Moving to the UK

[McJim]

Tell me about it.

I'm getting the train to work these days and it's always full by the second stop (my stop) and I have arrived ten minutes late for the last two days.

A journey that took 30 mins by bike is now and hour an a half.

Fucking progress eh?

The train I used to get into London was always already full by the time it reached my stop.

[jazbug5]

No take no notice of Dover, they are all the low life citys, go live in Bristol or Bath mate, you wont get beet up ever night there, just on sundays...

Funny, I would have said that about Bath until this last weekend: used to live there, went to visit mates, and got nothing but hassle in the street Saturday night. Then we turned a corner and found what was left of some guy after someone had used his head for a football. Gruesome.
Put me right off....

Bristol, however, is a fine city. Edinburgh is another one, and so is Manchester- but I would avoid London like the plague.

[moko]

And Tom, BRISTOL??? For fucks sake man, it's the Beirut of the west cuntry. Try Exeter, much nicer.

Better yet go for somewhere just outside,places like Newton Abbot and Totnes are fairly civilised and N.Z.-like scenery all around,when the tourists have gone home you`ll have plenty of great roads all to yourself.Most of Britain now sadly is bad news after closing time,even small towns in rural locations,might interest Dover to know that booze here is very cheap these days,most get wrecked on cans from the local minimart before heading into town and topping up with stuff at club prices and even then plenty of places do "2 for 1" or happy hour deals,drink-fuelled violence is almost epidemic.Dont let that put you off though,with a bit of common sense and local knowledge you can still have a good night out quite safely.People here are far more aggresive than in N.Z. and even a recent arrival here from Auckland was quite suprised at how obnoxious people can be for no reason despite me warning him beforehand.

[ogr1]

Feck the big cities, full of crims and illegal aliens, ports are no better either.
Chances are you won't meet any English people there anyhow?
Money...average wage according to the lying government figures and are probably targeted at London = £50k plus, bollocks. I earn 22k and live fairly well off that, people are on a lot less, local jobs advertised in the press average around 16k and I look every week. so I'm staying put in this job for a while.
Insurance...Depends where you go? shop around tis cheaper on the web.
Bikes are plentiful try MCN UK to give you an idea of the prices.
Weather......what can I say? SHITE.

What do our nations have in common?
Binge drinkers.
Bad car drivers.
Crap toothless law system, geared not for the working tax paying law abiding citizen, but for the lazy arse thieving scumbags that burden our society.
Over taxed.
A lazy lying money orientated labour government. (arn't they all)
Tony blurt the "prime sinister" has announced that they have no control over the current problem with illegal immigrants (Have not a clue as to the numbers) also that we as a nation are defensless to the continuing assault
via terrorists! (kinda fills ya with confidence eh!)
We are an Island nation (you guys have two) so do we if you count Northern ireland?)
Bikers are considered "risk takers" by the general public.
The weather is a hit and miss affair, more of a miss really.

Good points..............Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrm? You may get to meet some bikers and have a blast around some local haunts. Or you may stay in and watch countless BBC repeats cause it's raining feckin stair rods outside?

DON'T DO IT!
Come for a visit anytime, but emmigrate? You must be nuts!

[blocker]

Yeah, insurance does sting a little here, my CBR600 is 800 quid pa for Third/Fire & Theft. All my elements wrong though, living in SW London, parked on Street (can't exactly say its in a garage as no house has one on our street), used for work commuting, and on top of that I'm new to full licence and no UK licence/driving history. Funny thing was I had car insurance quotes for more again for similar value cars despite 15 years nz car driving history (didn't end up buying one of those!)

Bikes are pretty decently priced though, my 1997 Honda CBR, 22k miles, immac cond was 2k stg.

And I also can't fathom 50k pom = 50k kiwi, I'd take 50k Sterling over 50k kiwi any day... , i think the comparable standard of living income is roughly 1-2 (ie say 50k sterling = 100k Kiwi), but it depends on everyones circumstances and how big their fixed/basic costs are..

[moko]

Yeah, insurance does sting a little here, my CBR600 is 800 quid pa for Third/Fire & Theft.

From what you`ve said here mate that`s not actually a bad deal,I know scooter riders paying over a grand in insurance in Cornwall.
Biggest cost here is accommodation and running it,i.e. utilities and council tax,if our mate comes over here with no worries on that score he can have a good time here financed by a bit of casual work,and there`s loads of that around.When I went to N.Z. I wanted to meet ordinary kiwis,not tour guides.I had contacts there so that was easy and I met some great people.Best way to meet good people here is to work in a few places,meet some people who aren`t after your money.Do the tourist spots exclusively and you`ll meet fake people flogging a fake view of Britain,get yourself a bit of casual work in a factory and you`ll meet the real Brits,dont give a shit types who`ll treat you as a mate unless you`re a total prat and with the subversive nature and bone dry wit that`s made the British working class what it is today......extinct.Seriously,there are good people here but you have to look hard and generally the less well off people are here the more friendly and accepting they are.

[Squeak the Rat]

Go for it dude. Nothing worse than getting old and saying "I wish I'd done that"..... You can always come back.

[jazbug5]

...booze here is very cheap these days,most get wrecked on cans from the local minimart before heading into town and topping up with stuff at club prices...

..And when I got home from my lovely break in Bath, this is what I discovered waiting for me at home. (The house they mention is mine.)

Hole in the wall...

Going off the whole blokes & booze thing a bit at the mo.

[Dadpole]

Jazbug, The solution is - come back here, burn your passport, claim to be an Algerian terrorist and live at the taxpayers expense.

[Mooch]

Exactly ,
Lived in London for most of the last year, cool place. Nothing like the big city. Never got bored even after a year. Cost wise it depends what kind of work your into. If your into IT Texmo then you'll be sweet. Food wise, prices are similar to NZ from the supermarket , none of this dollar for pound stuff. Eating out is more like 1 dollar = 1 pound. Rent wise , it's dealer. Eg two bedroom apartment on the Thames 350 - 400 pounds per week plus tax.
Money wise, agree with some of the positngs , I can confirm a NZ CA accountant earning closer to 80 k than 50 k .IT wise anywhere from 50 -130k is possible in the contracting market.

Have visited some of the places mentioned. All great to visit , but Londons the place to live. I really miss the place. No point in staying in smaller places, might as well stay in NZ.

[mattp]

I've been living and riding in London for a number of years without any little cry about the money.

I think you get to see life in big cities and if you don't have kids its a great place to play

Another site where you can get info on riding in london is www.londonbikers.com

[m99dws]

VisorDown is ok if you sift through pages of huge sig pics etc. I use bikechatforums.com as a point of reference more than any other (for general stuff. For my SV I was on http://www.sv650.org/

[Matt]

I say go for it - nothing is forever, and planes fly back to NZ too! Would definitely recommend looking at places other than London (unless you like big cities!) - as a Northerner I would also look at places like Manchester/Leeds, there are some really nice suburbs still in reach of the CBD.

Good luck!

Matt

[Finn]

I think it should be compulsory for all kiwi's to have an OE. If you spend too much time on our little island, your brain stops working properly.

In saying that, a lot of kiwi's make the mistake of going to Aus or the UK for their OE. I don't think this is really an OE because the culture is much the same. Young kiwi's going to the UK end up getting pissed with fellow kiwi's and not doing much else. The UK is a very good place to base yourself but you MUST travel to european countries if you really want to open your eyes.

[XP@]

NZ population per square km = 15
UK population per square km = 250

You better improve your overtaking skills, cos you are going to have to do it a lot more than here.

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