To think that moving overseas to escape your problems is daft

[Pavementworrier]

Because overseas will just have new problems (compounded by people thinking you're an annoying foreigner)

I have loved living outside the U.K. and yes it did resolve the issues I was allegedly running away from - like bad weather and poor healthcare.

The UK has its pros and cons. Like everywhere does. No where is perfect.

We previously lived abroad, big house, warm weather, pool, large UK expat community.

We really enjoyed the years we spent there and the opportunities that came with it.

We’ve never regretted moving back when our 4 year posting came to an end.

When you move abroad you take all your emotional baggage with you,

Distance from wider support networks can impact marriages and mental health for some people.

Distance from difficult family members can help in some cases but families can also pile on huge amounts of guilt because you have left them. Dealing with aging parents from a distance is extremely difficult.

Living in a foreign country can very stressful, even if you speak the language fluently. Cultural issues, driving rules, local tax/legal/admin/educational/medical system differences can all be quite testing.

In summary there are some great things that come will living in a foreign country but in my experience there are an equal number of difficult things to balance it out. Much like living in the UK.

@Pavementworrier it is a big big world out there OP.

There are places that have a significantly better quality of life in many areas: lower taxes, cheaper childcare and domestic help, bigger and better housing, affordable food, free high quality education, more green space, more leisure activity opportunities, opportunities to learn a new language or embrace a new lifestyle. Better weather.

Your post, perhaps unintentionally, comes across like you think the English way of life is the best life.

Many people in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean have a far more comfortable lifestyle than some Brits think. Far better. FAR better.

Thanks. Nice. I wasn’t criticising NHS professionals by the way - vast majority superb. But the NHS as a system isn’t working.

Maybe one of the reasons UK is so unhealthy is that primary care has died a death. In other countries annual health checks pick up many issues early when the prognosis is much better - in many parts of the UK people go years without seeing anyone for a blood pressure, cholesterol or blood test. Access to diagnostic machines - ultrasound, CT scans MRIs is restricted. This becomes more of an issue from middle age onwards.

The problem is you are always part of the problem, so usually you just take the problem with you.( Well at least part of it as ,somehow it's often how you relate to your problems.)

Depends on the problem. My biggest problem is myself, so it comes with me wherever I go!

It worked for me 🥂

Sometimes your problems are easier when you are skiing every weekend in the winter and spending summer on a sunny beach.

When a UK person goes overseas, they're praised for having the get up and go to better themselves

When a migrant arrives here, they're often scorned as "on the make"

The irony of this amuses me a little

So you have accessed healthcare in most of the rest of Europe then, to be able to say this?

Same here, but I think I'd rather have that burden in the south of France or somewhere else that's warmer and less wet! 😁

Its true that plenty of EU countries have higher taxes but you often see where those taxes are spent every time you step outside your frontdoor or when you have to engage with the state. Things just seem to work better, not perfect, but better then the UK which has been on a downward spiral for sometime and its going to take sustained investment for a generation to get close to fixing the problems. I have lived and worked for extended periods in Sweden, Poland, Italy, Switzerland and France, they all have their own unique issues that they have to deal with but day to day life was just infinitely better then the UK. I think a lot of Brits just dont appreciate quite how far the UK has fallen behind.

I know a lot of people that have moved overseas exasperated at quality of life in the UK.

Most have a connection to the country they’re moving to - ie one partner has dual nationality (meaning they can do it easily to).

Im London-based and people often seem to just decide the quality of life they want isn’t achievable on the wage available - house prices + full fat nursery fees mean even on a high income your lifestyle will look pretty ordinary.

I have a friend who has just moved back to Sweden.

Their £55,000 a year childcare bill in London is <£4,000 a year there, two kids.

No brainer really.

how is it sad! Moving abroad can be amazing, new cultures/ languages/ traditions. It can transform your life

I moved abroad in 2021:

• I make more money for a lot less work
• I have a house with a pool instead of a 1 bedroom flat in SE London
• healthcare is exceptional and my experience of having a baby was entirely different to my friends in the UK. I had my own OB GYN, monthly checkups, 3 day hospital stay and a midwife visiting me regularly at home for 2 weeks to help with breastfeeding and any other issues
• summer is too hot but winter is exceptional. Think a perfect English summer's day type weather.

So I'd say all my problems have been fixed

I say each to their own. I love Merseyside,i love my family and the people generally, it would destrory my ds and i to move
I have family who emigrated to Australia and love it.
My cousin moved there and got fed up due to rent costs,horrendous heat and found people not as friendly he returned home.
I would like a little more heat and my small business is really struggling due to all changes in the last two years ( thats a big issue for a lot of people).

I left the UK post Brexit. I regret nothing.

I've lived in a few different places and I love the UK, things are not always easy but literally every country is having some housing/cost of living crisis especially Australia and Canada. But I do think you need to change your environment if your deeply unhappy, I can see why sun/weather is so important for some people. (I've also worked with lots of Spanish / Portuguese people who have said that the weather/lifestyle is wonderful but there aren't always the jobs to pay for the lifestyle and that's why they have to leave )

@Pavementworrier Moved to Switzerland 6 years ago from London - never regretted it. It's not been easy and has probably taken up to this time to get a permanent residence permit, learn the language, establish a solid friendship group and set up a business but there's no way I'd ever move back to the UK. I pay less tax, earn 3 times more money, have a better quality of life. People are fed up of with paying high taxes in the UK that they don't feel they see the benefits of - how that money is spent doesn't improve their quality of life - NHS still terrible, infrastructure/public transport diabolical, cost of living high, education poor etc. Here I pay less tax but I can visibly see how taxes are spent - every year my city is being improved, my life gets better.
Every time i come to the UK the trains are delayed, it's dirty - litter everywhere, playgrounds with broken swings, rubbish strewn, even my 5yo asks why is there rubbish everywhere. Roads are heavily congested. Schools are oversubscribed- 30 kids in a class - here 16 kids in a class in state school. In UK you fall on hard times claim UC which pays pittance. Here as long as you've been working for 2 years you are entitled to claim up to 80% of your salary for up to 2 years if you lose your job. You also pay mandatory sickness insurance so that if you become ill whilst working you are covered. It's a system that works brilliantly and highlights how terrible the UK really is. I feel that every time I come home- the mood is so low amongst Brits - people are fed up with the daily grind, high tax, high cost of living, nothing works, and I don't blame them. I'm not surprised people are leaving in droves.

Every place has its problems. I don’t think anyone moves abroad under the illusion that where they’re headed to is perfect, and it’s disingenuous to present this as being the case. Whether one place is better than another is heavily dependent on the individual, their circumstances, and their preferences. It’s specifically heavily dependent on finances, and skillset. A country that offers more to someone with an in demand skillset and/or established wealth isn’t necessarily going to be a country that is attractive to someone without either.

I’ve emigrated twice, once as a child and once as an adult. It certainly provided a better life.

It depends what you mean. We moved overseas 10 plus years ago.
For us it was a change of job for DH that meant one work problem went.
Our experience has been largely positive.
Problems don’t all magically go away. Some do. Some new ones come along.
However financially it has been a positive choice for us. The DC have had in many aspects a freer more outdoors childhood and now also have a 2nd passport.
But it hasn’t been without problems- turn over of friends, personal and mental health challenges.
But we don’t regret it and it was the right decision for us.

100% agree. We did the same too

Heck. Only if you're in the royal family or have other riches to pay

@Pavementworrier your point about medical trials is sadly being eroded. Location of choice for many trials is now Australia...