What no one tells you about moving to New York

WHO hasn’t dreamt of moving to the Big Apple? Isabel Thomson-Officer has been there for a year now and wishes she was told these things before she left Australia.

FORGET everything Sex and the City ever told you about living in New York. Yes there are glamorous parties, amazing fashion and a ridiculous number of good looking people, but moving to New York will have a few surprises in store for you.

Here are some of the things no one told me about moving to the Big Apple.

RSA does not exist

If you’ve ever ordered a shot in America chances are for a second you thought you’d accidentally ordered a double. Compared to our 30ml standard pours the ounce and sometimes more can be pretty potent.

Either brace yourself for a bigger headache the next day or consider ordering a few less drinks. Stumbling around at 3AM a little worse for wear? You’ll more than likely still get into that club (provided you have your ID) and served. Responsible service? They have no idea what that means!

New York bar staff love to free pour!

Signing a lease is close to impossible

So you’ve just arrived and are searching for a place to call your own. Most Manhattan landlords require that you earn 40 to 60 times your monthly rent before they will even consider your application. The average rent for a studio apartment in Manhattan just hit an all time high of $2351 according to a Bloomberg report.

Want a slightly bigger shoebox? A one bedroom will set you back $3400. This means you need to earn a minimum of $94,040 — not the average wage of most graduates heading over on a J-1 Visa. Then if you meet these requirements they will want credit history, which if you’ve never lived here means you don’t have any.

After all this, if you’ve made it this far, then you’ll need a broker, which will cost you a pretty penny. Taking your chances on Craigslist where apartment roofs collapse (yes it happened to me) with a questionable sublet is pretty much your only option.

Yes this is Isabel’s roof collapsed into the bathroom.

Waiting for brunch is standard

I am very proud of the fact that in Australia, I had never once waited for a table at brunch. Only Urbanspoon and MasterChef obsessed so called ‘foodies’ did that. Generally my hangover was too bad to wait for bacon and there was always another great spot around the corner. Waiting 45 minutes for brunch is pretty standard in New York because the ENTIRE city is out wanting to sip on unlimited Bloody Mary’s and Mimosa’s (did I mention RSA doesn’t exist?) alongside their burnt bacon and home fries.

The long wait was totally worth it.

That ‘winter coat’ you just bought is a joke

When one of the big department stores here had a big sale in Autumn, I was pretty chuffed with myself when I managed to score two super stylish designer coats for a bargain. I was showing them off to a few seasoned NY winter survivors and they laughed in my face. Unless it’s puffy and ugly, forget about it — nothing else will get you through the perils of January and February.

Forget about fashion in winter — wrap yourself up and hope for the best.

When it’s -15 degrees outside all sense of fashion goes out the window and it’s all about wrapping yourself up in a mobile sleeping bag. For a fashion capital, style is completely ignored for two months of the year.

New Yorkers are actually a pretty nice bunch

They might be in a hurry to get to where they’re going and you may end up being their collateral as they scramble to get on the subway, but ask a New Yorker in the street for directions and you’d be surprised by their friendly response. I spent two months sleeping on friends of friends’ couches before finding a place to live. Everyone gets it because everyone has been through it themselves.

Tipping is a very weird courtly dance

Trying to understand when and how much to tip requires some serious mathematics. How much to leave? The standard is 18-20 per cent, 15 per cent is pretty stingy. Ordering drinks at the bar? You need to leave $1 per drink, more if you’re somewhere fancy and ordering cocktails. You should tip your cab driver, laundromat, dry cleaner, and hairdresser. Basically if it involves a service, it must be tipped, regardless of how good or crappy it was.

But when you get to live here, it’s all totally worth it.

Follow Isabel Thomson-Officer on Twitter @missizzyofficer