Archive-name: US-to-UK-moving-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly (no guarantees) Last-Modified: August 14, 1994 US TO UK MOVING FAQ Written and maintained by Greg Sandell * sandell@epunix.sussex.ac.uk * or sandell@cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu * Access to this doc by WWW: + UK/Europe: http://ep56c.ep.susx.ac.uk/uk_faq.html + USA/Canada: http://www.charm.net/~web/uk_faq.html * Last updated August 14, 1994 Description: This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions by people planning to move from America to the UK. Possibly also useful to anyone travelling to the UK, or moving to Europe in general. A note to WWW users: * If you are having transmission problems perhaps you aren't using the closest Web site that is available to you. See above. * The whole FAQ is contained in this single document. If the links don't seem to work, you can still view the whole FAQ by scrolling through it. Any other questions? * Try reading the "administrivia" section. If it still doesn't answer your questions, try sending me email. QUESTIONS * Administrivia + Permissions + Availability of this doc + How was this FAQ written? + A note to British readers + Acknowledgments * Can I run US-made electrical devices (appliances, stereos, computers) in the UK? + What are the differences? + How can I convert? + What are the differences in power plugs/jacks in US and UK? + What features should I look for a transformer? + Where can I get a transformer, and for how much? + What items should I not bring? + What items should I bring? + Will phone items (modem, answering machine) work? * How should I transport my belongings to the UK? + Intro + Freight Forwarding + UPS + Air Freight + Extra baggage on passanger flight + Moving Vans (Mayflower, Bekins, etc.) + The other end: storing your belongings in the US * How much of my stuff should I take? * Will I have to pay import duties, VAT, etc. on items I bring into the UK? * What sorts of documents should I bring with me? * How is health care in the UK? + Statistics comparing the UK and US + Will I get health care for free? + How is the quality of coverage? + How concerned are Brits about health and fitness? + Dentistry * How expensive is it to live in the UK? * How can I get a bank account? * What kind of housing will I find? * How do I get utilities (gas, water, phone, etc)? + Getting hooked up + Telephones + Long distance carriers + Television * How should I manage my financial affairs back in the US? * How much will I be taxed (in US and UK)? + These rules change every year! + UK taxes + US tax * Will I be able to stand food in the UK? + Is store-bought food decent? + What's this about British food being bad? + Where can I find restaurants with good food, then? + When can I eat? * Do I want to get around by train, bus, or car? + Trains and busses + Do I want to drive in the UK? + Do I want to be a pedestrian in the UK? + Do I want to be a bicyclist in the UK? * Is internet easily accessable? * What kind of Visa/Permit do I need? * Do I want to go? + How does the standard of life in the UK compare to the US? o Some statistics comparing UK and US o Will life be very very different? + What makes living in the UK so great? + What's it like being a foreigner in the UK? * Do I want to be an academic in the UK? * What should I read before moving to the UK? + Fiction + Non Fiction * Basic facts comparing the US and UK Administrivia PERMISSIONS Feel free to duplicate and circulate all or parts of this document provided you do so on a non-profit basis, indicate my name as author, and do not alter it in any way. AVAILABILITY OF THIS DOC The primary way I maintain this FAQ is as a World Wide Web document (WWW), that is, written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). It is a much nicer read under WWW. Further details about WWW accessability are mentioned near the top of the present document. Alternatively, it may be read as a raw ascii text file. Here are ways in which it is available in raw ascii form: * By anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu. You will find it in the directory pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/news/answers under the title "US-to-UK-moving-faq". * It will be posted regularly (as time permits) to the following USENET newsgroups: + soc.culture.british and uk.misc + rec.travel.misc + news.answers, rec.answers and soc.answers * By sending email to me. Please use this only as a last resort! A note to readers viewing this in raw ascii text: the recurring phrase "Back to list of questions" refers to a WWW-specific feature, and you should ignore it. Back to list of questions... HOW WAS THIS FAQ WRITTEN? Before I moved to the UK to take a job, I posed several dozen questions to the readers of the USENET group soc.culture.british about such things as electrical products, how to move a household, and general questions about what to expect in the UK. I found there were more than just a few people who'd gone through the same thing, and later, that there were many others asking the same questions. I resolved to eventually write a FAQ so I wouldn't keep having to writing the same advice over and over again. FAQs are customarily compendiums of wisdom by many people on the subject in question. The first verson of this FAQ was written almost purely from my own first-hand experience, since there wasn't that much accumulated wisdom on this sporadically discussed topic on the net. Since I first posted it, however, several people (credited below) have mailed suggestions and corrections to me, so it grows. I live (or lived, depending on when you read this) in Brighton, a mid-sized UK city. Cities with a population size close to Brighton are Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Plymouth, and Southampton. Although the information here might not apply to some of the smaller or more remote towns, I suspect it will apply to much of the UK. I have to confess to not knowing much about the experience of living in London; London is probably so different from any UK city in terms of costs and necessary survival skills that it might require a FAQ twice this size. I wish I had the time to research this topic to make it more widely applicable, but here it is, and I hope it is useful to someone. Also keep in mind the information here reflects a particular point of time (specifically, April '93 when I moved to Brighton, until the present, June '94). I have no doubt that that many of the facts and certainly the prices will all sound very quaint in about five years' time. I put all costs in US dollars for the purpose of simplicity. The exhange rate I use is $1.50 to the UK pound, which is what it has hovered around (plus or minus 2 cents) during the time I've been here. For further information, try asking anyone else who has spent considerable time living in both the US and UK. Beware of out-of-date advice; someone who hasn't lived in the UK for five years or more may remember a different place than it is now. Back to list of questions... A NOTE TO BRITISH READERS All sorts of people have read this FAQ and given me lots of helpful comments and suggestions by email. Even when I get replies from Brits who don't actually have much trans-Atlantic experience, their corrections on factual matters have been very helpful on a number of occasions. On the other hand, some of the matters having to do with how a person from one culture views another culture fall in a vague area that has more to do with perception than facts. May I ask before you email your criticisms to me on any particular detail of the FAQ, that you consider the following points: * This is a guide for Americans, to give them a clue as to what their experience in the UK will be like, based on their lifetime's experience of being accustomed to life in the US. * Generalizations are a necessary evil. To cover all the execeptions would make this a most ponderous FAQ indeed. Furthermore, if I did point out every occasion in which there is an exception to the rule, Americans reading this FAQ might be misled into thinking that "things aren't all that different in the UK." * There can be no such thing as a "true guide" for an American moving to the UK. The only "truth" is that which exists in the experience of the individual, once he or she has actually made the move and is living here. I am assuming that readers of a guide such as this are interested reading one author's version of the "truth": they want to know what I really think about things like food, the pleasantness of various places, the level of comfort, and so on. Furthermore, they want it said in a "no holds barred" manner, rather than behind a veneer of politeness. If I attempted to make my observations "representative" by querying Americans living in all sorts of parts of the UK it would risk watering down the guide to the point of losing the "ring of truth" that readers value so much (and besides it would take too much of my time!). Back to list of questions... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to the following people who have given comments, suggestions and corrections: * Al Crawford (awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk) * Brian McKinney (bmckinne@viking.dvc.edu) * Sylvain Louboutin (sloubtin@dsg.cs.tcd.ie) * Julian Bradfield (jcb@cds.ed.ac.uk) * James Shippey (shippey@gwis.circ.gwu.edu) * Mark Brader (msb@sp.com) * Charles Bryant (ch@chch.demon.co.uk) * Roger Pollard (rogerp@sr.hp.com) * Andrew Henry (A.H.Henry@bath.ac.uk) * Ian Preece (ianp@dktower.demon.co.uk) * Jerry Cullingford (jc@crosfield.co.uk) * Richard Parratt (rparratt@london.micrognosis.com) * Steve McKinty (smckinty@france.sun.com) * Paul Johnson (paj@gec-mrc.co.uk) * David Hembrow (davidh@harlequin.co.uk) * Phil Buglass (ddnw19n@is001058.bell-atl.com) * Jolyon "Jol" Silversmith (jsilvers@nyx.cs.du.edu) * Simon FitzMaurice (sdf@east.alsys.com) * Richard K. Lloyd (rkl@csc.liv.ac.uk) * Frank E. Ritter (ritter@psyc.nott.ac.uk) Back to list of questions... Can I run US-made electrical devices (appliances, stereos, computers) in the UK? Bing! You've just asked the very most Frequently Asked Question regarding a move to the UK. The UK, of course, has a completely different electrical standard than the US (in terms of voltage, current available, frequency, and physical plugs). There is a lot of information to consider here, at different levels of technicality. A warning: the advice given here is based on my own experience, and the information I have recieved from informed individuals. However none of it should be considered the advice of a professionally qualified electrician. I cannot be held responsible for any accidents or lawsuits that occur from following the advice contained in this FAQ. In my view, your best start is to find a store that deals primarily in selling foreign electronics good, and get a friendly salesman to explain the ins and outs of power conversion. Such shops (found only in large cities, I'm afraid) will be listed under "Export shops" in the yellow pages; you might also try "Freight Forwarding" and ask where such shops may be found in that area. Back to list of questions... WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES? There are four matters relating to using US appliances in the UK * the voltage ( US = 120V, UK = 240V ) * the number of watts the product draws (different for each product) * the frequency ( US = 60 Hz, UK = 50 Hz ) * the plug on the power cord Back to list of questions... HOW