The few and the many

On this 70^th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, I felt it was appropriate to write about recent developments in my life and, more to the point, my recent travels.

First, I’m happy to report that the tough times are over and that Dan and I are still happily living in our flat in Notting Hill and that we are now both employed! I think it might be good to note for future Swappers or anyone planning to move to the UK that the norm is to be paid monthly, usually at the end of the month. You do learn to adjust to this even if, like me, you were used to being paid every two weeks; however, it’s good to keep in mind that when you start a new job, you may not get paid for a month or even longer depending on what time of the month you start your job. This is just another reason why having savings (more than you think you’ll need) is very useful and maybe even necessary! It did take a long time for Dan to find this job (about 3 months) but this isn’t uncommon. While there are obviously a lot of jobs in a big city like London, there is also a lot of competition! I found that it is important not to get discouraged and to keep trying and adapting your applications to suit what employers are asking for. It’s always good to ask for feedback when you get rejected and ask how you can improve. I think this was a good strategy for Dan and he succeeded in finding a job he really enjoys.

Second, my dad and his girlfriend came to London for a visit last week and then we all travelled to France. While we did take the time to enjoy some tasty French food and wine along the way, we spent the majority of our time in Normandy visiting WWI and WWII sites such as Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach, Ste Mere Eglise & the Airborne Museum and some military cemeteries. The majority of our visit was very solemn and I think we all developed a deeper-than-ever respect for the men and women who selflessly fought for the freedoms, rights and liberties we enjoy every day and who helped shape our world into what is it today. I am grateful than ever and am remembering them today, on this anniversary of VE Day.

In London, we visited the usual suspects like Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London but we also visited the lesser known Churchill War Rooms. This is one of my favourite museums in London. Essentially, the bunker was sealed at the end of WWII and only reopened as a museum in the 1980s. This means that everything is as it was on the day the war ended; think coffee cups, cigars, litter but also, more interestingly, maps where Allied and German positions were marked based on best guesses. Here are a few pictures from London and the war rooms:

In Normandy, we started our visit at Vimy Ridge (I encourage everyone to read about Vimy Ridge if you don’t know the full story, it is fascinating), a WWI site of great importance to Canadians as it is the first time that Canadians fought together as one and defeated the Germans in a very difficult battle. We were fortunate to see the stunning and enormous monument and then we went for a (free!) guided tour of the trenches, underground bunkers and tunnels/subway systems. Here are a few pictures from Vimy Ridge:

We also stopped by a lovely fishing town called Honfleur for lunch. It had a wonderful Normandy small-town vibe and could only have been improved by better weather. I would definitely recommend stopping here if you find yourself in Normandy.

We then travelled west and stationed ourselves in Caen from where, over the next couple of days, we visited Juno Beach, the Canadian beach on D-Day. We also visited Ste Mere Eglise (of Band of Brothers fame) which was the first French town liberated during the Battle of Normandy.

And we visited a Canadian WWI war cemetery, a German WWII war cemetery and a Commonwealth (mostly Britiish) WWII war cemetery. IT was emotional to see the amount of graves in each cemetery and to read the personal messages on some of them. Personally, I was touched by the grave of a 21 year old Canadian soldier from Ottawa.

I think visiting significant historical sites such as the ones above is something everyone should do at least once in their life. It puts things in perspective and makes us appreciate what we have, which we sometimes forget to do. In closing, I leave one of my favourite war-time quotes:

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Winston Churchill

Highs and Lows

In order for this blog to be as realistic and truthful as possible, I realised that it's important for me to write about all the good times (as I have been doing) but also about the more challenging ones. The last month has been a bit of a nightmare and I thought I should post about it.

The flat I moved into in October was always meant to be a temporary flat since my boyfriend was moving to London to be with me in January and we were going to get our own place. To keep a long story short, my landlady decided that Dan and I had to be out of the flat by the end of January (when it was supposed to be the end of February). Flat hunting in London is extremely competitive and stressful enough as it is but with this short a timeframe it became even worse than we expected. We also kept getting rejected by landlords because they kept telling us that they would prefer to have a single tenant versus a couple (despite their ads stating that they were fine with having a couple rent a room) which was incredibly frustrating. As the weeks flew by, we became increasingly stressed and worried that we wouldn't find a flat in time. After lowering our standards and widening our search area, we finally found a place to live in Notting Hill. We have been living here for a few week now and we couldn't be happier. 

