1. Run, don’t walk
Strolling around the city might sound like a nice activity, but not in London. People who live in London NEVER stroll, or just ‘wander the streets’. They run, heads down, all with a clear focus and direction. Next meetings, lunch dates, openings, trains to catch: Londoner’s life is really busy, and you have something better to do than gaze over the grey dirty Thames. This also makes it a kind of sport to manoeuvre yourself though the masses of people.

2. Know where to stand
When living in the United Kingdom, the first thing you will experience is that escalators, stairs and streets have very strict rules: walking is done on the left, and standing still is reserved for the right side. Never ever try to be funny and stand still on the left: people will probably run you over. It also takes a bit of time to get used to the cars being driven on the other side of the road…

3. 1.5 Hours Commute WITHIN London is nothing
Dinner on the other side of town? Visiting a doctor a few boroughs away? Then prepare to commute for hours on end. Travelling in London is horribly time consuming, but you’ll get used to it. Bus rides of one hour? Easy-peasy!

4. You will read again
Since the commuting takes hours, real Londoners using public transport will dive into reading again. When entering the tube or bus, you’ll find yourself surrounded by e-readers and faces deeply hidden in books. Waterstones has amazing offers (buy 2, get one half priced!) including a lot of best-sellers, so when moving to London, treat yourself and become a Literature Expert Expat.

5. Avoid Oxford Street as much as you can
When living in London, you will soon learn that Oxford Street is heaven for tourists (read: shops) and therefore 24/7 busy. Just quickly buying a white t-shirt is extremely difficult in stores of minimal three floors, crazy DJ’s, thousands of people, waiting lines of 2 hours and seriously…craziness all around. Local people will visit stores in their boroughs or, if necessary, might try Oxford Street on a Monday morning. NOTE: Christmas time is even worse.

6. ‘Cash back?’
A cashier will ask you (which I didn’t understand the first 39 times) ‘cash back?’ to know if you want to PIN a bit more money in addition to paying for your groceries, and therefore receive cash —> back. This is very handy, since banks charge you extra if you’re not using your own bank to withdraw money, and waiting lines are horrible.

7. Take-out meals
Londoners work hard, play hard, and commute long – there is hardly any time for proper cooking. Take-outs are therefore extremely popular, and in contrast to many other countries, the food available can be good quality as well. Deliveroo (delivering from only proper restaurants) is amazing, but also all the Indian take-out places, burger or pizza restaurants, Whole foods (a-m-a-z-i-n-g & healthy) offer very good take-out meals, replacing your dirty Whopper or BigMac.

8. Make choices
With thousands of options and decisions to make daily (Bus or underground? Which route? Indian or Japanese take-out? What gig do I visit this weekend? Which foodfestival to attend?), you’ll soon learn that you have to be pro-active and make choices at a sudden point – better sooner than later. London has so much to offer: with hundreds of nice restaurants, pubs, clubs, events, sports, museums, parks and highlights, it is important YOU MAKE A CHOICE.

9. Money is always a problem
OK, you might become a rich banker, but overall London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Rent prices are CRAZY and even a gym subscription is ridiculously high (it’s almost like they don’t want you to work out). Although it might give you a headache sometimes, when living in London, you’ll soon adapt to the extreme prices and forget what the equivalent cost was in your home country. A friend of mine ordered 8 tequila shots and 6 beers and had to get her card out to pay 120 Pounds (equals 150 Euros). Yes. No joking.

10. Foxes
In your own country they might be semi-mystical, beautiful creatures only seen in the forests but in the United Kingdom you can spot foxes everywhere once the sun goes down. Tourists might have a shock when seeing one, but when living here for a while, you’ll find yourself as used to them as to the thousands of squirrels that run through the city’s streets.

11. English Breakfast Tea rules
Your guide to living in the UK 101: you will be served English Breakfast tea and it is going to be with milk. There’s no use in trying to fight it. First of all, because getting used to it is just something that’s inevitable (since a cuppa will come with milk by default), and second, because you will learn to like it!

12. Be polite
In the United Kingdom, it is common that you line up in front of the bus in chronological order of arrival to the bus stop. Don’t run towards your bus and try to be the first one sneaking in, it will not be appreciated! Also, no matter how tough looking, Londoners always stand up for older people and keep the buggy area clear. Ironically, you receive weird looks from both the passengers and the driver if you shout out ‘Thanks man!’ when getting off the bus…

13. ‘How are you?’ is not an actual question
‘Hi love, how are you today?’ is not a direct question to find out how you really are. It is more a polite way of opening a conversation, so don’t expect an actual answer and by no means start explaining the highs and lows of your life when asked the question…

Special for ELM – guest blogger who wishes to remain anonymous 🙂

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