CAN I CONVERT? To have a US item run under UK current you need to buy a transformer, a product that you plug into the wall and has a US-style jack at the other end. The transformer will "step down" in voltage from 240 to 120v. From there you may want to plug in a US-style power strip and provide current for several products. Next you need to consider how many watts your transformer is providing (all transformers should clearly indicate this). The more wattage required by the electrical item(s), the bigger (and more expensive) the transformer will need to be. Add up all the watts that every one of the components will draw that will be turned on at the same time, then throw in 20-25 extra watts for good measure, and that's about the size you need. So if you have three stereo components drawing 30 watts each, get a transformer than delivers about 120 watts. Don't try to draw more than what the transformer provides: you will be risking the health of you and your electronic components! Now, on to the frequency of the product, a subject which is notorious for causing great confusion. UK outlets provide a frequency of 50 Hz. Transformers do not provide a conversion to US 60 Hz; you are stuck with UK 50 Hz. The only electrical products that need concern you regarding this frequency mismatch are products that contain motors (i.e. things that run fans, spin wheels, rotate things, etc.). But...there are two kinds of motors that will be found inside electrical products, and one type is effected by the frequency, while the other is not. * Synchronous motors are affected by the frequency mismatch. When they are made for 60 Hz but get 50 Hz, they run at 5/6 speed. You will generally find that any product that contains a motor that runs at high speed (e.g. hair dryer), or must drive something with great force (e.g. power drill) will be a synchronous motor. * DC motors are not affected by the frequency mismatch, because the product supplies the correct frequency for this motor internally. That is, as long as the proper transformer is supplied, the motor inside will run at the correct speed. Generally, any product which requires only a small motor (e.g. Walkman cassette player, computer disc drive) uses its own low-voltage (5 or 12 volts) DC motor. You may ask: "So if I don't particularly mind that a product with a synchronous motor is running at 5/6 speed, can I run it safely anyway?" The answer is "maybe." I have been warned that, for products that contain their own internal transformer to supply a synchronous motor, you have to check that the minimum frequency it may be run at is 50 Hz; if it is rated for no lower than 60 Hz, it may overheat and thus be unsafe to operate. People tell me such products are extremely rare (and probably violate UL electrical code, in fact), but to be safe you should probably have an electrician examine the product before you try it. Back to list of questions... WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN POWER PLUGS/JACKS IN US AND UK? There is only one type of plug in common use in the UK, a three prong plug, larger than the US three-prong equivalent. A schematic below (which requires a non-proportional font to be viewed correctly) illustrates the differences between the blades of the two plugs: US: UK: o | | | - - There is an older, two prong plug which apparently is still in use in older dwellings that haven't been updated, but I have never seen them, even in quite old fashioned cottages. So if a salesman selling you UK/US adapters tells you need to need to be equally prepared for both kinds of plugs, he's wrong. The UK plug also differs from the US one in that a fuse is contained inside. Until recently, when you purchased an electrical product often times it would have no plug at the end of the power cord, which you'd have to buy separately and attach yourself. The practice has recently (January 1994) been abolished by law, so you will probably not encounter the problem. While we're on that subject, you'll also discover that most UK electrical outlets have switches on them, like the switch on a power strip. And, like all other switches in the UK (such as those used for room lights) the effect of the position of the switch is opposite that of the US: down means on, up means off! Back to list of questions... WHAT FEATURES SHOULD I LOOK FOR A TRANSFORMER? Go for good quality here. I am suspicious of the kind of products that are made for the vacation traveler, sold at department stores and places like Radio Shack. They sell itty-bitty transformers that claim to be able to convert power for things like hair dryers, but it doesn't make sense: hair driers consume vast numbers of watts. One person wrote to me: "They aren't transformers, they play games with capacitors. They are not very good, and have a nasty tendency to 'short-circuit', blowing up whatever they are powering." Go instead to an export shop, if you can find one. Look at the back of every one of your electrical items you plan to bring to the UK, write down its power consumption in watts, and take this list to the vendor, and see what he/she recommends. Many commercial transformers I have seen only provide a two-prong US jack, i.e., no ground, so you'll have to look harder to find one with a ground, i.e., three prongs. People with some expertise have told me that it can be very risky to bypass the ground plug (with one of those three-to-two-prong adapters) when using products that require a ground. Back to list of questions... WHERE CAN I GET A TRANSFORMER, AND FOR HOW MUCH? First of all, you might consider whether it might not be better to wait until getting to the UK to buy transformers. There's not much of a market in the US for converters, since there is only one electrical standard in the US and Canada. Europe seems to be a little more aware of the existence of different electrical standards in the world, and thus stores probably have better availability and wider selection. Also, keep in mind that they are very heavy (and you'll have to ship it rather than take it on the plane with you). On the other hand, they may be cheaper in the US (see prices below). There is a electronic parts catalogue sales company called RS Components which deals in transformers; however, this is a supply company which does not sell to the general public. Also, I'm told that a hardware chain store in Britain called Ryness sells transformers. A U.S. place that sells transformers and other goodies for short-term abroad residents is Magellons Essentials for the Traveler (Santa Barbara, CA), 1-800-962-4943 (they have an extensive catalog). Or a particularly clever way to find transformers might be to ask Americans who are returning from abroad if they'd like to sell theirs. A 60 watt converter might be about $25 to $30. The Magellons catalogue lists a 1000 watt at $118.50 and a 1500 watt at $169.50. The RS Components catalogue listed a 500 watt converter for $105. I have a 1000 watt converter, and it's about 4x4x4 inches in size, and about 35 lbs in weight. Back to list of questions... WHAT ITEMS SHOULD I NOT BRING? Easily replaced items that draw vast amounts of current are unwise to bring because the cost of the transformer you will need for them will probably be a few times more than the cost of buying the product anew in the UK! For the following items take a look at the number of watts they require, consider the cost of transformers you'll need to convert them, and imagine how they'll look sitting on kitchen and bathroom counters. You should just replace them with the same items bought in UK stores. This may sound expensive, but if you settle for a cheaper food processor to replace your industrial-strength Cuisinart, it won't be bad at all. * Hair driers * Kitchen appliances with motors: blenders, food processors, coffee grinders * Any other item with a high speed motor, e.g. power drills Your US-made LP record turntables or cassette decks may contain synchronous motors, in which case they will run at 5/6 speed, or about 3.2 musical semitones too flat (yes, bad enough that it will ruin the music: even John Cage's 4'33" will come out lasting 55" too long!). Battery powered Walkman cassette players will be fine, though, even when run with the AC cord. Do not bring any TV sets, Video Cassette machines, or your video cassettes from home, although not specifically for reasons of power incompatibility. British TV sets and VCRs (yes, both) run on the PAL standard, whereas US TVs and VCRs run on the NTSC standard. Although both PAL and NTSC appear to use the same kind of VCR cassette, they encode the information on them differently, so don't expect to be able to play NTSC tapes on a PAL machine, or vice-versa. So, unless you want to plan to watch nothing but VCR tapes you bring from home, your US TV and VCR is worthless here. If for some reason you have to run both standards, I think the export shops sell TV/VCRs that run on both NTSC and PAL. Also, digital AM radios (car radios, Hi-Fi tuners) may not work, since the channel step in the UK is in units of 9kHz, while in the US it is 10. Don't bring anything that won't fit through the door of your UK home. You may laugh, but you can actually purchase (from export shops in the US or US Army bases in the UK) US-made, US-size refrigerators, washing machines that run on UK current. But, one of the reasons that UK products of this type tend to be smaller is because of smaller dwellings, so you may find yourself having brought over a refridgerator at great expense and not be able to use it! Back to list of questions... WHAT ITEMS SHOULD I BRING? Provided you use the proper transformer, you can expect these items to work in the UK. * CD players. Manufacturers make them so the motors are internally supplied with the correct frequency. * Personal Computers. The motors in their disk drives are internally supplied with the correct frequency. Here's some specific information about computers. Many computer manufacturers these days are making products that run on both standards of current. For each component that you plug in, check the information near the power cord: if it says something like "AC 100-240, 50/60 Hz", you are golden (this applies to any electrical product, not just computers). You won't need a transformer at all, just a plug converter. Good news for Apple Macintosh users: everything after the Mac Plus was made in this fashion (although check the back to make absolutely sure). If it turns out you have several such products, you could get a mere plug converter, plug in a US power strip to it, and then plug all your components in (although you do not want a power strip with a surge protector, since it will freak over receiving 240v). But only do this if everyone in your household is smart enough not to plug just any US product into that power strip! Back to list of questions... WILL PHONE ITEMS (MODEM, ANSWERING MACHINE) WORK? Yes, provided you supply the correct adapter for the different standard of phone plug and the correct power, modems, answering machines and extension cables will work on the British phone system. (I am not sure if phones themselves will work.) However, I should point out that it is technically illegal to do so. The only products which may legally be hooked up to the phone lines are those with a special BT green sticker of approval. But if you do want to do this, you may want to take these items on the plane with you, since you'll find them useful right away. Back to list of questions... How should I