What´s it like to live and work in London?

Hi! I am Asvin and I am living (and working) in London since I was 9 years old.

I am from Netherlands, but I moved to England when I was 9 years old. I work in a trampoline park and I make videos on YouTube of cars, workout, and vlogs.
When I came to the UK, I had to study until I finished college. I did not want to go to university as studying was not for me.
I had few other jobs before I did trampoline.

Today I will take you with me on my experiences about living in The United Kingdom.

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What to expect in this article

My experience of The Netherlands

I been travelling back and forth to Netherlands and London and during those trips, I have noticed there is a lot of difference.

Let me first talk about the Netherlands. Netherlands is a beautiful place with lovely people around. It is a hometown of cycling. Cycles are everywhere and that is how most people use to go places or to work.
Everywhere I go, most people will say ‘hello’ as a friendly greeting.
Houses are a lot better compared to England. But overall, I feel Holland is a quite peaceful place.

But I do love England more than The Nederlands.

I want to tell you why I love England more than Holland...

When I moved to England, I got to know a lot of people quick. England is a country where people get together with friends and family.

I learnt a lot of new things and especially I find the education much better in England. There are so many options to get you head started with you career.

England is an underrated place..

because there are so many places across England.

When someone wants to visit England, first thought on their mind will be London.
But why London? You will discover more astonishing places outside London.
If I lived the rest of my life in the Netherlands, instead of England, I would not learn a lot of new things. England is a place to discover what your true potentials are. Do not get me wrong, I still love the Netherlands, but I prefer England more. Everyone has their own opinion, but my advice would be not to wait and discover and see what you think.

England is a multi-culture place. You always see different ethnic everyday in London. So, you would not feel left out.

In this video I will show you Box Hill Surrey, one of my favorite places in London!

Food

Hmm food. I love food and I am a person who loves to try different type of food from different countries.

In London you have places that feels like you are in that country, such as china town. You can try any type of Chinese delicious dish there.

If you want an Indian dish, then best place to visit is Wembley or South Hall. But, wherever you go in London you can find any type of restaurants.

Disadvantages of living in London

Well, it is a busy place. People are friendly, but you would not get a daily ‘hello’ such as in the Netherlands.
There are so many places that are open 24/7 such as, restaurant, university, shops, gym etc…
Besides that, cycling is not the best place in England as most cyclist are on the road which is quite dangerous.

Disadvantages in my opinion in England is crime, busy and houses. If you are looking to purchase a 4-bedroom house in London, then you are looking about 400/500k which is expensive.
However, there are much cheaper houses outside London up in North.

Advantages of living in London

There are many advantages such as transport which is easy to go from city to city.
Food places are everywhere, some are 24/7, so no matter what time you are looking to eat, you can find a fast-food restaurant in matter of time.

There is plenty of jobs to get you started.
The most important for me is that you will never run out of things to do in London. There are many places to visit and activities in London so you will never get bored. Shopping centre ‘Westfield’ in London is one of the best and biggest in Europe. If you love shopping, then I recommend Westfield.

Studying & Working

In my opinion the education there is good. They have so many options of different courses that you want to do.
So, no matter what kind of course you are looking for, they are all there. There is always support for people who has difficulty to study.

Working

Working in England is not bad depending on what job you are doing. There are so many businesses hiring in London.
Most of the jobs you able to get is delivery driver or food courier. So even if you do not have the qualification to get a job straight away. Delivery businesses are always hiring.

My nr 1 tip!

London is a place to discover yourself. If you want to do the same, my number one tip is to do research before you move to the UK.

Plan and take small steps. It does not matter what kind of job you have; you will always find and learn new things. Websites that I recommend you should use and ask advice from is Citizen’s advice, GOV.UK, Council and look for jobs on Indeed or other job type of websites.

TripAdvisor also is an amazing website to use to help you around to find the best places to visit.

What to consider before moving

UK is just another country that requires for identity documents. Before Brexit it was easy to move to London, however, now is just a bit difficult. But do not worry, there are many websites you could get help from before you want to move there.

Average salary

The average salary is about 36-38k a year for full time, for part time is about 12-13k a year. This is not too bad as you can buy a decent house depending on the area. Also, food, bills, clothes and other spending will not cost a lot too.

Type of people

There is a lot of different background people in UK. I am Sri Lankan and was born in The Netherlands.
When I first came to the UK, I thought I will be the only Sri Lankan from Netherlands. I was wrong, there are so many people from the same country as me and from different countries which is a good thing.

But I don´t speak English that well...

If you do not speak English quite well, there are many people who could help you translate in the language that you prefer.
So, do not worry if your English is not perfect. I also had to learn and get help from others around.

Places to visit

There are many favourite destinations in London and outside. In London it must be central London, Westfield shepherds bush/ Stratford, Hyde park and few more.

Outside London will be number 1 for me. There are so many beautiful places to visit such as Milton Keynes, Surrey Box Hill, Aylesbury, Bristol, Brighton and many more. You can visit so many places in one day.

Best destinations are London city for tourists as you can do a lot of things, such as the hop-on-and-hop-off bus.

Outside London, Box hill Surrey is an amazing place with a lot of nature and an amazing view!