Edinburgh. Classy city, great architecture, history and night life. Although the Pak community is pretty backward, but extremely small, so won't bother you.
You can descent sized accomodation in Lieth. Central Edinburgh is pretty much unaffordable. I miss Edinburgh every time as I struggle on the Norh Circular.
Avoid London like the plague, crap city, full of crime and grime. South Kensington and Knightsbridge are literally unaffordable unless you are a Russian oligarch. Same goes for Hamstead, Highgate and Swiss Cottage. Most people end up living in slums like Tooting, Walthamstow and Ilford, not to mention Southall Hounslow etc. Honestly, I would prefer living in favella in Rio then these areas. Anywhere half descent like Sutton or New Malden are a billion miles away from central London. Public transport is crap, and is shut most weekends for endless repairs. Heathrow, the main airport is an embarasment. Berlin, Paris and Madrid are a billion times better that ths ****e hole.
You can't really place Tooting (even though I hate it) in the same class as Walthamstow. Tooting is a really popular place for young professionals working in central (all races). And next door you have places like Earslfield and Wimbledon which have a completely different atmosphere. Earlsfield is predominantly white middle-class and lots of people in TV have their homes there.
Sutton is hardly a billion miles away. In fact the South has very good links into Central London via Rail. During the recent snow, trains from Central to the Northern suburbs were screwed but Southern was still running even if reduced.
I live in Zone 6 south and it's a 20min train into London Bridge. It's a quiet, leafy, clean, nice houses, my train to and from work is full of city professionals. It's a boring area but I prefer to come home to somewhere peaceful as I go into central to meet people anyway.
There are places you you want to avoid in London but on the whole, it doesn't really matter where you live as getting around is not that difficult.
My area is great, the vast majoirty of people are Anglo but there is a sizeable ethnic minority (Paki, Bangla, Italian, Polish and Chinese), everyone knows everyone else and get on with each other (except for a few bad apples), the vicar and the imam are friends and you often see them going for a stroll together, Anglo boys and Paki boys play cricket together, veiled women go shopping to the mall with their white girlfriends, bearded-types and their beer-bellied white mates get together to watch the football and everyone respects everyone elses beliefs and lifestyle choices...
...
Nosh,
Is this place a figment of your immagination. I come from a city, Glasgow, which is touted for its tolerance and integration of the Pakistanis. Yet, I know for a fact, that its pretty segrated. I have yet to come accross a place like this in the UK. Actually, in London's defence, it is probably the only integrated city in the UK.
Actualy, Pakis are pretty insular, spent my chilhood in Jordan, and there must ten of them in the country, and yet they socialized among themselves, as well as b---ching about each other. It was great fun, especially the trips to Jerusalem.
Coming back to the topic, Seattle is a lovely city, would probably love to stay on a boat in Lake Union. Also Pike Street market is great.
alright ... lotsa nice suggestions ... i hope each one of them has a nice asian/indian/pakistani supermarket close by!!!
but next question .. how big a step is to move? what are the difficulties etc ...
how many have you ever moved cross-continent or to another close-by country ... what was your experience ... any advise?
see, i would really like to move in some time as i am not really super excited by where i live .. and want to move while still young and without children, and have the stamina to deal with the entire moving thing ... but i'm still in talks with husband who is not so comfortable with the idea of moving ... considering that both of us will be foreigners in that new land ... and then the civil rights go down the drain in that situation ...
what say you?
what are the positive and negative factors of moving?
farrah - I think you should pick one or two places you both like the sound of and go visit them first. nothing will make the decision quicker for you.
In the UK, I couldn't live anywhere other than London. I think if you want to have fun while you're young, it's the best place in this country.
And what about employment? At the end of the day, that ends up being the biggest factor in deciding where you end up - where there are good job opportunities or where you find employment and therefore all the visa, residency blah.
alright ... lotsa nice suggestions ... i hope each one of them has a nice asian/indian/pakistani supermarket close by!!!
but next question .. how big a step is to move? what are the difficulties etc ...
how many have you ever moved cross-continent or to another close-by country ... what was your experience ... any advise?
see, i would really like to move in some time as i am not really super excited by where i live .. and want to move while still young and without children, and have the stamina to deal with the entire moving thing ... but i'm still in talks with husband who is not so comfortable with the idea of moving ... considering that both of us will be foreigners in that new land ... and then the civil rights go down the drain in that situation ...
what say you?
what are the positive and negative factors of moving?
Farrah, I've lived in europe for almost a decade...then i felt like moving n thought of UK as a better place. I WAS WRONG big time. Lived in london for 6 months though i went there to settle...but left n moved to Pak. hehe, don't ask me why.......moving is expensive....n living in uk is super expensive....uk is a good place for those who go from pak...but once you are used to live in europe UK is sooo annoying. everything is so slow paced.....n getting your work done is not really easy like in europe. For renting a place u need references....we kept getting wrong utility bills for our property...we couldn't open a bank account for a month until we recieved the first utility bill in our name....and they still use old banking ways....(I had experience with HSBC and Barclays)....Royal Mail is indeed snail mail....never in time. Tubes are smelly & jam packed. Plus Living in London I never felt secure....London for me is a polluted city....Terminal 4 at heathrow smells of rats. I was shocked to see used polythene bags on twigs around M 25. Most teenagers thing it cool to have gangster culture...
