UK Relocation

[Racheya]

One thing you will encounter over here are Chavs. Chavs wear tracksuits and burberry caps, they may have bikes, and they trawl around the streets (mainly in more working class areas) and hang around bus stops looking for people to harrass and things to smash. They're usually like 10-16. If you wanna find out more about chavs you can google, or watch the new film Attack the Block - awesome film by the same guy as Shaun of the Dead (classic film).

 

For things like slang, watching TV/Film is going to be the best way to go. That and talking to Londoners. Remember that slang hugely differentiates between areas.

[Jeffwilson99]

One thing you will encounter over here are Chavs. Chavs wear tracksuits and burberry caps, they may have bikes, and they trawl around the streets (mainly in more working class areas) and hang around bus stops looking for people to harrass and things to smash. They're usually like 10-16. If you wanna find out more about chavs you can google, or watch the new film Attack the Block - awesome film by the same guy as Shaun of the Dead (classic film).

 

For things like slang, watching TV/Film is going to be the best way to go. That and talking to Londoners. Remember that slang hugely differentiates between areas.

 

Lol my English friend told me about Chavs. Are they like the people you see on Jeremy Kyle?

[Assume Nothing]

The urban dictionary describes 'chavs' quite well.

 

"Picture this a young lad about 12 years of age and 4 ½ feet high baseball cap at ninety degrees in a imitation addidas tracksuit, with trouser legs tucked into his socks (of course, is definitely the height of fashion). This lad is strutting around, [bleep] in one hand jewellery al over the over, outside McDonalds acting as if he is 8 foot tall and built like a rugby player, when some poor unsuspecting adult (about 17/18) walks round the corner wanting to go to mcdonalds for his dinner glances at the young lad, the young lad jumps up in complete disgust and says Whats your problem? Wanna make sommin of it? Bling Bling when the adult starts to walk towards the young lad, the young lad pisses himself and runs off to either his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend or his brother in the army crying his eyes out."

[Racheya]

Lol my English friend told me about Chavs. Are they like the people you see on Jeremy Kyle?

Some of them are, yeah. The rest of the people on Jeremy Kyle are just real losers, most of the people on the show are a bit too old to be chavs - though some still are.

 

Are they as dangerous as inner city gangs in America? If not then meh

Well they could be dangerous when they hang out in gangs, but nothing so dramatic.

 

Doesn't mean we don't have gangs over here - chavs just aren't usually a big part of them. They're not hardcore enough.

 

Not_Trolling's description from UD is pretty accurate.

[Nifflin]

Awesome Indian food over there in the UK, no joke, it's the best in the world (including India).

[mcneilp]

The urban dictionary describes 'chavs' quite well.

 

"Picture this a young lad about 12 years of age and 4 ½ feet high baseball cap at ninety degrees in a imitation addidas tracksuit, with trouser legs tucked into his socks (of course, is definitely the height of fashion). This lad is strutting around, [bleep] in one hand jewellery al over the over, outside McDonalds acting as if he is 8 foot tall and built like a rugby player, when some poor unsuspecting adult (about 17/18) walks round the corner wanting to go to mcdonalds for his dinner glances at the young lad, the young lad jumps up in complete disgust and says Whats your problem? Wanna make sommin of it? Bling Bling when the adult starts to walk towards the young lad, the young lad pisses himself and runs off to either his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend or his brother in the army crying his eyes out."

 

Square go, big man.

[Boris5000]

1. What are a few samples of common dinner assortments in the UK? What type of foods are most often consumed where you live? You can find loads of restaurants in london - Most boroughs will have a full range.

 

2. What is the average cost of a flat/apartment to rent a month/week/day?

£200-£400 a weekly? You will have to look obviously.

 

3. What are some things that stereotypical Americans should be aware of (item names, slang, etc) that are different from the United States?

Erm... Squid/Quid = £,

 

4. What are some good television shows?

Top Gear, Embarrasing bodies, East Enders (woo), Misfits, just read the TV guide and pick your fancy - we get alot of american shows too.

