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Today's episode is a rough guide for you to sort out your belongings when moving to the UK. What you take with you depends on so many factors - if you have a family, kind of weather, location, your personality type, budget and so on, which is the reason why I didn't want to dictate exactly which items you have to take. No mention of furniture, as you can't stick it into your suitcase...The general rule is to take much less than you think you need and be honest about which items have more of an emotional than a practical value in your new life. It can be a tough choice but you will feel better once you've made it. Best of luck!

Glad to be back home or are you suffering from holiday blues? If so, then this episode will get you out of your misery: All you need to know about how to move to the UK in 4 weeks or less contained in this short episode. The 3 BIG THINGS are storage, money and a place to lay your head. Plus a few other things you want to consider before embarking on the adventure of your life. What are you waiting for?!

After numerous guests have stressed the importance of learning English, I invited an expert on language learning. Kirsty, who is fluent in German, has been teaching English online for a couple of years. We will be talking just a tiny little bit about the language but, more importantly, about the UK weather! You can find her book "Feel confident using your Business English" on Amazon and ibooks. amongst others.

This short episode contains 15 tips from our endless moving abroad checklist, including info on finding accommodation (a perennial favourite), the right time to sell your things and why you want to start networking long before you arrive. Check my website for the links I mentioned. Tuck in!

The first fellow German on the show! Anglophile Kat is the manager of a cosy locals' local in Brighton called Park Crescent (http://www.theparkcrescent.co.uk/). No hens or stags here! Instead you get Bavarian wheat beer and, should you require them, the cleanest pub toilets ever seen. Amongst other things, we will talk about the importance of socialising, Dillhappen (pickled herrings), accommodation and kissing ginger-haired Brits. Of course I can't let her go without asking her opinion on the refugee situation in Germany.

Holiday blues, counting down and absurdly high rent: This is the first part of our big moving abroad checklist and I will be highlighting the first steps you can take, based on what I did when I moved. If you don't want to listen to me waffling on, jump straight to minute 12.38 to get the recap. I will be talking about how to move abroad in 3 months or less in a future episode. The links to all the sources I mentioned (forums etc.) can be found in the description of episode 2.6 on www.happylifemove.com.

If you've never encountered a Czech highlander before, you will after listening to Honza, whose name will be explained in the episode, with haggis and kilts getting an honourable mention. We learn how he started out as a conference porter and fell in love with the highland mountains, how his family came to grips with his coming-out and that he initially hated playing the piano. Now he is a fully-fledged music aficionado and he recommends listening to Beth Hart (https://www.youtube.com/user/BethHartMusic) and Laura Mvula (https://www.youtube.com/user/lauramvula). Give him a shout if you have a band and could do with some reinforcement!

Salsa-loving Linda from Slovakia is an experienced expat, having spent many years living and working in Germany and Switzerland before going back and forth to the UK. Yes, back and forth - she is a bit of a ping-pong expat like me. However, she feels more at ease speaking German, that's why we kept this interview fairly short. Not shying away from hard work, sometimes having 2 jobs at the same time, she now wants a new direction, more geared towards her customer service background and her fluency in German. Will she make it? We don't know yet but I will do all I can to help her with her CV and to suggest possible avenues to try, as well as discussing how she can best answer interview questions based on her experience. Watch this space because I will update you on her progress.

Marcin is my bravest guest to date. He came to the UK because he wanted a better life and was willing to work hard for it, but he didn’t know any English at all. Starting out in a job where speaking wasn’t required - washing cars - and ending up as a qualified Accounts Assistant is an amazing achievement and testament to his dedication. Although Marcin is fluent in English now, in his first couple of months, there were times when he wouldn’t speak at all for fear of making mistakes. He is still meticulously checking his texts before he sends them. Marcin has reached his goal but like many expats, he misses his family, and his grandmother’s dumplings.

This week, I am introducing Jarno, the Event Tutor from Holland, who still thinks tea with milk is an acquired taste, despite having been here for over 10 years. In his defence, he’s happy to meet people for coffee, so if you’re in the #Brighton area, drop him a line. I know I will! Jarno’s British journey started as a university lecturer and he struggled with a few accents, a few banks and a lot of admin before things started to make sense. Now he is happily married, has his own business teaching event management and he has come to terms with having Brussels sprouts at Christmas. Well, almost. If you want to know anything about event management, get in touch with Jarno via his website www.eventtutor.com where you can also find all of his social media handles. He’s offering books and video courses you can study whenever you want, and he is a really knowledgeable, passionate and personable chap.

Hello and a very warm welcome back to #happylifemove, the podcast for expats! This spanking new season brings you a whole host of people who have decided to come and live in the UK. First off is Pilar from Madrid, which - contrary to the belief of a German football player who shall remain nameless - is not in Italy but in Spain. In this episode you will learn why appendicitis in Amsterdam is a good thing (no, it’s not another chick flick), two weeks in Tooting can spawn a new career and how not speaking a language can make you feel very isolated, no matter where you are. Don’t let the Dutch connections confuse you, London is the main subject of Pilar’s story. A bilingual English/Spanish speaker since the age of 5, Pilar is a very busy entrepreneurial spirit who ran her own theatre company for 15 years and then decided it was time for a change. Now she educates people about the best use of virtual assistants. Actually, she does much more so you want to check out her website, podcasts, blog, books and did I mention webinars? http://virtualnotdistant.com http://www.pilarortigarces.co.uk

