Canadian here. Spent about a decade in Toronto and still have a lot of love for the city. Moved to the UK about 10 years ago and love it here, as well. I try to go back to Canada about once a year and, while I still consider it to be "home," the UK is feeling more and more like home, as well.

Some things I love about the UK...

Pubs. Pub culture here is truly something special. A pub isn't just a place to get sloppy or meet with adult friends. It's a place to take your family for lunch, to chill with your dog in the garden, to catch a quiz or a match. You're as welcome there with a lemonaid and plate of chips as you are with a pint. It's one of the things I miss most when I visit Toronto. Pubs there are for drinking. You can take your kids into some, but be prepared to hear a comment from a citizen-ethics-enforcer, if you choose the wrong one. Forget about taking your dog anywhere that serves food. That's not to say that bars aren't fun and welcoming in Toronto ... they're just not community hubs, as they can be in the UK.

Walkability. It's hard to beat London and the rest of the UK. In London, you have an incredible amount of stuff to see and do, no matter which direction you choose. When you first move, you'll be overloaded with history, architecture, and culture. Moving outside of the cities, you'll generally find towns that, while population dense, benefit from easy access by foot. Even if you don't live in a big city, if you live in a smaller town that's well-served by transit, you can get by without a car, no prob.

Trains and buses can get you anywhere! It's amazing. 4-8 hours from London will get you to Edinburgh, from which you can take trains up to the far north, or back down through the centre of the country and towards the West. My wife and I took a 2-week long holiday through Scotland, the Highlands and out to Skye using nothing but buses, trains and hiking. It's something that I'd not have been able to do in Canada without a lot more money and more than a few taxis.

Right to roam. You can walk pretty much anywhere through the countryside.

Europe. It's right on the doorstep, and it's relatively easy to find cheaper travel across the channel by train or plane.

It's safer than the news would have you believe. Sure, there are places in the UK that you probably wouldn't want to wander into at night. Or with the wrong football jersey. But it's pretty safe, overall. More acurately, London is a surprisingly safe city to live in. Again, you need to watch out for certain situations, as you would in any city (walking around with your phone out and no situational awareness may lead to one less phone in your life).

Culture. London is surrounded with other cultures. From tourists to the fact that it's an international hub, people from all over the world have been stopping there for generations and enticing folks with a heap of ethnic foods, music and culture. Even better, most museums and galleries are free to enter.

London is also shockingly green. Big parks. Canals. Green corridors.

It's not all sunshine and roses. It doesn't rain here as much as the reputation would have you believe, but the UK definitely doesn't enjoy as much sun as either Canada (most of) or NZ. Seasons are also fairly muted here – at least in the sound of the island. Winters are mainly just cold and wet. The entire island is pretty damp and, while you'll rarely experience cold below -5C, the damp helps that cold cut through to your very bones. Oh, and mold. Get used to dealing with that stuff a lot more often. Homes are generally not as well-insulated, nor benefit from decent air-flow. Dehumidifiers are your friends!