As a funny story, when I first moved to London in January 2014, I visited a flat in Notting Hill that was right above a fish mongers and smelled awful. There were also 7 other people living in the flat, which hadn't been expressed in the ad. Needless to say I didn't move there. But, believe it or not, when Dan and I were visiting flats a few weeks ago, we went into this building in Notting Hill right above a fish mongers and as I was starting to get flashbacks of January 2014, I realised that we were visiting the exact same flat I saw a year ago! Again, this isn't where we moved but I found it really funny that I have now seen this horrible flat twice!

I think the best advice I can give for anyone looking for a flat in London (which I will remind myself of if I need to search for a flat/room again) is:

1. Rent from an agency or make sure that you have an official contract with your landlord so that they can't just evict you without a reason - it protects both you and the landlord and is definitely the way to go (despite occasional agency fees).
2. Expand your search beyond what you know. I hadn't looked for flats in this area before because I didn't know the area but it's actually a wonderful, lively and quirky neighbourhood and I like it more than any of my previous ones.
3. Websites like Spareroom are great and definitely help with the search. There were a few ads on the site that I thought were a bit too good to be true and sure enough, Spareroom emailed me after I tried to respond to the ads to let me know that they had determined it was a scam. It helps to know that they are taking safety seriously.

Now that the stressor of finding a flat is gone, we can focus on enjoying our new neighbourhood. We have already found a few wonderful pubs and gastropubs in the area and even some that serve Sunday roasts - I'm definitely happy about that!

All that's left on our to-do list at the moment is for Dan to find a job. Almost exactly like flat hunting, job searching in London is extremely competitive. He had to leave his job in Portsmouth when he moved to London and, now that we're not homeless, he's looking for a job in London. It has been difficult for him and I remember being in the same position a year ago when I moved here. I think that the best strategy is to cast a wide net and apply to all kinds of jobs, any that you are qualified for basically and see what comes of it. I have always said that it's easiest to find a job when you already have one. It’s also good to manage your expectations; for example, one job that Dan applied for had 11,000 other applicants! We know what the competition is like so we’re putting as much effort as possible into each application and now we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he finds a job soon and that it will be a job he enjoys!

Now, as if flat hunting and looking for jobs wasn't enough, my grandmother passed away a week ago. I decided I wanted to go home for her funeral and I wanted to be with my family so I travelled back to Ottawa in very cold February (it was -45!). The flight was outrageously priced but it was worth going home and I am happy that I was able to do so. I had heard that there were discounts/refunds on flights when you are travelling for bereavement reasons but I did not get any support from Air Canada when I phoned them. This is something that had been brought up a lot on the Canadians in the UK Facebook page so I had built up an expectation but it looks like there’s no such thing. I suppose that, for this reason, it’s probably wise to keep some savings (even though it’s tempting to spend a lot in a city like London) for unforeseen events like this one. It’s hard enough to deal with the death of a relative but doing so when you’re living abroad can make it more difficult. I feel that if you are able to go home at a time like this, you probably should. In an effort to bring a little happiness to my Ottawa visit, I did go to Winterlude with my dad and had a tasty beavertail, I lost when playing Roll up the Rim at Tim Horton’s, I ate some delicious poutine (a must!) and I spent some time with my family, remembering my amazing grandparents. Here are a few pictures of my Ottawa visit:

My mom always says that bad things come in threes. I think with (1) horrible flat hunting, (2) a very daunting job search and (3) a funeral, we've covered all three! Now bring on the happy and fun times!  So now we will focus on exploring Notting Hill, getting to know our new flatmates (it's a very international house with two Italians, two Spaniards, a Canadian and a Brit!) and enjoying living together in London.

