Moving to London

[mickinoz]

Hi,

My family and I are thinking about a temporary move to London from Sydney for about two years.

It is a daunting task to figure out, cost of living compared with australia, where to live, what sort of tax loop holes I can take advantage off, and what school to send my two children to.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers....

[kaz101]

Hi Mick,

I moved from the UK to Oz in July 2007.

We found things like food and appliances more expensive in Oz. For rents it's harder for me to compare since I didn't live in London (we were just North of London) and I haven't lived in Sydney either (we're in South Australia). I guess things will seem expensive in London due to the exchange rate, mind you London seemed expensive to us even when we were earning pounds!

Good luck with your move.

Karen

[mickinoz]

Thanks Karen,

Its interesting that you say Australia is more expensive than London and you are in SA. The cost of living would probably be slightly better in SA than in Sydney. I notice the difference when I travel to Brisbane.

Thats good news, considering I was budgeting for the fact that London would be much more expensive.

Thanks again.....

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by mickinoz

Thanks Karen,

Its interesting that you say Australia is more expensive than London and you are in SA. The cost of living would probably be slightly better in SA than in Sydney. I notice the difference when I travel to Brisbane.

Thats good news, considering I was budgeting for the fact that London would be much more expensive.

Thanks again.....

Hey, I am also moving to the UK with my Husband in Feb 09. My family are english and we are all wanting to go back to England. I live in Melbourne, and I can tell you that food is not expensive in London. I have been traveling backwards and forwards for 22 years and have found that over the years Australia has caught up to the cost of London. The only thing I found astounding it the rent in central London. Apart from that, everything else very reasonable. Food, going out to eat, theatre, traveling, public transport. Obviously petrol is very expensive there, but it is expensive here as well, and we travel so much further to get from A to B, where as London has much shorter distances, but a lot more traffic. So it's really much of muchness.

Holidaying in Europe is so much cheaper than holidaying in Australia. By the time you have paid your $400 return flight from Melb to Perth for example, its usually 30 euro for a flight from London to Amsterdam, and can be heaps cheaper!

The other thing that is really expensive in London is coffee, but you pay a fortune for a cup of coffee in Sydney;-), still nothing that is going to make or break!

I hope that helps

[morten bonde]

Hi Mickinoz, Karen, and Gipsy

As you have been discussing, living in and around London is expensive. No question about that!

However, if you can afford it, it is a really good place to stay and it probably offers the best (international?) schools, jobs to choose from, and central travel points like train stations and airports. Living in London also means there will always be loads of things to do and see. Just think of the number of West End plays, the free museums, the nice restaurants etc.

Most of our clients normally say they prefer living in London and visiting places outside rather than living outside and visiting London. This is especially the case for those families who are only here for a year or two.

You are welcome to use the free areas of our website to gauge the cost of living in the UK. You can use the following link to have a look
- Cost of Living (You can also access the link from the main page here Culture Class UK)

Even though the website mainly is a cultural training for people who relocate to the UK, you can also use it to find answers to your questions about which school to choose, where to live, taxes and banking etc...

Kind regard,
Morten Bonde

Prepare to Succeed with Culture Class UK

Originally Posted by mickinoz

Hi,

My family and I are thinking about a temporary move to London from Sydney for about two years.

It is a daunting task to figure out, cost of living compared with australia, where to live, what sort of tax loop holes I can take advantage off, and what school to send my two children to.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers....

[Pricefamily4]

Hmm nice hot weather, cheap rates of living, lower crime rate, clean streets and beaches and you want to leave all that behind to move to cold wet climate, dirty London, overcrowded london 1/3 more expensive than the rest of the uk London, one of the highest crime rates in the UK?? I heard you aussie are crazy I just didn't realise how crazy lol
Honestly good luck with the move, but I'm sure you would be happier in another part of europe other than london.

[Micah34]

in my opinion Its interesting that you say Australia is more expensive than London.Thats good news i am also coming to london portrait painters

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Micah34

in my opinion Its interesting that you say Australia is more expensive than London.Thats good news i am also coming to london

That's great! I didn't say everything is cheaper than Australia, but I find so many people come back from London and say everything is so expensive there, when you eat lunch at the the tourist destinations like Tower of London, of course it will be expensive. My family are from the east end of London, and are not particularly well off. They came here in Feb and said price are very similar and in some cases (Alcohol, food & fashion) are cheaper in London.

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Pricefamily4

Hmm nice hot weather, cheap rates of living, lower crime rate, clean streets and beaches and you want to leave all that behind to move to cold wet climate, dirty London, overcrowded london 1/3 more expensive than the rest of the uk London, one of the highest crime rates in the UK?? I heard you aussie are crazy I just didn't realise how crazy lol
Honestly good luck with the move, but I'm sure you would be happier in another part of europe other than london.

I'm sure I would enjoy living in another part of Europe, in fact I would love to live in Austria, Spain, Amsterdam, Switzerland, etc, etc. However the practicality of living in a non english speaking country is just not evident. I want to move with my family, and I want to have the ability to travel to these great European cities. Living in Melbourne, especially inner city is dirty and expensive and congested, and I don't know where your located, but Melbourne is cold and if it's not cold its windy or raining. The beaches in Melbourne are not clean especially my local beach.
I understand living in London isn't for everyone, but the weather is not a factor to consider when moving countries. I'm not going to harp on, but like I said earlier, my family have been living here for 26 years and are wanting to move back. They look after pensioners better, and there are better work opportunities for myself and my Husband. When all these things are considered, the beaches and the weather can hardly come close to the other positive factors....... for me.

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by Gypsy

The other thing that is really expensive in London is coffee, but you pay a fortune for a cup of coffee in Sydney;-), still nothing that is going to make or break!

I hope that helps

Jeez, a cup of coffee is about £2.50 or so in Birmingham so if London is a bit more than that where you are must be horrendous.

Here in Spain it costs us about 90p

I always found everything hugely expensive in London compared to Warwickshire where we lived. Presumably others did too, as there were many people who lived by us and commuted to London every day!