I've been away for so long...

[MovingBack]

Living abroad for the last 10+ years and possibly moving back in 2013.

I'm soooo apprehensive - have visited England once a year for a few days each time and I'm feeling so out of it.

Has anyone moved back after a long time away - any tips?

Can anyone suggest how I can get myself up to speed without complete and utter panic taking over?

I didn't have kids when I left so looking at areas to rent in, schools etc is making me absolutely cross-eyed.

Hope I've put this in the right forum - it didn't seem to fit in any really but if anyone can give me some advice I really would be very grateful.

Thanks

A very overwhelmed 'MovingBack'

Hi.
Thought i would say that i could have written your post but I'm only moving from one end of the UK to the other after 15 years away. I felt equally bamboozled initially and posted on here for advice. The best thing is to just break the move up into small pieces and investigate each one in turn - ie schools , house, job etc. Thinking of small pieces of the puzzle make it less daunting. You could also try posting in the living overseas section as well as the mumsnet local board for the places you think you might live. We also will go for 2-3 different week long reconnaissance trips to help investigations. Our first was very useful.
Good luck

Moved back last year after nearly 10 years away. Couldn't believe how easily we slotted back and OH particularly settled. DS went off to Uni so we are experiencing an empty nest as well as the massive climate/social differences. Also had to downsize on house and loose my swimming pool but that's life!

Do you know where you might return to?
We picked somewhere totally different from where we left as we didn't want to experience any negative changes. We looked for somewhere not too busy as the Uk in general was far busier both than when we left and where we had lived abroad. The school thing is so important in the uk - just glad I didn't have to consider it.
As tricot says try to do some reccies - we came over 2 or 3 times and decided to rent in our favoured area before buying about 5 months later. As we still have our house abroad (unfortunately) we were in the position of being able to go back if we hated it. We love it so wish the house abroad would now sell!
Good luck

Thanks so much for the replies, you're all very kind - wasn't sure if I was even in the right section!

Great advice tricot39 - I've just done a post in the primary schools section.

Thanks for the reassurance fussychica - we will be moving from a very small, quiet, rural area to the UK and like you we've decided to not go to any of the places we lived in before, north or south. At the moment we've chosen Shropshire - OH likely to find work in the West Midlands and we're hoping Shropshire has a good mix of ruralness and yet good schools/amenities (fingers crossed!)

Chaturan.. - we're in the same boat then! What stage are you at now? We're in the very early planning stage but hoping to be in situ ready for September 2013 back to school. We've been thinking about it for a few years but what has helped is choosing an area to investigate - before it was a v wishy washy plan, now I feel it's a bit more concrete.