All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Walt Disney

A Bittersweet End to the Summer

And just like that, my first summer living in Europe has passed. I had a bit of a shock in July when I realized that I have been living in London for six months already! It got me thinking about what I have accomplished in those six months; I can proudly say that I:

• Found a permanent and well-paying job;
• Have a great boyfriend: Dan;
• Made some good friends;
• Visited new (Wales) and old (Paris, England) places;
• Got hooked on some aspects of British culture (Percy Pigs, BBC, the Tube);
• Missed some aspects of Canadian culture (Kraft Dinner, proper peanut butter, clothes dryers); and
• Somewhat embarrassingly started using British words in my everyday vocabulary (although I still have my Canadian accent!) such as: "hiya" (hello), "I'm not bothered" (I have no preference), "ring" (call), "ga-ridge" (garage) and "alright?" (how are you) just to name a few.

All that said, I haven't written all summer so here's a bit of what I've been up to:

• Geeked out a bit at the London Film & Comic Con where we saw some amazing costumes and met Hodor from Game of Thrones.

• Injured my hand in the most British way possible: a tea-related incident! (Boiling water spilled all over my hand)

• Went to a few great BBQs, despite the traditionally wet British weather.

• Celebrated Dan's parents' 50th wedding anniversary, semi-tortured a dog (Daisy) by making her wear hats and visited Haylings Island which is one of the beaches where the Allies practiced the D-Day landings.

• Had a wonderful visit from my friends Lauren & Nick who replenished my Canadian supplies.

• Met Casper the pub cat (this one is just too cute for me not to share).

As the rain drizzles outside ("drizzle" is me downplaying the water pouring out of the sky for my own sanity) and the temperature drops several degrees, it has become clear that summer is over in London. Not to worry though, it has been a great summer and the next few months will be very fun and exciting! What's next for me this year?

September

• A visit from my friend Jen and a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich

October

• A visit from my friend Breanne
• A move - my flat has officially been sold and I have to find a new place to live. While this is still a bit of a stressful process, it's nothing like when I first got here in January!

November

• Wallet recovery!
• London sightseeing (I have really been neglecting this)

December

• A Day trip to Bruges to see the Christmas markets
• A visit from my mom, my brother and his girlfriend then travelling around the Scottish highlands for Christmas.

I am still shivering and soaked from the rain as I write this so I feel that this is the perfect quote to end this blog post:

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
John Steinbeck

Two Months Already!

Unbelievably, I have now been living in London for two months and it has flown by. Since I arrived, I have found a place to live with great flatmates (and a mouse visitor that we quickly evicted!), made new friends, cheered on Canada during the Olympics with 100 other Canadians at Leicester Square and found a permanent job with a great salary & perks. I can honestly say, even though it's only been two months, that this is the best thing I have ever done and I have absolutely no regrets. The only negative thing, in my view, is that I only have 22 months left here. I realize that I am probably still in the 'honeymoon phase' of this experience but I also know that it's up to me, and only me, to keep making it a good one.

I read this great blog post from a fellow BritBounder a few weeks ago and thought I would share it because, aside from being really funny, he made some good points about adjusting to life in London. You can access his blog by clicking here.

The two things he said that I really related to and agreed with are:

1. "when you move here you are going to be a new kind of broke, for many reasons"

2. "you are a foreigner in a buyers market, which puts you at a huge disadvantage in every aspect of life."

After two months of living here, I have decided to list some of my observations and the things I learned (in addition to the two above) in my time here so far. Here goes:

