Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

[HonoraBridge]

I love the UK in many ways but it has been going downhill for at least 20 years and it feels as if the speed of the decline is accelerating. I no longer see a happy, or particularly safe, future here. For the first time in my life, I am very seriously thinking about leaving the UK and that feeling gets stronger day by day. When I mention this to friends, many are feeling the same way. YANBU - you are right to think seriously about leaving the UK. YABU - the UK is a still a great country to live in and you are being unreasonable to want to leave.

Lets talk about train travel. Do you agree that otber countries in Europe are better connected by train, than the U.K. is?

Well, given that Britain is an island then yeah.

But I don't think it's that relevant as most international travel is done by air, and Britain is probably the best connected country in Europe in that respect. If you live in or near any major British city you can be pretty much anywhere in Europe within a few hours, and as I said above, Britain has excellent connections to the entire world.

So claiming that Britain is 'isolated' is just nonsense really.

Its not nonsense at all.

What about Brexit? Brexit has alos made the UK much more isolated from the rest of Europe.

I have an English friend and an Irish friend, who both went to teach English in Spain.

My Irish friend just got a job and moved there.

My English friend told me that he has had an absolute nightmare getting a visa and getting the paperwork sorted to move there.

It is nonsense. It's a demonstrable fact that Britain has excellent transport connections throughout Europe and the globe.

As for Brexit, maybe start a different thread instead of trying to drag this one off topic.

I started my point by saying the UK is isolated.

I used Brexit as an example of how the UK is EXTREMELY isolated.

It is much harder for people to now move and work in other countries.

So talking about brexit stayed on my point. It didn't go off topic at l.

Why are you so angry and defensive?

You do realise that you are on a thread where
the OP says that she wants to leave the UK?

People are allowed to want to leave the UK.

I also want to leave the U.K
at the end of this year. For the reasons that I mentioned above.

I hate the feeling of isolation in this country.

You don’t understand ? Yes it’s connected but in Spain Portugal etc you can get trains for 30 euros to go to other countries , here from Scotland to England is £300 . In the continent is much easier to travel freely , that’s what the person above is trying to explain . With that comes people being a lot more hospitable and used to others .

You can only travel cheaply by train if you're living close to your destination. £30 isn't going to take you very far anywhere in Europe.

And I don't know where you're getting your figures from. I recently took a return train from Edinburgh to Newcastle for about £50. Full fare, booked on the day of travel. I thought that was pricey enough but saying it costs £300 is just silly.

And the idea that people are more 'hospitable' because of (supposedly) cheap international train travel? I don't know where to start with that one.

Edinburgh and newcastle are only one hour away from each other.

If you got the train from edinburgh to london it probably would cost 300 pounds

Eurostar , England to France is definitely over 300 pounds. I just checked it

The person said 'Scotland to England'. Edinburgh is in Scotland and Newcastle is in England.

And no it would not cost £300 to travel from Edinburgh to London, except perhaps if you insist on first class and book last minute on a busy day. I know people who travel that route frequently and they don't spend anything like that much.

Anyway the conversation is silly and off topic so I'll leave it there.

Most people just get Saturday and sunday off work.

The difference is this: say if you are living in Milan, Italy.

You can get a cheap train from Milan to Switzerland on Saturday, and spend the weekend there easily.

If you live in London for example and you want to go to france for the weekend, you either have to pay huge money for the eurostar, or you have to spend a lot of time getting through two aiports - to spend a couple of hours in france.

It is more difficult to travel from the UK, and i just find it makes life more difficult.

No you are wrong. It definitely could be 300 pounds for a return ticket from edinburgh to london. Easily.

I got a train from London to Norwich a while ago. The distance is two hours on the train.

A One way ticket, not first class, booked way ahead of time, cost me 100 pounds.

Clearly you never lived elsewhere . I can travel in Portugal from the north to the south of the country for less than £10 as an example , same in Spain . People are more hospitable because they Tavel often and are used to receive others , their culture is not a closed historically , something that England is not great at .

And the prize for the most pedantic example of someone purposely misinterpreting something someone else has said on Mumsnet goes to....
Da da da daaaaaaa....
This poster.
Speech! Speech!

Yes train travel is so much cheaper outside of the UK.

I don't like the isolation in the UK. I also don't like how rude and unfriendly many people are in England, compared to other countries

I also don't like how old fashioned England is. Other countries are much more modernised.

I remember meghan markle said that she was shocked when she had to curtsey to the queen. She said meeting the queen was like going to a themed restaurant in America, where actors pretend to put on a medieval banquet.

I am using that analogy, because to a lot of people in England, curtseying to the royal family is seen as normal, but to many other countries it is seen as extremely old-fashioned.

I feel like that about a lot of different aspects of English life. How old fashioned it all is.

? I don’t think the majority of people would have the faintest idea what you are supposed to do in front of the Royal Family, so that is a frankly ridiculous example. You might as well pretend people in the UK wear bowler hats to work and carry umbrellas.

I disagree.

In my English workplace, they talk about the Royal family a lot.

If you go into the shop and buy any English magazine, the Royal family are on the front of so many pages.

Please go back to Europe where it is all so much better than the UK

You have been very rude about this country

Oh grow up. You are being immature

Maturity is being able to take criticism about your country. The UK is not perfect.

The OP of this thread also criticised the UK, and said that the UK has gone downhill.

Are you going to tell her that she is rude too?

She hasn't been as rude as you have. You have been quite insulting but as I am so immature I'll take myself off to bed

Oh and whilst we are on it, where do you come from so that we can all be rude about that and see how mature you are about it

I don't think she has been rude at all. She said that she does not like living in the UK.

That is a valid point which she is entitled to say.

I am also entitled to say that i dont like living in the UK. I listed isolation as the main reason why i dont like living here.

Isolation is hardly a rude reason.

You need to get a thicker skin love. I hear people criticizing the UK every day of the week. The cost of living, the NHS, the troubled teenagers , housing, government etc

Still not telling use where you are from so that we can criticise it

So defensive?

So in your view, are people not allowed to criticize the UK at all? Is that not a bit of a weird stance. What about freedom of speech?

People have criticized things about my home country to me, and I agreed with them!

I certainly wasnt like "how dare you say that"

Shhh, the grownups are talking

Where do you live and work? I’ve lived in various parts of the UK for over 50 years and never had to talk about the Royal Family, or discuss curtseying. You are therefore being pretty offensive to paint your experience as some kind of norm.