[SteveMD]

I was born and raised in North London (East Finchley) and moved to Maryland when I was 26 so I have done it the other way around to what you are considering.

What specifically do you need to know?

Owning and running a car in London is exhorbitant - just the insurance will kill you unless you are pretty well off and you can't drive in town at all.

The pound /US Dollar exchange will kill you initially until you start earning British currency. Property in London is very expensive - think New York.

On the other hand, if you live in London, you don't need a car. Public Transport is probably the best in the world IMO.

The transition for me was easy. I had a job in place and stayed with friends for a couple of months until I found an appartment. Getting credit here was a bit of an issue even though my credit was good in the UK. It took me three months to get a Visa card but I was able for some reason to buy a used car on credit without much trouble.

No other real issues - Guinness wasn't widely available in Baltimore - I had to hunt it down, I missed British TV for a while, British food and Indian restauarants were hard to come by.

This was in 1989. You have the internet now, you can talk to freinds and family on Skype, read the LA Times online etc. None of that was available for me.

Let me know if you have a specific concern.