• Searching for a flat sucks. I'm not going to lie, it's a frustrating process but it's nice once you find a place. Once you have gone through it, take a look at this Buzzfeed post for a laugh.
• London shopping is amazing (and dangerous!), there are endless malls, shopping streets, websites with free shipping and cute little shops, it's hard not to get carried away (especially considering you will be broke - see #1 above).
• You will  have to get used to rejection (from jobs, flats, etc.) as it does happen a lot. When you think you've applied to enough jobs/flats, apply to 10 more.
• It's easy to meet people as you always have something to talk about (where you're from, why you're here, what you did back home and also answer the usual: Are Mounties real? Is it really that cold in Canada? If Canada's so great, why did you leave?)
• You will miss your family & friends but meeting new people and reminding yourself that you live in one of the most amazing cities in the world will help make up for it most of the time.
• Brits love their Nando's - they're everywhere! Also: curry. Oh and another fun fact: shawarmas are called 'kebabs" here.
• It's good to try to meet other people in the same situation as you - whether it's other SWAP/BritBounders or other Canadians in London.
• Grocery shopping is fun with all the different products here but, if you're like me, you'll miss things like Kraft Peanut Butter (even the one in the new packaging with the creepy bears).
• Everyone (or a lot of people) will call you 'love' or 'darling', it's so nice!
• You will feel like you're always drunk or tipsy! Brits sure know how to drink and they drink often. With so many old and interesting pubs around, it's hard to resist.
• Make time to enjoy London and to travel. It's easy to fall into a routine or to forget you live in a city with amazing (and free!) museums and countless other attractions. Now's the time to take advantage of being at Europe's door!
• You will drink more tea than you ever have in your life and you will love it more than ever. It helps that it almost always comes with a biscuit/cookie.
• No matter what you think, you will start to speak differently. At first it's only because you don't want to get laughed at anymore (e.g., 'pants' mean 'underwear' here, so you learn to say 'trousers' instead of 'pants') but then eventually 'thanks' becomes 'cheers', 'hi' becomes 'hiya', 'how are you?' becomes 'you alright?' and 'calendar' becomes 'diary', just to name a few.
• Eventually your love of the Tube will wear off (but only a little) and you will start taking the bus when you realize that it's much cheaper. The bus is actually nice because you get to see a lot more of London's less known sights and discover new neighbourhoods.
• Unexpected things will happen (for me, it's my landlord selling the flat I have finally settled into and love) and you will have to adjust. But remember that things like this could have happened at home or abroad - there's no difference.
• "English muffins" (obviously) are just called "muffins" here, I have yet to discover what "muffins" are called!
• An important thing that I learned, or rather that I changed about myself, is to accept every invitation that is extended to me, even if it's not something I really want to do or if I'm feeling a little tired/under the weather. This is how you meet people, make connections and learn new things. I think that this is probably the best thing that I have done since moving here and it's what allowed me to have what feels like a successful transition.

Finally, if I could say one thing about what I learned in London that I think is the most important, it would be this: nothing will go according to plan. No matter how prepared you are, life moves fast in London and most things won't go as planned. I like to look back at the plans I had made before leaving and at where I am now. Most of the things I had panned didn't happen but, looking back, I can see why and where they didn't happen and those are all good stories now. There's a Churchill quote that reflects how I feel about this, it also shows that I probably wouldn't make a very good politician! ...or would I?

Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.

Winston Churchill

So that's a (not-so-brief) summary of my perspective of life in London after two months. I'll try to do this again after six months or maybe a year to see if this has changed. It probably will but I look forward to many new discoveries along the way. What's next for me? Travel! But where to go first...

Crypt-ic Tea

Having been in London for over two weeks, I decided it was finally time to do something fun.  My first two weeks were really focused on finding a flat (done!) and a job (temporary but done!) so now I can finally relax and enjoy London.

For my first activity, given that this blog was in serious need of a picture of tea and crumpets (although a scone will do...), I decided to take my friend Justin's advice and visit St.-Martin-in-the-Fields  at Trafalgar Square for afternoon tea.  There is a cafe below the church where, for an affordable £5, you can get the afternoon tea plate which consists of: a scone, jam, clotted cream, a piece of chocolate cake, a piece of lemon cake and a pot of tea (or coffee...but it's afternoon TEA people...come on!).  I sat in the crypt for a good while, sheltered from the stormy winds and rain outside and read my book while enjoying these tasty treats.  Here are a few pictures just to give an idea of the cool setting (and how cute the meal was):

 

 After tea, I wandered around the Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square area for a bit, battling the crowds of tourists, until the storm really started.  Here are a few pictures of that including Canada House (yay!) and an inexplicable blue rooster:

 

To close things off this time, a quote about tea that I found really relevant given how I spent my afternoon:

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.

C.S. Lewis

Mind the Gap

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I arrived in London; what an adventure it's been already!  There have been a lot of ups and downs, often both in the same day.   In my last post I said that I wanted to have the following done before the end of that week:

• Attend the BritBound welcome meeting;
• Get a phone (I already received my O2 SIM card (and my Oyster card) from BritBound);
• Apply for jobs;
• Find a flat;
• Meet up with some contacts that were recommended to me;
• Do something fun like visiting a London attraction and try not to forget why I chose to come to London in the first place; and finally,
• Skype with my mom and prove that I'm safe and eating all my meals - wouldn't want her to worry!

