rackcatt

So have officially been in OZ one year!!
Very happy feeling ...yes miss family etc

But had my mum here for 3 months, inlaws for 2 weeks and brother n sis n law next month..
All our visitors came within 2 months !!

So now thinking..were not getting any visitors for a long time..maybe start looking at flights to UK...gosh they are very expensive !!
But found a good deal in december, return to UK 4 people $8500 !!

Is this too soon to go home???
Why do i feel unsure about booking it? (Well the money for one ) ..but i feel unsure and i don't know why??

Cheetah7

Personally I would think it is too soon to go back, some say give it a couple of years but I guess its a personal thing.

And also $8,500 is a huge amount of money - ask yourself is there a better use for it - towards a house, car etc.

You have had a few visitors and now you are planning for a visit back - I would firstly get used to having no visitors from the UK and establishing yourself in your home without having 'UK reminders'.

Get what you need or want to make it your 'home' and only when you dont think about your UK family/friends too often or you find yourself referring to Australia as 'Home' and you are comfortably able to afford flights without sacrificing anything else then I would consider it.

Its been 4 years for me and I havent left home to go back to the UK for a visit, I miss my family but just cant justify the money.

moneypenny20

If it were me, I wouldn't, especially after having all those visitors.

Bikergirl

I went back to the uk within 6 months of leaving, nan's 90th, and didnt have a problem but i went back for a specific reason - all her grandkids in once place for the first time in 15+ years.
We dont plan on going back in the next year or so now, unless the worse happens. Australia is home and skype works for keeping in contact. We just have to think about the time difference now... if anything going back just emphasised how we've settled here and why we dont want to go back

In Exile

money cant buy a family though. i get what you are saying but to me family is far more important.
i had a stint here where i didn't see any of them for 2 years and it really got to me. now i go back around twice a year.

scour the flight pages and you can get a "reasonable" fare.
I use the term reasonable fairly loosely, because everything seems to be expensive on this side of the fence.

Cheetah7

Oh you are right but bearing in mind we came close to losing our house, and we are still struggling to keep our heads above water, we have to put our home first.

I have ongoing medical bills as well so I cant allow myself even the chance to think about going back - just cant justify it but I get what you are saying.

Shenni

I came to the UK in 98 and my fare was $2300 and I travel back often and look at fares from Oz to the UK because my family come over at times, the fares have reduced on average but it depends on when you come over, in actual fact I have just looked and on http://www.airfaresflights.com.au/Manchester-MAN.htm
is $1602 with flights available between 11 May 2012 -14 Nov 2012.

carolinephillips

I went back after 18 months as it was my 50th birthday, and had a good time, but it confirmed for me that Australia was where I wanted to be. Then we had no plans to go back for another 3 years, again for OH's 50th and our 25th wedding anniversary, but our plans were disrupted and we had to go back after only another 15 months, due to my dad's death, so now we probably can't go back as planned, as we used the money we had saved for my eye op to pay for the flights, and I can't wait any longer to have it, so the money we are putting by is being used for bills, not holidays.

But everyone is different. You need to go with your gut feelings. If it is making you uneasy, try to discover why. List the pros and cons and take time to decide.

Bermudashorts

I think there is no wrong or right answer. If you think you will be able to afford regular trips back then why not, contact with extended family can only be beneficial, especially for the children. If you think you might need to be sparing with trips back then I would probably leave it another year considering you had all those visitors this year.

We are going back in September, will be just over two years from us. Very much looking forward to it, but nervous that it will make me feel homesick which currently I am not.

Family of 3

We've been back 3 times since we moved in December 2010 and are going again December.

But, we've lived abroad for 15 years now, and have always gone back once or twice a year, AND I've ageing and struggling parents.

The flights cost a bomb, so I have to do lots of cheap shopping to justify it!

skinnygeorge

We had planned to pop back after one year. But could not really afford it. It ended up nearly two and a half til we were confident we could afford it. If you can afford it why not. I would only say if you have doubts about being here, That comfortable familiarity may pull at your heart strings. It did with Me, UK in the summertime is wonderful and I made myself imagine what it would be like come November to March and I feel that happy now with where I am. I have friends who got back to the UK and found it just dull, same old, same old. Cost is the main factor with Me. Saying that its just poured down for the last 24 hours. Gotta love Queensland!.

GarryP

I go back at least once a year, keep the family happy, see friends etc.

The additional advantage is I can get UK>Oz tickets, rather than Oz>UK - and so pay much less than the extortionate prices here.

Grayling

It's the same as Brisbane then?

I will be back for a month in a couple of weeks time.

I find it harder to return here each time.....still...going to buy a house this time so that I can prepare for my retiement back in the UK

Cheetah7

This is something that pisses me off about living here, why oh why do the flights back to the UK or to anywhere really, have to be so stupidly expensive?

I think Australia needs some serious competition when it comes to flights, we were looking at flights just to Broome and they are not cheap. Flights to Namibia are something like 3 times what they would be in the UK.

I wonder if they will ever come down in price, how good would it be to be able to buy your ticket to the UK from the UK instead of having to buy it from here at those prices.

LINZI

We have been here 6 years and not been back, noone has visited in the last 2 years of being here and we are thinking of a trip back at xmas but its the price that is stopping us from going back as well

Congrats on your one year here