Long vacation and international move: how to maintain?

Buy some fruit and take away salads to put in your room for snacks. Walk a lot and enjoy the new scenery. Stick to foods that you know but don't forget to enjoy your vacation.
When I moved from the US to Munich, I had a hard time at the store understanding what things were bc of the language barrier. Since you won't have that in England it should be better. Don't forget your goals and stay focused.
Best wishes to you!

Most grocery stores have ready made salads available (dressing is usually in a separate sachet). There's also plenty of choice in terms of ready-to-eat chicken breast, hot smoked salmon, etc. to add some protein to the salad. There are usually healthy options in terms of ready made sandwiches and everything will have nutritional information on it.

The B&B owners may well let you have access to a microwave in which case fresh soups are a convenient option.

If there is an M&S Food store nearby they have lots of convenience ready-to-eat options and prepared fresh fruit and vegetables. They also do a good range of fresh 'ready meals' which are nutritionally balanced (another option if you can access a microwave). Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsburys are also good stores for fresh ready-to-eat foods.

Individual cheeses like Babybel are a handy snack.

I'm sure you've explored all accommodation options, but if you havent already done so, www.spareroom.co.uk, www.airb&b.co.uk and www.gumtree.co.uk may be worth a look in terms of furnished lodgings on a short term basis. As you've already discovered, complete houses/apartments are often holiday lets and as such come with hugely inflated rents!

If the B&B owner isn't ok with you cooking and storing your food in their kitchen (definitely ask!), I'd buy a small fridge and microwave, personally. Small investment and you might need to buy a microwave anyway once you move to your permanent place.

Other than that, I don't think the way Brits eat is that different from here, honestly (ok I'm assuming you live in the US).

I second Marks and Spencers too... ok it's been 18 years since I've been in one but when they were still in France I absolutely loved them.

May I suggest you join the UK group on here then if you have any questions I'm sure someone will know the answer

Find a grocery store which is walkable from where you are staying with a decent fruit and veggie section. Most veggies can be eaten raw, and you can walk there every day for exercise. B&B food is more than likely to be pretty heavy, calorie-dense and limited on the fresh veggies. You might want to see if you can find a sports center which has a one-month pass so you can get some physical activity in as well, and maybe make new friends.

Good luck. It might be tough-going, but you are aware which is the main thing.

I travel a lot for work - all international - and it is hard. I love big breakfasts. But what kills me is the sauces on many restaurant foods and the very large portions - even in the UK. If I'm traveling with my husband, we split all meals. When I am not, I eat the big breakfast at the hotel, get a light lunch at a shop (fruit and a salad), and then order on the light side for dinner.

You can log everything while you're there just like you're doing now.

- Watch sauces
- Go low on 'starches' - potatoes, pasta, don't eat the bread, skip the butter
- Eating a bowl of soup and an appetizer is a light and often very tasty meal that will fill you up
- Just because you're not cooking at home, don't make the mistake of eating two large meals plus that lovely breakfast. It's really easy to have two dinners when you're traveling. You can also - and I often do - have a large lunch and then eat half of it in my hotel room for dinner.

I'd also recommend buying a pedometer or similar. You may be walking a lot and earning a lot of calories back, which can explain your hunger.

Finally, if you can't weigh, you can measure. But if you're logging, I don't see why you would. But do be careful. 20 years ago I gained 20 pounds in like 3 months while traveling and over-eating just because I was out all the time. I finally took it off 3 years ago. Don't do that! And enjoy your travels.

They will very likely take a rental reference from someone back home - just get a name, number and email address for your last landlord. Most people get around the rental reference (if they can) by putting up 6 months rent in advance. Your company may provide an interest free loan for that if it's a problem.

I am sure if you asked the B&B they could provide some other sort of breakfast rather than a cooked breakfast. Porridge or cereal is usually always an option?

Will the people you are working with write a letter of recommendation for you? When I moved to London, my job wrote a letter to the bank & to the letting agency which let them know I was on a 2 year contract, was earning X amount of money and that helped a lot (both to get a bank account and a flat). I also offered to put in an extra month of rent outside the normal 6 weeks plus initial month so that the landlord felt better about it.

yirara wrote: »

Right, we extended our vacation to 5 weeks and also found some kind of solution for the B&B: The owner has one room with a small fridge, which we'll be getting. That's at least something. I tried renting a furnished flat, but as all goes via rental agents who want to do background checks first even for just one month of renting - and we don't have a bank account or rental history in the UK yet this won't really work. How we'll be able to rent at all is a different question, but we'll see about that once we're there. My new employer hires lots of people from all over the world, and I guess those people are not sleeping on the streets

Great news for the fridge!