To miss the U.K. so much?

[SickoftheCword]

I live in another country in Europe and feeling so homesick for England at the moment. Not sure if the current situation is having an impact and making me think of the past more and happier times.
Aibu to want to move back to the U.K. and to miss it.

YANBU

It's hard when you're away but let me assure you, its not good here at the moment. You could be anywhere else cold dark and grey because you can't go anywhere or see anyone.

I've lived abroad and know when you get that pull its tough. In normal times I'd say pop back fir a visit and see how you genuinely feel then decide but right now it's pretty dire. You really would gain much in family and friends.

I've friends who returned from 3 years SE Asia. They were desperate to get back here but now wish they waited anotherv12 months.

OP, I don’t blame you for being homesick, I love this country so much and would never live elsewhere.
Ignore all the naysayers who seem to hate this country, judging by how many people are desperate to get here we must have something going for us.
I hope you get home soon

I left the UK for a Caribbean island over 13 years ago and still miss aspects of it.
The aspects I miss are totally rose tinted versions of it though, picture perfect villages, rolling green hills in summer, a lager top in a beer garden on that first hot weekend in summer when everything feels hopeful and joyous. I miss the ease of being able to shop in one grocery store and get everything I need.

I get pangs of homesickness when I look at rightmove and look at properties we could buy outright and move back. But the reality is proper shit with brexit, Covid, winter and misery. Hopefully it'll be better by Spring.

I know what you mean OP.
I live in a part of GB. We get a lot of rain. Brexit is causing problems which could result in violence, our NHS waiting lists are the worst, although our vaccination programme is going well.
Would I rather be somewhere else?
No, it is my home. The place of my birth. Where my family are. Where my roots are, my ancestors buried.
When I fly back from a holiday, my heart swells when the familiar views of my home come into sight. There's no place I'd rather be.

I live in part of U.K. Oh for an edit button

But the reality is proper shit with brexit, Covid, winter and misery

I'm no Pollyanna but ...
We've had day after day of beautiful, cold, sunny days. Perfect for wrapping up, going for a walk and appreciating a warm house. Will really appreciate Spring which is just around the corner.

Covid has wreaked havoc all over Europe, not just the UK.

I've been saddened by Brexit but time will tell whether it will be bad for Britain.

The reason I asked how long the OP has lived abroad is because of the way the UK has changed over the last five years, and definitely the last ten. Think how we all felt in 2012, for example.

I lived outside the UK for 5 years in my twenties and had a fantastic time; working and travelling in many different countries and experiencing different cultures.
I would thoroughly recommend it, but I was also terribly homesick and desperate to get home by the end of it.
There is a lot to be said for living in a safe and stable country and I don't think many people really appreciate what we have here until they have experienced how others live.
And I don't need people from other first world countries lecturing me on how awful we are compared to them. I'm not saying we are the best by a long mile, just that for me this is home and for all it's imperfections, I feel comfortable here...

Eurgh I’m crap and can’t link 🙈Open arms by Elbow always takes my back to feeling homesickness, I’m from Manchester/North west and it’s ingrained in my soul (dramatic, but true!) that song makes me weepy

Yanbu op. We moved abroad late 2019. Planned to go home in early 2020 and family to visit each school holiday. I haven't seen my family in person since we left because of all this covid bollocks.

Other than my family, I miss proper fish & chips, dirty chicken shops, real kebabs, wimpy and tgi fridays 😂 I don't miss much else other than specific foods.

Op i completely understand. When you are homesick no amount of sunshine, beaches
or sweeping sea views can replace your real home. Its about a longing for familiarity. Your own culture and everything that goes with it, your native language and understanding everything that is being said,
Supermarkets selling everything you like and need, family and old friends, feeling as if you belong. Britain is still a very good place to call home.

I’m always surprised by the people who don’t understand these threads. I think if you haven’t travelled much you don’t understand the pull of homesickness.

Yes the UK has huge faults but it’s an amazing and beautiful country to live in and I also have little desire to grow old anywhere else. Holidays would be good though!

Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow

I agree. It’s not so awful living here I’ve lived in a few countries it’s an easier life here that we can’t get a few foods in supermarkets at present really isn’t hardship

Many refugees will feel homesick (I imagine vast majority) for the countries they have fled that are ravaged by war it’s still home it’s still part of them many still long to return

Lived and travelled the world. Nothing beats home. I can understand you being homesick.

I also live in Europe and would love to get back to the UK to see family and friends (miss Christmas vue due to the new variant).

When I have said this to friends and family, the answer was, what are you crazy!! I guess you don't know what it is like to be homesick until you are in that position!!

I’ve been in Australia for ten years now and I still miss home. I miss having definite seasons. I miss the high street. I miss pubs. I miss my family. Dh and I often say when we retire we will go back to the up for a crazy long holiday and possibly to live. But that is decades away. I just wish we had the money to come home every few years all together.

No matter where you are in Europe right now, things will not be fun! I do think on this site in particular there is so much negativity towards the UK and its easy especially with out mainstream media who just thrive of the negative! No matter what happens next after covid/Brexit, things will not be easy in any European country for the foreseeable future and sometimes especially in times we are going through, things feel easier in the land you are from!

YANBU - when I lived I the US for a couple of years, it was fun but I did miss the U.K.
One of the things I missed was quite literally that the grass was greener! Flying back one Xmas over the green patchwork...gorgeous. Living somewhere else can make you appreciate things you take for granted.

OP I could have written your post. I am in Scandinavia but would gnaw my right arm off to move back to London. There's no place like home

You aren't missing much TBH. We have some of the highest death rates in the world and an incompetent and corrupt government. Not to mention Brexit. We'd give our right arms to be living in a European country at the moment.
Having said that, before the last couple of years we have always loved the UK and London in particular. And yes the NHS is playing a blinder with the vaccine programme at the moment.
I guess the grass is always greener!

I think the inability to travel makes the homesickness worse. I know I don't want to live in the UK again - for various reasons, not knocking the UK but specific situation for me. But I miss my family and friends and the ability to jump on a plane and be with them. Living abroad has never been an issue because I knew I could always get to them - the limits on travel has changed that and it makes me quite tearful to know I can't get to them.

YANBU. I’ve been away from home for 3.5 years now (2 countries) and I’m dying to go home. This whole situation has exacerbated that, for sure.

I understand that homesick feeling. It’s hard to rationalise .
I’ve been in Nz for years and have become a citizen but there’s so much talk , probably from the Maori influence , about belonging , connection to the land of your ancestors etc that you can’t help thinking - this isn’t my place, it’s a land thousands of miles away.