 

5. What are the best internet options?

In terms of consistancy, BT does a decent job - it rarely drops out if you live in London. BT are installing new fibre-optic links. But you can call up Sky and Virgin for equally competitive internet. I'd go for BT though

 

6. How expensive is it to travel on a daily basis? Oyster Cards = Discounted Travel (IN LONDON) - Travelling to other cities its about £22 for a one-way ticket. Average Journey on the Tube costs around £2 with oyster, Buses are also £2 (without oyster card). The more travelling you do, the "less" you pay overall. As in if the journey were to cost £10(5 individual journeys), it will cost £5 (the price of a day-travelcard).

 

7. Reccomended sectors of London/surrounding areas to live?

Try be as close to the Centre of London as you can comfortably afford - I live roughly 1-hour by Tube and its pretty handy being so close (if I need to go to central london)

I left out the places to live in london:

Blue is the Central London, the red parts are the places are a bit :s

Hackney does has great bagels though...

 

8. How large are flats?

Depends how much you want to pay. You can pay up to £1,000,000 to get a 4-bed flat on top of Baker Street Station, if you are that desperate.

 

9. Is there Mountain Dew in London?

Not as far as I am aware - you can probably find it in import shops

 

10. Any suggestions/comments/input/advice from yourself.

Avoid East/South London (sorry guys), be close to stations with Piccidily/Central/District lines (or atleast not a far journey on a line to such line). Thats all there is to it.

[PhaperPlane]

1. What are a few samples of common dinner assortments in the UK? What type of foods are most often consumed where you live?

The UK generally has everything under the sun. Seriously. Supermarkets have a wide variety and there are hundreds of restaurants around.

 

2. What is the average cost of a flat/apartment to rent a month/week/day?

In London? Lots and lots and lots of money. But it depends on where in London.

 

3. What are some things that stereotypical Americans should be aware of (item names, slang, etc) that are different from the United States?

Tube = London Underground

 

4. What are some good television shows?

Doctor Who, Spooks, Luther. They are pretty good but there are others around.

 

5. What are the best internet options?

I'm with BT at the moment (BT Infinity/Fibre optics) and I have not had any problems with them so far. However, there are probably better deals out there for London.

 

6. How expensive is it to travel on a daily basis?

First off, in London, you will not need a car. Just grab a rail card and that's pretty much all you need.

 

7. Reccomended sectors of London/surrounding areas to live?

I don't live in London but avoid East and South London at all costs.

 

8. How large are flats?

Well, London has all shapes, all sixes.

 

9. Is there Mountain Dew in London?

Try the Food Court at Selfridges.

 

10. Any suggestions/comments/input/advice from yourself.

Do you have to live in London? Living in London is extremely expensive, you can always commute by train to get into London. Milton Keynes is close to London and is cheaper to live than in London.

[Assume Nothing]

1. What are a few samples of common dinner assortments in the UK? What type of foods are most often consumed where you live?

The UK generally has everything under the sun. Seriously. Supermarkets have a wide variety and there are hundreds of restaurants around.

 

2. What is the average cost of a flat/apartment to rent a month/week/day?

In London? Lots and lots and lots of money. But it depends on where in London.

 

3. What are some things that stereotypical Americans should be aware of (item names, slang, etc) that are different from the United States?

Tube = London Underground

 

4. What are some good television shows?

Doctor Who, Spooks, Luther. They are pretty good but there are others around.

 

5. What are the best internet options?

I'm with BT at the moment (BT Infinity/Fibre optics) and I have not had any problems with them so far. However, there are probably better deals out there for London.

 

6. How expensive is it to travel on a daily basis?

First off, in London, you will not need a car. Just grab a rail card and that's pretty much all you need.

 

7. Reccomended sectors of London/surrounding areas to live?

I don't live in London but avoid East and South London at all costs.

 

8. How large are flats?

Well, London has all shapes, all sixes.

 

9. Is there Mountain Dew in London?

Try the Food Court at Selfridges.

 

10. Any suggestions/comments/input/advice from yourself.

Do you have to live in London? Living in London is extremely expensive, you can always commute by train to get into London. Milton Keynes is close to London and is cheaper to live than in London.

