Moving abroad has made me realise how bloody dire the UK is

[MattHancocksPrivateNurse]

We moved abroad 4 months ago and after the normal wobbles and adjustments I am now shocked at how different (and much better!) life is. We have considerably more spending money despite paying for private school and healthcare (which are much much better than the UK). It’s safer, considerably cleaner, better public services and much better food quality.

already I can’t see us ever going back and already want to explore somewhere new eventually! But if anyone is feeling low and despondent about the uk which we really were and gets an opportunity (or has a transferable job) I would 100000% recommend looking into it.

i wish we had done it 10 years ago tbh. AIBU to never come back bar the odd visit to see family and friends?!

Where did you move to?

I lived abroad for 13 years and in the end was delighted to come back. I love it here although it has its faults. (I did move away from the v. expensive and crowded south east though, so enjoy considerably more money and better quality of life than we had just outside London.)

It just depends what makes you tick. Four months is still honeymoon though - there’s an adjustment curve you should take a look at. Expect a dip around 6 months and again at 2 years.

Glad you are happy, although having moved to the UK from abroad I would say you are still very much in the honeymoon period. Hope you continue to enjoy it long term though!

It wasn't so many months ago people were posting exactly the same about Dubai.
Personally I'm allergic to war zones.

Congratulations on your move and it’s great it’s working out so well for you.

If I could speak the language and we didn’t have such important family ties here in the UK, I’d be very tempted to move to my fiancé’s home country. The difference in healthcare alone is night and day.

4 months is too early. I left UK and moved to one of the so called dream countries at least according to all the rankings. High income, safety, every thing perfect on paper but it was bloody lonely. People were nice but reserved. Winters were depressing. I honestly prefer not perfect London.

Well, but not equal.

Your life may be better there because you can afford to pay for private school and health insurance. But what about people on a low income?

Moving from the UK, it's perfectly possible to move to a country where your financial situation compared to costs is better, but I would always judge how 'dire' somewhere is based on the very lowest household incomes. Would you rather be poor there or here? If you were an expat from a poor country, employed as domestic help, would you feel the same?

I’m genuinely pleased you’ve found happiness in Oman, OP, but I do find it bewildering. I’m biased as I came to the U.K. as a young child and feel grateful every day that my parents chose the UK. I have reason to understand, unfortunately, how quickly a country can turn and I would be extremely nervous about being somewhere like Oman where my position both as a foreign national and as a woman was so precarious. I certainly wouldn’t want to go there as a mother.

Things can, of course, turn ugly in any country. But I much prefer my odds in the UK compared to most countries, and most certainly compared to Oman! And let’s not even start on human rights abuses.

I’ve heard things about clean streets and standards of living in the ME and it’s always interesting to consider that we ought to raise our standards, so I welcome the conversation if nothing else.

The mention of the ME will have people frothing at the mouth on here OP. I expect some people have never left the village they grew up in and like to be armchair warriors!

The ME is by no means perfect but the healthcare is better and I am financially better off which means that I may be able to afford my own house one day, if/when I return to the UK. I’m not ignorant or blind to the terrible working conditions of some people living here and I try to help out where I can. I don’t have ‘help’ and I do think that some people who live here are lazy and entitled because they are used to having someone picking up after them - but then I’ve also lived in other countries where it’s the same. I’ve met some of the loveliest people here too, most people are just here doing the best for their families.

Ok that’s great. I am more curious about your username. Do you have a crush on baldy Hancock?

If you can earn a lot many countries will offer a better lifestyle.

Although there will definitely be a difference in how you feel depending on your age. Older, mortgage free, adult dc will have a difference experience to someone starting out now.

Do t bla.e anyone for leaving this hell hole.
I wish I could 😬

This

I know, as all the expats in Dubai found out when Iran started to bomb them. I love the UK for all it's quirks, I live by the South Downs and I've just come back from a lovely Autumnal walk with the dog, we passed a little 17th century pub which I would have stopped by for a snifter, but I had to get back to take DS to his friends house, I love other places to visit but I love coming home more...

God, there's nothing more wearisome than ex pat bores trying to reassure themselves that they've done the right thing by telling everyone it's the best thing since sliced bread.

My friend does it all the time. She moved abroad about 15 years ago. The reality is she's trapped in an awful marriage because her husband would have more rights with the children and house where she is. She missed her own brother's funeral due to the distance.

She says she has a better quality of life there yet when I ask her what's she's been up to she says working, taking the kids to the cinema, a takeaway, occasional weekend away and walking her dogs. All stuff that she would do anywhere. I'm not seeing the better quality of life tbh.

If you say so.

I wouldnt travel anywhere my gay son wouldn't be welcome, or safe. Let's hope your daughters are both straight

What was life for you back here in the U.K. op that has made you so sure you won’t return? Do you not have any family back here?

You paint such an awful picture of the place. I’m working class and admittedly I don’t live in a terrible area but we travel the U.K. a lot and I don’t recognise the country you describe.

Admittedly, I’ve never travelled to the ME but that’s by choice.

Four months isn’t much time to form such firm opinions, surely?

Does everyone in Oman have a wonderful quality of life? Or have you moved up in the chain and are now at the top of the pile with lots of much poorer people’s work supporting that level of comfort for a few?

I think if you had come on here and not been so rude about the UK, regardless of having moved to Oman, then you would have had some better responses.

Personally I am sick and tired of people saying the UK is shit. Plenty of threads on SM from people moving here who can't believe how wonderful it is

Personally I still rather like living in the UK. I'm not naive enough however to think that anywhere is perfect. Ethical reasons alone would prevent me from moving to the ME, but tbh I've no desire to become an immigrant anywhere.

We all have different standards though so good luck OP.

I lived in Oman years ago and I LOVED it. The people were so warm and friendly and as a woman I was treated so well by both local men and women.
Moving from there to the UAE was a bloody shock though. Totally different people.
No longer live in the ME but I haven't - and won't - return to the UK to live.

😂😂 thanks for the laughs. There are plenty of places id rather live than the UK, especially this time of year, was totally preparing to be jealous of you.

But no, Oman is not somewhere id ever be envious of, nor would anyone with functioning brain cells

Good luck to you, hope the weather and extra money is worth living somewhere where it's great till it's not....

If it's for a few years on contract, then enjoy, make money and learn from the experience and the lifestyle.

Not sure I personally would emigrate for good to ME though, it's too volatile although Oman seems to be ok AFAIS.

Wasn't the pilot who attacked the plane going to Tel Aviv recently an Omani national? They walk among us.