Tomorrow I am moving from New York City (by which I mean Manhattan), where I have spent almost all of my life, to London. Indefinitely. And I am INCREDIBLY excited. It’s not that I don’t love NYC—it is, in my opinion, one of the greatest cities in the world—but I am ready for a change, happy to leave behind the rest of the USA (which I don’t particularly like), and eager to live in Europe. Plus, many of the aspects of New York that I love are quite European in nature, so I don’t feel as though I’m leaving behind too much. For example London, like New York, is extremely international; the city is packed with all sorts of interesting neighborhoods and people, ensuring that one never gets bored. However, there are some parts of New York that I will really miss. Here are just a few to start… I’m sure there will be more that I haven’t even realized yet.

1. The city never sleeps. I know that this is said all the time, but it really is true. At any hour of the night, there are open restaurants, supermarkets, delicatessens, pharmacies, electronics stores… I never realized quite how much I would miss this 24-hour approach to life until being in London at 4:30 in the morning, trying to find a single café that was still open. So far I have found 3 in London, and none are particularly good.

2. The cheap taxis, which are EVERYWHERE. Except for during New Year’s Eve or a blizzard, you will almost always find a cab within a couple minutes. And compared with virtually every other city (or suburban town) in the first world, the taxis are really cheap in New York. I cringe when thinking of London cab fares.

3. The unbelievable, boundless energy. Sure, the quality of life might not be as high in New York as it is in countries like Spain, where the length of a workday is reasonable and where vacation is not unheard of. These are two reasons in fact that I want to move to Europe for the indefinite future. However, there is something admirable—and more importantly, energizing—about the pure ambition and work ethic of New Yorkers. Not a single lazy bone exists in the body of those lawyers who work 18-hour days, 6 or 7 days a weeks, 51 weeks a year. And when you walk down the street, you are surrounded and swept up by crowds of New Yorkers charging purposefully down the sidewalk. The sense of vitality and adrenaline is intoxicating.

4. The anonymity, and the freedom that accompanies it. I love that in New York you can spend an entire day on the street without running into a single person that you know. You can wear what you like, do what you like, and pretend to be whomever you like. Perhaps you will get a strange look if you do anything too bizarre, but at the end of the day, no one will remember you and consequently be able to hold you accountable. Of course there are also those days when you manage to run into half the people in your life. But for the most part, the city is excitingly anonymous.

5. New York is a walking city. I know that European cities are also walking cities, in the sense that you stroll down the street and walk from business to business. But I have never encountered a place where cars are so incidental as in New York. The only reason to have a car in Manhattan is if you need to drive outside of the city. I guess for those who are wedded to their cars, this might be annoying. But there’s a reason that New Yorkers are the healthiest people in America.