old.sparkles

Mouth runs away without the brain engaged?

spouse of scouse

Bites you, sucks the blood out of you, then runs?

Amazulu

As a student of history I don't have much time for JFK - too left-wing for me - but he was a big picture guy, and this speech is spot on and oh so relevant in the welfare addicted west in the 21st century

That superb leader, Angela Merkel said recently that Europe has 7% of the world's population but over 50% of its welfare spending - speaks volumes doesn't it

astera

This is why you get one of those satellite boxes from continental Europe for like 20 quid a month to pick up all the 3pm kick off action.

verystormy

Going back to the original post, god, i have to agree with the title. I am here in Sweden and just decided to drive to Norway to have lunch opposite a stunning fjord. Next, i am thinking maybe Finland for a day out

rasen78

On the flipside of this, and from a selfish POV, because we have virtually no family here, we can actually have proper holidays. Back in the UK, we couldn't go anywhere because our holidays were spent visiting family in Scotland and Ireland. MIL is visiting this year, but next year, we can plan a holiday, possibly to New Zealand Even weekend trips away were hard in the UK because of the expectation of visiting the grandparents if we had a free weekend.

astera

Same over here. I am over in Surfers Paradise and might just decide to drive across the border to New South Wales to have lunch opposite a stunning beach.

Heck, if I had thought of this a week ago I would even be crossing between two different time zones... almost sounds exotic.

Just kidding, I know exactly what you're feeling and miss the closeness of Europe and how you can just skip over somewhere in a flash.