll let you decide whether I mean the sink or the wife).
#25
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Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Denver
Posts: 4
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
It's funny.. In the last few days, I have ran into people at work that have either lived or visited the UK and they all have LOVED it. My boyfriend and I traveling to London in about 3 weeks for a two week vacation (he claims it won't be a holiday for him but an adventure for me) either way, 2 weeks off of work no matter if your rear is plastered to the couch, is a holiday to me!
We will be staying in Central London for 3 days, including Valentines day! I don't know ANY of my American girlfriends that can say they've done that!! Then I think we're going to travel a bit to Oxford, Bath, a couple of other areas and then we're going down to Southhampton to meet his family.
My boyfriend is paranoid that i'm going to not like England and we will have to go our separate ways. No way, I say! I'm going to love it. All your posts have really given me insight and I feel the puzzle pieces are starting to come together. What a journey I'm about to begin and I honestly can't think of anything more exciting!
#26
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Joined: Apr 2004
Location: CHELTENHAM, Gloucestershire, England
Posts: 1,494
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
My parental west Edinburgh home has mixer taps in both the kitchen and the bathroom (bath and sink unit) and so does my flat, much closer to Edinburgh city centre, and which I moved into last March. If you visit the average sales rooms specialising in brand new kitchen and bathroom units you will find that mixer taps are now the norm - at least in this area they are, and I would reckon everywhere else in the UK as well.
#27
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Take the coach, it's every 15 mins from Victoria station and a bit over an hours ride or so...much easier than driving in, and the train station is a bit of a naff walk in tbh, plus Bottley, who'd want to end up there
Definitely if only staying a day, do the bus tour of the city, it's cheesy, but you'll see pretty much all the major sights.
Go to the Covered Market, it really is donkeys old and a proper old school market and the best place to sample cheeses etc, and see a proper butchers and get stuff for a cheap ploughmans lunch, which you can eat at University Parks, which is right by Keble and a few mins past the war memorial and Ashmolean Museum, which if you only visit one museum in the city, this should be a must, it'll easily take a day to do it properly, so only check out a wing that covers a part of history you are interested in, or a guest showing because it really is very cool.
Pubs, they're everywhere, plenty of good ones, but head down St Aldates, just past the police station, across the bridge on the river, it's not the best pub in the world, but it's a great view and well priced for lunch.
The Lamb and Flag and the other one across the street in St Giles, JRT fame, they're shitty tourist traps and have no room.
Must go up Carfax Tower, it's bang in the middle of the city centre, can't really beat the views of the skyline unless you go on a helicopter.
If you're staying the night, you'll find much better deals at a B&B up the Banbury Road towards Summertown, it's a 15 min walk, but buses are 24/7. Also Jericho is a two min walk and not a bad place to stay either. If you fancy something a bit different, the old prison in the city centre is now a hotel, it's supposed to be pretty good and they sometimes do good weekend deals.
Oh yeah, Market Day is I think Wednesday, it's in Gloucester Green, where the coach terminal is, it's fantastic for cheap lunch too, or picking up a snack in the afternoon. Same location, next day is another market, less food and farmers, more flea market, still fun.
Definitely if only staying a day, do the bus tour of the city, it's cheesy, but you'll see pretty much all the major sights.
Go to the Covered Market, it really is donkeys old and a proper old school market and the best place to sample cheeses etc, and see a proper butchers and get stuff for a cheap ploughmans lunch, which you can eat at University Parks, which is right by Keble and a few mins past the war memorial and Ashmolean Museum, which if you only visit one museum in the city, this should be a must, it'll easily take a day to do it properly, so only check out a wing that covers a part of history you are interested in, or a guest showing because it really is very cool.
Pubs, they're everywhere, plenty of good ones, but head down St Aldates, just past the police station, across the bridge on the river, it's not the best pub in the world, but it's a great view and well priced for lunch.
The Lamb and Flag and the other one across the street in St Giles, JRT fame, they're shitty tourist traps and have no room.
Must go up Carfax Tower, it's bang in the middle of the city centre, can't really beat the views of the skyline unless you go on a helicopter.
If you're staying the night, you'll find much better deals at a B&B up the Banbury Road towards Summertown, it's a 15 min walk, but buses are 24/7. Also Jericho is a two min walk and not a bad place to stay either. If you fancy something a bit different, the old prison in the city centre is now a hotel, it's supposed to be pretty good and they sometimes do good weekend deals.
Oh yeah, Market Day is I think Wednesday, it's in Gloucester Green, where the coach terminal is, it's fantastic for cheap lunch too, or picking up a snack in the afternoon. Same location, next day is another market, less food and farmers, more flea market, still fun.
#28
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Joined: Apr 2004
Location: CHELTENHAM, Gloucestershire, England
Posts: 1,494
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Be prepared for complete strangers to stop dead in the supermarket aisle, stare at you with a big goofy grin and point at you as they babble over and over......American! American!........... Be prepared for it to rain or be cloudy with no sign of the sun for days and even weeks on end.
Now that I have the negatives out of the way.......
Be prepared to wander around and explore your new country as much as possible. The countryside is spectacular. Be prepared for taking wonderful drives down country lanes between the hedge rows and squeezing past an oncoming car at the last minute in a space you were sure wouldn't accommodate a ten speed bike, much less a car.
....be prepared for British men to flirt with you and tell you repeatedly how much they love your accent.
I've been here over 5 years now and I'm one American that's still loving it.
Now that I have the negatives out of the way.......
Be prepared to wander around and explore your new country as much as possible. The countryside is spectacular. Be prepared for taking wonderful drives down country lanes between the hedge rows and squeezing past an oncoming car at the last minute in a space you were sure wouldn't accommodate a ten speed bike, much less a car.
