Anything I should know about scotland before I take a leap of faith 😂

[Helliephant]

I met this Scottish man and he is simply amazing and wonderful, so interesting and kind with the sexiest accent ever, es the best. I went to scotland for the first time with him and fell in love with it. Would i be crazy to move there???!

I moved to Scotland as a single parent 30 years ago…immediately felt more at home than I’d ever felt in the area I grew up. You’re never too old for adventures so why not give it a try. Just…really try not to be an arrogant English incomer, and you’ll be fine.

Well you're currently in the middle of nowhere, in a city where everyone else in the nation regards the inhabitants as yokels, so you probably won't notice much of a difference after a move to Aberdeen 🙂

Not really an issue in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire as there are a lot of non Scots born people around lol.

The new M and S at Union Square is hopefully a sign of things to come after the oil downturn. We used to have 2 separate M and S shops, now just one revamped bigger one. Aberdeen City centre still has not recovered from the closure of John Lewis after COVID. Aberdeen also had a Debenhams and now has no dept stores.

My sister moved to Aberdeen for a man. He's now her husband, and they still live there. It's a good location if you're into walking etc. They are always going somewhere for the weekend. I absolutely love Scotland. I like Aberdeen as a city too. We're actually flying up to Inverness this week to meet my sister for a few days away. And it's only 2 hours to Edinburgh.

The down side is we live in west Wales, so it's a good 9-11 hours drive, so we don't get to see them as much as we'd like. Oh yes, and as someone else said, the midgies and ticks can be a problem.

I moved to Aberdeen from London when I first got married. It’s flipping freezing for most of the year.
But there is no harm in trying out different places to live and broadening your horizons.
You often get a sea mist in Aberdeen, which gets to the core of your bones. So be prepared for the change in temperature. You are a long long way from home and other major cities, but you are on the doorstep of stunning countryside.
We were there in boom times, not so much now. House prices are cheaper than down South and it’s not the wealthy city of days gone by.
But, go for it and you never know, it may just be your forever place.
I have to say, when I left I was relieved!

Aberdeen isn't too midgy. It is fucking cold though.

D

If you're an artist you'd be better moving to Dundee which has a great arts scene and is till v cheap to live. It's also warmer and closer to things than Aberdeen.

My friend moved to Dundee a couple of years ago from Essex and loves it. Some of the pros and cons she's brought up:

Pros:

• Comparatively cheap housing.
• Very friendly people and a welcoming, active community.
• Gorgeous countryside and coast in easy reach.

Cons:

• Higher income tax was a shock.
• Shorter days and colder weather.
• A niche one, but the different rules for apprenticeships meant that she couldn't complete her apprenticeship with her England-based employer and there wasn't an equivalent in Scotland.

Be aware its not all tartan,shortbread and Outlander. It is often cold,wet, dreich and short on daylight hours. Scotland has a very high rate of drug taking and alcoholism, poor public transport and not enough NHS dentists. NHS Scotland is on its knees and the education system has declined year on year under the Nationalists.
But yeah, we have nice scenery in some places.

Jobs are being lost massively in Aberdeen due to the Scottish government wanting to kill off the oil & gas industry. That means house prices have fallen which will be useful, but also a lot of uncertainty about what Aberdeen will be like in the future -may be a lot poorer. What are your jobs?

It's a lot colder and darker than England!

Have you known him very long ?
Scotland will be cold. It is a magnificent country but a cold and wet one especially if you are used to East Anglia. So be prepared for that.
Laws and rules are different there too. Check out you understand about laws around things you think that might impact you.
There will be some anti English peeps.
Scotland has a lot going for it though.
Weigh up what you expect it to be like. Living somewhere is different from being on holiday.

I lived in Aberdeen for four years. Grim grey and freezing all the time. Sorry, I wouldn't ever go back. Maybe choose another part of Scotland.

It depends what you like, I wouldn’t move there because it’s too far north and I can’t bear the cold and I like being an hours train ride from London and I don’t like living anywhere too rural. If you like the cold weather, lochs and countryside maybe it’s for you!

Aberdeen city is grey, cold, and, with the closure of department stores and incessant so called green initiatives which make driving around the city awful, a bit grim. However there’s a beach with 4km prom, and dolphins!