Here's what I actually got done and some updates and/or advice for other future Swappers/BritBounders:

Attend the BritBound welcome meeting;

I did this on the first Friday I was here - it was a great information session with lots of useful tips and tricks that you wouldn't know otherwise.  We even had beer and snacks to cap off the night and most of the group went out afterwards (this being the perk of Friday welcome meetings vs. Wednesday welcome meetings).  As a funny side note, the group of BritBounders was pretty evenly split between Canadians and Aussies/Kiwis; the funny part being that Canadians were all wearing spring jackets and commenting about how warm it was while the folks from down under couldn't believe how "cold" it was (it was somewhere between 5 and 10 degrees celsius - definitely not your average Canadian January).  It's all a matter of perspective, I guess.

Get a phone;

I originally used the pay as you go chip provided by BritBound but I decided that, with the amount of data that I was consuming using maps alone on my phone (I got lost a LOT going for flat viewings), it would be best to go with an actual plan.  The great thing about UK providers (I went with O2), is that they never lock you into a plan, you can opt out at any time without any cancellation fees and you just have to pay what's left of your actual phone (if you didn't pay it all upfront) which is amazing - are you listening Rogers/Bell?

Apply for jobs;

I applied for dozens of jobs - anything I'm qualified for basically, and got an interview through one of the BritBound-posted jobs almost right away.  I'm happy to say I got the job and I start on Tuesday - this is a huge relief; while there are a lot of jobs in London, they do go fast and there is a lot of competition.  It's good to know I won't have to live on the streets!

Find a flat;

This has been the cause of a lot of grief for me over the past week and a  half.  The main issue being that the service offered through BritBound for fund transfers (from a Canadian bank account to a UK one) did not work for me.  Important note: if you are Canadian, you will not be able to transfer your money using Tranzfers if you are a Scotiabank customer.  Your best bet would be to open a Bank of Montreal account (Tranzfers deals exclusively with BMO) and transfer all your funds there before you leave Canada; an alternative option (although less safe but that I still wish I had done), would be to take your money with you in cash and deposit it into your UK bank account immediately.  The reason this caused so many problems for me is that I needed to provide a deposit to secure a flat (these deposits can be quite large if you are unemployed, which most Swappers/BritBounders are when they first arrive and are looking for a flat) and I wasn't able to provide this deposit given that I couldn't get the contents of my Canadian bank account here in time.  Second important lesson in flat hunting: flats go fast, faster than you would think.  Often, by the time I replied to an ad (maybe an hour after it was posted), it would be gone already.  This just reinforces my point about having access to your funds ASAP since you can't fully commit to a flat without paying the deposit.  I lost out on a few really great flats because of this; however, all's well that ends well, I found a good flat that is affordable (by London standards), central and that I share with two very nice flatmates.  On my first day here one of them offered me tea and biscuits, which I thought was very sweet and British, it was a great welcome.  My last tip when it comes to flats is that they usually come furnished but you need to get your own linens - Primark has become my new best friend.  They are conveniently located on Oxford Street (several locations) and sell all the essentials (e.g., pillows, sheets, blankets, coat hangers) for very cheap, in a variety of cute styles and colours; think of it as a kind of Target equivalent but with much cuter, affordable stuff.

Meet up with some contacts that were recommended to me;

I got in touch with my contacts when I got here and got some good leads on some job opportunities - it's always good to try to make connections, even if it's just to reassure you that you're doing things right.   The poor person I was put in touch with had to explain to me how to make calls in the UK because I found their 700 digit (slight exaggeration) phone numbers very confusing at first.  There are some things like crossing the street and making a phone call that I just wasn't used to and that were challenging when I first got here (even though I had been to London several times before).  I guess the key is to not be afraid to ask questions even if they feel like stupid questions at the time; there is an African proverb that I think applies here: "the one who asks questions, doesn't lose this way"; most people here in London are easily approachable and willing to help, all we have to do is ask.

