What steps must I take before moving to London?

Wow! I returned to Austin last year after living in London for 3 years.

I went to London on a tourist visa and then switched it to a student visa. I recommend knowing what visa status you want to enter on prior to going. With a student visa you can work part time.

The good news is if you get sick medical care is free. The bad news is transportation and accomodation is very expensive. If you want to live very economically you should probably rent a room in a house share. That is very common there and there are websites for roommates. Tube can cost about $15-$20 per day. The bus is less.

Otherwise, moving up the scale the next option is what they call a bedsit. You will have a bedroom with small kitchette and share a bathroom with others. For that you will pay around 500 plus pounds a month, which is about $1000. A one bedroom apartment can be $2000 plus. Prices vary widely depending on the burrow.

Islington burrow is a great place to live. Kensington/Olympia area is also good and you can find some economical lodging, but must look for it. Oh, and you have to have one months rent or some places one and half months rent as a deposit.

So, before you get off the plane have a good idea of what area you want to live in otherwise you will be overwhelmed looking for a place. It is also good to open a bank account there. I recommend HSBC because they opened my account as a foreigner and a student with no problem.

London is awesome!!!

:)

P.S To Dan below: As a Londoner it is shocking your only contribution to this question is to point out a spelling error. Racking up 2 points by crap answers made you top contributor?

London is very similar to NYC in many ways,mostly the weather,hustle and bustle,sheer amount of culture etc. It is a very expensive city to buy property however it is a huge city with many boroughs that offer affordable rentals. I'd try a vacation for a few weeks and explore it first hand to see how it fits in with what you're looking for,good luck!

Valerie, It's Borough, not " Burrow" Rabbits live in them, perhaps you should have stayed a bit longer

I'm not below you darling, I'm above you, probably in ever respect.

And for your information, it's not allowed to advertise ones services, or look for employment, as for the rest of he's question, may i recommend researching through another medium.