transport my belongings to the UK? INTRO Bing again! This is the second most frequently asked question. People living abroad for a while tend to want to bring a larger amount of possessions with them than can be brought along as luggage on the plane. Here's a guide to the various methods for doing so. One bit of advice: before selecting any one company, call around and compare prices. You'll be surprised how much they vary! Back to list of questions... FREIGHT FORWARDING I start with the method I used, which I decided to be the best value for the money of all the available methods. I engaged a "Freight Forwarding" service, which performed the services of enclosing my items with a crate, insuring it, shipping it by sea, and arranging for an equivalent UK firm to receive the crate (thus there are two companies with which you make a financial transaction). These kinds of firms are probably available only in port cities, unfortunately (on a coast, or one of the Great Lakes, or maybe even the Mississippi River). One advantage is that almost anything can be shipped by this method: sofas, refrigerators, even automobiles are handled by these companies. In the warehouse of the company I used I saw a Mercedes being prepared for delivery, and a crate of household belongings the size of a medium sized bedroom! The crate I shipped contained 3 boxes of books, 3 boxes of household items, a large box of clothing, a button accordian, and two mountain bikes in their boxes. The crate measured 38 CF (cubic feet). The overall cost of this shipment, from start to finish, came to about $896, which we found a tolerable price to pay. Here's how the costs broke down, more or less: * Charges on the US end: + $3.75 per CF basic cost + $1.90 per CF to build the crate + $75 handling charge + $7.50 communications charge + Insurance costs 3% of the total estimated value of the belongings (which we calculated to be $8284). * Charges on the UK end (in US dollars): + $1.50 per CF + Customs charge ($81) + Delivery from London to Brighton ($105) The UK company would accept only money order or cash as form of payment. Regarding crating the items: another option is to have them put your stuff on a pallet and shrink-wrap the whole thing; they call this "palletizing". Presumably that means they don't try to stack stuff on your shipment (but how can you be sure?). The cost for this was a flat rate of $20. We felt much safer using the crate method. The Freight Forwarding company will require a fairly detailed packing list of the items in your shipment, with an estimated value for each. Your shipment will be submitted to inspection by customs authorities at the UK end. This could range from them merely examining your packing list, possibly taking a quick peek under to lid to see if it looks believable, to a full examinaton of every item in your crate. The receiving freight company acts on your behalf at the customs ceremony, but you can attend if you want to take the trip into London (or wherever). See another section of this FAQ for details about customs and paying import duty. Our stuff (coming from California) had to go through the Panama Canal to get to England. It was estimated to take one month to deliver; in reality it came to just about two! No doubt it will be quicker if your shipment is leaving from any of the other coasts, or via the St. Lawrence Seaway, but keep in mind that sometimes your crate sits around in a warehouse for a while (weeks, maybe) before they find which vessel it will go on. There was virtually no damage to any of our belongings, and the customs ceremony was completely unremarkable. The cost of shipping that Mercedes, by the way...I asked...was around $900, which struck me as tolerable. That was probably not including crating and insurance, though. Back to list of questions... UPS Sounded very expensive, but definitely quick. They were very discouraging about shipping anything which might be assessed an import duty. The number for UPS International shipping is 800-325-0365. Back to list of questions... AIR FREIGHT Standard airlines such as United have a separate freight shipping service, and you can even make sure it goes on the same plane as you're traveling on. It's expensive, but not as much as I'd thought. You wouldn't want to ship a whole household, but smaller fragile items, or things you have to have immediately might be handled this way. Charges are obscure: they use a formula that takes into account both weight and size. One agent mentioned $2.83 per pound as a sort of ballpark figure. Virgin Atlantic charges $2.50 per kilogram up to 100kg, $2 per kilogram if it's over 100kg. Back to list of questions... EXTRA BAGGAGE ON PASSANGER FLIGHT Between $76-85 for each extra checked piece not exceeding 62" (height, depth, width added together) and 70lbs. If larger than 62": $152.00. If heavier than 70 lbs: $228.00. Bicycles have a special arrangement where they are treated as a standard extra item ($76) even if over 62". If your bike is over 70lbs, I recommend getting your money back from the guy who sold it to you. Note that if you are sending computer or other fragile equipment this way, the airline does NOT insure it in any way against damage. If you decide to ship a computer this way anyway, to be safe, use the original box with the original packing materials. If you don't have these, there are packing companies that make made-to-order injected-form packing for any item (we did this on a Mac monitor and CPU at the cost of $70). Back to list of questions... MOVING VANS (MAYFLOWER, BEKINS, ETC.) The costs quoted to me by these companies sounded very high. I was told that a 250-lb box of stuff could run $700-$1250 depending on size and dimensions. It appears that the companies engage a freight forwarding company to do their work for them, the very thing you can do on your own (see earlier). The advantage is of course that they will handle the delivery door-to-door from US to UK. If your new employer in the UK is picking up moving costs (they call it "removals" in the UK), this might be the easiest way to do things. Back to list of questions... THE OTHER END: STORING YOUR BELONGINGS IN THE US It has cost us about $600 a year to keep our US household in a storage locker. This, actually, is a bargain compared to other storage locker services we could have tried. Make sure to shop around for the best deal; you may find widely varying rates! Back to list of questions... How much of my stuff should I take? Assuming you are only making a temporary move to the UK, there will no doubt come the time when you agonize over what things you should leave behind and what you should take. Obviously this is a personal matter, but here is some advice based on my experience. If you particularly like to cook, take your favorite cookware with you. You'll hit yourself for having to pay all over again (at higher prices) for the favorite cast iron saucepan that you use for making spaghetti sauce, say. Don't bother taking silverware and plates, since rented accomodations are frequently furnished with such in the UK (see elsewhere). A good idea is to make photocopies of your favorite recipes rather than bringing several enormous cookbooks with you (and for that matter, bring US measuring spoons and measuring cups with you, since they'll be impossible to find in the UK). As far as kitchen appliances are concerned see elsewhere for reasons why you should not bother bringing them. Use common sense about your clothes. There's nothing profoundly different about the way they dress in the UK (except perhaps for women's shoes, which have 2-3" platforms these days), so bring whatever it is you need and like to wear. Clothes are more expensive here, and good-quality clothing is more widely available in the US, so if you can afford it, go on a shopping spree before you leave. Books are a very personal matter, but also one involving common sense. If you're an academic or technical person, you should of course bring the books that you need to have for your work, since replacing them will cost far more than shipping them. As for novels and other books for passing the time, I'd suggest leaving them all home, since there will be plenty of things you will want to buy in the UK. But as for music, I'd say bring all your most beloved CDs and cassettes, since they are relatively small and overpriced in the UK. If you're going to be running any of your US electrical products in the UK, take plenty of electrical adapters, power strips, extension cords, and equivalent items for telephones as warranted; they will all come in handy. If you are moving to the UK permanently, you may wonder whether to bring large items such as furniture and cars, or sell them before you leave. This is not an area in which I have any personal experience. I do know that cars are extremely expensive here, so it might be more realistic to move a nice car than to sell it in the US and buy anew. Of course, consider that a car with the wheel on the "wrong" side is trickier to drive, less safe, and will have lower resell value in the UK. On the other hand, depending on the job you are taking, a company car may be provided for you. If your furniture is high quality stuff, it too may actually be economical to have it shipped rather than replace it at high cost here. Back to list of questions... Will I have to pay import duties, VAT, etc. on items I bring into theUK? First of all, the following is non-official information based on heresay and unverified personal experience. For official information, try the US Dept. of Commerce (202-482-3748). Anything you bring into the UK, whether with you on the plane, or shipped separately is fair game for the customs officials to inspect, and possibly liable for import duty. Newly purchased goods (defined as items less than 6 months old) are the only things that you need to worry about: customs can charge you an import duty of 17.5% on these items. A sales slip or purchase invoice is considered the proof of the age of the item, so have these on hand if you think you might get asked about anything. There is probably little to worry about if you are bringing in household-type items (what they call "personal effects") and you can prove that you're coming over to live and work in the UK for an extended period of time. However, if you are bringing in a bunch of new looking products in their original boxes (like a personal computer system), I'd say your chances of being asked some questions are good. As you enter customs (after getting your stuff off of the baggage carousel), you'll see two lanes to exit from, one for where you have nothing to declare, and one where you have to declare. I've heard that the rules say that items you intend to reexport (return to the US) are exempt from duty (which is why regular tourists don't get charged for cameras and such). So newly purchased items pertaining to your job (say, a new Mac Powerbook) can probably be considered exempt. I suspect that customs mainly concern themselves with snagging people who bring in non-duty-free alcohol and cigarettes, drug smugglers, and people transporting merchandise for resale (like ten Mac Powerbooks, say). There is also a limitation on the amount of cash assets you can bring in the country. Anything over $10,000 can be assessed for duty. Our passage through customs and immigration was completely unremarkable, despite having six large pieces of luggage. However, we did see two parties being submitted to extensive baggage searches (down to examining individual scraps of paper). Sad to say, I have read that people with darker skin get stopped more frequently in UK customs. Back to list of questions... What sorts of documents should I bring with me? The following are suggestions of documents it might be good to bring just in case you need them: * Birth certificate (in case you need to apply for a new passport) * Marriage certificate (esp. if you and your spouse have different last names) * Last set of dental X-rays (although see the Health section on dentists) * Results of last medical exam * Photocopies of your university diplomas (might be needed when applying for jobs) * Some bank statements showing a solid banking history and a nice fat balance * A letter from your bank manager testifying to your sterling history at their bank * A similar letter from your previous landlord * A utility bill proving the address of your residence in the US * Your US Driver's license (and make sure it's not due to expire while you're abroad) * If you're working on a degree back in the US and want to do research in a British library, get a letter from your adviser or department chair, and this will assist you in getting a library card Back to list of questions... How is health care in the UK? STATISTICS COMPARING THE UK AND US * Infant mortality (deaths per 1000 live births): + UK: 8 + US: 10 * Life expectancy: + UK: 73 (M), 79 (F) + US: 72 (M), 79 (F) * Fertility rate (children born per woman): + US and UK: 1.8 (Source: 1992 CIA guide) WILL I GET HEALTH CARE FOR FREE? The universal health coverage in the UK is known as the National Health Service, or NHS. According to a 1990 source, you are entitled to NHS coverage if: * (1) you are from an EC country * (2) you are from a country with a reciprocal health agreement with the UK * (3) you are a student in a course lasting more than 6 months * (4) you came to the UK with a work permit * (5) you have refugee status or Exceptional Leave to Remain * (6) you are the wife or child of a person in 1-5. In my case (as an employed person in category 4), monthly payments towards NHS are taken out of my pay like a tax. This amount is $186 a month in my case. So I wouldn't exactly call it free, but it gives me medical coverage (there is no bill to settle when I visit a doctor) and covers drugs (except for a nominal fee of $6.75 for each prescription, no matter how costly the drug). Back to list of questions... HOW IS THE QUALITY OF HEALTH COVERAGE? I have been fortunate to not need many visits to the doctor, but I find the NHS system in many ways to be not much different than membership in an HMO (such as Kaiser or Michael Reese) in the US. You may have to wait a week or two to see a specific doctor, but if you're willing to see any one of the available doctors, you can be seen within a day or two. The quality of doctors can be uneven, since NHS is understaffed, and they sometimes call in substitutes. My preferred doctor is very sharp and professional, and I've seen two or three other satisfactory doctors, but on one occasion I saw a sub whom I considered incompetent. So you may have to be a little aggressive to get the proper attention you deserve, but this is no different than the survival skill you need to get by in the US, in my view. If you anticipate requiring more frequent medical care, or you are just plain nervous about it, the NHS could be real grief for you. I know a couple with a child who needed his tonsils removed (with complications that were making his breathing difficult), and they were put on a waiting list that was over a year long. Worse still, the current conservatives government seems more keen on dismantling NHS than improving it. Not surprisingly some people choose, although at enormous cost, to join private health organizations and bypass NHS entirely. Back to list of questions... HOW CONCERNED ARE BRITS ABOUT HEALTH AND FITNESS? On the whole, Brits seem less concerned about maximizing their personal health and fitness than Americans are. In fact (get ready for this one), they view America as a nation of "health nuts," all consumed by the pursuit of the "clean life" and a fixation on having the perfect skin, body, legs, and so on. Not long ago an article in a London paper on the Irish actor Stephen Rea remarked that, when Rea ordered mineral water (rather than beer) during the interview, it was telling proof that he'd "gone Hollywood." The book "Brit-Think/Amerithink" has some funny material on this cultural difference (details elsewhere). Here are a few random observations on health in the UK. Although the movement for banning smoking in public places is gaining ground, it remains a more a minority sentiment in this country. Pubs are tremendously smoky, although thankfully, smoking is not allowed in movie theatres. Probably because Britain makes some of the best ales in the world, people drink a lot (3 or 4 pints an evening is not considered particularly excessive here), and they seem to start very young. The institution of The Pub is an omnipresent, essential public facility; for example, Universities won't have just one pub, but 3 or 4 spread over the campus. You will not see any oriental restaurants proudly displaying a "No MSG" sign, and waiters may consider the request unusual. There are many workout clubs, but you will not find many men in aerobics classes; the British sense of macho identity seems to regard that as a domain for women. Magazines on childbirth, instead of glorifying more natural methods of childbirth, contain testimonials from women who were so glad they were drugged up for delivery: "It was wonderful, I didn't feel a thing." And then there's the incredible amounts of grease and deep frying in their foods. In particular, there is the "English Breakfast" you will find served at every restaurant and Bed & Breakfast: greasy fried egg (although on alternate days, tolerable scrambled eggs), greasy sausage, greasy bacon, slices of bread fried in grease, hash browns fried in grease, plus the piece de resistance, the small half-tomato fried in grease. You have been warned. Back to list of questions... DENTISTRY In the US, dentists strongly believe in preventative care: periodic visits for cleaning, X-rays, and so on. Two US dentists I have talked to, including one who actually practiced in the UK for a while, tell me that this preventative approach is not nearly as much a part of the UK dental scene. Indeed, this contrasting mindset was apparent to me when I asked a British friend if he could recommend a good dentist because I'd not seen one for some time, and he asked me, "what's the matter, do you have a bad tooth?" I've never myself actually visited a UK dentist--I arrange to have my coverage during trips to the US--but if I did I'd certainly see a private dentist rather than an NHS one, as I understand NHS pays dentists poorly. Back to list of questions... How expensive is it to live in the UK? Manufactured goods such as CDs, books, clothes, and appliances can be 25-50% more expensive than in the US; sometimes it seems like "whatever it costs in dollars in the US, the cost in the UK will be the same number of pounds." Restaurants are slightly more expensive than in the US, but food bought at grocery stores is not; in fact, it is often cheaper. Salaries in the UK are for the most part lower than in the US. This is considered so patently true by most Brits that when preparing for an interview for a lectureship at a British university recently, I was advised to be ready to answer the question "Why would you want to work here when you could earn a much larger salary working in the US?" So it may very well be that the salary you will make as an X (engineer, lecturer, student) in the UK will provide less purchasing power than what you would make as an X in the US. If you are coming here for an academic job (see elsewhere) and with a family, keep in mind that it'll be hard to get by on a single income; it's been said to me that an academic career pretty much rules out every buying anything better than a second-hand car. So the UK does tend to be more expensive than the US, but it is not impossible to live here (as the exaggerated estimates of US tourists who have stayed in expensive London hotels and restaurants might have you believe). Not all things that you'd think are expensive actually are; sometimes they are cheaper than in the US. Brits can be extraordinary penny pinchers, and prices for essential items are often low because otherwise nobody would buy them. Also, even if you find that you can afford less living here, you will adapt quickly, live as others do, and not even notice much of a change. A rather conspicuous source of increased expense in the UK is the nasty tax called VAT (Value Added Tax), which is 17.5%. Just about everything (restaurant food, manufactured goods, home heating fuel) is subject to VAT (although usually you are unaware of it because the retailer figures the VAT into the price). VAT is not the only new sort of tax you'll need to cope with; a list of other little expenses to which you'll have to become accustomed, either as part of living in the UK or as part of living abroad, is shown below. Many of them are discussed in greater detail in other sections of this FAQ. * VAT (17.5%) * Council Tax (ca. $50/month or more; see elsewhere) * National Insurance (ca. $184 out of each paycheck; see elsewhere) * Income Tax, it you're paying it (20-27% of salary; see elsewhere * TV License ($150/year for a color TV; B&W is cheaper...see elsewhere) * Charges for local telephone calls (see elsewhere) * Initial deposit paid for utilities services (ca. $150 each for gas/electricty, water, phone; see elsewhere) * Paying to keep your stuff in a storage locker in the US (see elsewhere) Ways in which you may save money, on the other hand, are: * Free health coverage * Not needing a car if rail service is convenient * Car provided by your company (if you're lucky) To get right down to the nitty-gritty, here are the prices that things cost right now (summer 1994). Gasoline is sky-high (remember the US is the only country that does not add a separate tax to its gasoline), about $3.50 per US gallon. Dinner at a yuppie-style restaurant, with beer and a dessert, runs about $30, while take-out Fish & Chips with a soda is only about $4. Renting a Ford Escort from Hertz for a week costs $252 (insurance included). A 2-3 mile trip in a cab is about $5.50. A medium-sized novel is $7.50. CDs are notoriously overpriced, from $21-27 each. A round-trip plane ticket (they call it "return fare") to Brussels in July is $153. A ticket for a movie costs $6, and a videotape rental is $3.75. Some items at the store: potatoes are $.51/lb; peas $1.20/lb; green bell peppers $1.40/lb; apples and bananas $.60/lb; $1 for 6 eggs. A Sony 25" TV is advertised for $750. A new, British-made (Rover) economy car costs $9000 (financing is 18.41% APR). A cheap futon/couch costs $277. A daily paper is $.75. To follow the fluctuation of the value of the US dollar against the UK pound, see any major newspaper's financial section, or check the frequent VNS (Vogon News Service) posting on soc.culture.british. Back to list of questions... How can I get a bank account? A checking account (sometimes called a "current account") is an absolute necessity here, since (1) you will need a bank account to pay your bills, (2) most companies that require a monthly payment wish to be paid by auto-debit, and (3) your employer all but requires you to be paid