- As an Argentinian who has lived in London for eight years,
I have definitely experienced the best
and the worst of each city,
but what does each city really do best
and what is it really like
arriving from a laid back Latin city
to super fast-paced international city.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, welcome back to the channel,
if you're new here my name is Alejandro,
I'm an engineer based in the UK
and on this channel we explore the engine
that help us live a more purposeful life.
First things first, before moving into London
I lived in many places in France for three years,
so I had some sort of transition period,
so let's talk about eight differences between life in London
and in Buenos Aires.
I wanna save you time, so, I'm leaving timestamps below,
feel free to skip and watch the one you actually care
but before starting I need to say that
everything that I've mentioned in this video
is before the pandemic
and purely based on my personal experience,
things might be slightly different for different people,
brilliant, let's get started.
(graphic whooshing)
Number one, weather, all right,
(beep)
do we need to talk about this?
Isn't it too obvious?
Okay the weather in London is unpredictable,
it's not wild or that traumatic, but it's always changing,
most days we see cloud, rain and potentially a bit of sun,
it's not unusual, to not have three elements in a day,
this means when it's sunny it won't be for long
and the Brits put down everything and run outside
to stressfully try to take it all in,
days of sunny weather will never last more than three days
and days of rainy weather, the same,
but cloud is by far the most common sky condition.
In Buenos Aires, seasons are very distinctive,
you know, when it's summer, autumn, winter and spring,
summer is probably the most challenging period that
the temperature can go as high as 40 degrees,
so it's common for people to have AC pretty much everywhere,
whereas in London AC,
is not that common in residential properties
but more in offices and retail segments,
of course in the last 10 years
or so we can see fluctuations everywhere
due to climate change, but that's a different story.
(graphic whooshing)
Number two, groceries and food,
in London we can get most of what we needed
in a big supermarket,
so let's say we can go to Waitrose, Marks and Spencer,
Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Morrisons,
what else, Iceland,
(beep)
(stammers) I can't get this one right, sorry,
there's so many stores in London.
In Buenos Aires buying food differs a lot,
instead of running into one store
to get the weekly shopping,
we prefer shopping at more targeted shops,
we go to the bakery for bread, to the butcher for meat
and to the grocer for fresh vegetables and fruits,
supermarkets are really more for very basic stuff,
so shopping takes a little while.
In terms of food, London is seriously international,
we all know the classic English breakfast,
fish and chips, spice and Sunday roast,
but this is not really a London thing, right?
Like this is more at the country level,
so we can really choose if today we want to eat Indian food,
Middle Eastern cuisine, Italian, Spanish, French, Asian
Peruvian, Mexican, Brazilian, African, vegetarian, vegan,
you say the name, you have it in London,
it's such a multicultural place.
In Buenos Aires there're a lot of
meat restaurants as expected,
even though it's not just unique to the city
but to the country itself,
believe it or not nowadays vegetarian vegan culture
is a growing area,
but what's interesting is that
you can also find countless ice cream shops, pizza
and empanadas, like Cornish pasties,
it's really a big thing.
Now you might think, hey, this is not Argentinian,
well, it's important to remember that
there was a great European immigration wave to Argentina
in the late 19th and early 20th century,
consisting mostly of Italian and Spanish immigrants,
and also in a smaller scale, French and Germans,
so many of us have at least two nationalities.
In my case, Italian and Argentinian,
but this is a case of many people from Buenos Aires
and I'm saying this because the food
is also influenced by Southern European countries,
of course as for 10 years, native people from Buenos Aires
will say we invented everything
but we know it's not true, we just love controversy.
(graphic whooshing)
Number three, Healthcare,
healthcare is not just something
we can discuss at the city level,
it's a country level conversation,
in the UK there's state funded system called
the National Health Service or NHS,
which guarantees care for all,
that means everything from ambulance rides
and emergency room visits to long hospital stays,
complex surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy are all free,
well, that's payed for with payroll taxes, right?
In addition, any medication we get during the hospital visit
is free and the cost of most prescription drugs
at the pharmacy are relatively cheap
but there's also private health care in the UK
paid out-of-pocket
or through private insurance coverage
that only a small minority of residents go for it,
if you're in the corporate world, there's a chance
that we have access to private health already.
In Argentina there's also public and private,
however private hospitals are more common in Buenos Aires
and companies are required to provide health insurance
for the workers and most policies cover hospital visits
and a variety of prescription drugs and treatments,
Buenos Aires is also a popular destination
for medical tourism, with many, many, many foreigners
traveling to the city to get plastic surgery,
as obviously is much more affordable
for people coming from abroad.
So in London is okay
just to have the free health service, NHS,
whereas in Buenos Aires something might be wrong
if you don't have access to the private health,
I don't really want to go into a lot of details
because both are very different scenarios,
but they're used in both cities, public and private health,
and I have to say public, you can have a long queue in both,
although in London you can have access to
more than technology and the hospitals in London have
much larger medical supplies,
if you go private, both cities are fast
but most of the times when we pay for something, right?
However in London, appointments tend to be shorter,
I had many times, 15 minutes appointment,
whereas in Buenos Aires they give you 30 minutes,
once again, London is about business
and also optimizing time
and sometimes in Buenos Aires when we go to the doctor
we feel like we are also going to our psychologist,
I feel like both cities and countries
have really great doctors, but at the end of the day,
budget is such an important factor
in the success of the system,
and because we are talking about systems,
then let's discuss the time management system
in both cities.
(graphic whooshing)
Number four, time management, punctuality and efficiency
are the keys to the hectic life of a Londoner,
whether it is rushing to get to work on the Tube,
eating a quick lunch at Pret A Manger,
French name but it's a British chain,
or starting Friday night at 5:00 p.m.,
we don't waste a moment in London.
It's all about optimizing every minute,
this is bringing impatience,
which is something that we better leave behind
if we want to keep our sanity in Buenos Aires,
because poor tenures, run on their own clock,
which is one that has usually been set a couple of minutes
or hours late,
buses in Buenos Aires for example,
they can have many, many, many stops and take you very far
but, they don't have a predictable or consistent schedule,
same with the Tube
and we know in London we have timetables that
even though they can be some delays or cancellations,
generally they are consistent,
commuting in London is very, very structured
and we all know what to expect, whereas in Buenos Aires,
it can be more like an adventure sometimes.
Meeting friends in London and in Buenos Aires
is also a bit different,
let's say we want to go for a drink in London,
we agree to meet at 7:00 p.m.
and we'll be on time or potentially a minor delay,
in Buenos Aires though,
first of all we will never meet at 7:00 p.m.
as it's too early, we might agree at 9:00 p.m.
and we'll be arriving not before,
not before 9:30 or 10:00 p.m.,
don't ask me why, it's just like that,
it's why people living in London
might be a test of endurance and discipline
to experience this in Buenos Aires.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, thanks for watching
and next week stay tuned, because the second part is coming.