Getting away from the heat? Not just middle east.

[Windandsand]

I know it's usual for many people to take themselves and the dcs back to the uk for the summer. But I have an expat friend in Arizona who is experiencing the same heat and issues it brings and she has no plans to go to the uk. She has been there a few years. I just wondered why other hot countries did not have expats leaving like somewhere likd Dubai.???

It's do unsettling to leave but if you don't it feels like you are not getting it right!

Number of reasons -

• Arizona is not as humid as the middle east in summer.
• middle eastern summers are compounded by the current timing of Ramadan which means everything is shut all day which is a PITA.
• in other expat-heavy countries (such as Singapore and HK) you also get a mass exodus. This is partially a feature of a high percentage of non-working trailing spouses who can ship out for 6 weeks with the children. If you're working and only get 4 weeks holiday a year, you can't do that.
• To an extent the exodus is self-fulfilling (everyone leaves because everyone leaves), but relies on a large expat population to create that trend. I dont know what the exact expat population of Arizona is, but I cant imagine there are that many of them (vs. people who consider themselves immigrants).

Richman, thanks for the explanation. We've been in Singapore for almost 3 weeks. I'm surprised by how few ex-pats there are around and we live in a typical ex-pat area. I keep having to remind myself that it's cos most of them have gone "home".

Ooh, I wonder if that's why DH says it's so quiet in our new condo? Hope so. Not that I want a feeding frenzy in the pool but 'drip drip drip' and the occasional toe-dip does not constitute a social life... Will prob get out there to find a scene from Where's Wally.

I'm not sure it's an explanation- more like speculation

I thought about this overnight (as you do-pregnancy insomnia) and decided that the actual size of the expat population is probably not as important as integration (so what Dubai, HK and Singapore have in common is that the expat population largely keep themselves to themselves, whereas in the US and Australia they are more integrated into the local population)

But yes, pupsie/ london, they will all start drifting back the week before the schools start, so make the most of the empty pools because they won't last

I'm in new York and looking enviously at the cool British summer!

Thanks for that. We went out to the East coast on Sunday and it was busier with more ex-pats. Still toying with moving out that way. We're only renting for a year here... depends on lots though. Whether our house in the UK sells, if we decide to apply for PR here etc. Bit put off by that one due to the compulsory national service for the boys...

Apparently Singaporean national service is not at all bad these days - Dh knows a fair few people who have done it and most almost seemed to have enjoyed it. It also seems to be well regarded by employers

That's good to know Richman. Thanks for that. Hard to imagine them doing it given that they're only 9 and 7! But I can imagine it being mostly a positive experience.

The US is supposedly having it's hottest summer in over 100 years, so no wonder she is suffering. I am just over the state line in Las Vegas, NV, it it crazy hot here.. but there is loads to do.

The US is supposedly having it's hottest summer in over 100 years, so no wonder she is suffering. I am just over the state line in Las Vegas, NV, it it crazy hot here.. but there is loads to do. last year I went home for almost 3 month, and it was great. This year I am trapped as an due to give birth any day. Of the ex pats here few go back. Most are far more integrated into the community as has already been mentioned, that and it is blooming expensive.

41 here today, I took Dd for her 9.30am swim lesson and was sweltering already. So now we are hold up in the house, movies, playing cards and the computer.
Poor you Sharklet. I had an August baby and back then we had a backyard pool. I looked like a beached whale that summer. Good job we had the pool and a big shade tree over one end. The house had no insulation and no central a/c, just a wall one at the far end of the house. I was hating life, and didn't want to leave the cool A/C of the hospital after delivery.

If we are going for hottest summer on record, then brace yourselves ladies. In 2006 it got to over 46 here. I really did think I was going to die from heat.

We are already hiding out in the AC. Not ventured out today it is 110f out there right now, but feels hotter. It will only get hotter as the day wind on. Hottest time of day here is 4pm. As you drive around int he day all the parks are empty, everywhere is empty. We all venture out at night, as even though it is still super hot at least the sun is not baking over you. Splash park here we come after 7pm once the sun has dipped behind the mountains.

Which bit of Cali is it you are in again CaliforniaLeaving? I think we are in for a very hot summer!! I'd LOVE to be back home in the rain right now. We has drizzle on 4th and we were out there dancing in it... allegedly we will have a thunder storm on Friday (fingers crossed)

Rain sounds good to me too.
We are up north. in the hills east of Stockton and Lodi so we get that heat from the central valley. My poor Dh has gone off to play with his friend today, they are in a tin building fixing a boat engine I bet he's 10lbs lighter from the heat when he gets home

waves from Arizona

This is our first summer here, and it's... tolerable. We're just spending all our time indoors, and only going out for shopping, the cinema, walking to the school bus, etc. It's rather like a European winter - there are several months where it's profoundly uncomfortable to be outside, so you hunker down indoors (we lived in Switzerland for a few years before this, where the winters had a couple of months where it was stingingly uncomfortable to be outside for more than a few minutes).

We haven't gone back to the UK this year, as we're in the middle of changing our visa to a green card, and it was just too complicated to travel during that. And there's no expat population driving an exodus - everyone else we know is still here, just getting on with it. The other reason is that based on my very limited experience, August is by far the worst month but as the kids went back to school on the 8th, we can't be away for then anyway!

We sent the kids to summer camp in Northern Arizona for two weeks, where it was 20-30 degrees F cooler, so that broke up the ten week holiday a little for all of us.