I am finally doing it!
I am moving to London!
I will make the great leap sometime in May!!
So anyone in the bay area that would like to meet up, need to catch me before I leave!
If you have had experience in moving to London, or already live there (or in the past)
Flood my inbox full of tips!
Some ideas:
Food (Markets/restaurants)
Vintage
Job/ internships (Fashion design, fashion forecasting, styling,magazines,)
Areas to live (my heart is basically set on living int he east)
Meeting up
Good bye San Francisco
Helloooooooo London!
47 comments:
I'm a recent follower and just love your blog--always inventive and fun. I have only traveled to London as a tourist, so I'm sure you'll get millions of great tips from people who actually live there, but I just want to congratulate you on following your dreams.
YAY!!!!!!! SO EXCITED! I will gather together all my internship contacts for you and message you soon.
xxx
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
and YAY!!!!
That's so exciting! I wish you all the best with the move! You're going to LOVEE the vintage shops there i promise :D I'll show you around Camden one day, you would adore it! xxxxx
Wow! I didn't realise you had been thinking of London? I guess May is a pretty awesome time to make the move - into some pretty summer weather :) Good luck!
ooh how exciting!! although San Francisco does also seem like an amazing place to live in the first place! I'm originally from about 30 miles away from central London, I don't know lots (as much as the tonnes of friends who now live there!) but I do know that heading to Brick Lane is a good idea :) always lots of arty things going on, lots of vintage shops - such as Beyond Retro, and many 'pop up' shops and market stalls where creative types sell their bits and bobs!! It's also near Spittlefields market where you can again find loads of vintage clothes, homewares and.... stuff! :) xx
OH MY GOD, GIRL! I move to London on may 15th!!
I'm so jealous I can't even deal! I've wanted to move to London ever since I moved back to the u.s. FROM London (I studied abroad there for 6 months). Ahhhhh! Jealousy, jealousy and.... jealousy.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! nicole how can you do this to meeeeee!!!! i want so badly to get to see you again before you leave the country! :( well i guess im happy for you.. i know you talked of wanting to move back to europe.. now ill know someone in london if ever i go.. i sure will miss you though, even though your already 2000 miles away!
East London (Bethnal Green) and Shoreditch is considered the place to live for arty and fashion types. The vintage in London can be expensive if you like pre 60s, but I love going to Grays and Alfies antique market, then their are the fairs. I imagine you will find London very different environment wise, its very urbanised and populated but their is always something to do. Traveling on the tube in the summer can be an ordeal.
Oh my gosh! That is so awesome! I envy you. I've always wanted to live in Europe!
how exciting!! congratulations!
How exciting! Congratulations and good luck!
~Syd
Congratulations, Nicole! Even though we've not met I feel like you're my neighbor (I'm on the Russian River) ! You're going to have so much fun in London! Yay!!!
:) Jade of pretty-dirt
Laaaaaandan! Oh my word how exciting! Why the move?
I live in Liverpool, so I won't be of too much use to you I'm afraid.
But- http://www.arts.ac.uk/student/careers/creative-opportunities.htm for internships and work experience.
And- http://www.drapersjobs.com for jobs.
Carys x
Ps. Totally agree with Lou, tube in the summer is serious stuff! haha.
GO TO BRICK LANE! It's amazing, I try and go there as often as possible when I have enough money (but as it's pretty cheap I go every couple of weeks) LANDAN IS AMAZING. You'll love it :)
DON"T GO! Take me in your suitcase. Adopt me as your own! I had so much fun with you yesterday :-) LOVE!
sad you are leaving (even though i haven't seen you since school) but muy excited!
this is awesome... i think it will be a good fit for you!
shannon
Oh my god, that is so exciting! Congratulations on the big move and the big decision! Wow :)
I'd love to see you before you leave, even though, y'know, I've only actually met you once... you just made a really great impression on me. Maybe some big ol' blogger party is in order?
xoxo
Sophi
I work at a vintage shop and tea rooms called 'The Vintage Emporium' on Bac0n street just of brick lane. http://www.vintageemporiumcafe.com/ I think it would be exactly your cup of tea!
As for living, Shoreditch, Dalston, and Hackney are all great creative areas but are also very over priced and a bit rough after dark. I would suggest Stoke-Newington church street as the place to be! x
I'm sure London will love you!
I agree with Harriett regarding places to live - Shoreditch/Dalston/Hackney are good fun to hang out in, but it's good if you get to go home somewhere else to avoid the expense! I find the best solution is just have lots of friends in Shoreditch, that way you get most of the benefits anyway. Getting about London is easy as anything, as long as you don't live out in the sticks you'll be able to get to all the cool places easily enough. I live South of the Thames and can be in Shoreditch in less than 20 minutes. There is always plenty of stuff going on outside the 'cool' places anyways, just takes a bit more effort to find sometimes.
