Our top tips to prepare you for life in the big city

Moving to the largest city in the UK is bound to be an exciting new chapter in your life, but you need to make sure you're fully prepared for the big move. 

There are lots of things you can do to help make your move-in as smooth as possible, but we've shortlisted just a few to do before you move that we think will be super useful to you! 

Download Citymapper

Moving to a new city as huge as London can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don't know where anything is. Citymapper is your perfect companion for London life, helping you get from A to B by giving you clear step-by-step instructions, real-time updates, price estimations and even alerting you when you're at the stop you need to get off at! The app shows you how many calories you've burned, how many trees you've helped to plant and how much money you've saved by getting to your destination - so it's a morale booster too! 

Follow a London what's on page

To keep you in the loop with what's going on in the big smoke, your best bet is to follow a London events page. Websites like Timeout and VisitLondon contain lots of information about the best places to eat and drink, things to do, and what's happening in the city. In addition to all the recommended venues, these websites will tell you if there are cool eventscoming up, and you can search by categories to easily find something that's right up your street! 

Grab yourself an Oyster Card (if you don't have a contactless card)

If you have a contactless bank card, you won't need to get yourself an Oyster Card because you can now swipe your contactless card at the barriers in tube stations and on buses. However, if you don't have a bank card with the contactless feature, or if you've chosen not to have one for security reasons, an Oyster Card should be your first port of call for travel across London. An Oyster Card is a smart card which you can add money to for travel on the tube, buses, trams and overground. You can find out all about the Oyster Card here. 

Bikes/scooters

Did you know that you can get around London by bike or electric scooter? Both methods of transport are cheaper and better for the environment, and they're really easy to use too! Santander Bikes cost £1.65 for a 30-minute journey and if you use them for longer than half an hour, you pay an additional £1.65 for each additional period up to 30 minutes. Find out where you can hire one from here. 

You can also store your own bike in our halls of residence, simply ask reception for information. 

There is currently an e-scooter trial taking place in London, and there are three companies operating in the city. Lime, Dott and TIER all have an app which you use to unlock the scooters and pay for your ride. Check out the prices below: 

• Lime: £1 to unlock, 15p per minute. 
• Dott: £1 to unlock, 17p per minute. 
• TIER: £1 to unlock, 15p per minute. 

Have a look at what's in your local area

Before you come to LSE, you could take a look at what's in the area so you get acquainted with your new home a bit quicker. If you make a short list of all the places you'd like to visit in the local area, you can mention some of them to your flatmates to try together in the first few weeks. Who knows, you might find your new favourite restaurant, bar or hangout! Because London is such a well connected city, you can extend your search a bit further out too so you never get bored of the same places. 

London is an amazing city, so make sure you make the most of it!