Desperately sad about holiday ending

[Jackolanterny]

We spend summers abroad, usually away for 4-5 weeks.

I love the climate here, the nature, the space, the vivid colours, the water. I love everything about life here.It’s Florida.

I don’t want to come home. I have about two days left and already feel the holiday blues creeping in and the anxiety about returning to the UK. I hate the weather at home. I hate the pace. I hate the greyness and bleakness of everyday. If you told me I could never step foot in the UK again, I wouldn’t be worried at all.

I was made for this place and wish I could just live here. I will cry my eyes out coming home as usual and will pine to come back, thinking of not much else. It’s a feeling similar to grief, as melodramatic as that sounds.

I know this is daft, that I should try to enjoy life at home, but I just don’t. I can’t move here, it’s not possible. Maybe I can retire here for 6 months of the year, but that’s a long time away.

Does anyone else ever feel the same? I’ve been coming here since 1991, but for longer stints since 2008. So this isn’t just a Disney bubble thing, I couldn’t give two hoots about Disney. I spend every spare penny coming here, saving like mad and going without, because I don’t see the point in spending on stuff in the UK.

Just posting because I feel so sad and wondered if this was normal and if anyone else ever feels like this about their chose holiday destination?

Thank you. I think we are going to look to move. It may not be to Fl initially, but it will be a sunny place. DH is very excited about the idea too.

We don’t have a lot of close family in the UK. I have my parents and one sibling, who I see about once a month or so. My husband has his mum and four siblings who he sees perhaps twice or three times a year. They are not close. My family would visit us in the states regularly as they love it there too!! DH’s family probably would not, but it’s a funny dynamic and always has been.

I would genuinely be happy never to set foot in the UK again. There isn’t anything there for us. Now I just have to see if we can make it happen.

Well that's good that you know ur own mind and are clear about what you want. I'm sure u can make it work if you want it like you do 💞

My family feel the same about Florida, so much so that many of them have moved there!

Sorry you're feeling that way about coming back OP :( tough one.

Thank you all for your help and advice. Sorry to be rubbish at replying, we’ve had a lovely few days.

Lots of food for thought and I’m thinking ‘why haven’t I moved?’ too. Truth is, I read that it was hard and that was enough to put me off.

But this cannot go on. I adore my husband. I like my job (sometimes lol) but I can’t deal with the greyness of the UK and the cold anymore. Thank you again!

If I craved the sun like you, I'd probably forego Florida Summer holidays so I'd have enough funds to go away every six weeks during the school holidays. That way, you'd always have something to look forward to.

Not Florida but I’ve always planned to retire to my favourite Greek island. I go as often as I can and it is very hard to leave. But thanks to Brexit I can only stay 90/180 days and the Greek government has just raised the Golden Ticket (residency) cost to property valued at over €800k from €250k so I can’t afford it any more.

I don't understand why you haven't made a move all these years. I don't know about Florida but UK teachers are definitely in demand in South and East Asia. Even if your subject is niche you have rhe skills of a teacher so can adapt it to a similar subject at a more junior level.

You are in charge OP. Make a move

Yanbu. It sounds fabulous. I absolutely detest the winter and the more I think about it the more crap I think the UK is. Over crowded, dirty, cold, raining, dark. I hope one day I can live somewhere warm near the sea.

Go for it OP! Glad you are considering a move.

Thank you. This thread really has given me a bit of a kick up the bum.

Yes, it is a bit hard on those of us who haven’t managed a holiday at all! 😬😬

But, trying to be kind, and I do understand that those feelings can be very real and strong, so I do hope you feel better soon OP.

Was really hot today here btw & you can go paddle boarding in lots of places🤷‍♀️sounds very extreme tbh, maybe therapy would help. It's not a normal way to live.

Saw this and thought of you xx

I feel like that about a part of France.

I feel for you and your immense privilege.

I’ve travelled a lot and used to always feel like this after a holiday. I felt like I hated the U.K. and our weather so much and was always dreaming of our next trip. However we have since moved to an area that’s particularly pretty, we love hiking and as silly as it sounds I realised it was actually the lack of hills where we were living that was making me depressed…I apparently can’t live anywhere flat. Now when we go on holiday I appreciate coming home (it’s actually a beautiful drive from the airport) and it’s made me fall in love with our country all over again.

What I’m trying to say is maybe there’s a little something missing where you live now that you could actually find if you moved elsewhere in the U.K?

People who love Florida, LOVE Florida. I've met a few, so I get it, OP.

Are you on www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/index.php? I know you said you aren't into Disney, but several on there have made the move or spend all their holidays there and don't bother with Disney anymore.

SAD is 100% real! I have it and would do almost anything to move abroad. I lived in a desert country as a child and it was the happiest time of my life. Unfortunately, DH’s health issues would make a move very difficult, or we’d be gone in a heart beat.

I hate that I have to take anti depressants, all kinds of supplements and sit in front of a stupid light box just to survive the 9+ months of misery in the UK. I also want to go Paddleboarding (hence the username) every day and walk the dog in the sunshine. I do not want to trudge about in waterproofs or “snuggle” in the dark with a hot chocolate.

I start to feel the "dread" once the schools go back...the long winter stretched out ahead and the long dark nights and the fact it's dark at 4pm. I honestly cannot explain how it affects my mood and mental health.

Have you considered Dubai ? Excellent opportunities for those in the education sector .tax free ,accommodation free no gun crime very safe place .and most of all plenty of sun x

17 degrees, 30mph wind and rain until 2pm here though. As is often pointed out, most of us outside the South do not often experience the milder weather!

Perhaps the fact you scrimp and save for just a month of the year is actually causing the issues, home you don't associate with nice things. Why not try a summer destination that's warm but cheaper - Italy, France or Spain perhaps, and use the difference to enjoy life in the U.K.

As teachers you could work for an international school overseas

It sounds like SAD or depression to me.

Maybe until/unless you can move somewhere sunnier, it might be better to plan on spending more of winter somewhere else, so you don't get the very worst of U.K. weather?

Though do check what it's like elsewhere at other times of year. I've only been to Florida once, we had air miles to use up before we returned from a couple of years living in Pennsylvania (way too cold or too hot and humid most of the time...now there's a climate to make me appreciate England!) . No one had ever told us Florida had a rainy season, we left early.