What would you miss about your current location?

[butterfliesinmytummy]

The thread about missing things from the uk and our move to the US in a few months has got me thinking. Where are you now and if you moved soon, what would you miss?

We are in singapore and would miss:
Swimming outside nearly every day
Feeling warm outside nearly every day
Gold class cinemas with food and wine brought to your reclining seat
Amazing thunderstorms with warm rain
Greenery and tropical plants everywhere, even alongside the highways
Monkeys along the side of the road
Beautiful ripe mangoes, papaya, rambutans, fresh Asian greens etc
Laksa, satay and gorgeous South Indian food served on banana leaves for a few dollars
Cheap taxis
Absence of litter
Cleanliness in everything (esp spotless public toilets)
Everything being 20 minutes drive away
Waitrose food and marks and spencers

I'm sure there's more, and I'm equally sure there's another thread to come on things I won't miss.....

[wentshopping]

Well I live where butterflies is moving to... and we have some of those things here (US).. no monkeys at the side of the road - how about armadillos?

I would miss:
Target
The sun shining every day
tall decaf latte and a lemon pound cake (ok, I think I could get that just about anywhere)
world class hospitals
a huge city and all its amenities on my doorstep

Waits for list of things I wouldn't miss.....

[AdoraBell]

We're in Chile and I would miss

Swimming pool in the garden

Climate, although summers are getting increasingly hotter and I'd gladly swap the intense heat for chilly Canada.

Friends because we've been here 10 years and are no longer "expat" expats, all mine and DD's friends are local.

Getting a kilo of freshly shelled nuts for less than £10.

The house we built, could never afford this much land in UK, although now we can't afford to stay because of the way this economy has boomed since sinking all our assets into building it.

The mountains

Wildlife - we saw penguins, flamingos and condors on our hols, and OH spotted an artic fox I was in the loo.

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

Fruit growing in the garden all year round and access to some pretty cool places (mountains, deserts, ocean) are added to my list

[Alligatorpie]

I miss Tim Hortons!

Right now we are Egypt and i would miss

The craziness of daily living
Shopping in the souq
Blue skies every day
Sunset fellucca rides on the Nile
Having everything delivered (diapers, groceries, bad wine, cinnabon...)

I wont miss
Shite food
Traffic - scary as hell
Bad wine

[ProbablyJustGas]

I am in NE Scotland. I would miss:

• My friends
  
• Grandparents just across town and happy to take the kids for school vacations, weekends, etc.
  
• The jokes
  
• The laid-back attitude to work, i.e. your job is not your life
  
• Burns Suppers
  
• Fish suppers
  
• Irn Bru!
  
• The simplicity of the tax system, at least compared to USA
  
• The simplicity of the health system, especially compared to USA
  
• A lot of shops, restaurants and bars within spitting distance
  
• A real maternity leave
  
• The hills
  
• The ruins (they are neat :) )
  
• Ceilidh wedding receptions
  
• Kilts as formal wear
  
• Wild camping
  
• Access to well-paying jobs, even if you didn't go to uni (oil & gas industry)

[Salbertina]

Weather sense of awe countryside beach sea seafood mountains cheap, good wine feeling alive outdoor life biltong...

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

You can even get bacon and pork pies in Waitrose...

I am a mere Sleazyjet hour from Gatwick and not a flipping scotch egg in sight!

[WhinyCrabbyPeople]

Wally DH has just been offered a job there! I thought participating in this thread would be a good thinking exercise to help with the scary decision-making process. Good to know I wouldn't have to give up my coffee and timbits....

[lisianthus]

Perth
Stars at night
The smell of gum trees and the sound of cockatoos and crickets
Dragonflies on lazy summer afternoons
The local council pool being crystal clean and having two olympic sized pools for adults and an olympic sized but shallow pool for children with waterslides and fountains
Friendly supermarket people who pack your bags (why don't they do this everywhere? It doesn't take any longer and stops delays caused by shoppers frantically fumbling with opening them!)
Exercise equipment in parks.
Dog water fountains in parks
Huge school playgrounds
Jarrah and karri forests
Summer festivals and outdoor cinemas
The different smell of each season
Decent coffee
Old cars done up and used
Lemon trees in the garden as an expectation
Roses that bloom all year (thank you Alister Clark!)
Forcing myself to sign off now ..

[eslteacher]

France, just outside Paris:

• Patisseries (especially pain au chocolates and fresh baguettes) on every corner
  
• The way of socialising: higher importance on food and going to friends' houses rather than going 'out' and/or drinking a lot
  
• Being able to wander around one of the most beautiful cities in the world: taking in the lovely architecture, sights and river every single day
  
• Being able, even as an adult, to have music lessons and playing an ensemble for next to nothing, thanks to the subsidised local conservatoires
  
• Cheap and plentiful wine
  
• L'heure de l'apero
  
• The general feeling of more space in and around houses (even in urban areas) compared to the UK. You can really feel and see the evidence that the UK and France have the same population, but France has twice the space...

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

whiny move to Dubai, there is a Tim Hortons on nearly every blinking corner!

