Misfit
10 May 2015
Life / London vs Kraków - considering a move [8]
Hello if you have moved from London to Kraków I would love to hear from you. What were the biggest drawbacks/unexpected bonuses?
I know it's presumptuous to make this post but the most entertaining threads returned by a search of this forum for "London" were an enquiry about working in a strip club and a story about a man chopping his own sausage!
I've lived in (and left) Sydney, Zürich, Berlin, Vienna and London.
As far as I can see, Kraków is:
- bike friendly
- more pleasant to look at (low rise buildings, pretty centre, delightful river)
- clean
- uncrowded
- slightly less polluted
- largely graffiti free
- offering more job opportunities for me (paradoxically, since investment banks are near-sourcing here like crazy and the London IT contacting market is mainly awash with dull regulatory reporting work)
- offering 4 city centre flats for the price of a single london flat in zone 2
but
- the language is very challenging for native English speakers
- there is a 6 month winter (but I like the cold & skiing)
- bureaucracy is rampant
- a decent steak is hard to find / lobster is unthinkable
- plush gyms are overpriced
- filtered milk isn't available
- a PLN salary would make foreign holidays / buying foreign made electronics & clothes rather expensive
Having lived in several countries I find that local salaries and costs move in line, so I find the financial case is largely irrelevant
Hello if you have moved from London to Kraków I would love to hear from you. What were the biggest drawbacks/unexpected bonuses?
I know it's presumptuous to make this post but the most entertaining threads returned by a search of this forum for "London" were an enquiry about working in a strip club and a story about a man chopping his own sausage!
I've lived in (and left) Sydney, Zürich, Berlin, Vienna and London.
As far as I can see, Kraków is:
- bike friendly
- more pleasant to look at (low rise buildings, pretty centre, delightful river)
- clean
- uncrowded
- slightly less polluted
- largely graffiti free
- offering more job opportunities for me (paradoxically, since investment banks are near-sourcing here like crazy and the London IT contacting market is mainly awash with dull regulatory reporting work)
- offering 4 city centre flats for the price of a single london flat in zone 2
but
- the language is very challenging for native English speakers
- there is a 6 month winter (but I like the cold & skiing)
- bureaucracy is rampant
- a decent steak is hard to find / lobster is unthinkable
- plush gyms are overpriced
- filtered milk isn't available
- a PLN salary would make foreign holidays / buying foreign made electronics & clothes rather expensive
Having lived in several countries I find that local salaries and costs move in line, so I find the financial case is largely irrelevant