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Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

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Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Living overseas

we're coming back

37 replies

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 13:45

we've given it a year, or at least by the time we go it'll be a year. we've had a good year in Canada but it's one of those "it's nice but I wouldn't want to live here" type things.

I don't regret a thing. we had to do it and get it out of our system.

everything i love about the UK are all the reasons I don't want to live here and we miss my in-laws so much its painful.

UK mortgage here I come!

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IOtter · 10/04/2007 13:47

my friends have just come back frm th US daddy and they feel such relief and glad to be back

Iklboo · 10/04/2007 13:47

Want to do a house swap daddycool???
We were thinking about Canada pre-DS, still not entirely gone out of our thoughts but now there's other issues like DH's line opf work etc. Maybe one day............

SenoraPostrophe · 10/04/2007 13:48

good for you daddycool.

we're coming home too, in July. Family number one reason for me too (well, for dh number one reason is the audi I said he could buy with our house savings).

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 13:48

i'm now looking forward to coming home and taking on the UK again. You feel a little cut off here.

quite dull here as well.

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Waswondering · 10/04/2007 13:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 13:49

where are you Senora?

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DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 13:50

WW - nope! we've only been here since May last year. We were going to give it a year and see how we liked it.

It was a tough decision at first but everything suddenly became very clear in the last week.

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SenoraPostrophe · 10/04/2007 13:51

spain. been here for nearly 7 years. which is lucky isn't it?

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 13:57

seven years! wow. have you been back to UK much in that time?

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SenoraPostrophe · 10/04/2007 13:58

once or wtice a year. not as much as I'd like. but we do still get uk telly though, which helps!

PizPizPiz · 10/04/2007 14:23

I heard somewhere that about 2/3 of all Brits who move abroad each year come back rather soon after.

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 14:29

the UK is all about love/hate (imo).

everyone hates the houses prices, weather (though the summer is rather nice), crime and crowding but everyone also seems to love the character, and general feel of the place. not to mention the beautiful country side. The UK has so much going for it. it makes for a difficult decision.

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Nightynight · 10/04/2007 14:34

ha Piz that sounds like the British Telecom ad where they tried to persuade you that everyone else is moving back to BT.
Im still out of the UK, dont think I will ever go back by choice, even though our current situation is not happy.

you may not have got on with Canada - but are the reasons why you wanted to leave the UK still valid?

Earlybird · 10/04/2007 14:37

Daddycool - good that you got it out of your system, and will return ready to tolerate the downsides of life in the UK and embrace the good.

We are in the opposite situation - preparing for 2 years in America. It's a 'toe in the water' experiment, with no doors closed in the UK in case we're desperate to return.

Ivor · 10/04/2007 14:39

Ahh Daddycool, sorry to hear your leaving, I sort of regarded you as my neigbour (I'm in Detroit), but hear where your coming from. We did the same thing, gave it a year before deciding do we stay or do we go, we stayed, been here 3 1/2 years.
Whatevers good for you, atleast you gave it a go, I'm sure you'll all take a lot of positives back to Blighty with you.
Good luck. (You'll never get that huge SUV back in the old country)!!!!

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 14:41

very much so nighty night.

the reasons are still valid but it came down to where we would rather live and we ended up ignoring the technical reasons why we left in the first place (crime, house prices, crowding)

we have a plan and a new approach so hopefully it'll work out.

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DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 14:42

absolutey earlybird. we put everything in storage and ensured an easy move back if need be. its best to take calculated risks imo.

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Nightynight · 10/04/2007 14:43

I hope it does work out for you.
I am looking at moving again (we are in south Germany, but its all gone pearshaped), but I cant face going back to UK, becuase I know that after 5 minutes, Ill be in the same hell as before, stuck in the poverty trap on some dirty estate because I cant afford anything better.

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 14:43

.... and i'm canadian so i know a little more than just the year we have spent here. i seem to just belong in the UK.

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Earlybird · 10/04/2007 14:44

Do you have any recommendations for freight/shipping companies? Or warnings about ones to stay away from? Alot will go into storage, but we won't be able to manage with only a few suitcases on the plane...

franke · 10/04/2007 14:48

Will you go back to the same place in the UK or will you try somewhere new? What's your strategy to make it better this time and stop you pinging backwards and forwards across the pond?

These threads always make me a bit sad - I'd love to go back to the UK (or somewhere English-speaking that would take us), but it ain't gonna happen any time soon.

PizPizPiz · 10/04/2007 14:54

I think deep down inside one can never really feel at home in a foreign country. I've been away from my country for over 6 years, spent some time in the US and in the UK and never felt at home in either of those places. I'm moving back to France in August, for good I hope. I also miss speaking the language so much.

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NaomifromMilkshake · 10/04/2007 14:56

PizPizPiz · 10/04/2007 15:03

are you ok naomi ?!

DaddyCool · 10/04/2007 15:03

pizpiz - i'm canadian and was so up to the age of 21. but the UK is def my home.

earlybird - haven't dealt with any shipping companies yet (just bought everything cheap when we got here) but storage is a bugger. it's expensive and the only decent place i found to keep my stuff clean and safe was a big national chain - access.

franke - yes, we'll end up back in the midlands, close to inlaws.

strategy is this... we'll just go the whole hog and not hold back. i can progress my career much more, we'll take on a big mortgage that stretches us, i'll work more in the evening from home to keep up and i'll also work to set up on my own as quickly as possible.

i took a 'don't give a sh*t' approach to my job here and found that it worked just fine. i have the same kind of job with the same pressures but because it's canada, it pays alot less. i'll take the same approach in the UK because it seems to be working just fine. work at times that best suit me and push back on anything that comprimises me too much.

sounds a little shaky i know but dw doesn't work so we've always got that coming up when ds goes to school this september.

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