WEEKLY WHINGE Moving to London in your 20s is the adult equivalent of going to a USyd college despite already living in Sydney. There, I said it.

It’s Tuesday 22 July in Sydney. It’s currently 16 degrees outside, which means it’s definitely no more than 12 inside my house. One of my five closest friends living in London has just posted their quarterly Instagram dump of Notting Hill roads, chocolate-covered strawberries, and their most recent weekend trip to Paris (“because why not when it’s literally just a train ride away”).

I momentarily pause, then jump into action to comment: “obsessed with this 😍”. Inside, though? I am filled with pure and unadulterated rage.

Why, you might ask? Because I’m finally ready to admit, publicly, that I’m sick of people in their 20s moving to London. There. I said it.

In fact, “sick of it” doesn’t quite capture the intensity. Realistically, I’m one more friend moving to London away from a complete and total fucking crash out.

Over the past year, I’d estimate around 70% (maybe more) of my inner circle have made the “difficult decision” to pack up their bags and move to Big Sydney. And while a few have gone for genuine work opportunities (which I suppose I have to respect), the majority have gone with no job, no house, and no plan, only a vague commitment to “the vibes”.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure it’s nice to live on Europe’s doorstep for a year or two and meet some new people. But if you asked me whether I wanted to spend my already limited life savings on a five-bedder sharehouse in Clapham just to meet other Australians who probably lived around the corner from me in Sydney, the answer is a firm no.

As you might already suspect, my opinion is heavily biased. I’m mostly just bitter that most of my friends are now there (and I, tragically, am not). The party has started without me, and I’m still here pulling up Google Flights and crying into my reheated frittata.

Still, I can’t help but feel like moving to London in your 20s has become the adult version of going to a Sydney uni college despite already living in Sydney: expensive, unoriginal, and bound to render you deeply insufferable when you return to talk about “how the experience changed you”.

Maybe it’s because Gen Zs have given up on the idea of home ownership. Maybe we’re still making up for the chunk of our 20s that COVID chewed up and spat out. But none of that explains why it has to be London, a city with a worse cost-of-living crisis, worse weather, and probably the closest cultural experience you’ll find to Sydney.

My pro tip? Travel. Move overseas. Absolutely do it. But for the love of god, let it not be London. Because if you’re actually hoping to broaden your life experience, I can almost guarantee it won’t come from paying £1,000 a month to live with Sarah and Sebastian from Paddington.