bearfacts

Yeah Pacific summers are more reliable than the UK in that sense. Such are weather patterns, the UK is a bit short changed on that score. Fine except when you plan BBQ /outdoor events. I actually didn't find the Winter weather too bad either. When you live there, you find enough 'slots' to go skiing on a sunny day.

Do you currently live in the UK or Canada, Shard?

Cheers

bearfacts

Hi Toon Alcona, well expressed comments. I think Family/friends is such a common reason for us expats to return to the homeland... We did just that. I would say be sure you're happy to give up whatever Canada gives you. It's difficult to really know till you return for sure.

We're in the process of looking at a return back to Canada, perhaps more savvy now, more switched into the fact we can see other family on visits. A lot of them want to visit us back in Canada...!

Re point, some people think you're mad to go /stay. Those are just general opinions, I find often from people who haven't emigrated. We got the comment 'why on earth would you come back?' when we arrived back in the UK.

Anyway you can only live each day. All the Very Best for your move.

Piff Poff

We keep bouncing around the idea of moving to a different Province or back to Blighty, we make up our minds what to do then change our minds and start the process again, who knows where we'll end up but it for sure won't be Alberta in the long run.

DandNHill

I missed France when I moved back to SE England after 13 years and then missed SE England when I moved to NS Canada after 22 years. Now I'm in ON Canada and miss NS... Think there's a pattern...

Neither hubby or I can see ourselves moving make to Blighty. But never say never, although with 4 sons very settled here I can't see how I would ever leave them all behind!!!

Howefamily

The only thing I missed about the UK when we moved to NS was the working culture. Now I work for a better company I couldn't imagine leaving here for anywhere else

Pica

[QUOTE=

Our main reason for going back to the UK is for family and friends, those guys who would make any place in the world feel like the best option. For us there comes a point when the country you live in is almost immaterial.[/QUOTE]

Steve_

Any possible perceived advantages the UK has melt away after you've been sitting in traffic on the M25, M5, M6 wherever in a traffic jam for however long it has been, especially if it's raining.

Yes, yes, the traffic in Vancouver is equally appalling and driving in the winter in Canada is a bit vexing at times, and of course you could always move to say, Belfast where the traffic isn't so bad. (Although having said that, the A24 at rush hour is a mind blower).

But overall, the traffic in the UK is much worse, as you would expect from having 60 million people in such a small landmass. Even when the traffic is moving, you have all these crazy junctions and much narrower roads generally which pile on the stress.

I could never live there again. Every time I go over to visit I notice that it has gotten worse.

Oink

The 25 most idyllic English villages - Telegraph

Stinkypup

Swine! (No pun intended! ) those that claim thay that don't miss such beautiful English villages even a smidge must be bonkers or liars. We lived near Hickling- described very well in the article and Burnham Market- unfortunately the latter having been taken over by holiday home owners from London.

MikeUK

the winter was always a pain, and I often joked if you offer me a job anywhere outside of Canada in March I'd take it...

The final straw was work, Management had changed at my place and I started to look around for alternatives, the big problem was that all my type of R&D work had either gone south to the US or gone back east to Europe..

I 've family in the US and Canada so hat wasn't a concern, in fact I have more family in NA than in Europe, it was the wife wasn't willing to go south, so I headed back east to follow the work...

Plus for what I do, the companies have always paid for me to move, it helps a lot with the ability to ping pong

MikeUK

I'd dispute that... and I did drive in most Canadian cities too

Traffic still moves here journey time over similar conditions are comparable ( I get to compare Birmingham with Toronto and I think 'surprisingly' Birmingham is actually better, But I now use the train as its even easier)

the real test is bank holidays...and throw in a good bit of Google traffic you can see the size and scale of the jams in both countries when bank holiday kicks in ...

I think the reason is in two parts, between cities you have may more options on routes in the Uk so you can spread the load and not just jam on same single highway, also travel time going almost anywhere is shorter so you flex on your travel time

Howefamily

I miss beautiful English villages for sure but could I afford to live in one - no. Therefore they were just somewhere to drive to or drive through. Here I can afford to have that.

el_richo

My mum lives in a gorgeous village about 20 minutes from York city centre. Her house is worth the equivalent of maybe $300k. Very affordable and idyllic.

It's also within a 45 minute commute to Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Doncaster, and other cities so work opportunities are in abundance.

It's ace

MarylandNed

My wife and I grew up in the UK (her in NW England; me in N. Ireland). We met in Manchester where we spent 7 years. Then it was 7 years in Canada (Toronto); 2 years in the UK (London) and now 17 years in the US (Maryland; about 20 miles outside Washington, DC).

There is much that I still like and miss about the UK and Canada. Both are great to visit but of course that's not the same as living and working there - although I still have a good handle on what it means to do that in both countries. I do think I could quite happily live/work in the UK, Canada or the US.

Of course, it's never just as simple as living where you prefer to live. There are many other factors e.g. jobs, finances, personal and family circumstances etc. In terms of finances it's not just cost of living and salaries - it also costs money to move and settle in somewhere new.

Since my job is in IT (and I work at home a lot) and my wife is a nurse, we are actually in a good position to be mobile - in theory at least. In practice, it's difficult for us to move at the minute because our 4 kids are at various stages of their education and 3 will be in college next year (2 of them at different colleges in Maryland not far from where we now live). Countering that is the fact that we have aging parents and other family members with health issues back in the UK and we would like to be closer to them and see more of them.

So I don't think the best place to be is ever cast in stone. It's a fluid thing that depends on many factors and these factors often change with age and circumstances.

bearfacts

Interesting Mike. Good that you get some company support to relocate.

Also the vital point of having family in NA, more than Europe now for you. That's great. In our case we have no family in Canada, so a move there again means acceptance that you get on with things, and enjoy your lifestyle but need to put aside holidays to head back for our folks in the UK. This is common of course for expats, it's one of the conditions we need to recognise when we venture forth.

Sounds like you've enjoyed variety in different places.