Across the river from Haudagain roundabout?

Haven't been back yet, but terrified myself the other day by getting up to the same speed on a highway that I used to happily do on a country lane, so I'm not looking forward to the driving. Ridiculous really.

Things that struck me were how green and pleasant it is in April, with hedgerows in bloom and the like.

Then we landed and I was struck by the fact that far too many people are crammed on that island, and that I much prefer the superficial if insincere polite customer service experience of Canada over the UK customer experience of clearly inconveniencing employees from having to pause from texting their girlfriend or whoever to serve me.

The expense of eating out as a family was an eye opener, but conversely the cost of supermarket basics was much cheaper and an eye opener too. Driving was much improved though by the use of average speed cameras, I was surprised by how disciplined drivers seemed to be now regarding speeding on the motorways.

Glad to visit and see family and friends, and experience some history and beautiful green scenery, but glad to leave again too.

Yes the dreaded Haudagain If you are driving you will notice the parking spaces are so tiny!

Another thing that was blatantly obvious when home was the 1000s of CCTV cameras watching your every move. Also, bank cashiers are behind glass. I remember being very surprised to walk into an open-plan bank here in NS.

I've been here 4 years now and about to go back for my 4th visit in June.

The thing that always gets me is how foreign the accent sounds now, I find myself actively listening. After about a week or so back this disappears but in the meantime its very strange.

Oh and also CHOCOLATE & SAUSAGES.

I do remember my local bank back home being "open plan" back in N.Ireland until relatively recently. These days it's a lot of talking through tiny gaps in perspex.

As you say cameras are everywhere back home including in neighbourhoods. There are quite a few military/government intelligence programs that have always operated in N.Ireland so it was "always there". I'm just about old enough to remember when you couldn't really enter the middle of Belfast without "going through the gates" (example) nor could you get near the airport without having your car x-rayed and searched.

Here there seems to be a distinct lack of surveillance. Which is nice I guess.

My trips back are just drunken blurs that involve a few Cornish pasties, Sun Newspapers and a good portion of Fish with real Chips. If I can squeeze in a Spurs game they are optimized.

Oh and I also pick up as much decent spray deodorant as I can.

You mean you don't like AXE?

Hadagain roundabout sorry my hubby is fae the deen, haven't heard that in years

My first visit back was 7 years ago and I hadn't even done a full year here! I had a major bout of homesickness in September 06 (6 months in) after my parents visited and left saying "don't know when we will be back"

I had injured my knee a couple of weeks before flying back which threw all my plans into chaos! I was on crutches and in a buttload of pain which made for a very uncomfortable flight, however I was still really excited to be going back, until I was held in a holding pattern over LHR for half an hour. It was then that all the memories of why I left in the first place started to surface.

Woman at LHR who met me a wheelchair couldn't be less interested in me and a couple of times almost rammed my bad leg into door frames as she was too busy talking on her mobile to pay attention. I walked back to my dad's car as I wanted out of the chair as quickly as possible.

The weather seemed very dull and grey - it was January though. The parking spaces seemed tiny, I wanted to get in the wrong side of the car all the time, you seem to drive everywhere really fast, people would not make allowances for the fact I was hobbling around on crutches and expected me to move when I was out and about, it was actually colder a couple of days back there than it was in Calgary and the fact that BA had threatened strike action actually made me realize I wouldn't mind staying indefinitely......

I was happy to come home to Calgary; I was signing paperwork for a new house while in the UK, so I had that to look forward to, but I hadn't got over my home sickness and little did I know it would take me until 2012 to actually start feeling properly at home here.

Enjoy your visit, eat lots of curries and fish & chips, go to pubs and remember you have to actually go up to the bar to order your drinks, marvel at how crowded the place is, how small the cars/house/beds etc are, see people but don't do all the running around, make them come to you to. Your trip back will likely not feel like a holiday, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Aye but that just increases the chances of a shoot-out between the robbers and the security guard before being taken hostage and then having pizza delivered.

Ditto on the deodorant used to come back with enough to last 6-8 months..would over indulge on things like nice Indian takeaway..driving a manual car...sitting in a beer garden etc...never got homesick as i have moved around all my life

Totally agree with this...but its hard to execute, I find it hard to say no to people, and I hate the thought of people thinking Ive snubbed them, but none of them really know what the pressure and stress your under when you visit.

Ive been back 3 times in almost 5 years, the last time was Christmas 2012, although there were bits of that I enjoyed, I said I would never go back on my own again....it was just way to stressfull, exhausting and being single too expensive (if I wanted to do it right...with car hire and hotel room etc) last time to keep costs down I was relying on public transport, or anyone that would give me a ride, and sleeping on couches and even floors at friends houses! Not willing to do that again, its their turn to come and see me.

The only way I would go back for a visit now, is with a future girlfriend or a couple of Canadian friends, as this would drastically reduce the cost, and this way I could say im showing whoever this or doing that with whoever, and it would be up to my friends to join me in what im doing.... a bit like what you said we will be in a certain pub at a certain time if you can make it etc....everyone saves face then.

My overall feeling about being there was a bit like id never been away, but at the same time didn't feel like I belonged there either! Very strange.

Here in UK right now on a visit. Certainly no homesickness and no thoughts about moving back. Seeing family, especially older members who are having health issues and new babies is a great bonus and main point of the trip.

Shops are crowded, streets are busy, most roads are busy and speed limits seem to have gone down all over the place. Many local roads i used to travel on are down to 30mph and school zones 20mph, when you do get a 40 or even 50 stretch its so short it seems pointless.
Cars are all small hatchbacks and people drive faster (where they can) but seem to adhere to limits probably because of the abundance of cameras and speed traps. Merging and roundabout discipline is excellent compared to Canadians but noticed lots of horn blowing, impatient drivers pulling out or pushing in without much warning. As in BC i noticed lots of people staring at their crutches whilst in traffic and a few blatant cell phone users too.

Prices to me seem more expensive than i remember especially as the exchange rate isn't favourable when changing dollars to pounds. I keep looking at a basic 10 pound T shirt in Tesco or Primark and thinking that's close to $20 in fact most things seem to be same in pounds as they are in dollars, even wine which i considered to be expensive in BC is not much different now, a bottle of Shiraz in supermarket was 5 pounds which is just over $9 at current exchange rate so no real difference at all.

Having a car has been great and soon got used to the driving again and we are able to see different people easier, its also a small hatchback and very very good on fuel and easy to park in the small spaces.

Getting stuck in a massive jam on M25 reminded me of all i hated about driving here then cruising around some twisty empty back lanes reminded me its not all bad. Pot holes seem to be everywhere and everyone moans about them and round every corner is another temporary traffic light and some construction happening so you never know when your journey is going to be rudely interrupted by a queue of some sort.

All in all i have enjoyed it and would do it again when we can afford it but Britain as a tourist is way better than living here for me anyway.

...All 29 of these

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