by auto-deposit. Banking conveniences are pretty much the same as in the US: there automatic tellers (ATMs) everywhere, you can pay with your ATM card auto-debit for just about anything (groceries, restaurants, department stores). There are ordinary banks, such as Barclay's and NatWest, and bank-like companies called "Building Societies" (such as Abbey National) which are like "Savings and Loans" in the US. You probably want to use an ordinary bank. However, your ATM card is really useful only if it is also a "check guarantee card." This essentially makes it good for credit and insures merchants against theft. Without that status it will be useless as a debit card, and perhaps more importantly no merchant will cash your check without it (although it will be accepted as payment for bills over the mail). Therefore when you get an account you want to insist on getting a check guarantee card. And this one detail may turn out to be the biggest hassle you have to go through in the UK. Banks will happily open a plain savings and checking account with almost no questions, but they'll make getting the check guarantee card almost impossible because you have zero credit history in the UK. Unfortunately, no matter how sterling your credit history in the US is, no matter how amazing your assets and investments in the US are, they meaning NOTHING abroad, and help not one bit towards getting that important card. Probably the best way win the trust of the bank to give you this credit is to ask your employer (someone in the salaries office, say) to call the bank to vouch for you. They in fact may be motivated to do this because they are eager to find a way to auto deposit your paycheck. Some other things that might help are: * Get a fellow employee from your new job who has a bank account at the bank you want to write a letter on your behalf * Open the account with a HUGE initial deposit so that they will roll out the red carpet for you (however, there are limitations on the amount of money you can bring into the country with you...see an earlier part of this FAQ) * Get someone from your bank at home to write you a letter telling how long you've been an excellent customer there, etc. * Show them several bank statements from your US account demonstrating a nice, fat monthly balance. Back to list of questions... What kind of housing will I find? There's as much variety in housing in the UK as in the US, so there is no simple way of advising you on what kind of place you'll be living in. Keep in mind that flats in general can be old here (living in a 200 year old flat is no big deal), so they are likely to look more like Brownstones in NYC rather than pre-fab apartments in California. The primary way flats are advertised are via Estate Agents (why call them "Real Estate Agents" when there are no Imaginary ones?). Go to their offices and ask to see a listing. They will drive you around to any of the properties that interest you. Advertisements for flats often give the price on a per-week basis, although you actually pay monthly. "Hob" (a hot plate) or "cooker" (synonymous with stove) are other words you will find in advertisements. By the way, many British stoves, even modest ones, have a open broiler on the top, which is a real treat: they grill steak and fish much more effectively than the down-below broilers of US stoves. There is a nasty property tax called the Council Tax, formerly known as the Poll Tax, which you are required to pay, even if you are merely renting the property. The tax is paid only 9 out of 12 months of the year. We pay $66 a month for our flat. Good news for students: there is a special provision that may make you exempt, depending on your living situation, so look into it before you pay it. Furnished flats are quite common in the UK. They will include living room (called the "lounge") furniture, a fridge and stove, a kitchen table, and kitchen cookware and utencils, but usually no beds. You can bargain a bit with the landlord on the items that are included in the furnishings (after all, you are paying more than for a non-furnished flat). Note that the kitchen cookware includes only enough items to cook basic meals. You'll have to outfit them with more to make your favorite recipes like fancy omlettes, stir-fried oriental dishes, etc. In the part of the country I'm in, central heating is no longer considered a luxury. A flat with independent space heaters in every room rather than radiators fed from a central heating source should probably be considered fairly "low rent." The lounge often has, even in a centrally-heated dwelling, a small heater (usually gas) located where a fireplace used to be. These are a cherished, cozy item, although some are unfortunately festooned with tacky decorations or pseudo log-fire regalia. The lounge often has a door on it (to keep the heat in); strangely enough, these are sometimes made of an opaque glass rather than wood, like something you'd see in a hair salon. Clothes washers are often included in a flat; it's not too demanding to include that as one of your requirements. UK clothes washing machines tend to be low-capacity and low-speed (they are smaller, usually kept underneath the kitchen counter, just like a dishwasher). Some of them, even ones of fairly recent vintage, don't even use microprocessors, using instead a primitive mechanical programming system that clicks away like Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Also, many do not draw hot water from the household hot water supply; rather, they take cold water and heat it electrically inside the unit. The slow rate of heating the water means that each load can take over an hour to complete (but I'm told the ones in France take even longer). However, if you pay enough you can always buy as high-tech a washer as you like; but what you'll find in rental properties will tend to be the more modest ones. Clothes driers and dishwashing machines are less-frequently included items in UK flats. UK home showers also merit some comment; compared to US showers, they run at a pathetic trickle. Take a nice long shower before you leave for the UK, it's the last decent one you'll have for a long time. Water pressure within the usual British household is obtained entirely by gravity. Unfortunately, the hot-water storage tank is frequently at a location just below the shower head, so an "electric shower" (one that pumps and scalds the water as quickly as it can, which is not very) is found in most homes. I find rinsing my hair to take so long under our shower that it's easier to wash my hair while taking a bath, dousing my head with a pail of water. The quality of electric showers varies: one that costs $450 might be able to deliver a fair amount of water pressure, but in an average quality flat the shower will probably be cheap. At an even greater expense you can actually install a pumping system that will give you a good US-style shower. The day you move in to your new dwelling, MAKE SURE to have whomever is providing the flat show you how to turn on the central heating and water heater. The workings, appearance (a square box mounted on the side of the wall), and location (sometimes the kitchen) are completely different than in the US. Also it includes a device with several switches for controlling fuel efficiency. We spent our first weekend in our flat unable to take a hot bath because we didn't know where the water heater was! Back to list of questions... How do I get utilities (gas, water, phone, etc)? GETTING HOOKED UP The experience of getting water, gas and electricity bills for your dwelling is fairly straightforward and very much like in the USA. It is not nearly as difficult as getting a bank account (see elsewhere), but you are stuck in a nasty Catch-22 because utility companies will not give you access until you have a bank account. (I'll never forget when I pointed that out to a bank clerk and he responded by lighting up and saying, "well yes, it is a bit like that, isn't it?") After that is taken care of, they may require an initial deposit, since you will not have a previous history with a British utility company. If you are on friendly terms with the previous tenant, it may be to your advantage to take over their old phone number, and other utility accounts, as it can save a lot of time, money and hassle in hookup. Utility bills are billed quarterly (every 3 months). Beware of your long distance calls to the US...you could be quietly running up a huge bill and not know it until your third month here! Back to list of questions... TELEPHONES Note that every phone call, even local ones, costs money in the UK, and it is billed by the minute. If you use a modem with your phone (see elsewhere for information on bringing your phone-related products from home), note that it's costing you money to be logged in! However, a discount rate begins at 6 pm and continues until 8 am the next morning, so your nighttime login sessions won't be so bad. As in the US, phone numbers consist of an area code (used only when dialing from outside the area) and a local number. Numbers are not standardized in length in the UK: the area code may have 3-4 numbers, the local number 6-7 numbers. Within the country, area codes always begin with a zero; calling from another country to the UK, however, you omit the zero. For information, you dial 192, and for operator, 100. Intuitive, huh? Emergency is 999. Phones: the BT (British Telecom) system appears to understand both 'touch tone' and 'pulse' dialing over most of the UK, as far as I understand. The physical phone in your home may one or the other, but even if it's pulse, it will respond to tones dialing from your modem or pocket dialer, if you have one. Pay phones: the standard BT pay phones are pulse dialers, but BT's competitor Mercury are touch tone dialers. UK Phone companies have just begun to offer fancy phone services such as call waiting, or message leaving and answering services. University phones: at my university, off-campus dialing for many phones is disabled after 'business hours'. Very frustrating! Some British pay phones do not take coins at all; instead, they take a "money card" that you buy at shops with between 1 and 20 pounds of calls encoded on them. Back to list of questions... LONG DISTANCE CARRIERS I still use US Sprint as my long distance carrier, and my wife still uses MCI as hers...there are European access numbers for reaching their operators. (By the way, France and Germany are about to buy a 40% interest in US Sprint.) However, strangely enough, we recently discovered direct dialing from home is cheaper than our long distance carriers; but when you're at a public phone you may need your carrier. Warning: neither Sprint or MCI can place calls to Canada from the UK (I haven't the slightest idea why). Back to list of questions... TELEVISION You may wish to buy a television and VCR (you certainly don't want to bring yours from the US...see elsewhere), but it is rather common practice for people to rent them. If you shop around, you might find a TV/VCR combination for as cheap as $27/month. However, as you are a foreigner some shops may balk at renting you a set, and probably will require a deposit of around $150, so getting a TV may require some perseverance. There's a joke that goes "In America you have to have a license for a gun; in Britain, you have to have a license to watch TV." Laugh if you like, but it's literally true. You purchase a yearly license to watch TV from the Post Office (!), and it costs more for a color TV than a B&W one. The license helps pay for the BBC. Trucks prowl around your street from time to time and make surprise visits to see if you've paid up your license. They even have equipment that tells them if "TV rays" are coming from your living room. Go ahead, don't believe me...but this is completely true! Back to list of questions... How should I manage my financial affairs back in the US? Chances are you will have at least some bills you have to keep paying, so you will want to keep your US Bank account(s) open, and be able to write checks on those funds to pay your bills. Also, you probably have some monthly statements that you will need to monitor regularly. We changed our official mailing address to our UK home for all such bills and statements and have had little difficulty receiving them (although it does seem to pose their computers a bit of a challenge). If you have to move cash from the US to the UK, or if you will be living in the UK off of funds in a US bank account, using an AMEX (American Express) card is a good way to go. You tell them to set up your account in such a way that when you use your card at an AMEX cash station (which can be found in every large town in Europe), the checking account at your US bank gets debited. Or you can even use your bank's ATM card to do so. ATMs are everywhere, and if your card is on either the "Cirrus" or "Plus" networks (look at the back of the card), it will work. From either card, the conversion is done at that day's exchange rate, and no more (unlike the money changing service such as Thomas Cook, who charge a fee for the transaction). You can also cash an ordinary American check at any AMEX office. I think AMEX limits the amount of transactions to a total of $1000/month, but it may depend on your account. Given the difficulty with obtaining bank accounts (described elsewhere), it should behoove you to apply for US credit cards before you leave the US, since you will have no credit history in the UK and may be flatly denied a credit card. Also take the trouble to go get PINs (personal passwords) encoded on your cards. An AMEX card doesn't have one unless you get it put on, and you'll need to visit an AMEX office to do so. Once you have a British bank account, you will also probably be able to draw US cash from US ATMs of off funds from your UK bank account during your trips to the US. Once again, look for the Cirrus and Plus network. Back to list of questions... How much will I be taxed (in US and UK)? THESE RULES CHANGE EVERY YEAR! Take this information only as a guideline for what may be possible. This is an area which you absolutely must enquire about on your own, because the laws can change profoundly from year to year. UK TAXES If you are employed in the UK and drawing a salary, and you are going to be in the UK for two years or less, you may be exempted from paying income tax. Request a "Claim for exemption from United Kingdom Income Tax" form from H.M. Inspector of Taxes, and submit it to your salaries department, and taxes will not be deducted from your salary. Once you stay even one minute into the third year in the UK, however, Her Majesty will expect you to pay all two years of those back taxes to her. If for some reason you do wish to pay income tax, the monthly deductions will be between 20-27% of your salary (mine was 20%). National Insurance is a different affair. No-one is exempt from this, I believe. $186 per month is taken from each monthly paycheck I get. Back to list of questions... US TAX Here was how we figured our taxes at the end of fiscal year 1993 (keep in mind that the rules change each year, and depend heavily on what properties you own, what investments you have, and so on). If you spent at least 330 days of that fiscal year outside of the US and the total amount of income you earned that year (combined from all sources of income, regardless of country) was less than $70,000, that income is termed "foreign earned income," and you will owe no taxes on it. Before you leave, visit with a qualified tax accountant to find out exactly how you should handle things. Even if it costs you $100 or so, you might just be saving several thousand. Back to list of questions... Will I be able to stand food in the UK? IS STORE-BOUGHT FOOD DECENT? Absolutely ! Your local supermarket will carry very high quality goods and fresh produce in large quantities, so you should be able to eat and cook at home pretty much in whatever way you like. Many American products you are accustomed to are sold here, and the European brands are often equivalent in quality. The produce is as fresh as the produce that most Americans eat (with the exception of, say, the agriculturally more fortunate Californians). At my house we have no problem cooking the way we like: Pad Thai, Baba Genugh, salsa, and guacamole (to name some particularly non-British selections). Vegetarians and Vegans will find many of the items they want at supermarkets, and (in Brighton, at least) there are natural foods stores. If someone tells you that British markets have miserable food selections, their experience may be several years out of date (perhaps before Britain joined the E.C.). I'd have to say that the US has a bit of an edge on the quality of meat, however; beef products taste a little more "grey" here, and fish seldom seems as flavorful. One exception is bacon, which is much better in the UK (Brits are utterly appalled at the fatty, streaky stuff that is sold in the US under the name "bacon"). British supermarkets (Sainsbury's, Waitrose) are about the same size of the average American supermarket. The American chain Safeway is also found in the UK. Back to list of questions... WHAT'S THIS ABOUT BRITISH FOOD BEING BAD? British Cuisine can be quite good. I can't speak for how it's cooked in other homes, but friends of ours have had us over and served up delightful meals. The fare you get in most British restaurants, however, is pretty low quality, and that's where the reputation comes from. When you go to a restaurant in the US, say a restaurant unknown to you, usually the worst consequences are that the food will turn out to be pretty mediocre. Taking similar chances in the UK, I find, yield experiences in which the worst outcome is not merely "mediocre," but "simply awful" with greater frequency. More than once I've left a restaurant with the food on the plate (but still paid the bill, good soul that I am) because I simply did not consider it to be edible. As I've pointed out elsewhere, the bad food is certainly not attributable to poor quality foodstuffs; the bad reputation is due entirely to the way in which it's prepared. I break this down into four causes: * Brits can be notorious penny-pinchers, and would rather cut costs and cook quickly than take the trouble to make good cuisine * An odd sense of what ingredients go together (you find pineapple, tuna and sweetcorn in the oddest places) * A dislike of strongly seasoned food; very little garlic or spices used, so things taste bland (even a restaurant claiming to be Schezuan will serve barely-spiced food) * Many British recipes involve astonishing amounts of frying in grease (see the description of the English Breakfast in the section on health). Back to list of questions... WHERE CAN I FIND RESTAURANTS WITH GOOD FOOD, THEN? Naturally, ask among your friends for the better restaurant, and experiment. But here are a few rules of thumb. Italian restaurants are superb, and nobody knows why, just count your blessings. Everywhere you go there seem to be Italian restaurants with great food, and staffed with waiters who shout Italian to each other and run their eyes over the women customers. Ask around for the best Fish & Chips shop. There are good French restaurants here and there, and they're often not as costly as you'd think. Indian food can be fabulous, although since there are so many Indian restaurants and takeout shops, the quality can be very uneven. Back to list of questions... WHEN CAN I EAT? This isn't exactly a frequently asked question yet, but it will become one after you've moved to the UK. You will discover that America is an extremely "catered society": we can get whatever meal we want, whenever we want it. UK restaurants aren't open quite as many hours of the day, and in fact exactly what pattern of hours they follow will seem obscure at first. In the UK, I find few restaurants are ever open before about 10:30 a.m., so plan to have food at home for breakfast. Brits (and Europeans as well) tend to have later dinners; showing up at an empty restaurant at 5pm asking if they are serving dinner is a comically American trait (wait until about 730 or 8pm). Yet you will find lots of places open after 11pm; what gives? Simple: the bars close at 11, and hungry customers flood the street. You'll hear the advice to try "pub food", but this is mainly a lunchtime affair; if you come in after 2pm and allow the menu on the wall to get your hopes up, be prepared to get a strange look when you ask if they are serving food. I've found that lasagne served at Pubs is often very good, by the way. Sundays are a special case fraught with legal and historical problems. Until very recently there were actual laws ("Sunday Trading" laws) keeping merchants from operating on Sunday, apparently in the name of labor rights, preserving Sunday as a religious day, and who knows what else. Fortunately (or unfortuntely, if you're the person who has to work on Sundays) this is all becoming part of history now, and many supermarkets and other merchants are open on Sundays. However, habits die hard, and Sunday still remains a day when you will find most things closed, making finding a restaurant a little tricky. Guess what the exceptions to this rule are? The American chains, like Pizza Hut, MacDonalds, Burger King, and KFC. And by the way: you may in fact find that you go to these fast food chains more frequently in the UK than you ever did in the US, both for the Sunday hours, and because believe it or not, they come the closest to providing American-style hamburgers and pizza. Back to list of questions... Do I want to get around by train, bus, or car? TRAINS AND BUSSES Despite the recent initiation of a privitization scheme, travel by rail (either for long-haul trips or for commuting) is still one of the most appealing and best-run aspects of the UK. Unless you live in a remote area, chances are that you will be able to catch some train between home and work if you choose to, and if close enough to a shopping area, do without a car altogether (I do). If you commute to London you can get there amazingly fast from most parts of the country. However, note that long trips can be quite costly. One-way from Plymouth to London was $52 each for some friends of mine recently (and it would be much more if they were traveling at rush hour); note that renting a car, although less convenient in some ways, is a much better bargain ($42/day). However, I get to work every day (about 5 miles away) for $1.40 round-trip. Busses are lumbering and slow. Yes, the double deckers look charming from the outside, but they are really bumpy inside, making reading difficult. For longer distances, busses (coaches) are cheaper than going by rail, but of course rail is always nicer than bus. Many trains make it very easy for bicyclists to bring their bikes on board, by providing a special car with a cage for the purpose; a conductor will even open the door for you and help