Do something fun like visiting a London attraction and try not to forget why I chose to come to London in the first place;

Sadly, this is the only thing on the list that I haven't done yet.  It's been a busy week and also a very emotionally exhausting one.  All my free time was spent either visiting flats (my favourite story is that I visited a terrible flat in Notting Hill right above a fish monger - it smelled HORRIBLE and they had pot pourri on the steps all the way up to the fourth floor.  Somehow, the four rooms that were available in this building all got rented by the next day...this is a true testament to the demand for London flats).  Now that I have a place to live and a job, I commit to spending some time enjoying London sights and attractions.  More to come on this in my next blog post.

Skype with my mom and prove that I'm safe and eating all my meals - wouldn't want her to worry!

Oh, Skype we did.  I subjected my poor mom (and my dad) to tons of Skype conversations (or "freak outs" rather) where I was panicking and not knowing what to do.  What should have been an internal monologue became very vocal and prolonged.  Everything worked out though and I'm pretty sure they're as relieved as I am that I found a place to live and a job.

Another thing that may seem insignificant to most but that I am very proud of is that I took a London city bus to get around.  While the tube is amazing, it gets expensive.  The busses are more confusing but more affordable.  After a lot of research and asking for a lot of advice, I took some busses to get around instead of the tube and I feel really proud of myself.  Now, I'm less scared of the bus and will try to take it more often - a nice thing about taking the bus is that (obviously) you are above ground and you get to see things on the route that you may not have known were there before.  Also, if you sit in the front seats on the upper floor of the bus, you feel like you're driving the bus...people actually rush up the stairs to get those seats.  

All in all, this has been a crazy week and a half.  As prepared as I thought I was, I did have moments where I wondered why I decided to do this in the first place and where I was tempted to give up and go home.  Now that things have settled down a bit and that the sense of urgency is gone, I'm happy I'm here and I feel like I'm already a stronger person for having made it this far.  I feel a lot more confident and I'm ready to tackle what comes next.  As usual, I will end this blog post with one of my favourite quotes that reflects how I feel at the end of this week:

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end.

-Ursula K. Le Guin

Hello Goodbye Hello Goodbyyyyye

In my last few days in Canada, I visited all my favourite people and places, including a delicious meal/goodbye to poutine at Louis Pizza.  This place is truly an Ottawa staple and I'm glad I got a chance to eat the quintessential Canadian dish of poutine before leaving.  Here's a picture of the deliciousness:

Here is a shot of Montreal as I was leaving on the plane - Goodbye for Now, Canada!

More importantly, after months of waiting, I have finally arrived in London!  The adventure begins!  Despite the Canadian weather's best efforts to thwart my travel plans, I got here in one piece and without stress.  My flight was full but wonderful - while we were made to circle London for 10-15 minutes to wait for our turn to land, we got to see all of London's biggest attractions from the plane including the Thames, Tower Bridge, London Eye, Big Ben, etc.  I have to say that British Airways was amazing; they provided stellar service (like not charging me for my very much over weight suitcase) and I'm pretty sure that my flight attendant was Ben Kingsley's long lost twin.

When I arrived in London, I was greeted by a beautiful sunny morning followed by some traditional English weather (i.e., rain) but I expected nothing less - in fact, given that my last few days in Canada presented me with freezing rain and very cold weather, I'm relieved to be in a place above 10 degrees, rain or not.  Given that my suitcase was so heavy and I was so tired when I got to Heathrow, I decided to take a (very expensive) taxi to my temporary hotel.  My driver told me that I was very lucky since most people don't go back to work until next week, there was virtually no traffic, just nice sunshine.  He was also a very nice older British man and giving me all kinds of job and flat finding advice which I appreciated.

After I arrived at my temporary home, Studios 2 Let, I had a quick nap and then went to buy some groceries and walk around the neighbourhood a little bit.  Here are some pictures of my temporary flat in Cartwright Gardens, just because I think it's cute:

Now that I have everything I need, the real work begins.  I have to find a flat and apply for jobs, en masse.  The plan is to lock myself in my room for a few days and take advantage of the free wi-fi to apply for jobs. 

