You lot make me think perhaps my family was normal.

I was researching a move to Cornwall, ended up in Australia instead!!

Never been to either place before...irrational no, impulsive maybe. Nothing wrong with wanting more than you have, it's what makes the world go around.

I definitely wouldn't live in the UK again for all the money in the world...adore living here

Our original choice was Cyprus but in the end the cost of living there beat us. There was no way we could have managed to support ourselves with 2 small kids.

Neither of us had been here prior to applying for our visas. We were heading for Brisbane to start with as that's where hubby's mate was living when we started our application but he moved over here to Perth so that's where we ended up. We came over for 2 weeks to validate our visas & thankfully liked what we saw. Good job really otherwise it would have been a flippin expensive holiday We then moved out here 2 years after that. Been here 9 months on Thursday & although I'm still homesick for my kids, family & friends I think it was the right move to make.

Alison x

I met my Aussie OH in Cyprus on a walking holiday, best two week break I have had.

Walk all day, eat, drink and be merry in the evening then do it all again tomorrow ... Oh Happy Days

Indeed, Better to give it a go than regret missed opportunities ... If we all spent the time trying to work out exchange rates/cost of lettuce/average unemployment to 3 decimal places then nobody would go anywhere

Live once, live true, live well

You're very carpe dieum this fine evening DV. I'm wondering whether, on the basis of your advice, to gather up my rosebuds and scoff that second bag of minstrels and crack open another bottle of merlot.

Absolutely adore the place. I can honestly say I've had some of my best holidays ever there & when we first started going it was sooooo cheap. Biggest mistake they made was joining Europe.

Alison x

I'd say do all that, I'm in that kind of mood.

Ask me when I'm crawling out of bed in about six hours and my response my differ

I wanted to go walking in Malta because it was cheaper and I was skint, my mate persuaded me Cyprus was worth it ... Little did he know this was to result in fatherhood, marriage and expattage.

Hubby (although not hubby then as I was still married to my ex although seperated) took me there after we'd been together 5 months & bought me my engagement ring the day before we flew home 10 years & 2 kids later (3 step kids for him ) & here we are in Oz. It was our 4th wedding anniversary on Tuesday not that he remembered....sigh!

Alison x

We are moving over without having visited first. My husband arrived 2 weeks ago and loves it and now the kids and I get to have a new adventure too. But saying that we have been expats before and nothing much fazes us. I think lots of people make massive decisions like moving country without visiting. I don't think it is unusual or irrational.

Did you migrate without visiting first?. Yes.

Probably not the smartest move, but as many have said previously, visting and living here are not one and the same anyway.

5 visits and 11 years later we finally made the move in 2007 If only we'd done it in 1996 .............the mortgage would've been soooooooooo much smaller

The grey nomads have been over on reccies 6 times in the last 3 1/2 years... Ok they said they were visits.... But seeing as they are validating their visa this time they really were reccies

We visited here 2 times before we moved, & I didnt mind with all the moved we had to do during the times we have been in Australia but I'm so unhappy in where we are living and it looks like we will be here for good unless we get sent to live in another country.

When I applied for my visa I had visited once 11 years earlier, but I was not thinking of migration at the time nor for most of the time since. So definitely wasn't a reccie and to all intents and purposes we emigrated without visiting first.