you in and out. Back to list of questions... DO I WANT TO DRIVE IN THE UK? Driving on the left is a trick, but by no means a major challenge to the experienced US driver. Before you get behind the wheel, however, have someone explain the rules of a UK "traffic circle" or "roundabout" since they involve specific rules of who-goes-first which will not be intuitive to you (although there are traffic circles in some parts of the US, I don't believe the rules of precedence are defined). Better yet, take a drive with someone and have them explain what they are doing in a traffic circle. The book "Coping with England" (details elsewhere) shows how it's done. Also the UK "Highway Code" is available for a small price at most bookstores. Reading it is advised, since there are many signs and road markings which are unknown to the US driver. A US license evidently allows you to drive on the road, since many (but not all) car rental companies will rent you their car with only a US license. No doubt if you stay in the UK for an extensive period of time you are obliged to get a UK drivers license eventually, but I don't have any information on that. Passing the driver's test is sufficiently tricky that it is advised that you take a few driving lessons; on the bright side, however, your license will be good until you are 70 years old! If you expect to visit the continent, you may also wish to get an "International License" which simply translates the information on your current license into 19 different languages. Note that many companies (not universities, unfortunately) provide "company cars" for employees, which you can use exactly as if it were you own car. It's one of the compensations for salaries being generally lower in the UK than in the US, and cars being so obscenely expensive. Back to list of questions... DO I WANT TO BE A PEDESTRIAN IN THE UK? I'm kidding; this is not really a Frequently Asked Question. But I'm not kidding when I say that being a pedestrian in the UK is noticably different than in the US. And I'm not talking about being careful about drivers being on the left (although you should); I'm talking about the attitude drivers here have toward pedestrians. Unlike the US, where white lines are painted to indicate a crosswalk at practically every intersection, there are few such zones of safety in the UK; there are just rare "zebra crossings" (like on the Abbey Road album cover) with flashing lights that oblige the driver to stop. When there's no zebra crossing at an intersection, drivers do not think you belong in the road (and will barrel down on you, expecting you to leap out of the way). The fact that they don't think you belong there even when your were there first, before the car arrived on the scene (say, if they came from around a blind corner), lends an air of uncivility to the experience of being a pedestrian. I thought I'd compare highway codes of our two countries to see if they were the source of this societal difference, and sure enough, in the US the burden is on the driver to watch out for pedestrians, while in the UK the burden is on the pedestrian to watch out for cars. Here's what the most recent UK highway code tells the pedestrian on the subject of crossing the road: "If there is any traffic near, let it go past. When there is no traffic near, it is safe to cross. Remember, even if traffic is a long way off, it may be approaching very quickly." Here's what the 1992 California Driver Handbook says to the driver about pedestrians: "Pedestrians have the right-of-way at intersections, whether or not crosswalks are marked by painted white lines. . . . Always stop for pedestrians crossing at corners. Stop for anybody crossing the street. Do not pass a car from behind that has stopped at a crosswalk. A pedestrian you can't see may be crossing." You might almost say that you don't need to worry all that much about which direction traffic is coming from, because you'll have to run like hell to avoid getting hit anyway. To be fair about it, however, it must be observed that roads tend to be much smaller here than in the US. Consider that an average road in the UK may have been laid down in Roman or Medieval times, and with the cities that have grown around them have made widening impossible. As a result, there is very often simply no room to spare for the drivers, and even putting one foot in the road puts you at risk. Back to list of questions... DO I WANT TO BE A BICYCLIST IN THE UK? Because of the narrowness of the roads, described immediately above, you will often find not only no bike lanes, but virtually no margin on the road at all to keep you safely out of traffic. I ride my bike to work occasionally, but I refuse to ride in the road, because of my sense of self-preservation (it's one of my quirks). I must endure many nasty looks as a result of my riding on the sidewalk (pavement, they call it here), but I'm alive to write this FAQ now, so there. Thinking of taking bicycling trips, with camping gear, and so on? Well, before you do consider the fact that the roads will be even more narrow in the countryside (even one lane), June/July/August are the only months you can hope to have stretches of several days without rain, and while Britain is a relatively "gentle" landscape (the Rocky Mountains it ain't), you will still find plenty of steep hills to wear you out. Back to list of questions... Is internet easily accessable? At universities, a system know as JANET (the one that brought you backwards email addresses, such as edu.berkeley.garnet) used to be primary network carrier, but now most universities have moved to becoming full-fledged members of the internet. Most machines have IP addresses and can be telnetted and ftp'd to and from. However, vestiges of JANET remain, and network communications can sometimes be a bit baroque as a result. USENET newsfeeds are available at many universities, but not all the groups available in the US are available here. Most or all of the entire "alt." hierarchy, for example, is not available at many sites. There are internet providers in London which can be reached by dialup for a monthly charge. The prices I've heard sound very reasonable, but if you don't live in London, your phone bills will be huge. The company that seems to be the most popular is Demon Internet Services, phone 081-349 0063, email internet@demon.co.uk. You can probably find the names other companies by making a query on soc.culture.british or uk.misc. The university I work at has dialup modems (although not very many), so I am able to work from home when it's necessary. Back to list of questions... What kind of Visa/Permit do I need? If you are going to the UK for some kind of legitimate employment lasting for six months or more, your UK employer should have gotten (or is currently getting for you) a Work Permit or Work Visa. If not, any time you spend over the six months you're allowed as a traveller will be technically illegal, and you'll be thrown out as soon as Immigrations catches you. I know nothing about how student permits work, I'm afraid. My wife accompanied me to the UK, and she was automatically (well, after a visit to a British Consulate in the US) granted a work permit as well. I fact, her work permit is less restrictive than mine: my permit is good only for the job for which I was hired, whereas hers gives her unrestricted freedom in the entire E.C. Not bad, being a spouse! My work permit allows me to leave and re-enter the UK as many times as I wish. If your job renews you for a period extending beyond the originally requested duration of the job, they will need to reapply to the Home Office. This can take a long time, during which they take your passport from you (and your spouse...your spouse's passport, that is). But if something pressing requires you to travel out of the country, they will let you have it back temporarily. The laws change constantly...call the British Consulate to find what the current rules are on these things. Back to list of questions... Do I want to go? No doubt at some point you'll be forced to decide whether you really want to take this position, degree program, or whatever. Although this is a very personal issue, I can provide a tiny bit of food for thought. You have a chance to live in another country for a while? Wow, what an opportunity! You want to pass up this possibly once-in-a-lifetime chance? I'm sure glad I didn't, is all I can say. What part of the UK will you be in? Every country is going to have parts of it that are wonderful, others that are sheer hell. You'll just have to ask other Brits what places are like, and if it sounds doubtful, make a visit if you can. Unfortunately, I've only seen a fraction of the country, but I can testify that Brighton, Bath, and Edinburgh fall into the wonderful category. My confidence would not be especially high for South Wales or Liverpool, although I've never actually been there (perhaps industrial, economically hard hit, dirty?). Most of Cornwall and Devon is very lovely, and I'd enjoy living there (not many big universities out that way, though). The "northern industrial cities" like Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester are known to be rather colorless and depressing in the winter (see David Lodge's books, described elsewhere), but the universities there are top-notch (although they do place a strong emphasis on "practical" research useful for local industries). You no doubt know of Northern Ireland's reputation, but in its defense, what is true about the larger cities (Belfast, Derry) is not true about the smaller towns (see Paul Theroux's book, elsewhere). Before moving to London, try talking to a Londoner to find out about the many complications of living there. I love London for it's many historical and cultural wonders, but with the way the residents complain about the crowds and traffic, I'm in no hurry to move there. Back to list of questions... HOW DOES THE STANDARD OF LIFE IN THE UK COMPARE TO THE US? Some statistics comparing UK and US * per capita GDP + UK: $15,900 (1991) + US: $22,470 (1991) * Unemployment rate + UK: 8.1% (1991) + US: 6.6% (1991) * Kilowatt hours produced per capita + UK: 5520 + US: 12,080 (US, 1990) "The US has the most powerful, diverse, and technologically advanced economy in the world, with the highest per capita GDP of all major industrial nations. . . . The UK is one of the world's great trading powers and financial centers, and its economy ranks among the four largest in Europe." (Source: the 1992 CIA Guide) Will life be very very different? Perhaps the statistics above say it all: Americans make more money and consume more resources in spending it, but in the world scheme of things, the ranking of the British come very close. Personally, I find the UK an entirely satisfactory place to live, although I do miss some aspects of the US: there is much quicker access to new technologies and products, services are more diverse and competetive, and manufactured goods are made better, and sold cheaper. Any Brit will tell you that one of the advantages of traveling to the US is picking up CDs and clothes at cheaper prices. But fear not, you will definitely not find the UK to be a primitive place, lacking comforts and material goods that you consider essential. Examples of UK disadvantages in the area of comforts, convenience, or material wealth relative to the US are: small refrigerators, slow home laundry machines, only four standard television stations, home showers with