This is just a short introduction to season 2, which will feature guests from other countries who have decided to live in the UK. And if you are looking for a job in the UK, I can help you with information and advice on CVs and what to say in a job interview, especially if you have a different cultural background. Message me on facebook if you have any questions:)

First off, if you want to avoid my butchered rendition of „Have yourself a merry little Christmas“, then skip to 2:42, no harm done. If not, don’t say I didn’t warn you! Today’s last episode of the season brings you the cumulated wisdom and happy moments of the most popular guests, which are: ---#10 Stephen (E5)--- #9 Martino (E17) & Ivan (E19)--- #8 Prakash (E1)--- #7 Marc (E15)--- #6 Jo (E18)--- #5 Lucie (E16)--- #4 Ryan (E12)--- #3 Patricia (E10)--- #2 Clare (E4)--- #1 Craig (E9). Thank you all very much for sharing your stories and for listening in. Have a great festive season and don’t forget to tune back in on Friday, 26th February 2016!

Ivan, half Belgian and half cosmopolitan, claims that the Welsh guy made him do it (move to the UK). So he stayed in Cardiff, even though he didn’t understand what half of the people were saying. Got to grips with the dialect, the British island mentality and sarcasm – only the lowly wage of 3 GBP an hour almost made him run screaming back to Belgium. Of course he didn’t! But “I really started to appreciate my home country”. If you want to find out how Ivan also managed to flirt with his future wife while handling a wheelie bin, then this is the episode for you.

Serial entrepreneur Jo Nutley doesn’t normally eat fish & chips. So why did she miss them abroad? Together with her family, Jo, who likes keeping busy with several businesses (a guesthouse in France, dealing with antiques, and most notably, owning one of the biggest online stores for everything you need to sow and grow in your kitchen garden), tries to find her feet in France. Not easy when you swap teeming London with rural Charente-Maritime. Even worse, her son had to go through several schools to find a decent place to stay – where the teachers wouldn’t hit students! Find out all the things Jo got up to while turning a building site into a guesthouse, and also, why she doesn’t think that Italy would be an option for her next venture abroad. Jo recommends http://www.nutleyskitchengardens.co.uk/. Go straight to the Gift Ideas if you’re getting nervous about finding that perfect Christmas gift. I have my eye on the small porcelain bottles, as I think my sister-in-law might love them at least as much as I do. Christmas? Sorted.

Mediterranean Martino, founder of Which Budget flight search and Marketing Director of The Travel Magazine, teaches us a little about the French joie de vivre (which can be fun to live), how some people use bureaucracy to show off their power, and why he called his girlfriend’s mother a cow. Careful, though! Listen to him describe his love for the sea and its power in that incredibly alluring voice and you will find yourself booking the next flight to the South of France. To see the sea, of course. Martino recommends http://www.whichbudget.com/and http://www.thetravelmagazine.net/ which is full of articles, news, a fledgling blog and more. Sign up to the newsletter to stay ahead of the travel curve!

Meet Lucie and learn about the differences of living in France and the UK, why it can be better to move further away from London to be closer to it and, best of all, a secret way to meeting the woman of your dreams – beware, this is not for the faint-hearted! Teaming up with her husband, Lucie managed to build a flourishing business, or rather several, starting with his dental practice...and ending up as a provider of virtual assistants, which is perfect for all these little things you don’t actually need to do yourself! For small businesses, Lucie recommends http://www.clickconvertsell.com/ and http://www.elitevirtualteam.co.uk/ and for those of you who like to read a good non-fiction book, The Outsourcing Game Plan (available on Amazon).

Marc came for work and stayed for love. An astute economist and business accountant by day and a passionate podcasting chef by night, Marc will tell you about his connection to the Isle of Man and Burkina Faso, why Napoleon plays a part in buying a home and what France and Belgium could learn from English cuisine! Marc recommends http://parlercuisine.com/ (the cooking podcast – they speak fairly slowly, so good opportunity to hone those French listening skills!), http://bergeret.biz/ (English business consultancy) and http://www.the-goldfisher.com/ (French finance and commodities blog).

A warm-hearted, funny and astute blogger and journalist from the US, Shazzer dared crossing the pond to follow her love to Sweden. It took her a while to realise that not every day is a warm summer day and also, that Swedes don’t make friends easily – but when they do, it’s for life. Listen to this episode to find out about gay marriage in Sweden, how she learned to ask the right questions when faced with stoic bureaucrats, and what not to say to colleagues unless you want a reputation for being kinky. Shazzer recommends shazzerspeak.com and if you like reading with your brain switched on, this is where it's at! (Note: The sound goes wonky around 7:40 for about 1 minute. Sorry!)

This is the one with (stole that from Friends) a shout-out to my lovely Romi in Vienna. And my story on moving to the UK in 7 questions or less. My best friend Steve helped me to record this and he is a true non-native speaker (brilliant musician, we used to play the Beatles songbooks forwards and backwards wayyyyy back), so I wanted to make it easy for him. Steve recommends www.hajduga.de which is his graphics design business. Ask him for his music business designs, as his website mostly shows the restrained corporate side. His work is fantastic, he really knows his stuff. Not that I'm biased or anything. You can write to him in English, if you want to get in touch. He knows much more than he lets on.