One of the biggest mistakes I made when leaving the UK was to sell my house. With that in mind, has anyone thought of doing a house exchange with an existing expat who wants to try it out back at home for a while? It would let the UK family test the waters over here too. Let me know if you do - need a minimum of 4 beds and within commutable distance of Scunthorpe.

Hi,
Is it that bad you want to go back to scunthorpe :scared: , most people I met over the years from there never wanted to go back...
Brings to mind an old joke ... but best not repeated here .
Cheers
Jerry

Ahh well I have never lived in Scunthorpe, I am a Londoner. It's where a very good job is, pays double what I get here for the same job....tell me more about Scunthorpe...I want to live in Brigg, or near Appleby, village type situation if possible. It's not a definite thing as I also have an offer from Ontario. Will be checking that job situation out too the second week of Feb. No drastic moves until I am sure!

That's a good idea!

Its a really good idea, it would be good to go the whole way, why not swap jobs and houses for a year, I for one would be up for that, perhaps we could persuade one of the T.V. companies to make a program of it.

what a good idea...no one knows until they live in a place and work amongst the people...good idea, think they have a UK TV show where people trade homes for vacation so why not on this basis..... we kept our place in the UK and I am so thankful for lots of reasons...hope it works out

Great idea! I'd take you up on it if my house was bigger and I was near Scunthorpe. I wonder if taking out an ad in a local Scunthorpe paper might provide some response?

Good luck with that or the Ontario offer! I know how much you love BC! It's funny though because I agree with much of what you say about it, yet I'm burning to get back there.

BC is your home HWP. Pure and simple. Life is an adventure. As long as I do right by my kids, I will go where the fates dictate. BC and I have this long relationship that is fraught with frustrations, but I do not regret my time here in the sense that I found out what really mattered to me. These days, my children are my life and they deserve a happy Mum who can provide well for them. I cannot do this in BC, but can elsewhere, even in Canada. 2006 will be a good year. I hope.

Hey I have a beautiful 4 bed 2 bath house in a lovely part of Derbyshire, if anyone from Alberta wants to swap lifes for a year, husband is a joiner who fits luxury kitchens, so would need to take over that I am an accounts manager, payroll etc my boss would be up for an exchange. How good would that be then maybe it would stop all this uncertainty.

Try some of the home exchange websites - home exchange.com, exchange-homes.com, digsville, etc. We did an exchange for a few weeks a couple of years ago to stay in Markham, another toe-dipper at Canadian living before we decided to apply for PR. Some folks there were keen to exchange for longer periods of time.
Give it a go, it's a great (and cheap) way to move home/holiday.