Aberdeenshire has some beautiful areas, some lovely small towns, countryside, coast(though as a pp said, the coast gets a haar quite often when inland is sunny). It’s expensive to fly anywhere but the airport is small and easy. You’re close to Moray and accessible to the Highlands, Inverness, west coast and its access to the islands (ferry situation permitting), ferry to Orkney and Shetland.

There’s so much to say for north east Scotland that I’d say if you can visit a few times and get a feel for the area, the kind of lifestyle you’d like, and the arts you work in you might fancy the adventure! But if you really really can’t hack the cold - even with sunshine and there are undoubtedly beautiful bright cold days - I’m not sure as you’ve really got to embrace that aspect.

No nothing bad . I lived in England 20 years ( originally from south europe ) and I will never move back to England or my home country full time . I love Scotland , quality of life is great but I’m rural , I had no interest in city life anymore so made sense . Schools are amazing my doctors sees me on the same day if need it and it’s pretty , so so pretty . I traveled a lot in younger years and Scotland is possibly one of the most beautiful countries in the world as a whole .

Having spent the best part of 20 years in Aberdeen (left a few years ago though), my thoughts would be:

Long way from anywhere, roads aren’t great (although left before the AWPR opened).
Cold - you’ll really notice the difference.
Winter days are short - you go to work on the dark and come home in the dark.
The haar - when you do get a nice summer day, the haar rolls in and it’s cold and damp again.
Rents are high - mitigates the risk of buying and then struggling to sell.
Lots of job losses - still running at about 800 a month in the oil industry and that has a big knock on effect on the city.

On the plus side:

Great countryside on your doorstep and some beautiful beaches.
Summer days are long.
It’s nowhere near as midgie as the west coast.
Fairly multicultural due to the oil industry.
Art gallery and theatre are excellent.

Shortest day is 08.46 to 15.26! Dark by half past 3 in the afternoon. The short days in winter can be a bit depressing but long summer nights and stunning scenery and peace and quiet helps make up for it.

I've lived in Aberdeen for over forty years. I use a private dentist and doctor as the NHS is on its knees. I've not been able to see a GP for two years, you get a practice nurse or GP's assistant instead. My physio assessment was even done by phone. Exercises were recommended even though I had asked for an MRI. In the end I went private, had the MRI within and results in less than a week, and I had a complex tear. Other medical practices may be different. Even the private hospital has waiting lists for some things.

The shopping is dire, and the city centre is in a poor state. I hate to say it, but I shop online a lot.
It's cold and winter days are very short. We recently had a run of over twenty days without any sunshine and I hardly noticed. Today was 7C with gusts.

That said, I love where I live, it's rural, with no buses, but I don't mind having to drive everywhere. The city centre parking however, is the most expensive in Scotland.

Housing is ok, but be careful where you live, lots of new builds with spotty social issue problems to do with bored school kids.

Aberdeen isn't exactly known for its art and culture scene and decent restaurants aren't cheap. Dundee's better.
I guess what I'm saying is to move to Aberdeen you will need to have £££ to get out regularly. Both trains and flights are not cheap.

I moved to Scotland from England over 20 years ago and love it here. I live in Edinburgh (which I love!) and have been visiting lots of places over the last year as my daughter is off to uni. I have to say we found Aberdeen really cold and uninspiring, but Dundee really caught her eye. Seems like a great city but really great transport links to most places, brilliant arts scene, lovely parks and restaurants. If you can choose I'd really suggest Dundee as an alternative to Aberdeen...

You are a bunch of misery guts aren’t you?! Aberdeen, like all cities, has its issues. But we have amazing outdoor spaces (Duthie park, the botanic gardens), stunning architecture including the largest granite building in Europe. The top end of union street is becoming very foodie with nice places to eat. We have a beautiful theatre, a well renovated music hall. Outside the city you head west to royal deeside, north west to Inverurie and Huntly. Or north to Peterhead. All have stunning scenery, lots to do and good places to eat. There are so many farmers markets and craft fairs too. I think it’s a great place to live. And only soft southerners think it’s cold 😂

Fit ye deein?

Amongst other things you do need to know that the tax regime is different to England so have a look at that.

It really is that cold. Like some PPs, this alone would stop me moving there. I'd lived in Newcastle for four years, thought I was winter-proof. I am not. Most people aren't such massive wimps, though!