Mind you, I had kids with me...n we had a hard time dealing with bullies in school. People in general are a bit more friendly than those in europe...they do show ettiquettes but u get to see many who are just big on using foul language....I had no peace of mind there.....
These wrere just personal experiences.....no offence intended to anyone who loves uk...or london.
decide carefully....Personally I wouldn't ever want to go back to UK....(no offence to anyone)
lol Stoppit ...whats wrong with Guildford?? I went to the COL there !
i did my msc at unis, which has a lovely campus. guildford town centre is also cute.
but yaaaawn, i would never live there as a young professional or to later bring up my children. i don't know what makes it one of the top 20 places in the UK. it wasn't particularly affluent and i don't know that the schools are particularly good.
Guildford is for old rich whites to live but it's a lovely town and you won't find those rare shops anywhere else. Though you'll find some poor areas and not so good schools in the town; most of the good schools are in the rural areas aroung Guildford but I've heard those schools stress too much on grades.
Farrah, I've lived in europe for almost a decade...then i felt like moving n thought of UK as a better place. I WAS WRONG big time. Lived in london for 6 months though i went there to settle...but left n moved to Pak. hehe, don't ask me why.......moving is expensive....n living in uk is super expensive....uk is a good place for those who go from pak...but once you are used to live in europe UK is sooo annoying. everything is so slow paced.....n getting your work done is not really easy like in europe. For renting a place u need references....we kept getting wrong utility bills for our property...we couldn't open a bank account for a month until we recieved the first utility bill in our name....and they still use old banking ways....(I had experience with HSBC and Barclays)....Royal Mail is indeed snail mail....never in time. Tubes are smelly & jam packed. Plus Living in London I never felt secure....London for me is a polluted city....Terminal 4 at heathrow smells of rats. I was shocked to see used polythene bags on twigs around M 25. Most teenagers thing it cool to have gangster culture...
Mind you, I had kids with me...n we had a hard time dealing with bullies in school. People in general are a bit more friendly than those in europe...they do show ettiquettes but u get to see many who are just big on using foul language....I had no peace of mind there.....
These wrere just personal experiences.....no offence intended to anyone who loves uk...or london.
decide carefully....Personally I wouldn't ever want to go back to UK....(no offence to anyone)
wow ... this is quite a practical response ... and i yea i dont want to live in a dirty place ... i was in fact thinking of moving to a more cleaner neighbourhood as of now .. so i have to clean less often ... right now i have a big road and shops around the corner ... and even a mall at 5 mins walking distance ... while all this is super cool ... i just need a bigger, calmer place now ...
we are planning to walk around in the UK this summer .... hopefully that'll help me understand better of what the place is really about ..
Farrah, I've lived in europe for almost a decade...then i felt like moving n thought of UK as a better place. I WAS WRONG big time. Lived in london for 6 months though i went there to settle...but left n moved to Pak. hehe, don't ask me why.......moving is expensive....n living in uk is super expensive....uk is a good place for those who go from pak...but once you are used to live in europe UK is sooo annoying. everything is so slow paced.....n getting your work done is not really easy like in europe. For renting a place u need references....we kept getting wrong utility bills for our property...we couldn't open a bank account for a month until we recieved the first utility bill in our name....and they still use old banking ways....(I had experience with HSBC and Barclays)....Royal Mail is indeed snail mail....never in time. Tubes are smelly & jam packed. Plus Living in London I never felt secure....London for me is a polluted city....Terminal 4 at heathrow smells of rats. I was shocked to see used polythene bags on twigs around M 25. Most teenagers thing it cool to have gangster culture...
Mind you, I had kids with me...n we had a hard time dealing with bullies in school. People in general are a bit more friendly than those in europe...they do show ettiquettes but u get to see many who are just big on using foul language....I had no peace of mind there.....
These wrere just personal experiences.....no offence intended to anyone who loves uk...or london.
decide carefully....Personally I wouldn't ever want to go back to UK....(no offence to anyone)
do not even think abt moving to the UK u will hate it , well i did ....
the UK grows on you , but its not all rosy as it seems...
you want to be away from pakistanis and asian areas , but all gora areas can be awfully racist and they will nt accept you. we have had personal experience of racial abuse and violence whilst living in an all white area.
life in the UK is hard , the overall change in atmosphere is huge.. i loved holland its so clean spacious and for me people are so friendly and such a tight knit community.
england is not bad , but it would not be on my list if moving from anywhere in europe...