On Friday I will attend a BritBound welcome meeting and hopefully work out a few last details like how to get a national insurance number, set up a bank account, etc.  Basically, my to do list for this week includes:

• Attend the BritBound welome meeting;
• Get a phone (I already received my O2 SIM card (and my Oyster card) from BritBound);
• Apply for jobs;
• Find a flat;
• Meet up with some contacts that were recommended to me;
• Do something fun like visiting a London attraction and try not to forget why I chose to come to London in the first place; and finally,
• Skype with my mom and prove that I'm safe and eating all my meals - wouldn't want her to worry!

I'll write again once I have accomplished at least some of the things on this list - stay tuned!

Questions, Questions, and more Questions (Oh, and Some Answers Too)

I can’t believe there is less than one month left before I leave!  It seems like time has flown by since I made the decision to go live abroad.  My focus has really been on finding a job and a flat but, as you can read below, “even the best laid plans often go astray” (Robert Frost, Of Mice and Men).  Every day, more and more random questions are popping up in my head.  By researching various sources (e.g., other bloggers, Government websites SWAP and BritBound, financial institutions), I have managed to find some answers.  Since it took quite a bit of time to research all this, I thought I’d share my findings with all of you other Swappers or long-term travelers in the hope that you will find them helpful.

Storage

Storage space is expensive!  And I’m a girl who accumulates a lot of stuff…I like stuff.  I am lucky though since various family members have offered to keep my things for free (thanks grandma, mom and dad!) while I’m away.  This is just a warning for those of you thinking of doing this that you will need storage that it’s a lot more expensive than you think (you’re looking at around $2,000/year…in Ottawa anyway).

Health

If you have any prescription drugs, you have to see your doctor before you go and get a prescription for one (or two) years’ worth of your prescriptions because they may not be available abroad.  I found out that it’s also a good idea to get a note from your doctor detailing the medical reasons why you need each prescription and the recommended dosage.  While travel insurance like Bon Voyage for example does cover some health issues (mostly emergencies), it does not cover everyday prescriptions for existing conditions so that’s something to consider.

Flights/Return Date

I was happy to learn that I don’t have to choose my return date yet and that I don’t have to buy a return ticket.  As long as I come back within two years of my visa being issued, there are no problems.  One less thing to have to figure out now!

Canadian Embassy

Registering with local police has been recommended but from what I see, it is far simpler to register online for free with the Canadian embassy (http://travel.gc.ca/travelling/registration).  Basically, you're just letting them know that you're in the UK in case there is a natural disaster or another major event where they would want to track you down and let your family know you're ok.  I plan on doing this when I get to London. 

Jobs

I thought applying for jobs from Canada, before I leave, would be wise since by the time I arrive in the UK I would be able to interview and there wouldn’t be a huge delay between arriving and starting work.  However, what I found out through the good people at BritBound, is that most employers won’t hire someone who isn’t in the country yet.  I can see the reasoning behind this but I found it a little bit discouraging when I found out.  My plan is to keep an eye on job postings that I’m interested in and dedicate several hours a day to submitting applications when I arrive.  At least I’ll have done some research and won’t need to start from scratch again.  The websites I have been using for jobs are:

• www.jobs.civilservice.gov.uk
• www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/jobs
• www.gumtree.com/jobs/london
• www.monster.co.uk

Finding a Place to Live

Many people have suggested Spareroom and Gumtree for finding a place to live.  Personally I prefer Spareroom and I have found several places that I am interested in.  After speaking with some landlords in the UK, I found out that you can do a “pre-let” before being in the country but you have to pay your deposit before even seeing the flat…there is a risk involved.  After much deliberation, and despite the fact that I really wanted to have a home to go to when I get to the UK, I will spend a few days living in a hotel/hostel, visiting flats and hopefully finding my new home quickly once I arrive.

I did also find out that it is common for landlords to ask for references (professional or personal) and also to provide a CV or proof of income to a landlord to prove that you can make payments on time  Also, the deposit in London can range from six weeks to 2 months' rent so I thought that was good to know. 

Ok, I think that’s enough rambling for one night, I hope this will be of use to some people; it was quite an educational process for me.  Finding all of this information has been stressful at times and I’ll admit that I have had a few panicky moments when I think about what’s to come; I’d say that, on average, it’s a pretty even mix of excitement and fear.  These moments of fear are what made this tweet from SWAP really relevant for me today:

“If at some point you don’t ask yourself, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ then you’re not doing it right.” — Roland Gau