London is HORRIBLE

[Anonymous]

What does any of this have to do with travel? Traveling and residing are not the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Loved London. Lived in Bloomsbury, commuted to Notting Hill. Have also lived in places that are harder to love (e.g. Cairo).

You can turn this around.

Buy a copy of London Compendium. It’s fun and will help you see the city through new eyes.

Invite friends to visit—playing tour guide might let you appreciate the city.

Get away. Take a train to Edinburgh. Get on the Eurostar. Fly to Finland. If you can’t come to appreciate London, then you might be able to appreciate it as a travel hub!

[Anonymous]

Of all the major European cities, London is the one I would least likely want to go and I studied in Europe and have been there multiple times since the 90s.

This is why -

The English do Fish and Chips well. Other than that, you're looking at Indian food Of course they will have top end restaurants that are delicious but in terms of cuisine - English food is not it. Tailoring yes but food - nope.

Culturally, other than double decker buses, I find the least amount of really cool things to see - there's more castles in France, Germany, etc. Definitely there are historically relevant sights but compared to the rest of W Europe, sorry, it's way more fun to go see German, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain.

London is $$$. Totally $$$ and as a major city it's not like you're gonna get away from spending $$$. Unlike going to Rome or Paris and using it as a homebase to do day trips, most people who end up in London just have London.

I don't find the people there rude per se but as in any metro city, they are busy. Culturally the English and Americans are more similar than the Italians, Spanish, etc. to the Americans so I would not call them laid back thus, you go to London, you're not looking at any cultural advantages in service or anything.

I do however like to fly into London for economic reasons when I can't find direct flights to other places budget wise You speak English there so that is always convenient but again, I don't feel that London is that amazing either. I would not suggest it's a dump like you OP but I would not suggest that I would pick it as my top choice of really awesome W European places to visit, live, etc.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoy London and my friend who lived as a US expat there for 2 years had a good time even though her flat was a bit creaky (3rd floor, Kensington rowhouse).

I enjoyed Londonwalks walking tours. I recently had fun visiting Bath, Salisbury, and Stonehenge and would have liked more time in each. Easy day trips from London.

I would go to the theater frequently if I lived in London. Also be regularly deep diving the British Museum and V&A, including special exhibits.

Pret a Manger > Panera & McD's for quick lunch on the go.

Lol, if you miss home just go to an American Candy Store! They were everywhere last time I was there.

[Anonymous]

British person here. Only thing I agree with you on is the social life being very alcohol centric. Even with older people it’s seen as cool or a thing to drink constantly

[Anonymous]

Nice place to visit, but very $$$.

[Anonymous]

Again, there is a huge difference between visiting and living in a place. It took me a couple of years to find my feet and my people when I first moved there. It wasn't easy. I stayed for 10 years and took British citizenship. I think of myself as a Londoner. It was wonderful with young children - always something to do or somewhere to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Major world cities such as NYC, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Paris, Madrid, etc ALL suck. They appeal to too many hollow soulless jerks who think they just HAVE to live in a famous city or else they will be worthless.

This is not true. Some cities are wonderful. Have been to Paris? Barcelona? Amsterdam? These cities are stunningly beautiful, manage to feel green and natural despite being dense and urban, and offer extraordinary food, art, and architecture it is genuinely hard to find outside of a major city. I would live in any of those cities in a heartbeat even though I also like suburban and rural settings, and love nature, specifically because I find those cities balance nature and city life incredibly well.

I would never live in NYC or London, but when I visit, the museums are so special. I do envy people who can go to the Tate or MoMa on a random afternoon (and the museums in DC are a major thing I love about living here and something I struggle with giving up if we move).

Cities often have a "vibe" that just feels good to me. I can also get a good vibe from small towns or suburbs, but I can get it from cities too. Paris for sure has this, just this good feeling I get when I'm there because I can feel that I love a lot of things that other people who live their love -- fresh vegetables and quality clothing and classic architecture and very beautiful music and art. It feels good to be in a place where people love what you love, where many of them are engaged in making the things you love or sharing them.

