30: Why I love living in London and why you might love it too

If you are considering a move abroad, check out the free guide below: 5 Exact Steps to Move Abroad. It would be a great first step towards your dream of moving abroad. 

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It's no secret that I think London is the best city in the world. I've been living here for 4 years and I don't think I'm ever leaving. 

In this week's episode, we talk through why I think London is one of the best places in the world to live and why you might want to move here too. If you've ever thought about moving to London, this is the episode for you! Here are some of the topics we cover: 

• English-speaking environment
• Abundant job opportunities
• Picturesque city 
• Vibrant cultural scene
• Historical landmarks
• Global and diverse people
• Excellent public transport
• Culinary melting pot
• Urban life with nature nearby
• Multiple airports for affordable travel
• Experience seasons
• Diverse entertainment options
• Prestigious higher education
• Bustling nightlife
• Inclusive and accepting atmosphere

If you are considering a move abroad, check out the free guide below: 5 Exact Steps to Move Abroad. It would be a great first step towards your dream of moving abroad. 

👉Take the free quiz: Which European city should you move to? 🤔

Grab my free guide: 5 exact steps to move abroad

Website: jordangiberson.com
Instagram: @jordan.giberson

Transcript

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Any person is accepted in London and it has to do with the diversity that people are just used to seeing diversity in cultures and people and outfits and just everything is so diverse here and I love that so much. Hey, my name is Jordan Giberson. I'm a Texas girl living and thriving in London. The best thing I've ever done? Moving abroad, hands down. And I'm passionate about helping others do the same. Are you curious about finding a job abroad? You're in the right place, friend. I'll teach you the tried and true secrets of how to make moving abroad a reality for you and how to live a fulfilling life once you get there. We'll cover topics like choosing the best visa for you, how to get a job offer in another country, how to get over your fear of moving abroad, and how to live a life you love once you get there. This is the Move Abroad Podcast. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. Thanks for joining me. So, I wanted to first say that if you have not already done so, I have a free guide called the 5 Exact Steps to Move Abroad. If you have been considering a move abroad, I think this would be a really great place to start. So you can find this in... One of two ways. One is to look in the description. There should be a link to this guide. You can go grab it there, or you can go to my Instagram and send me a DM guide, like literally just the word guide, and I'll send that over to you. So with all that being said, we'll go ahead and get started with today's episode. So today I wanted to discuss why I love living in London and why I think that you might really love it too. I love London so much. I think it is one of the best places, if not the very best place in the whole entire world. And I'm going to tell you why. So the first one is that we speak English here. Now, I will say, I think it is a beautiful thing if you are wanting to move to Italy or Spain or somewhere where they don't speak English as the first language. And I think that's amazing to learn a language and become really good at it. And I think that's totally possible to move there and have deep connections with people because there will be other... American expats, expats who speak English, just people who are living there from other countries that speak English that you will be able to have friendships with. Whereas you all have to also be learning another language. And I think that that's awesome and totally doable. But I did love that whenever I moved to London, everyone speaks English and I'm able to Make friends with pretty much anybody and I really love that that I didn't have that You know have to worry about learning a new language I will again say you do not have to move to a country where English is the primary language I actually don't think that that's necessary at all but I think that it was really helpful in the beginning especially. Number two is there are really great job opportunities in London. London is a city of 9 million people. There is a ton of work opportunities here and really great opportunities to build your career here as well. So if you're looking for great job opportunities. London is a really great option. Number three is that this city is so beautiful and so full of character. Everything can make a beautiful photo. And it's very Instagramable in London. Like just everything is designed so beautifully. A lot of things are very old and intricately designed. And I'm not going to say that every single street you walk on is just beautiful, but a lot of streets are like, I do love the architecture of the city. I just think that it is so full of character and I really love that. Number four is there is always so much going on. There's always new events, new restaurants, world class art and museums. You can go to the theater. They have West End. I've. Been to the theater multiple times this year. I love it so much. So many neighborhoods and places to go to. I mean, you really can't get bored of London. Like there's just so much going on all the time. There's always new places to discover. Even after being here for four years, I'm always discovering new restaurants or new bars or new events that happen every year. Just really amazing. stuff. That is so fun and really, really memorable things to do. And I love that London provides that and you really can't ever get