Heading down to London to start university or find your way in the big wide world? That, my friend, can be a scary move. Hell, when we first decided to move down here a few years back with a knapsack full of dreams and shilling to our name, it took every last bit of courage in our bony legs to hop on the 16:45 to Paddington, and ever more courage to stay once we go there.
BUT. When you're here, it'll be great. Promise. Sure it's not going to be an easy ride (living in a mouldy shit tip with only mice for friends is only fun for a while), but it can be the funnest city in the whole wide world.
To help you out, we've compiled a list of apps that you need to get right away to help you with the move.
1. London Bus Live
Literally the greatest app you'll ever use. How the makers of this app know where every bus in London is at any one time while TFL haven't got a bloody clue is beyond us. It's probably magic. Anyways. Use this app when you're standing at a bus stop waiting for the 171 to Bellingham at 2AM. It'll tell you how long there is until your bus arrives which means you can make an educated guess as to whether or not you've got enough time to go and get a packet of crisps from the Spar.
2. City Mapper
Because, as mentioned above, TFL are a bit rubbish. And they don't have an app. And their journey planner on their website is a bit of a robot. City Mapper is the intuitive travel guide that'll get you from A to B no matter how picky you are about which methods of transport you take. Also, it TELLS YOU WHAT CARRIAGE YOU NEED TO GET ON THE TUBE AT SO YOU CAN GET TO THE NEAREST EXIT SOONER. Literally spending one day in London will make you realise how valuable that damn feature is. People are slow and you'll want to kill them.
3. Uber
You might be coming from a place that already has Uber, you've probably already used it, but there are no words to describe how invaluable this app is when you're the last one left at a rave in Hackney Wick and you've lost all your friends and it's 4AM and you have no idea how to get home (don't feel bad about this, no-one knows how to get home from the true depths of Hackney Wick, not even the people that live there). Uber will come and scoop you up and deliver you home for a price that's probably way more than your taxi company at home would charge but way less than what a black cab would.
4. Dojo
You'll get the hang of what happens where eventually but until then (or if you're just in need of inspiration) then download Dojo. It'll tell you all the restaurants, bars and everything else in your immediate area and give you reviews, how expensive they are and help you figure out how to get there from where you are now. Allows you to take charge of that incredible annoying 'so... what shall we do now?' moment that happens when you're out with a whole bunch of people.
5. Happn
Because this app works best in highly populated areas and Tinder's full of weirdos. Londoners looking for love (and luv, and lust) are favouring the dating app at the moment over Tinder because (according to a girl I know that's much cooler than I'll ever be) it's got more of the 'young, cool, professional' crowd on it. Go forth and snog.
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
The Best City Beaches In London To Go And Get Drunk At This Summer
Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.