David Hampshire (1)

Best for: People who are moving to the UK

In a nutshell: Twenty chapters of tips broken down by broad area of interest, like finance, accommodation, transportation, and health.

Line that sticks with me: N/A

Why I chose it: My partner and I (and our two cats) are moving to London in just under a month, and I’m still looking into things.

Review: I found this book to be more helpful than the other book I picked up on the topic. Part of that may be because it is focused on moving to the UK in general (not London specifically), and so half the book was not taken up with a focus on just a few London boroughs. However, I’d still like to find a book that focuses just on tips and information in different neighborhoods. I just ordered the Not for Tourists 2018 edition for London, which should meet that need.

But back to this book. I enjoyed some of the sections a great deal, especially the part about health care. I have had so much dental work done that I’m a bit nervous about leaving my dentist, so it was good to learn a bit more about what that will look like.

A couple of parts that were frustrating - one unavoidable, one less so. The section on moving pets was not fully accurate, as we now have to pay VAT when bringing in animals. But that changed in April, so I understand that it wouldn’t make it into the book. The other part was the sport section. The bit on football (the sport I’m most familiar with, so the other sections may also have had this problem) made no mention of the women’s league. Granted, in the US I’m used to the women’s national team being VASTLY superior to the men’s national team, so I expect the women’s league to be mentioned. But come on - are we really still pretending that women aren’t professional athletes?… (mais)