Originally Posted by J.J

Hello Folks,
It is just over 1 year since we moved back to UK, and I feel things are sufficiently stable now to report the result. The result being we are comfortably re-established in UK.

Acclimatising back in the UK was more of an emotional challenge than we imagined it would be and far harder than the logistics of the actual move and certainly emotionally tougher than the original move to the USA.

We moved out of UK not to escape but for the adventure of a life elsewhere, an opportunity offered by my husband’s employer.
The move was never intended to be permanent although we enjoyed USA enough to stay on 16 more years past the original 2 year transfer and through change of employers. I feel this move to USA breathed new energy into our lives, which were becoming rather predictable back in UK.
John favoured life in the USA over the UK forming a poor opinion of UK from the negatives we saw on our visits back. He achieved career advancements in USA that would not have been possible in UK without relocating.
I enjoyed living in USA but never really settled and felt I never would, not really fitting in although I was friends with a lot of nice people, yet I was uneasy with the need to have a lot of money to have a secure retirement.
We both received higher salaries in USA and had more disposable income than if we had stayed in UK. Fortunately neither of us was seriously ill. Neither of us received employer’s pensions.


So on the verge of retirement we decidied to move back home, to UK, at a time when my job had ended and John was being required to relocate in USA.

On return we experienced the initial pleasures of being back but then we went through emotional ups and downs of things not being as they were when we left, we were outsiders when we had expected to easily integrate. We were disappointed with the decline of standards, diminishing of politeness in public, poor workmanship from tradesmen we used, low quality of clothes in shops.
We were disoriented with society, encountering personal values different to our way of life. We were in culture shock for about 12 months because ‘life’ was somehow of less quality than what we had lived for 18 years and not the same as it was when we left. We were dismayed with life in UK. We had expected that things would be different, and knew we have changed too, but reality was more disappointing than expected.
However, we did not consider moving back to USA. We are moving on and that meant finding our way here in UK.

Cost of living for us, older married with no kids and a house without mortgage, in West Norfolk, UK is about equal to Raleigh North Carolina, USA, if you take out the US medical costs factor.

I am enjoying retirement and wonder how I had time to work. I have enjoyed establishing a flower garden and renewing old friendshps. Family are happy to see us back although we have never been close anyway. John is working having fell lucky with his US employers organization having an opportunity to work from home in UK for a division in Germany (yet another culture challenge).


We successfully navigated Tax Filing season.
As USC we calculated our US tax on TurboTax, mailing in the report because efile is not possible from abroad. The limited automatic extension for USC outside the US enabled us to pass the 330 days outside of US residence test.
The UK does not require that everyone with income file a tax report. We phoned the Tax Office and went through a serious of questions with them, they concluded that our circumstances allows us to not have to file a self-assessment.

We have pleasant neighbours, a NHS that has lived up to expectations, quite adequate public transport and countryside that we enjoy hiking in. There are concerts and shows and places and towns that we like to visit (and some that we won’t return to). We have come to terms with pharmacies that close for lunch, no drinking water fountains in public places, no paper towels in public toilets, rough and tumble of society on public transport, burgers and pizza of low quality (we stopped looking), towns apparently populated by eastern Europeans, country villages with high count of second homes and gourmet pubs (this on our local Norfolk coast) and of course the ever present crowded roads.


As others have said, definately UK is different to USA and we, us two, are different because of our experiences abroad. We have no regrets having lived in US, we enjoyed it.
Now, after a difficult emotional transition we have no regrets being back to UK. Yes we miss aspects of the USA but here is OK too.

Alan Sherman’s song of Camp Granada comes to mind, for us it has now stopped raining and we are happy enough here in Camp UK.

Are we here to stay, in West Norfolk or in UK? All options will be considered but we are certainly comfortably here for the foreseeable future.

A grateful Thank You to all here on British Expats and to the website itself, for your help and advice that prepared and supported us in our transition.
It is now rare that we visit the site so if you have questions then feel free to send a private message.

Originally Posted by Anne Daubney

Well I find everything the opposite although I expect my Husband who has lived in the US for 30 years and when he retires is thinking of returning do to
poor health and missing family who are now getting much older, I have only lived here for 4 years and came here due to marriage to Englishman living in US.I think it depends how old you are when you try and make a new life in a different country I was 52 my husband was 28

Originally Posted by Anne Daubney

No actually I meant my Husband came to the USA when he was 28 years of age and was previously married to USA citizen for 20 years. No there no place like home