Anyone here moved out of London in recent years?

[GranTurismoEra]

Did anyone make this move in recent years? Finally my brother woke up to the realization that where we are is a shithole, litter everywhere, high crime, stolen cars, knife attacks, gang activity and no longer regal as it used to be. Ive been saying for years to get out. The queen used to visit Harrow and the famous Harrow school is 300 years old i think. Its now overpopulated, overcrowded and traffic is approaching New York levels. Its the most populated London borough at 270,000 within 16 square miles lol

 

Found it frustrating when i got the first Nismo in 2017. We still have 4 years before our renewal. We are looking to move further North.

 

Ideally Amersham, Aylesbury, Oxford, Milton Keynes. Id like to go westwards like Gloucester sides but for the interim I think going North would be better. Id still work and commute to London. Im not giving up my job at a small radio station anytime soon. My brother is happy to change career altogether. So I would still need commuting now and then with some adjustments to my rota.

 

Obviously we would look for something similar 3 bed with a driveway (very important) that costs slightly less and release some funds for investment into wherever. ISA,  Buy to Let at my retirement location, Timeshares etc....just kidding....

 

I think for our mental health it would be a good move. Plus can embrace a new way of life, even eat more organic and breathe real fresh air. I was never a London guy anyway so no real loss. I visit central London at my leisure once a year....Mostly im there for work....Londons for visiting not for living in 😅. Mini rant over!

[Ben@TORQEN]

If you move to Milton Keynes or Aylesbury you'd be closer to Torqen

[Adrian@TORQEN]

Moved from Watford to Pitstone. I'm like in a holiday resort, absolutely loving it! 

[DoogyRev]

I moved to Kent ...... in BC, Canada. 😂

[Ekona]

What I will say is think very carefully, as commuting is an absolute killer for life. Stuck on a train, stuck in traffic, it’ll soon suck the life out of you and make any job suddenly seem very unworthy of your precious time. 
 

I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it, but it would have to be the job of a lifetime/short term to rack up big bucks for retirement to make me ever consider commuting to London from where you’re talking about. 

[GranTurismoEra]

2 hours ago, DoogyRev said:

I moved to Kent ...... in BC, Canada. 😂

 

my cousins are in Canada for University. They will be there for the foreseeable future. Just not sure about the weather tbh. Interesting prospect. 

[GranTurismoEra]

47 minutes ago, Ekona said:

What I will say is think very carefully, as commuting is an absolute killer for life. Stuck on a train, stuck in traffic, it’ll soon suck the life out of you and make any job suddenly seem very unworthy of your precious time. 
 

I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it, but it would have to be the job of a lifetime/short term to rack up big bucks for retirement to make me ever consider commuting to London from where you’re talking about. 

 

Yeah with my job theres literally no  need for me to be on site all the time. Many of our colleagues live as far as Isle of Sheppey, Reading and Watford slash Doncaster. At the moment we work longer days but are not in every single day fortunately. The furthest colleagues come in once a week. Others alternating weeks. Depends on the deal they have with the boss man

 

Whereas my mate in Gloucester is fully remote goes into Reading once a month i think. Really heavily dependent on job type, management etc. 

Edited August 31, 2023 by GranTurismoEra

[DoogyRev]

3 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

my cousins are in Canada for University. They will be there for the foreseeable future. Just not sure about the weather tbh. Interesting prospect. 

 

We have Zero regrets about moving here, the family have thrived in the last 10 years. would 100% recommend!. 

 

.... as for the weather that depends where you go, east coast is cold and wet, the middle is freezing in the winter, the west coast is sunny and warm in the summer and not too cold in the winter. and by not too cold I mean we don't get -40C like some areas do. a few days at -10C/-15C but generally its fine. 

 

on the plus side you come over here and you can get yourself a new Z .... even a new Nismo Z 😂

[The Bounty Bar Kid]

London is a great place to live if you have 2 of the following 3: lots of money to be able to afford to live in zone 1/2, don't drive and don't have kids.

 

I've always lived on the outskirts or just outside London. Cleaner air, less crime and still easy to commute to anywhere. 5 mins drive to the train station and then it's a 20mins train to London Bridge or 25mins to London Victoria. I can also drive to the M25 in 5mins or Brighton in 35mins.

[GranTurismoEra]

People shouldn't have to be approaching 100k to live or be able to afford a house. As in 100k combined. Thats the minimum to get a house within M25 as the average house price in my area is £400,000+. The area is nothing to shout about. Overpriced, overcrowded and overpopulated. Over it lol

 

Then the kids growing up will need assistance or to be earning close to £100k individually to stay. Rent in Zone 1 and 2 for a box apartment minimum of 1400 pm. Lol

Edited September 1, 2023 by GranTurismoEra

[GranTurismoEra]

11 hours ago, DoogyRev said:

 

We have Zero regrets about moving here, the family have thrived in the last 10 years. would 100% recommend!. 

 

.... as for the weather that depends where you go, east coast is cold and wet, the middle is freezing in the winter, the west coast is sunny and warm in the summer and not too cold in the winter. and by not too cold I mean we don't get -40C like some areas do. a few days at -10C/-15C but generally its fine. 

 

on the plus side you come over here and you can get yourself a new Z .... even a new Nismo Z 😂

 

West coast as in Vancouver? Everyone seems to be in Toronto or east coast

Are taxes higher? seem to be level everywhere except Canada and France?

[DoogyRev]

1 hour ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

West coast as in Vancouver? Everyone seems to be in Toronto or east coast

Are taxes higher? seem to be level everywhere except Canada and France?