pathetic water pressure, stores closed on Sunday, and expensive gasoline. In defense of the Brits, however, it's a matter of how you look at it: many of these things could be chalked up to the "comparative wastefulness of Americans" with equal fairness. One important fact to point out is that this situation is constantly evolving. Britain has become much better even over the last five years, and is still changing rapidly (thus, be careful about trusting any descriptions from someone who last lived in the UK over five years ago). In terms of access to technology and high-quality manufactured goods, the UK is rapidly becoming indistinguishable from the US. Back to list of questions... WHAT MAKES LIVING IN THE UK SO GREAT? * Pubs: an essential part of the social infrastructure, unlike anything in the US. Pubs are hardly at all like US "bars", being much cozier, friendly (usually) and not sleazy (usually). * Fabulous beers and ales. You'll be spoiled for life. * Fabulous natural and historical sites all over the UK, all reachable within a day. Dozens of trips worth taking (see a guidebook). My personal favorite is the western highlands of Scotland. * The opportunity to view your own country in a completely different light. Come to learn US history better and understand what makes it unique. Gives you a grasp on the American national identity. Make a hobby out of comparing US and UK cultures, and see how other countries view us. * Getting to experience a foreign culture without the inconvenience of a language barrier. * Cheap and easy travel to the continent. A ferry to France from where I am costs less than a round trip ticket to London! Package weekend deals to Paris including flight and hotel for less than $200 during the off-season. * The excitement of having many cultures in a smaller place. The European Union is making life particularly interesting here. * A fabulous rail system that goes seemingly everywhere * In a word, "civilized." People are much more agreeable and less conflict-prone than in the US; they solve problems by talking things through rather than arguing and posturing. People in positions of authority tend to consider the facts more thoughtfully instead of making inappropriate snap judgments. * Slower pace of life. People tend to really leave work at 5pm and go home, and not come into work on weekends. Everyone gets six weeks of vacation here. All of this is much more conducive to a better family life. * A sense of a social safety net. Universal health care, so there's not that sense of grave fear of becoming unemployed that one has in the US. Back to list of questions... WHAT'S IT LIKE BEING A FOREIGNER IN THE UK? If you're worried about sticking out like a sore thumb as an American, don't. Britain is full of people from all over Europe, speaking different languages, so being a native English speaker makes you only a semi-foreigner. I have experienced virtually nothing but good will from people here, and rarely see any traces of an anti-American sentiment. Your accent will even give you a number of advantages: * Your friends recognize you immediately when you call on the phone * People will be interested in asking you what you think about the UK and why you came * Because Brits tend to size each other up by the way they speak, you will be completely classless to them; that is, they'll show you a little respect by default instead of judging you quickly. Brits tend to view the following as stereotypically American traits (and it's up to you decide if they are admirable or not): * Bragging, lacking modesty: proudly proclaiming one's accomplishments at work or school, or the fabulous vacation they've had * Blundering into a situation without studying it first, making unwarranted snap judgments, being a "gunslinger" * Talking with with your guard completely down, blurting out personal things to near-strangers (Debra Winger's character in "Shadowlands" was a good example of this) * Talking loudly in public places to your friends so that everyone around can hear your private remarks (US students riding the tube, if you have to tell a story containing the sentence "I was so drunk last night", say it more quietly, okay?). Will you acquire an accent? If you acquire a full-blown British accent I'd say you were either working at it, or you are extremely impressionable. You probably will acquire, at most, the faintest trace of an accent. Make sure to get straight the difference between "England" and the "United Kingdom" (and furthermore "Great Britain" and the "British Isles", and even "Europe" for that matter). Scots and Welsh can be quite insulted by your referring to them as being English, or living in England. Back to list of questions... Do I want to be an academic in the UK? A large number of people who request this FAQ are academics who are considering taking a position at a University in the UK. Since this was my own situation here, I thought I'd supply some information in that area. What is the research ranking of the department you are going to work for? All British universities are ranked on a 5-point scale for research excellence, and the standards are very high. A department with a five rating means that there are many faculty members with strong reputations and long publications lists; you can probably assume that it is competetive with the best department of its type anywhere in the world, and that it is probably drawing in huge amounts of research money. The rating review is performed every five years. The word "professor" has a different meaning here. The only people who are called professor are the ones with the rank equivalent to "full professor" in the US. Other translations: assistant professor (US) = lecturer (UK), associate professor (US) = senior lecturer (UK). Prepare for a very different interview process. First, it is quite typical for all the candidates for the position to interview on a single day (so be prepared to meet your competitors). It is not the grueling whole-day affair that US interviews tend to be, where you are marched around to see dozens of future colleagues and deans. Rather, you'll give a presentation (not always!), and a 20-30 minute interview, maybe be given a cursory look around the department with your competitors, and that's all. Sometimes it happens that the committee makes their decision on the day of the interviews and tells you before you leave! If you give a presentation, for research-oriented departments this is the single most important component of your visit, so do it well. For your interview, be prepared to describe your work at differing levels of technicality; make it so someone outside your field can get the basic message of what your work is about. This may be arguable, but the image of a professor here seems to be a little more casual, as though looking untidy is a sign of intelligence. This means men might get by with slightly longer hair than in the US; but I would still wear a suit of some sort to be safe. Here is the latest UK salary scale from April 1994. I'm not exactly sure how the different categories relate to the more familiar US categories; use your imagination. * Lecturer Grade A: $22134 to $28989 in seven steps * Lecturer Grade B: $30199 to $43134 in ten steps * Senior Lecturer and Professor: $40527 to $49510 in eight steps Back to list of questions... What should I read before moving to the UK? The following is a list of suggested readings to get a feel for the UK, the language, and what to expect. Read the non-fiction before you go, and the fiction shortly after you arrive. FICTION * "Changing Places" by David Lodge (Penguin Press): story about an American and a British professor who swap positions at their respective universities for a year. Extremely insightful and funny view of the cultural differences between our countries. Highly recommended! "Small World" is a followup novel by the same author. If you're going to Birmingham, these two novels, and his "Nice Work" are a must-read. * The "Rumpole of the Bailey" stories (many different volumes) by John Mortimer. Deserves a place alongside Sherlock Holmes for great criminal fiction, although in this case from the view of a cynical trial lawyer rather than a detective. * "The British Museum is Falling Down" by David Lodge (Penguin Press). Novel from the early 60's about a PhD student trying to get work done on his dissertation at the British Library. * "Lucky Jim" by Kingsly Amis. Novel from the 50's about a recent college graduate stuggling to get by in his first year as a college lecturer. Back to list of questions... NON FICTION * Paul Theroux, "The Kingdom by the Sea" (Penguin Press, 1983). A "travel biography"...author decides to see the UK by visiting every city along its permimeter, staying on foot as much as possible. Excessively cynical at times, but some good insights, and you'll learn about lesser-known places worth seeing. * "Coping With England" by Jean Hannah. A mostly factual quide of what to expect in England, not at all cynical as its title might suggest. Starting to get a bit out of date. * "Brit-Think/Amerithink, a Transatlantic Survival Guide," by Jane Walmsley. Written by an American author. Pokes fun at the mindset of Americans and Brits with equal sarcasm. Very funny at times, although some of her ideas about Americans are odd (we don't all get plastic surgery, Jane), and she feels obliged to tell us what it's like being a TV producer in the UK (three guesses as to her occupation). * "British English, A to Zed" by Norman Schur. A dictionary of British words that are mostly unknown to Americans. Needs an update, but still pretty good. Very useful for reading British novels. * "An American Looks at Britain," by Robert Critchfield (1991). Recommended by someone on the net (I haven't seen it myself). * "The Underground Guide to University Study in Britain and Ireland," by Bill Griesar, Intercultural Press, 1992. Aimed at the foreign student, everything from a language glossary to the rules for cricket. (Also recommended by someone on the net.) * "How to Study and Live in Britain," by Jane Woolfenden. Northcote House, 1990. A bit more stolid, but lots of useful information (i.e. on registering with the police, immigration, etc). (Also recommended by someone on the net.) * "Studying and Living in Britain," by the British Council. Northcote House, 1991. Essentially a shorter version of Jane Woolfenden's book, although it's "official." (Also recommended by someone on the net.) Back to list of questions... Basic facts comparing the US and UK * Total area: + UK: 244,820 km2 (slightly smaller than Oregon) + US: 9,372,610 km2 (38 times larger) * Population: + UK: 57,797,514 (1992) + US: 254,521,000 (1992; 4 times larger) * Type of government: + UK: constitutional monarchy + US: federal republic * Constitution: + UK: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice + US: 17 September 1787, effective 4 June 1789 * Legal system: + UK: common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences; no judicial review of Acts of Parliament + US: based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts * Percentage of non-white ethnic groups + UK: 2.8 (year unknown) + US: 13.9 (1989) * Full name of the country + United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland + United States of America * Major Regions + UK: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales + US: no official regions (Source: the 1992 CIA Guide) Back to list of questions... sandell@epunix.ep.susx.ac.uk