I'm guessing speaking English well enough (even if it's not the country's native language) and the Internet help immensely. I could barely speak in person with my landlord, but emails were fine. And a public service generally has someone who can speak English, but not my native language.
Does this make it closer to the first or the second?
Two weekends was basically my experience with London before moving, and I had few savings. But London simply doesn't feel all that strange from Copenhagen when it comes to the basics.
Not having to deal with immigration is probably the least of it, at least by the time you're actually making the move (the author had visa sorted, that only unravelled several years later).
But yes, daily routines. I suspect those are a lot more compatible between two present day (western?) European countries than it would have been for the author.