Today marks 6 years since I moved to London.
I boarded a one-way flight on Valentine’s Day.
While everyone else was celebrating love in the traditional sense, I was sitting at an airport gate with my entire life packed into two suitcases, about to move to a country I had never even visited before.
I didn’t know the neighbourhoods. I didn’t know the tube system. I didn’t know what winter here really felt like.
I knew one person. In the entire country.
That was it.
A few weeks later, a global pandemic locked down not only the city, but the world.
The timing was comical.
My professional background was in hospitality, which meant job hunting suddenly became nearly impossible. The industry I had built my experience in simply… stopped. Businesses were closing. Hiring froze. And I was in a new country, far from home, wondering if I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.
There were months where I questioned everything, but going back home wasn’t an option.
Despite the terrible timing, despite the job and financial stress, despite navigating a new country in the middle of a global crisis — this was the best leap I’ve ever taken.
This city has given me opportunities I couldn’t have imagined when I boarded that flight.
Six years later: I have a career I’m proud of. A home that I own (by myself.) A community made up of new friends and old ones who feel like family. And a passport that is significantly fuller.
I’ve now travelled to more countries in a single year than I did in the 25 years I lived in South Africa.
Sometimes I walk over Tower Bridge. Or catch sight of the Shard from my office building. Or pass Big Ben on a completely ordinary Tuesday. And I have to pause and think how is this my life?
Valentine’s Day now means something different to me. It’s not about flowers or dinner reservations - even when I am in a relationship. It’s the anniversary of the day made a pretty bold move. The day I got on a plane not knowing how it would work out, only knowing I didn’t want to look back and wonder “what if.”
On Friday, I hosted a little Galentine’s evening at my place - the same home I once worried I might never be able to afford in this city. Watching it filled with laughter, yapping and women who have become such a meaningful part of my London life made my heart feel impossibly full.
Six years ago, I arrived knowing one person. Now, I have a house full of them. And that, to me, is just as romantic as any candlelit dinner.
Six years ago, I packed two suitcases and boarded a plane to a country I had never seen before.
And even now knowing what was waiting on the other side: a pandemic, unemployment, uncertainty. I would still get on that flight.
Happy Valentines 💝
Until next Sunday,
Tahlia