bored. There's just always so much. Number five is the historical significance. There are so many iconic landmarks like the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye Houses of Parliament. Like I really, really love that I can be walking around and see Big Ben and just be in and amongst the the culture and the history from years and years and years ago. I really, really love that. I think it's really special and not something that you typically find in the States as much. The next thing is that it is a global city with people from all over the world, and I love this. I would argue that it's actually one of the most diverse cities in the world. You can fight me on it, but I just think that London you can find people from all over the world. It's very dynamic and very energetic in the atmosphere here. The residents here can engage with a global community and experience a mix of tradition and different languages and different lifestyles. And I love that it's such a big mixing pot of different cultures. And I also think that it's really beautiful that different areas have different pockets of communities. So you can still find your people who get you and are, who are really similar to you, but you can also live in and amongst a wide range of people from all over the world. And it broadens your mind to just different types of people and how people are so different from you. And I think that's such a beautiful thing. The next thing is great public transportation. It's pretty dang clean, honestly. It's very organized to go on the buses, the underground, or what we call as the tube, and trains. They're pretty much always on time, and they come really often. Most of the time you're not going to be waiting for longer than two to five minutes max for a bus or a tube to get you to wherever you're going. And it is really, really nice. I really love public transportation. I like it way more than driving. Actually. I think it's way more relaxing. You get so much more done. I could go on and on about public transport. Like I really, really love it, but it has really great public transportation in London. Very solid system. Like it is the best. The next thing is that there are all types of food that you can think of from every country. Just like what I was saying before, that there's people from all over the world, that means that there's also tons of food from all over the world. London is a culinary melting pot, offering a diverse range of restaurants, street food markets, and cafes. Food enthusiasts can explore cuisines from all over the world without ever leaving the city, and it is... So good. I love it. I love anytime. I want any type of food London will have it The next thing is you get the best of both worlds with a big city, but there's also a lot of nature nearby There's a really big parks in London like several really big ones Hampstead Heath. There's Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens There's Regents Park. There's Richmond Park. There's Bushy Park. There's So many parks all over the place, and those are the really big ones. But there's also a lot of smaller parks everywhere. Like I live about a one and a half minute walk to a little neighborhood park and it's very well groomed and I love walking in the park. I walk there almost every day that I'm working from home specifically. Like I really love that I'm able to go enjoy nature and I can also take a train about an hour outside of London and be in a small village and go on a 10 mile walk in beautiful nature if I want to as well. Like London is a big city hub and I love, I get to enjoy all that a big city offers me, but I also am able to enjoy. nature and still be, still be in nature. Whereas a city like New York, which I feel like is always compared to London, you have the really big Central Park, but other than that, like nature is few and far between. And I do love that about London that I get the hustle and bustle, but I also can have relaxing nature. And I think that's really good. There are also five different airports in London. Heathrow Airport is a huge hub with a lot of international flights all over the world. And it's a lot cheaper, actually, at Heathrow than a lot of other European cities to fly in and out of. There are flights to Europe for less than 100 as well around trip. It's not that expensive to spend a weekend in another European country. You could honestly probably get away with spending an entire weekend in another European country for probably less than 200 if you wanted to. And I love this. I travel to other European countries all the time because London is right, right in Europe, and I'm able to go to other European cities and countries. Like I'm literally going to Barcelona for a long weekend in a couple of weeks with a girlfriend of mine, and I'm so excited. And it's so easy for me. I haven't even bought my tickets yet and I'm leaving in like two weeks. It's so easy to travel abroad to Europe, whereas in the States, you might go for a week maybe to max once a year, probably once every two years, and I love that it's, on my doorstep. Another thing I really love about London is that there are seasons here. I think you can find this in many different places all over the world, but I love right now the leaves are changing colors and it's so beautiful. I love that in the spring there's tons of flowers everywhere. There's really beautiful. I forgot what they're called. A wisteria. It's like these purple vines, purple flowers that are on vines that go up on a lot of the houses here and the roses. Ah, the English roses are so beautiful, and there's tons of cherry blossoms in London as well, which are so stunning. And the winter, I mean, yes, it gets kind of cold and dark and rainy, but it's also so cozy, and all the Christmas decorations in London are