....be prepared for British men to flirt with you and tell you repeatedly how much they love your accent.
I've been here over 5 years now and I'm one American that's still loving it.
We see loads and loads of Americans here in Edinburgh, along with practically every other nationality on the face of the planet, so we do not really resort to stopping dead in our tracks and grin as we pin point Americans in supermarket aisles!
It hasn't rained here in Edinburgh for several days now - well, none that you would really bother about - a wee bit of a drizzle maybe at some stage, but it's not been blazing sunshine either but it is late January after all - we're promised snow and ice again later this week.
Aye, the countryside is pretty much as you describe it - it varies a great deal from one part of the country to another, and it does not take long to travel from one to another as this American lady hoping to come over here (is she that crazy??? ...just joking...) will soon realise that nowhere here in the UK is all that far from anywhere else as distances here are nothing like as the scale they are on over in America. There is no place anywhere in the whole of the UK which is more than 70 miles from tidal water....some village in Warwickshire, England is supposed to be the place which is furthest away from a sea shore, which Americans would regard as almost diddly squat.
Narrow roads - here in Scotland we have plenty of "passing places" all at regular intervals along the roads. You see another car approaching so you nip into the space provided and allow the other car to pass, with the driver of that car giving you an acknowledging wave. Down in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales they may just raise a single finger oiff the steering wheel by way of appreciation of allowing their car to pass. I know that to be the case as I was at uni in Leeds - best fun time of my whole life so far!
I'm familiar with the flirting of British men...pretty much.....
Cheers!
PS: Get used to the word "cheers" in the UK - it can mean several things.....like when you raise your glass by way of a toast in the pub, like when a spotty faced lad of 18 or so says "cheers" when handing you your change over the counter at Dixons or wherever, or merely a means of saying "goodbye"!
Cheers - again - and guid nicht!
#29
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Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 378
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I loved reading all that! I'm Scottish/British and have lived here (Scotland) all my life - sometimes I love it, some times I hate it - it all depends on what has bugged me at any given time. What I really DO love about living in the UK - one of the many things I love about it - is our very close proximity to Continental Europe and the huge variety of cultures, languages, lifestyles and foods etc all available there just a short hop away across the Channel/North Sea. I often nip over to Amsterdam and back again over a weekend....friends live in the Netherlands.
We see loads and loads of Americans here in Edinburgh, along with practically every other nationality on the face of the planet, so we do not really resort to stopping dead in our tracks and grin as we pin point Americans in supermarket aisles!
It hasn't rained here in Edinburgh for several days now - well, none that you would really bother about - a wee bit of a drizzle maybe at some stage, but it's not been blazing sunshine either but it is late January after all - we're promised snow and ice again later this week.
Aye, the countryside is pretty much as you describe it - it varies a great deal from one part of the country to another, and it does not take long to travel from one to another as this American lady hoping to come over here (is she that crazy??? ...just joking...) will soon realise that nowhere here in the UK is all that far from anywhere else as distances here are nothing like as the scale they are on over in America. There is no place anywhere in the whole of the UK which is more than 70 miles from tidal water....some village in Warwickshire, England is supposed to be the place which is furthest away from a sea shore, which Americans would regard as almost diddly squat.
Narrow roads - here in Scotland we have plenty of "passing places" all at regular intervals along the roads. You see another car approaching so you nip into the space provided and allow the other car to pass, with the driver of that car giving you an acknowledging wave. Down in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales they may just raise a single finger oiff the steering wheel by way of appreciation of allowing their car to pass. I know that to be the case as I was at uni in Leeds - best fun time of my whole life so far!
I'm familiar with the flirting of British men...pretty much.....
Cheers!
PS: Get used to the word "cheers" in the UK - it can mean several things.....like when you raise your glass by way of a toast in the pub, like when a spotty faced lad of 18 or so says "cheers" when handing you your change over the counter at Dixons or wherever, or merely a means of saying "goodbye"!
Cheers - again - and guid nicht!
We see loads and loads of Americans here in Edinburgh, along with practically every other nationality on the face of the planet, so we do not really resort to stopping dead in our tracks and grin as we pin point Americans in supermarket aisles!
It hasn't rained here in Edinburgh for several days now - well, none that you would really bother about - a wee bit of a drizzle maybe at some stage, but it's not been blazing sunshine either but it is late January after all - we're promised snow and ice again later this week.
Aye, the countryside is pretty much as you describe it - it varies a great deal from one part of the country to another, and it does not take long to travel from one to another as this American lady hoping to come over here (is she that crazy??? ...just joking...) will soon realise that nowhere here in the UK is all that far from anywhere else as distances here are nothing like as the scale they are on over in America. There is no place anywhere in the whole of the UK which is more than 70 miles from tidal water....some village in Warwickshire, England is supposed to be the place which is furthest away from a sea shore, which Americans would regard as almost diddly squat.
Narrow roads - here in Scotland we have plenty of "passing places" all at regular intervals along the roads. You see another car approaching so you nip into the space provided and allow the other car to pass, with the driver of that car giving you an acknowledging wave. Down in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales they may just raise a single finger oiff the steering wheel by way of appreciation of allowing their car to pass. I know that to be the case as I was at uni in Leeds - best fun time of my whole life so far!
I'm familiar with the flirting of British men...pretty much.....
Cheers!
PS: Get used to the word "cheers" in the UK - it can mean several things.....like when you raise your glass by way of a toast in the pub, like when a spotty faced lad of 18 or so says "cheers" when handing you your change over the counter at Dixons or wherever, or merely a means of saying "goodbye"!
Cheers - again - and guid nicht!
#30
Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
And it's good to see Lothianlad on the up beat again.
And Bob I will put Oxford on the tourist bucket list now too.