From Tourist to Resident - A Changing Perspective

It all started with a few Facebook photos a friend had posted from her recent trip to London. There were the usual double decker buses, the London Eye, and one from Trafalgar Square. Someone had written a comment: "You really captured the essence of the town!" Hmm, hang on I thought. Pigeons on Trafalgar Square are not the essence of London, surely? After all I'd lived in London for many years. So my perspective would by necessity be different from somenone who's spent a weekend there. Had gone to a pizza place, maybe a cocktail bar, stayed in a hotel, did a bit of shopping, and would have gone to "a show" (being American).

Don't get me wrong - I'm not making fun of that experience. And of course having been a tourist, i.e. visiting a town as often as you possibly can is vital when you plan to make your sojourn more permanent, and become a resident. I can safely say I know what I'm talking about. When I moved to Edinburgh I'd been there plenty of times. I'd even taken the trouble to visit in various seasons so as not to be surprised by the weather. I've always done careful research before I moved and finally settled somewhere. But it is impossible to anticipate what finally awaits you.

Just a few vital examples of things you neglect to find out at your peril:

• Public transport. Sure, as a visitor you're bound to take the occasional bus ride. But you're not dependent on it. If the wait's too long, you'll jump into a cab.

When I'd moved to Edinburgh the transport system was just about to collapse. Whole areas of town were cordoned off and buses rerouted.

• Rubbish collection. Staying in a hotel will not prepare you for the often (especially inItaly and the UK) totally chaotic and insufficient collection times in your new town.

I ended up doing daily trips to a totally overfull public rubbish collection point, due to mismangement and long-term strike action.

• Shopping. During your visit you won't have found out where there's a good place to buy potatoes or washing powder, simply because you don't needed any.

• Safety. Although tourists will probably be worried about their money belt and rucksack, when you live in a place, it's not pickpockets on open squares you will be worried about. Residential areas are mostly not the sort of places tourists visits.

In Edinburgh, I was very lucky to live in an area which was both quiet, safe and central - the Westend. An absolute godsend, as I hadn't known this beautiful quarter before I actually moved there.

These are just a few pointers that the impression you may get on holiday is not necessarily the "correct" one, and certainly one you will have to query many many times once you've moved to your new place.

Let me know of your own experience in that field!

From Edinburgh to Munich - A Personal Blog

I'm not a great one for writing
personal blogs. I distrust their facile, almost masturbatory presentationism: Look this is my house, my cat, my husband, mybrilliant kids who (together with 99.8 percent of the others) got brilliantGCSE results etc. etc., and I dislike the hypocritical comments even more "Oh X,thanks for sharing, my kids are equally gifted, my house just as big...) There is something HyacinthBouquet-ish about personal blogs, and I certainly don't want to be associated with that.

But there it is, I'm writing one. If only as I thought a little explaining might be in order.

I've recently moved from a very northern town (Edinburgh) to quite a southern one (Munich). It's not actually that far: 827 miles - can this be quite right? It certainly feels like a totally different planet.

Why did you do that, a lot of people have asked me. Maybe assuming I was some quirky traveller who tried out weird and wonderful locations, decided they weren't quite right, and then moved on.

Well not quite. The reality is a little more prosaic, and it is one I share with lots of people in the modern world. I am a corporate spouse, as the official parlance goes. And wherever my husband's job requires us to go, I will move.

So I didn't choose Paris, London or Frankfurt, where we lived in the past. I did not choose Scotland, and neither did I choose to live in Munich. I just try and get on with what's thrown at me as best I can.

The other thing that people have said to me recently about my move is "You must be elated, you're going back home". Home? Hmm. Most of you will probably know Munich better than I do. I've been here a few times as a tourist, but that's about it. Even in the wider frame, it's not homeby any stretch of the imagination. I was brought up in Holland and spent my formative years in England. Most of my family are in England. To be honest, I couldn't say where my "home" is. I've moved about so much, somewhere amongst the boxes, the new flats, and new experiences, the concept must have got lost.

Still, I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm not ready to call a place my home, and settle there for good. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to try out new locations, tune my intercultural antennae, and maybe find out, one day, where I'd really like to live.

Meanwhile thank you for sharing the journey!