So I am being made redundant, which is a shame but predictable. I live in the capital city of the UK and the contract for my tiny, expensive flat runs out next month. I thought now might be a sensible time to consider somewhere new.
This isn’t a thread about specific locations, but rather the act of relocation itself. What are your experiences of moving to a new city, good or bad? Why did you do it? What advice would you offer to uprooting somewhere unfamiliar? What things should I, or anybody in my position, be considering?
Go for it - nothing has to be forever. Putting job stuff aside give yourself a year to get to know a place. Even if it really doesn’t suit you then at least you’ve given it a go and had a few adventures.
Bit nervous cos I’ve got comfortable where I am and will be living on my own for the first time, had realised that I was stagnating though and that lots of the memories I look back upon most fondly are from exploring somewhere new
I’ve done it a couple of times, but I’ve always had a job to go to, which has been the driving factor and everything else kind of fell into place around that (the main thing being where to live.) My first move was to Manchester and I was already working there several days a month (commuting from glasgow) so the move itself was a bit of a relief in the end (and I knew the city so knew where I wanted to live etc.) I dream of returning to Manchester one day (although I dream of the life I had there, which would not exist any more because I now have different responsibilities, and so do all of my friends- most of whom have moved out to the burbs anyway… I digress.)
I would shortlist cities that you like the sound of, and then look at jobs first and then take things from there.
Have done it twice in recent years and had two pretty different experiences. The first time was an absolute breeze. I moved from Dublin to Edinburgh, I had a job and I had a social group of friends from school who I already knew there. Decided a few years later to make a change as was getting a bit bored of it and got an internal transfer in my company to move city again to Glasgow, thought it would be great as I spent loads of time there already going to gigs and stuff. Was a lot more challenging tbh, didn’t really know anyone there (apart from a few DiSers who’ve been great) and completely underestimated how hard it is to make friends when you’re starting from knowing pretty much no one. Have felt pretty lonely tbh and am strongly considering moving back to Ireland soon.
London is just eating itself alive in terms of rent and property costs and so it’ll be nice to see people decentralising a lot more due to the virus/working from home/leaving jobs.
There’s so much decent stuff going on in non-London cities and towns already, as well as the potential for things to happen.
This is such good advice. If you look at it as a forever move then that can spoil a lot of the fun and pile on the pressure. It’s better (for me anyway, the way my mind works) to see it as a temporary thing with the potential to go permanent. If you don’t have things like kids (and worries around uprooting from their support network, schools etc) then it really is dreamy to move city.
The primary thing is job markets. Some cities are obviously much smaller, and some also have very specific industries they’re good at or known for (though obviously things will be shifting around due to the virus), so it might require some imagination in terms of transferring your skill set to another market.
Another thing to consider is public transport and where specifically you live. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible elsewhere, but it’s certainly not at the frequency or joined-upness of London.
Could you possibly temporarily move in with friends/family whilst you find a new job?
Or are you in a position to move to a new city and not have work for a while (or a long time?)
I got a job in leeds and then moved there, really enjoyed it but luckily I got on with all my work mates (unusual) so I got a whole new circle of friends too.
Going to bookmark this. Not likely in the next few years but considering it (Leeds/Manc) if I’m still single and my parents are well. How do you reconcile being away from family, especially if they become unwell? That’s my main fear. (Plus I went far away for uni and hated it.)
Assuming you are pretty young and don’t have children or other caring responsibilities I’d say keep your footprint as light as possible - move with what you can carry on public transport, try and live somewhere you can walk/quick bus to your likely work locations, shared house to keep costs low etc. If you settle and decide to stay a while you can change all those things later on.
Pretty much my experience. I moved to London from Canada without having set foot in England before. I suppose it went well as it was only supposed to be for a few years, and here I am (in England at least) 13 years later.
Don’t know if I have any brilliant advice. Maybe one thing is start with temporary accommodation, as your idea of where you’d like to live in the city is likely to change once you’ve been there for a bit. And walk everywhere whenever you get the chance, to find all the interesting bits.
I’ve done this a few times (and will be moving country in 3 weeks time). It helps if you either know some people already in the place where you’re headed or you’re happy to immerse yourself in new social situations to meet people.
As others have said, it helps to have a job to go to (or not need to work for a while). Other things to think about are transport links - do you drive? Possibly not if you’ve lived in London for a while so how will you get about your new place? If you’re going to move to another big city it’s probably less of a problem but if you’re moving to a town where you may have to commute for work it is something to think about.
Done it a couple of times now. First to Sheffield, second to Manchester/Wigan.
My suggestion is that you draw up a list of things that are important (and not so important) to you and then let DiS decided in a game of UK city top-trumps.
Dunno about you but things I’d have as important are:
affordability
work opportunities
fun stuff (gigs/restaurants/bars etc)
house prices/options
proximity to the sea/mountains etc (if important)
connectivity (airports/railway etc)
I think if you’re happy to throw yourself into a place then you can make any city work for you really. I don’t know as much about abroad, others can advise.
I lived in three different cities in the space of about three years for work reasons. Got my accomodation through spareroom so I could get shortish tenancies allowing me to move if I didn’t like the place.
I knew one or two people in all the places I lived so I had friends there already. I did find making an effort to socialise and join in with stuff helped me develop a social life (of sorts )
sorry to hear that man (but a good move if it’s right for you ofc)
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