I get asked a lot why I moved to London. It was a bit weird the first time, because the person seemed genuinely incredulous that I had left the US by choice to come to, of all places, London! Call it the Brown Saheb syndrome or whatever, but my thinking at the time was the exact opposite: what better place to move to (other than Pakistan) than London?
Since I repeat it so often, I’ve got my answer down pat now:
- I’m closer to home.
- Money: Salary scales are better here, partly because the cost of living is higher. Even with that and the higher tax rate, though, I ended up saving more money here than I did in Chicago, so I guess the net effect is that you end up being better off here.
- More vacation: this is huge. In the US, most people get 2 weeks off a year, and over your career that might increase to 4-5 weeks. In the UK, you’re entitled to 5 weeks off. Plus, at least at UBS, you could buy extra vacation days using your benefits.
- More travel destinations: Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Athens, Barcelona, Rome…where do you want to go?
- Fewer restrictions: I had to go through the ’special registration’ at O’Hare a couple of times, and it wasn’t pleasant. No full-body cavity searches, thank God, but it does mean you end up wasting 2-6 hours each time you enter the country. That’s not counting whatever amount of time you spend praying that they don’t disregard your perfectly valid visa and turn you away, which happened to a friend of mine.
- Culture: This is subjective, certainly, but there’s definitely more of it here than in the US. Or maybe I should say it’s more varied here than in the US. I dunno, but regardless, the arts are much more a part of life here.
- Integration: this is probably the most controversial. I think people are far better integrated here, despite the fact that London is almost entirely composed of highly segregated neighbourhoods. I can’t explain it — people just seem more open to engaging with each other here. Of course, I know plenty of people who would dispute that. Still, I’ve always felt like everyone in London is a bit of a foreigner — even the Brits identify themselves as Scottish or Welsh or whatever — and that makes for a very level playing field for everyone.
This excellent opinion piece is long but well worth a read, BTW. It’s pleasant to hear other people say things you’re thinking.
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