What was the defining moment when you decided you wanted to move back to the U.K? The straw that broke the camels back moment, not necessarily your prime reason for wanting to move back, it may be something small that just tipped the balance and made you decide. The moment you said to yourself, " That's it, I'm out of here."

We've been flirting with the idea of moving back from the US for some time, health care one of the prime reasons, but probably not as important as the feeling of not really belonging in my host country in spite of being here 16 years. I don't think we've reached the defining moment yet, but I'm sure it's not too far away. Currently, the bible thumpers are tipping me closer and closer to the point of return.

For me it was the nuttiness over the health care legislation. I have never seen people protest so violently against an attempt to help them and it made me realize that I just don't fit in here. I don't understand the culture and I never will.

My primary reason for going home is to be close to friends and family as we all get older, but for a while I was up in the air about what to do. That intense negative reaction to something I see as moderate and incremental just helped me make my final decision.

For me it was an accumulation of small niggly stuff that came to a head when my Step father died suddenly and my mother was left all alone, her sister lives in Spain as does my sister, so she was pretty alone. It took me 5 days to get there. I felt awful and useless.

In my case it is a natural, long-term falling away of responsibilities that finally mean that we can return to the UK without letting other people down etc. Our children are all through college and graduate school and are living independently and self-sufficiently. We paid off the mortgage early. My mother in law died at a ripe old age... ultimately, to be able to be close to her in her old age was one of the main reasons we moved to the US 20 years ago. (When she died, our daughter resignedly said; "Now I suppose you'll go back to England and abandon me here all on my own!" .. this despite the fact that she owns a house, and has a partner and a good job!) Now we just have to give away/recycle/sell all our possessions, and retire, and .. actually go!

for us, it was when the boss said your job becomes seasonal at the end of November. Up until that moment we were thinking maybe 18 months then quit, but that statement was a decision maker for us. If we are here poor may as well be in UK poor ! the final decider was seeing and leaving behind our gorgeous 1 year old grand daughter, that hurt, we need to see her grow up. The other Grand kids are all 16 years and up and we were in UK for their formative years, we dint want to miss Alice thru those precious years, especially since her Dad waited until he was 42 before deciding to have her, so a real bonus. So we are going thru the nightmare of packing up and selling up and going home with my 84 year olf Mum in tow, and I cant wait !!

Packing to move apartments, and asked myself
"self, if you were packing to return to the uk what
would you keep?"
Finally dawned on me, that IS an option.

Now I'm starting a countdown.

This website is so helpful, thanks to all contributors; I am
inspired by yo uall.

For us it was lots of little things but my wife has never wanted to live in Australia even after close to 20 years so for her going back was a no brainer. Lots of stuff getting more and more expensive, too much crazy paperwork for everything, terrible drivers, termites and a total collapse of our field of work. On top of that a fantastic work opportunity was the icing on the cake.

I think for us it was whenever the Aus national anthem was played and although we were always very, very respectful of it, it never felt like our anthem....also coming back to Aus from holidays overseas and the sign welcome home was at the airport, even after all the years of living in Aus it still just did not feel like home....my OH said one day "okay love enough's enough let's head home"......

I've been living in France for 8 years now and recently sold my house. It sold faster than expected and I've been toying with the idea of moving straight back to the UK but thought I'd rent somewhere here for a while and really see if I wanted to stay or not. However, I got turned down for two great apartments and neither of the managing agents would give me a reason and got rude and defensive when I asked them to justify the decision. I have a full time job and an income that could more than pay the rent (plus the money from my house sale!) so it was pretty obvious they just didn't want to rent to foreigners Two weeks later, both apartments are both still available....

I've been getting fed up with life here gradually over the past three years but this kind of blatent discrimination was the last straw. I'm coming back to the UK at the end of July and can't wait to get out of here!!!

For me it was the "guilty untill proven innocent" laws used in Australia, and the widespread use of tasers as compliance tools.
I really didn't believe that Perth was such a violent and lawless city that required laws such as these.

We had thought about moving for a long time, as my job offshore was looking shaky, and my wife had no proper visa to live in the UK, so we though we'd start the ball rolling for a settlement visa, or whatever the thing was called ten years go.

So, then the embassy granted my wife her settlement visa, in Manila, the same day we applied for it. Then they told us it had to be utilised within six months....

We had seen the waiting list for interviews was over six months, and assumed she'd need one, being a Filipino. Thus we wrongly assumed that we had at least a year before we need even think about moving. All of a sudden, in the space of a few hours, we realised it was going to happen, and it was going to happen very soon.

Life soon got very busy, with house to get rid of, ten years worth of stuff to pack and sort, I had a motorcycle, cars, tools etc to sort out. Plus we needed to find somewhere to live, decide whereabouts we were going to live.

Plus, we had seven dogs we needed to rehouse.

It was a stressful time for all concerned, to say the least, and the closer we got to moving the less tolerant I grew of the somewhat chaotic pace of life that is The Philippines. I literally blew out of that country like a cork from a bottle, when the day came, glad to be free of the chaotic, frustrating, irritatingly annoying turd world hell hole.....




But eight years later, we moved back.

So how different is the Philippines now compared to when you left the first time ?

Or is it just your outlook that has changed ?

The Philippines has progressed in some ways, but has also got busier, more crowded, more expensive. But, as you say, I look at it all a different way now.

My wife is the one who now complains about the way things are done! "Why can't they just do things properly" she rants, quite often.

I am the more chilled person this time round, who just accepts that different cultures do things different ways, and they don't know why, they just do it, and complaining or getting pissed off about it is going to change nothing, nada.

I just hope I can maintain this outlook, one year gone, plenty more to go...... life is good.

While we havent committed to a move back yet, i think we have both realised that it is more than probable and have started putting time lines in place with a move back end of next year.

The defining moment came when having spent nearly a year looking for a place to buy we went to the agents near us. 100km south of Perth and supposed to be relatively cheap and said we had a budget of $300k max. His reply was a two room fibro shack. Not 2 bedroom, just two rooms. About the same as two garden sheds put together. So the prospect of not being able to afford our own home was the turning point.

That is what you get for 300k then?

I thought things were a lot cheaper in Oz?