 

I'd agree about Milton Keynes, even though it's not that close. It's approximately 50 miles from London Euston, but it takes approximately 35-40 minutes to go there via Virgin Trains (£14 return, 1/3 off of that with a railcard).

[pepejetay]

If you need glasgow slang I'm your man :D

[RSBDavid]

SO as alternatives to London, where is a good city really close to live? My employer location is Kingston Upon Thames. I want to find a semi-close location because I hate driving/commuting over 1.5 hours each way like I do now. Even an hour max would be alright. Is there any locations where I could get a place for the same price I pay now (about 700 USD/quid)?

[PhaperPlane]

SO as alternatives to London, where is a good city really close to live? My employer location is Kingston Upon Thames. I want to find a semi-close location because I hate driving/commuting over 1.5 hours each way like I do now. Even an hour max would be alright. Is there any locations where I could get a place for the same price I pay now (about 700 USD/quid)?

 

Like I said above, Milton Keynes. I assume you want to rent? If so here ya go, 1 bedroom apartments for rent:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^940&minBedrooms=0&maxBedrooms=1&displayPropertyType=flats&oldDisplayPropertyType=flats

Rightmove is very good at filtering down properties to meet your needs. It also offers properties on the map as well so you can see where the property is located.

 

Milton Keynes is a constantly growing city, indoor Snow dome for Snowboarding/Skiing, bowling, cinema, indoor sky diving simulator and lots of parks to explore. It's very much a "green" city, but it is famous for it's roundabouts which are pretty much everywhere. :P

[Boris5000]

Milton Keynes is a bit out of the way to get to Kingston-Upon-Thames, driving would take 1 hr 20mins (on a good day) and you would have to go around the M25 and a few A roads which can get heavily congested at times.

 

You could look at places just outside of the M25 such as Slough, and Cities located in Surrey (the county) - guildford is a lovely place too!. Driving from such places may take 40 minutes but it IS along one road - not sure about the commute (by public transport) but roughly the same time, if not quicker.

However that being said, Areas surronding London have Rental prices of £1,200/month, while in Milton Keynes have it around £800/month.

 

Or you can suck up £1800/month and live in Kingston :P

 

At the end of the day you will just have to find a place to rent that yu are comfortable - just understand that you do not have to live in London to commute quickly/effectively to work.

 

Something tells me Phaper Plane likes Milton Keynes.

[Stommel]

Mountain Dew in the UK has none of the chemicals that the US one has (and therefore tastes terrible). Some friends at uni used to buy it imported, a few crates at a time, you could look into that :P

[Surprise]

The good thing about Milton Keynes is it is like an American city with it's square structure however it's a really long distance...

 

 

$700 is about £500 a month so looking at inner London would be difficult.

 

How about Watford? It's an alright city with a direct fast link to Euston from where you could get tubes to wherever.

[Johannas]

Watford? wtf that's more than an hours drive at a really off peak time!! And why divert all the way to Euston to get directly south to Kingston?

 

it takes me less than 30 minutes to drive to Kingston Upon Thames - i know the area pretty well and go shopping/clubbing there quite a lot.

 

You could house/flat/room share in Kingston with other single people, try contacting local estate agents or look in local papers if you can :P (i strongly recommend emailing some of the agents listed here. I'm sure if you outlined your situation they'd give you the best advice.

There is a university there and usually loads of students so there is a high demand for house sharing - it would a lot cheaper doing it like this, you wouldn't have to live by yourself, plus you would have someone to help you out. A room would cost you literally between £50 - £250 depending on where it is in Kingston and how many people you share with.

 

To rent a 1 bedroom flat for yourself in kingston would be about £600 - 800 ex bills i think. Probably even more since you'll need it furnished.

 

This is also a pretty good website to look at for general costs.

 

Stay away from central london! its way expensive - travelling half an hour easterly as opposed to westerly will literally be twice as much.

 

You can PM me if you have any more questions, or like i said -get in contact with an estate agent or see if your employer can give you advice - i'm sure they can point you in the right direction.