The idea that people only live in cities because they have some weird obsession with being a city person or think living in a suburb or small town or even just a smaller city would make them worthless is so weird to me. I think it says more about you than about people who live in cities. And I say that as someone who loooooves suburbs and small towns, and has experienced the desire to move to places like Knoxville or Albuquerque after visiting them, so not exactly hot urban meccas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Venmo only exists because the US banking system is so primitive that you can’t just instantly transfer money from one account to another like you can in every other country in the world.

Which makes those users more susceptible to the whims of dictators to freeze bank accounts of people with whom they disagree politically. See: Truckers in Canada, Trudeau.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few other things from living there that also suck OP

Train Strikes
NHS doctors, actually the whole NHS system
The fact that they use sort codes instead of Venmo
Their version of Pizza and Mexican Salsa is disgusting
The way they say Nike, Amazon, and Pasta is fu**ing grating

Find the Irish in the city, they are so fun and love Americans!

+1,000
Their entire speech affect is so pretentious and whiny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Venmo only exists because the US banking system is so primitive that you can’t just instantly transfer money from one account to another like you can in every other country in the world.

Which makes those users more susceptible to the whims of dictators to freeze bank accounts of people with whom they disagree politically. See: Truckers in Canada, Trudeau.

This is so stupid I don’t even know where to start

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Venmo only exists because the US banking system is so primitive that you can’t just instantly transfer money from one account to another like you can in every other country in the world.

Which makes those users more susceptible to the whims of dictators to freeze bank accounts of people with whom they disagree politically. See: Truckers in Canada, Trudeau.

I think you will have a dictator in the US long before we have one in the UK. And Venmo won’t save you!

Also, being able to transfer money between accounts has nothing to do with being able to freeze them. The US can freeze bank accounts more easily than the UK. In short, you have no idea what you’re talking about. I suggest that you educate yourself further before participating in such conversations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Venmo only exists because the US banking system is so primitive that you can’t just instantly transfer money from one account to another like you can in every other country in the world.

Which makes those users more susceptible to the whims of dictators to freeze bank accounts of people with whom they disagree politically. See: Truckers in Canada, Trudeau.

I think you will have a dictator in the US long before we have one in the UK. And Venmo won’t save you!

Also, being able to transfer money between accounts has nothing to do with being able to freeze them. The US can freeze bank accounts more easily than the UK. In short, you have no idea what you’re talking about. I suggest that you educate yourself further before participating in such conversations.

.

Boom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never want to hear people say how great London is or London is better than dc.

1. Housing is atrocious. We are living in a roughly 2 million pound flat in Mayfair and the plumbing is awful, the insulation/windows are awful and we are always cold (and we are used to Montana cold but homes in London are cold whereas in the us homes stay warm). Our colleagues here have homes anywhere between 500k to 6 million pounds here in various neighborhoods and they are all dumpy

2. The parks are overrated

3. People are mean

4. The tube and trains are mindblowingly expensive

5. Service is poor

6. British “professionals” have horrible work ethic without the “la dolce vita” attitude of Italians/southern euros. It’s the worst of both worlds - uptight, high expectations yet also poor work ethic/quality.

7. Food is awful

8. Social life is way too alcohol centric

There is literally nothing redeeming about this place. I’d rather live in Dallas and I think the south is 🤮 !

dc is 100x better than London

Thank you!! Couldn’t agree more. I have to go there periodically for work and cannot stand it. I would add that hotels (even the nice ones) are grimy and gross.

Everything is just a little bit old… but (other than the touristy stuff, which admittedly can be sort of cool) not in a good way that conveys interesting history or art and architecture. It’s like you’re in the early 1980s at all times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few other things from living there that also suck OP

Train Strikes
NHS doctors, actually the whole NHS system
The fact that they use sort codes instead of Venmo
Their version of Pizza and Mexican Salsa is disgusting
The way they say Nike, Amazon, and Pasta is fu**ing grating

Find the Irish in the city, they are so fun and love Americans!

+1,000
Their entire speech affect is so pretentious and whiny.

These two PPs are racist. You do not criticize another country's speech patterns. American accents are known in other parts of the English speaking world as inelegant. Are you offended when this is pointed out to you? Then stop criticizing other people's speech.