Hi, I’m 17f (turning 18 this year) and currently living with my parents in Australia. For some background info I was born in London originally but have moved around quite a bit. I really really don’t enjoy Australia (Melbourne to be exact), and have found myself missing London. It feels like a much more lively city to me, and a good place for a fresh start + new opportunities as a soon to be young adult. I still have a British passport, and I also have an aunt in London as well as some other family nearby in Birmingham and Manchester. I’d be moving alone though, and I’m not close at all with my aunt who lives there. If I made the decision my parents said they’d support me, so money isn’t an issue. I’d like to hear from people who’ve lived / are living in London to offer their perspective on the city and if they recommend it. Fyi the last time I visited was in 2022 on a holiday.
26 comments
Absolutely not. It’s a hellhole.
If you can live with family or friends then go for it, But if i was you i would stay in aussie land as the quality of life there is so much better than this hellhole londons unfortunatley turned into
You miss the British banter. London is phenomenal to visit. Although I am. Bias as I hail from Scotland’s capital. What is it exactly Melbourne doesn’t give you? What do you feel you are missing out on back in London you don’t experience down under.
I suggest you write down all the pros and cons of both places and try and narrow it down exactly what it is you are requiring.
Thats a healthy start. Remember out growing somewhere or something is very healthy and proves you are growing naturally.
Good luck with your decision.
Move to somewhere a little bit cheaper. The cost of living crisis makes it incredibly difficult for young people to get by in cheaper areas, let alone london
If you dont have a job lined youre going to be fighting everyone else for a job, and the job market is crap
London is a lot more spread out than Melbourne so chances are you’d be living a lot further from the city centre that you are familiar with from your holidays than you are used to in Melbourne. That said because of that most places in London have their own local ‘lively’ scene. What is it about Melbourne you don’t like? You will find London has a lot to offer for a tourist with all the museums and sights, but living there you’ll quickly run out of free things to do and then entertainment will be expensive, how do you plan to earn a living?
I love London so I’d say go for it, especially if your aunt can give you a room. Would you be studying or working? I think you can always find work here. You might as well try it. If you don’t settle you can always go back.
If money really isn’t an issue, then go for it.
If you can stay with your aunt or other family while you sort a job out go for it! London is incredible.
By not close with this aunt do you mean that’s because she lives in Birmingham or is there a family feud you haven’t mentioned?
It might be worth looking into staying north as the cost of living is cheaper, but I’d have London in my sights if I were you OP and then consider Birmingham or Manchester as a backup
I lived and worked in London for the first five years after I graduated and loved it! Would I go back now? Probably not. It’s a younger person’s life style living in any big city in my opinion.
At 18 realistically you are going to be sharing a small house with a load of depressed possibly dangerous people working a shitty job with bad hours for minimum wage. You might be remembering all the exciting tourist stuff but you won’t be doing much of that because you will be working all the time and it will be lonely.
Just as an fyi – I know Australia is huge but Manchester and Birmingham are not close by either and will cost a decent bit to travel to.
If it’s something you want to do then go for it. I went from London to Australia at 21 but just make sure you get a job asap or at least sus out the job market and plan what you aim to do properly
London is a great city if you enjoy the hustle and bustle but the UK job market is very poor right now, rent prices higher than ever-go in prepped with research and a plan, try and rent outside the city if you have to.
Absolutely go for it. You’ll get a lot of negative comments from miserable people but you’re young, it’s one of the best cities in the world, you can do so much travelling, etc. have fun!
There is nothing to lose from a new experience. You are young and you will never have more freedom in your life.
London will be expensive, be prepared to spend up to 1.5-2x but besides that I say go for it.
“Money isn’t an issue”, it bloody well will be once you hit London with the exchange rate. You’re young, travel, see things and then go home.
If money isn’t an issue what have you got to lose. Maybe try and get a spot in one of the unis so you will have friends and accomodation taken care of.
Moving to London when you are still young is always a good idea. It is not a perfect place and it does have its faults, but London is still probably the greatest city on Earth, alongside New York, Even if it is just a temporary move, it will transform you.
Absolutely. The main thing that would spoil it would be horrible housing you’re likely to get working as a 17 year old but if your parents will mitigate that by supporting you, go for it.
Have you considered doing uni in UK?
I moved back to the UK from Melbourne over a decade ago for similar-ish reasons, at 22.
My advice to you is not to move right now. Do a couple of years of TAFE while you are looking at places to move to in the UK.
I moved back and went to Wolverhampton which I had never visited before, was there for 6 months while getting myself back in the feel of the UK.
Anyways the reason I suggest TAFE is that you won’t get something of the same quality in the UK for that kind of cost, plus it’s chill and most courses have good work experience.
Good luck with the move.
Whats the job and study situation would be my main concern.
Are you moving back just to work in retail, that would suck. Especially in London.
Can your parents afford it, maybe? Should they… not really. If this is a decision you do want to make you should do it properly, save up – apply for some jobs / start a career you can migrate.
You’re still quite young and your head will romanticise these notions. The grass isnt always greener, maybe somewhere else in Aus may suit you better, travel Aus some more
I don’t think there are many truly bad ideas at 18 apart outside of acquiring drug habits, stds or significant debt. Trying out living in a city you think you’ll enjoy is a great idea at 18. It’s not a permanent decision; either it works out, or it doesn’t, in which case you’ll reassess and choose somewhere else to go.
A lot of the comments below are acting as if you’re a thirty something looking to start a family and buy a semi-detached, not someone who wants to experience life and see what London has to offer.
Do expect to live in crappy houseshares (crappy is ok when you’re young) and have difficulty saving money with the kind of jobs you’d be starting out with. If you want to try to build a life and you don’t have a specific idea of what you want to do yet, I can advise looking for a job within a big company (like TfL, for example) that has loads of opportunities for its staff to progress once your foot is in the door. The economy isn’t booming but there is always opportunity in London.
Aussie in the UK here. If you have some sort of experience in an entry-level job like waitressing etc and you can get cheap/free accommodation with family I’d say go for it. You find more/better paying work if you go to Uni back in Oz first though.
At your age, coming from a woman In her thirties I’d say don’t do it just yet.
Definitely stay with a relative & explore your options a holiday is very different to moving.
I have visited them all and there are sketchy areas in all of them.
Good luck
Do you want to go to university in the future? If so do look at your options in both countries – e.g. when would you be eligible for domestic fees in the UK, and what would student loan repayments look like in both countries. It’d be a shame if you decided you wanted to go to Uni shortly after moving to London and had to decide whether or not to move back