Vintage is hit and miss in London - there is some great stuff (I can recommend trying charity shops in Chelsea area for labels), but there is some (loads) really over priced rubbish as well.
If you're into street art and East London I can recommend the Alternative London walking tour
http://www.timeout.com/london/around-town/event/197125/the-alternative-london-tour
It tells you a bit about the history of the area, but mainly just shows you the amazing graffiti and street art. It's always changing too so you never get bored.
If you're into fashion and textiles then the V&A Museum does lots of exhibitions - from historical to newly graduated fashion students.
Brush up on your weather chat, you'll need it.
hey!
ive lived in london over 10 years now, and i never fail to find a new fab vintage find!
its certainly different to your beloved SF, but im sure you'll love it! there is a huge community of vintage lovers over here, and we can't waitt to meet you! :)
alsooooooooooooo..
The east end is really popular but it is getting pretty expensive - but a house share would be a good thing as you get to meet loads of people!
the gumtree is an easy way of seeing prices of property. some people say that the east is dodgy, but i don't think so..as i imagine coming from san fran you're pretty streetwise! :)
xxx
noooooooooooooo you're supposed to move heeereee. hehehe
Thanks so much!! Glad you like my blog!
Woooo so extremely excited!!! Can't wait to meet you!
Yay! I look forward to being shown around. I only saw Camden for a brief moment on my last visit, because my husband was soooooooooooo bored :)
I hope the weather is pretty. Every Londoner I talk to complains about the weather...but I think I have a feeling its because they are always on holiday somewhere hot..oh well we will see..I like coolish weather
I'm loving the idea of pop up shops and constant arty events!! Thanks for the tip!
Yess! See you there :)))
:( Hope you find your way back to London! Any tips?
Not going until may, there is still time!
IM READY! :)
Thanks!
Thank you! I need all the luck I can get!
Thanks for the links!!
I loved brick lane the last time i was in London! I cant wait to find all the secrets!
We should meet up before I leave, and once I get a going away party in order, you are invited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah Im thinking a going away party is in order!
Thanks for the update about those areas (Ive been told to beware of Dalston and Homerton ), my last visit to London was almost 6 years ago, so I am sure many things have changed. I will definitely add Stoke-Newington church street to my search list on "find a property". Cant wait to visit your store :)))
Thank you so much for all of this information!! One of my main reasons for moving to London: to be able to visit the V&A everyday if I wanted to!
P.S. What does weather chat mean?
Thanks! But depending on how big the place is, I'm married so a house share might possibly be out of the question.
Got to love the V&A, I never get bored of it.
I just meant be sure to have lots of weather related conversation handy... you can get by in a conversation with any Londoner as long as you can talk about weather/engineering works on the underground/The Olympics.
Congrats on making the leap! I love London. I lived there years ago, and it's still my favorite city and probably always will be. I would offer tips, but I'm sure there are plenty of Londoners among your readers who will be flooding your inbox. I wish you the best best best of luck and can't wait to see what you get up to across the pond:)
Hi Nicole, I've meant to reply to this for a few days but have been so busy lately. I moved to London 6 years ago and love it here. If you have any questions send me an email, I've done the whole moving thing so should be able to help.
There will be loads of great vintage events for you to get involved in. There are plenty of regular club nights for 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s etc. There is also The Chap Olymiad in summer (silly games and gentlemen dressed in tweed), a vintage festival happening in June at the Royal Festival Hall, and a swing party on the HMS Belfast that myself and loads of my vintage chums will be going to. It would be great if you could come along, I'm sure you'd meet plenty of like-minded people and I'd love to meet you!
As long as you aren't right in the centre os Shoreditch, East London should be affordable. You could try Haggerston, I know a few people who live there. I've never lived East myself, but it is one of the cheaper areas of London, as long as you stay out of party central.
If you want to ask anything get in touch via email on my blog :) Happy to answer any questions (and I can also help on food, but not sure what you need to know. I am a greedy guts myself)
http://www.pennydreadfulvintage.blogspot.com/
Congrats! I can give you a california translation of things if you have any questions. Yelp.com london is pretty awesome as well. Lots of expats comparing things from back home to whats over here.
Lots of jumble sales and awesome old places to check out.
Cheers!
~Ashley
www.valiantv.blogspot.com
Oh my goodness - I just saw this! So so happy for you and intrigued to find out what you'll be getting up to!! I will definitely drop you a line soon with some tips for all areas of life. I'm coming over in June for two weeks, so maybe we can finally meet then. x
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