Like many a young Kiwi before me, I've been lured to London to find out for myself whether the grass really is greener on the other side ...of the planet.

Having been here for 3 months now, I thought I would write my first blog about some of the differences I've noticed between life here and back home.

It wasn't long before I was missing the feel of sand between my toes and the sound of crashing waves. The Thames is impressive for the incredible architecture of the buildings beside it and the bridges that span it, but the river it's self is a most unappealing muddy brown. Brighton is the most popular seaside destination near London and it's a fun place to visit and explore but the rocky beach and freezing cold water hardly inspires a swim. The lack of beaches also means that on a hot day, Londoners can be found sunbathing on the grass in a park, which isn't quite the same as spreading out your towel on hot soft sand.

Even if there was a beach close by, it's not likely that I'd ever get it all to myself as I was often able to experience in New Zealand. Having access to wide open spaces is not to be taken for granted. This becomes clear living in a city with a population of more than 8 million. People here exist in very close proximity. While I'm fortunate to even have a back yard at my house, it is a rather pathetic patch of dirt compared to the big lawn I had back home. I suppose one good thing about lack of lawns is lack of noisy lawnmowers spoiling my Sunday sleep in.

When lying in bed on a Sunday I usually have the radio on, and coming to a major global city that's famous for its sophisticated culture and diversity, I was expecting to discover some great radio stations playing new and interesting music that you would never hear in New Zealand. But no, it's almost entirely terrible top 40 songs played over and over with no real diversity or interest at all. It's made me truly appreciate the likes of bFM, George FM, baseFM and Hauraki that provide a satisfyingly rich aural diet for their listeners.

Something I never thought I'd ever come to appreciate is good customer service from a bank. I didn't really like banks in New Zealand but by comparison to the banks here, they are streaks ahead. If you are intending on coming to live in the UK, be prepared for a long saga of strange and bizarre behaviour from illogical banking staff. With credit card fraud being a big problem over here, they are extremely tight with security.  You have to jump through many a hoop to even set up a bank account, and you'd think after such effort from their new customer, the least they could do is give good service. No. I was confused as to why my log in details for internet banking hadn't arrived in the post along with the multitude of other letters and brochures they sent me. I eventually discovered that the bank had decided it was a good idea to send those to my old New Zealand address and I had to arrange for them to be posted all the way back here.  Once everything was eventually sorted out and set up, I thought things might finally run smoothly.

No. I paid my rent online then went to the supermarket, after scanning all my groceries through at the check out, I tried to pay with my card only to find that it had been declined and I had to return home empty handed. Why? I phoned the bank (on their toll number, not a free line) and they informed me that the transfer I made marked 'rent' had been flagged as an unusual transaction and "for my security" my account had been locked for 24 hours. Great. It seemed I'd had a particularly bad customer experience so I asked some of my work collegues what the other banks were like. Turns out all the banks are as bad as each other. Everyone I talked to had a similar story of incompetence to tell. A colleague of mine is still in the process of sorting out the mess created when their bank cancelled all of their automatic payments without telling them.

So is the grass actually greener? Not completely. As they say, you don't know what you've got ‘til it's gone and these are a few of the things I've come to appreciate by being a world away from my home in little old New Zealand.

Stay tuned next week as I blog about some of the many aspects of life in London that really are better than back home. Museums, Public Transport, ANZAC day and beer!