[WhinyCrabbyPeople]

Canada

I will miss:

The seasons...they're all lovely.
Our big, comfortable, relatively inexpensive house.
Tim Horton's.
Muskoka.
User-friendly, plug-and-play school system.
CBC Radio. Especially Q with Jian Gomeshi.
Amazing health care.

Will definitely not miss:

Hockey culture.
3-foot high snow banks and shovelling the driveway.
High taxes.
5 straight months of dressing children in snowpants, parkas, mittens, boots, balaclavas EVERY SINGLE MORNING before school.
"Crowd Pleasing" Education.

[Samie10]

Beach
Sun
Tax free
Sociable
Safety
Help to do things - maids, shop deliveries etc
Friends

Bureaucracy
Stupidity of the upmost order
Heat
Driving
Lack of customer service

[TheAccidentalEgghibitionist]

I want to move to Switzerland now! It sounds wonderful..

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

Switzerland:
The view of the Alps that greets me on my commute/at my desk. You just can't grow tired of that.
Lakes that are breathtaking.
Having 30+ types of bread, all with a meaning, all delicious.
Knowing that people are treated fairly and have a closer say in their politics.
Honesty and safety - I will never fail to get over 3 year olds walking to Kindy by themselves.....
The way festivals and holidays are celebrated.
Being able to shop in Germany, France and Switzerland in one day if I need to.
Taxes!
The quality of property - tripe glazing, underfloor heating, pellet burning boiler.
The recycling policies.
Cleanliness.
Excellent public transport.
I can drive to Lake Como in 3 hours, Garda in 4.5.

[squifflybobs]

Zara I get you too- we are busy insulating our newly bought shack The Internet is improving, and the arts festival is on at the moment- I'm going to the theatre twice this week! My cultural life is sadly more limited anyway since children so don't miss it as much as I thought I would.
we live on a train and bus route, so I've no problem with the public transport most of the time, and a cab back at night isn't too expensive as fairly central. However this isn't true of most suburbs, and prices for a taxi back to the shore etc if you want to go out and have a drink after 10pm are eye watering. Believe there might be 1 nightbus??

[MsMoppet]

In Arabian Gulf region and would miss the sun during the winter (stupidly hot and humid the rest of the time), the beach 2mims away.

That's all. I miss everything else about London and would happily return tomorrow.

[FryingNemo]

Luxembourg... What would I miss??

My lovely forests
Work life balance
Our lovely friends and neighbours

What wouldn't I miss? The list is too long and depressing to write out.

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

I agree Zara different places suit us at different phases of our life. Nothing wrong with that!

[Zara1984]

Littlestkiwi, goodness me my post sounds a bit stroppy! It's just the stuff that drives me crazy! I was there for 2 months over summer with baby DS and by the end I was climbing the walls... but I certainly appreciated the laid-back Kiwi lifestyle more now I'm a parent. But DH and I have had our "NZ quota" topped up for a couple of years now.

I'm open-minded that my perspective will change over time - different places suit you better at different stages/interests/needs/goals.

There's no pleasing me, I guess

[thelittlestkiwi]

Zara- I think most of us living in NZ would see where you are coming from.

Although we have buses in Auckland these days. Not as many as I'd like but it's a good start. And I'm really not bored here. I would have been if I was here in my 20's but I love how much there is to do here.

[Zara1984]

I've got an interesting spin I guess, I'm from New Zealand but I live in Ireland at the moment.

Things I would miss about Ireland:
cheap fruit/vegetables/basics
Friendly chatty people
People value their communities
How kind people are to children
Cheap online shopping from the UK

I would not miss:
Rain
Corruption
Shitty public services and healthcare
Rubbish

Things I miss about NZ
Sunshine
White wine
Auckland's multiculturalism
Family
Good healthcare and education
No corruption

Things I do NOT miss about NZ (and why I am sometimes hesitant to go back)
Ridiculous house prices for damp cold wooden shacks
Dreadful, bonehead media
Hideously expensive food, clothes, everything
Low wages
Crap Internet
You have to drive to get anywhere
In Auckland - people show no interest in being a part of their neighborhood
That claustrophobic feeling of isolation - being so far away from everything. Makes me itch.
Boredom - unless you really live for the outdoors NZ is quite boring (why do you think you meet so many kiwis overseas)
NZers arrogant attitude that their country is the best

[singaporeswing]

Ditto everything that everyone has said about Singapore so far.

I'd also add the fact that my career is being accelerated so much more than it would in the UK.

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

SW France
The weather
The bright clear skies most of the year round
The exercise and outdoor culture
Amazing salads
Our pool
Wine
Aperitifs
Beautiful architecture
Great public transport
Slower pace of life
The ability to have so much family time together
Healthcare

[squifflybobs]

NZ too-

• the weather
  

• beaches
• being able to swim in the sea for a good part of the year
• kids can play in the street
• bush walks and amazing outdoors in general
• better coffee
• short commute to work
• cleaner air
• wineries..
• child friendliness

My only comparison is London, lived in NZ for 2 years. Locals complain about the traffic here and I