Hi there, I’m Alyson. I was a Texan, born and raised, until I found myself transplanted to Istanbul, Turkey in 2011. We soaked up the sun, culture and history in our new Turkish home, and loved every minute of it. In 2012, I found myself back in the English-speaking world in London. I have been lucky to travel our new homes and the globe with my husband and our globe-trotting golden retriever, Belle.

1. Why did you move abroad?
I first visited Europe in high school and fell in love with it. When we visited Edinburgh, I sat outside in a park with my sister eating lunch and something about it felt just right to me. At that moment I knew I could, and wanted to move overseas; I had connected with the laid back lifestyle, the history and the people.  When the chance came up for my husband to move overseas to Turkey for work, we jumped at the opportunity.

2. How do you make a living?
I making a living working for a software company that was able to transfer me from Texas. We have been incredibly lucky to be able to transfer around the world with our work.

3. How often do you communicate with home and how?
We communicate back home all the time, it is so easy now a days with electronics.  We email throughout the week, and usually use the weekends for real catch-up. Our family has Skype so we can video chat, we also have a voice-over-internet-phone that allows our family to call us on a US number and reach us here in London. It’s hard to explain to some people how it works, but, it works!

4. What's your favorite thing about being an expat in London ?
The best thing about being an expat in London is how easy it is to explore the world. 4 hours to anywhere in Europe, flights nearly anywhere you would want to go in the world, and trains across the UK and Europe.

We (and the dog) also love all the green space in London. It’s amazing how great the city planning was to leave so much space for parks all around the city.

I also love how many cultural activities are available, for free(!!), in the city. That means there’s no excuse for not getting out to enjoy art, history, fashion or culture at one of the many amazing museums around the city.

5. What’s the worst thing about being an expat in London?
The weather! I always had great weather when I came to London as a visitor, but I guess it was just lulling me under false pretenses. As a Texan, used to hot, sunny days, it has been quite an adjustment for me to move to London. While I don’t think I will ever stop missing the sun, it does make you appreciate it even more so when it shows itself and you join the throngs outside trying to get just a teensy bit of a tan.

6. What do you miss most?
Of course, I miss my family and friends, but we have loved being able to welcome them to our new home. Outside of that, it’s funny what you end up missing – but for me, most of the things I miss are food related. Good TexMex, American peanut butter, ranch dressing, twizzlers and crispy American bacon.

7. What did you do to meet people and integrate in your new home?
Get out of the house! We tried a lot of different activities when we moved here to try to meet as many people as possible.  We have made some great friends here through organisations like the UT Alumni Group and the Junior League of London.

8. What custom/ habits do you find most strange about your adopted culture?
I find High Tea so strange, but have grown to love it. As someone who wasn’t really a tea drinker before moving overseas, it’s amazing to me the obsession that Brits have with tea. They don’t just like tea either, they like good tea. As an American, I had never heard of milk in your tea before, just honey. I was so confused the first time I was asked if I wanted my tea white or black.

9. What is a myth about your adopted country?
Probably the top myth is that British food is bad, terrible, awful. And while there are some British foods that do sound absolutely horrific to me (blood pudding anyone?!), there are some foods I have come to love. Like a really good pie or bangers and mash. While every town has it’s bad food, I’ve found some great restaurants in London that I love (minus the TexMex!)

10. Is the cost of living higher or lower than the last country you lived in and how has that made a difference in your life?
The cost of living here is higher than either in Texas or Turkey. For us, it is give and take. You can pay less to live further out, but you lose the city life. We’ve learned to adapt some of our habits and just try not to convert the prices of what we buy to USD!

11. What advice would you give other expats?
My advice is to take every opportunity to explore your new home. Even overseas it’s easy to fall into the routine of the everyday. Go out to a new restaurant once a week. Take a walk in the afternoon through a new neighborhood. Try out a new museum. Just get out and do something, perhaps even something out of your usual comfort zone.

12. When and why did you start your blog?
I started my blog in 2011 when we moved to Turkey. At first, it was a way to let family and friends know what was going on in our new lives. Then, as time went on, it became more of a diary for me on our life. I wanted to document our experiences so we did not have just pictures, but stories of all our exploits and thoughts along the way. And, hopefully, it contains some helpful tips for expats and world travelers.

Alyson's blog, Tarts in London

Guide to London

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