Moving back to the UK

[wellhelloyou]

Hi all.

We have been living in Australia for nearly two years now however have decided later this year, to move back to Scotland.

I won't go into the ins and outs (as I know everyone is different and has different needs and wants) however, I would love to hear of anyone who has been away for a (relatively) short period of time moving back to the UK.

How did you find the move back, are you settled? Are your family settled?

Love to hear some do's and don'ts and 'wish I did x, y and z'

All I hear now is 'don't move back, Brexit Brexit Brexit' (and I don't wish to turn this into a BREXIT thread) but it would be good to hear some positive stories.

Those who have moved abroad (and then moved back or onwards) know how big a deal this can feel so grateful for some words of wisdom!

Last year I moved back to UK (London) following 7 years in another European country. I’m really happy. Didn’t realise there was so much i missed about Blighty. I had forgotten how friendly, open minded people are.

As for Brexit; well it’s never been mentioned on the school run. If you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to and so far NOBODY outside my family had mentioned it to me.

My big shocks are:

• soooo much more reality TV, and once you have done one reality tv show you qualify as a ‘sleb’ and so can do all the sleb reality tv shows. So tonnes of slebs with no talent.
• Minimum wage has been raised and so everything costs so much more! Other wages have stayed stagnant though.
• gin has had a huge rivival and now costs a fortune. And prosecco seems to be taking over tea as a national drink. People don’t just drink it though, you can get prosecco candals, prosecco chocolate. Crazy.

Wish i had applied for countil tax the day i landed - council tax bills are needed for everything when you’re proving residency. And DON’T ask or online billing, paper free doesn’t operate in UK very well yet,
you need three recent paperbills to prove anything eg. Applying for school places, joining clubs etc.

Thank you @12FreeRangeEggs. That's great you're happy back and enjoying the bits of Blighty you didn't realised you had missed!

Good tip about Council Tax, we'll get on that as soon as we can.

Hope your move continues to go well. Very much looking forward to returning.

We lived overseas for a few years, but moved back to the UK about 18 months ago. We actually moved to Scotland, for various reasons, having never lived there before, and I can hand on heart honestly say it is the best thing we've ever done! We don't regret our decision for a second! We have made loads of friends here, got involved in the community in a big way, and have really settled well. The schools are fab, the countryside is just stunning, and we really feel part of something, where we felt a bit isolated where we lived overseas

Sure, there are bad things, including Brexit (no idea what is going to happen), and there seems to be a little bit of a divide over that, but on the whole it is a much better place to live!

Feel free to PM me if you want. I don't like to put too many personal details on here.