stellar, like they are amazing. There's decorations everywhere for Christmas. So many Christmas activities going on all the time And yeah, it's dark and rainy and cold sometimes in the winter But you can also snuggle up in a cozy pub with a roaring fire and I love that. I recently discovered my two favorite really nice hotels in London and I love going there and relaxing with a book I just did that last weekend read my book a bit in front of the fire and it was so nice. So I do really love that there are seasons here and summer. It's not like blazing hot. Most of the time. Sometimes we have heat waves that come through, but I love that it's really warm and people are so happy in this summer. There's so much going on. There's really long days. And I just love the fact that there are seasons and every season is really beautiful in a different way. And. I really love that about London. Another thing I really love about London is there are really low key places to go if you want to just grab a burger, something really quick something that's super low key, but you can also go to the most luxurious, high end, beautiful cocktail bars, jazz bars, restaurants that are just top of the top of the top, really beautiful and an amazing experience. But then, like I said, there's a wide range of really nice or really low key places, and I really love that about London. Another thing I really love about London is that there are really great education options, especially higher education. London is home to a lot of prestigious universities and educational institutions like The Imperial College London, University of College London, and the London School of Economics, just to name a few. The city's educational offerings attract students from all over the world, and for a good reason. If you've ever been interested in doing a master's degree abroad, or doing an MBA, or if you're doing your undergraduate degree and you want to do a study abroad or whatever, London would be a really great opportunity for you. And it's not that much more expensive than doing it in the States. I would suggest that you look up the cost differences, but if you're paying the exact same or you might even be paying less to go study in London, that would be an amazing opportunity. And honestly, if you're looking to stay longer term, it'd be a really great foot in the door. It's definitely something that I considered whenever I was thinking about moving abroad, but I had just finished a master's degree in Texas and I was done with school. I was like, ah, maybe I can get an MBA or another master's. I was like, no, no, no. I can't do it anymore. But if you are thinking about getting more education, then that could be a really great option for you. Another thing I really love about London is the bustling nightlife. London's nightlife is renowned for its diversity, so whether you like to enjoy a traditional pub experience, or explore a really trending bar, or club, there's always something happening in the evening, so it's nice to always have that option. Another thing I really love about London is that pretty much anything you could ever dream of, you will find in London. You can find any type of person. You can find any type of religion. You can find any club or activity. Anything you can think of, you can probably find it here. I'm sure there is something maybe that might not exist here. Like, for example, country dancing. Really, really hard to find. I did, however, recently have a friend that told me about a place where people were country dancing. It was like at a, I think like a barbecue restaurant or something. And they had music and I was so mad he didn't tell me about it while he was there. But, I forgive you, Jonathan. Anyways, I think that London has a lot of great opportunities for literally anything you could ever want to do, which is really nice. And the last thing that I thought of, of things I really love about London, is that you can fully be yourself without judgment from others. You don't have to wear this year's style that's in. People wear literally anything and everything and you aren't judged for it. I will say if you want to wear athleisure, people will ask you if you're about to go to the gym, which is hilarious cause that's much more of a thing in the States, but you can really completely be yourself. Any person is accepted in London and it has to do with the diversity that people are just used to seeing diversity in cultures and people and outfits and just everything is so diverse here and I love that so much. So you can come here and be your most authentic self and I think that is one of the most beautiful things about London that I love so much. So, I think that's everything that I thought of of things that I really love about London. I hope you really enjoyed this episode. Maybe you've been thinking about moving to London. Maybe it's been on your mind. If it is, then I would love to hear from you. Reach out to me on Instagram. Send me a message. Say, I would love to move to London. Like, tell me more about it. I would love to talk to you about it because I just, Think London is the best city in the world. I love it so much and I don't think I'm ever going to leave. Anyways, that is it for me for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining another episode of the move abroad podcast. Like I said in the beginning, if you have not yet grabbed that free guide, it is the five exact steps to move abroad. You can find it at the link that is in the description of this podcast, or you can send me a DM on Instagram. I'm at jordan. gibberson. Just send me the word guide, just the word guide, and I'll send that over to you. So that is it for me. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. I will see you here again next week. Same time, same place. I'll catch you then.