mariabc

Hi, we are expats from the UK, having lived here in BC for the past 18 years. We are in the process of moving back to Europe, just waiting for our house to sell. Canada has been good to us and we have made lots of memories, but the past few years we have become unsettled. We have thought long and hard as to why our thoughts towards Canada have changed as it was always our plan to be here forever. We feel we have become frustrated being so far from everywhere, not enjoying the long winters anymore and to be honest bored with our life here. The past few years we have spent more time in Europe and each time its got harder to return here. Before we made the final decision to move back, we really tried to get back our enthusiasm for Canada but its never happened. During our time here we did suffer a bout of home sickness, so know this is a completely different feeling we now have. Life is too short to be unhappy and we're really excited about the future and to start 'living' again and not just existing. We just wondered if anyone else had these thoughts during your time here in Canada?

TrishP

I've been in Ontario for 10 years and would quite happily get on a plane and go home. However, I'm married to a Canadian and getting him in the door to the UK isn't easy or cheap, as the UK government assumes that Brits only marry non-EU spouses as a scam. Unfortunately, as I'm currently staying at home to look after my toddler and am not working, I'm stuck here for the foreseeable. I went through a period of intense homesickness last year, which resulted in a deep depression. I'm trying hard to climb out of the pit, trying hard to be positive about this country that really holds little appeal for me. Canada will never be 'home' for me, it's just the place where I spend my time.

Bevm

Definitely. Which is why we moved back in 2009. But now we're reversing it. We don't regret our years here, and we've done the traveling and such we wanted to, but the calm quietness of west coast Canada appeals to us now. We are coming up to 70. You may be much younger.

You mention long winters. Where in BC are you? We're looking forward to the long, sunny summers! But if you're thinking of Europe, perhaps Spain, then the chancy English summers won't be a problem for you. We also don't have much family here, and we were in Canada in total 33 years.

Irish Guinness

i

Good luck on your return to Canada,at least you have enjoyed your time in the U.K.and now ready to settle down.Hope it all works out well for you.
Cheers Irish Guinness

Novocastrian

I could have written that myself. We left last July, 4 days after I retired from a job I used to enjoy but had grown very jaded about in the last 5 years.

All the worn clichés about Canadian lack of initiative and complacency with "well that's always how we've done it" had been driving me slowly insane for longer than that.

Add in the ON winters and we were out of there without hesitation.

mariabc

Good luck Bevm on your return here. We did consider renting our home out just in case our move to Europe didn't work out, but decided against it as we thought it would be too easy to move back. We live in the Interior of BC and the winters are long, snowy and with constant overcast clouds. Cabin fever sets in quickly for us! We are going to Spain as we have been there many times, its close to our families in the UK, plus the weathers nice.
Canada has given us lots of great memories but as TrishP mentioned, it never felt like home, more like we were on a very long holiday. We have come to the conclusion the life as a expat isn't always easy as we all know life somewhere else, which the majority of people don't. In some ways that's great for us expats but at the same time can always put doubt in your mind with regards as to whether we've done the right thing.
No where is perfect and life is what you make it. 18 years ago we were excited about coming here. Now we have the same feeling again about our pending move, a feeling that had gone missing the past few years.

Perth

Hi, a little bit different here in that we are in the USA. But basically the same desire to go home. The OH is American, but is as happy as I am to go. In order to be really sure we had made the right decision (and not just with a grass is greener perspective) I looked back on how we had lived our entire married life here, and how we raised our child. Everything was British! From the TV we watched to the music we listened to, the toys we bought her, and her clothes (Marks)....everything. We were living in the USA in body only I had never really adapted to the way of life here, and the OH, being in international development, had traveled most of his working life and was never wedded to living out the end of his days in his place of birth. I think you said it exactly - it is existing, not living. I wish you the best best of luck. Let us know how you get along.

Bevm

Ah well, Mariabc, if you're moving from the BC interior to Spain, I can see the appeal in many ways. Whereabouts in Spain?

brits1

Hi, Not Canada for us but your situation sounds very similar to how we felt about our life in Australia, we moved back after 14 years and have now been back in the UK for nearly 6 years (where did that time go?) this March. We do not regret our move back home we were prepared for the "differences" we knew we would feel at first after such a long time away from the UK but at the same time we also embraced "things" we had missed and other "things" we always wanted to do when we lived here last, we also dealt with certain situations as they arrived rather than pre worrying lol..... Good luck

mariabc

We're going to rent in Stiges for a year, then look to purchase in the Murcia region. We've thought long and hard about this move, most probably too much but feel its for the best. For us, once we became unsettled and started to consider a move, there was no turning back. Those type of thoughts are hard to push away and really do affect your life and contentment. For most of our time here we were happy and content but then it was like hitting a wall and all we began to think about was getting away. Canada has given us some great memories but its time to go and make some new ones.