 

Yes Vancouver area. Fun fact .... just BC is nearly 4x the size of the UK but only has 5 million people.Most of Canada's population live on the East coast. Taxes generally around 40% which I think is more than the UK. but you will find that the wages are higher than the UK for the same job. cost of living is prob a bit more also. for example a mobile phone will cost about $60+ a month. My mustang is $1900 to insure for the year, but there is no tax/MOT.

[pintopete58]

Hi guys I was in Spain about a month ago and I met a couple from Canada but very British they have lived In Canada for over 20 years and won't be coming back. 

As for picking a part of the country to live . By the way I'm Leicestershire. 

My daughter moved to Monmouthshire and bought property but lived in Chepstow and must say what a beautiful part of the country it is

[GranTurismoEra]

On 01/09/2023 at 15:00, DoogyRev said:

 

Yes Vancouver area. Fun fact .... just BC is nearly 4x the size of the UK but only has 5 million people.Most of Canada's population live on the East coast. Taxes generally around 40% which I think is more than the UK. but you will find that the wages are higher than the UK for the same job. cost of living is prob a bit more also. for example a mobile phone will cost about $60+ a month. My mustang is $1900 to insure for the year, but there is no tax/MOT.

 

33% Ni plus Tax for the majority. Yeah when you add Council tax its close lol.

 

So you just keep your car road worthy. No smog test like in US?

 

5 million is about half the population of London i think. Well by 2030 it will be around 10.5 im sure. 

[pintopete58]

I think you're about right 30m plus in Canada. 

I've been too detriot 3 times in the good old days f1 and all that .

Motor City  not anymore 

 

[DoogyRev]

4 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

So you just keep your car road worthy. No smog test like in US?

 

Nope, nothing, nadda. You should see some of the pieces of crap on the roads. however if it looks really bad you might get pulled for it. I would estimate that 50% of the vehicles on the road have huge cracks in the windscreen (including our truck) and no one bats an eyelid. 

 

3 hours ago, pintopete58 said:

I think you're about right 30m plus in Canada. 

 

38 Million in Canada .... 67 Million in the UK, Canada is 41 times bigger than the UK 😂

[DoogyRev]

my other fun population fact is the state of California has a population (2023) of just over 39 million people (documented people that is), that’s nearly 1.2 million more that the entirety of Canada. California will fit 2.3 times in the province of BC and 25 times in to the whole of Canada
 

if you dont like people don’t move to California 😭

 

I never really thought about how big Canada is until I moved here and  I looked to see how long it will take to drive from the bottom to the top of BC. It’s nearly 24 hours which makes lands end to John o groats seem like a quick trip to the shops 😂

[GranTurismoEra]

Thanks for all the info. My mum mentioned a tourist sleeper train that goes across Canada over a few days. That isnt public transport. The only one i saw goes through Northern US. Is that a thing?

 

I lived in the US. Its a bit overrated and poverty is apparent in many places like New York and California. The local governmenta pay homeless people to go to California or New York. Many people are victims of pandemic shutdown. Sad. 

[DoogyRev]

7 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

Thanks for all the info. My mum mentioned a tourist sleeper train that goes across Canada over a few days. That isnt public transport. The only one i saw goes through Northern US. Is that a thing?

yep that’s a thing, it’s called the Rocky Mountaineer. You can go all the way across Canada, it actually goes through the town I live in. It’s got fancy glass roofed carriages so you can see the view….. although prob not much to see in the middle of Canada as it’s so flat. My folks went from Calgary to Vancouver on it.  

[GranTurismoEra]

29 minutes ago, DoogyRev said:

yep that’s a thing, it’s called the Rocky Mountaineer. You can go all the way across Canada, it actually goes through the town I live in. It’s got fancy glass roofed carriages so you can see the view….. although prob not much to see in the middle of Canada as it’s so flat. My folks went from Calgary to Vancouver on it.  

 

Calgary is the next state across right? Does it go all the way to Ontario or Quebec? Sounds interesting.

[DoogyRev]

8 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

Calgary is the next state across right? Does it go all the way to Ontario or Quebec? Sounds interesting.

That’s in Alberta which is the next province over … we do t have states here …lol

 

Yes you can go from Ontario all the way across, hope you have deep pockets, it’s not cheap, but it’s supposed to be one of the greatest train journeys in the world. 

[GranTurismoEra]

5 hours ago, DoogyRev said:

That’s in Alberta which is the next province over … we do t have states here …lol

 

Yes you can go from Ontario all the way across, hope you have deep pockets, it’s not cheap, but it’s supposed to be one of the greatest train journeys in the world. 

 

 From £3000 per person over 90 hours. For what you get yeah its slightly pricey but they know you wont be back anytime soon. As its a one off once in a lifetime thing. Its expensive from a group or family perspective unless they had any deals. For example two adults two kids for 6k then yeah. For an individual i guess its like going on 2 cruises in one year. Depends on how high it is on the bucket list .

 

Theres a trans continental train from west europe to east russian coast someone mentioned as well lol.

 

Anyway I think we are still sometime away from moving. In this climate if theres an opportunity we will see. Going mortgage free is a dream. 

[GranTurismoEra]

On 31/08/2023 at 14:10, Adrian@TORQEN said:

Moved from Watford to Pitstone. I'm like in a holiday resort, absolutely loving it! 

 

you guys have lots of open space i could see. During the day its not overly busy as its not in town