why not?

We moved to London from New York on September 30, 2009. We had always planned to make the move since Andy lived here before moving to New York to be with moi. I can't say that we chose the best time to move country, especially when it meant we both had to leave happy, comfortable stable jobs without having any guarantee of jobs when we arrive. But that's exactly it...things were SO comfortable. It was never going to feel like a good time to give up that stability. Last February we sat down and made our pro and con list about moving sooner or waiting another year or two until the economy picked up. In the end, the "wait" list technically outweighed the "move" list. But it just didn't feel right. So we said screw it. Lets go.

I, being the obsessive researcher and planner that I am, have compiled several lists of London things: restaurants, pubs, shops, walks, museums, excursions, resources...everything. So far, these are mostly things that I have found via other sites. And being unemployed and pennypinching, I cannot say that I have experienced all of these things. I might as well share what I have found.

A little background:

I am American. My husband, Andy is English. We met at a bar in New York and somehow pulled of a cross-Atlantic romance for 2 years before he moved to NY for what was supposed to be 3 months but ended up being 3 years. When I first went to visit him, he was living in a house with 2 friends in Stoke Newington. Coming from my center-of-it-all East Village apartment, I was quite surprised to discover he had an hour long bus ride to get to work every morning! And you couldn't get a slice of pizza on every corner. And everything closed at 6pm. Basically, I was expecting London to be New York. This thinking was obviously flawed and seemed to take 2 or 3 more visits before I accepted the fact that I can't just walk down the street and expect to find decent food for a pound. I realized, that I needed to be prepared!

I have always hated being a tourist. But I kind of love maps. So two years ago I bought my own A-Z. I found it at the Tate. It has a hardback binding and doesn't have a huge A-Z on it so I can go unnoticed as I wander the maze that is London. In this little book I have marked a bunch of destinations that I would like to try. Basically, I hate spending too much money on shitty food (unfortunately kind of easy in London) and I know that there are amazing places...if you know where to find them. so this was my solution.

Enjoy.