brit09

I think its healthy to go on a holiday visit beforehand...not liking Canada after living there 3 years we visited last year for one month & enjoyed every bit of it (despite few economical changes) its helped to make our decision to return back this year.

aries

Yes, I think trips back can make it more confusing. However if trips are purely as a holiday and not to examine if you wish to return here to live, they can be more enjoyable.

Although holdaying from Oz to the UK can be expensive for a family, it is a lot cheaper and less stressful than selling up and returning here to live, and then finding it is not as pleasurable in the long term as you imagined.

Bud the Wiser

Going back for a holiday and going back with a serious view as to making a desicion whether to return are two different things. I've done both and still haven't come to any conclusion.

One trip does stick in mind and may be relevant to the question. It was a business/pleasure trip that was supposed to take two weeks. Due to circumstances beyond my control, it ended up being an eleven week stay. The first two weeks were brilliant, meeting up with old friends and family, savouring long forgotten familiar foods, having long walks around the land of my youth, reminiscing to my hearts content. However, as two weeks turned into four, four to eight etc. the novelty wore off. Old friends couldn't come out to play, they had their own lives to go back to once the " great to see you party' was over. Family? well how long can you stay with someone before you get under their feet and overstay your welcome? Familiar foods? There's only so much 'full english', etc. one can eat. Walks around the area of my youth? ... doesn't take long before it all becomes just background scenery. Reminiscing?........... I can do that wherever I am, knowing that I can never bring it back whether I'm on memories doorstep or a million miles away.

Attack your visit with an open mind.

Snap Shot

Fair comment, well made.

However, I would also say that life in one's own adopted country becomes wallpaper after a while. I have an idea that should we ever return my attitude will be, 'I'm goin' home'. No real need for a holiday prior to our return. It will like returning from holiday i.e., 'right, let's get on with it' by that I mean, life in general.

Redgal

What did it for us was having children, missing family, several deaths in the family over the years I have been here, a deterioration in health of a close family member and the fact that my parents are aging.I feel a huge pull to go home and returning here from every trip back home ( and we have made quite a few in the last few years) was really really difficult ( crying in the airplane toilets so as not to upset the kids and not beg able to eat for days once we came back...). On our last visit, it rained the whole time, we attended a really sad funeral of a close family friend who had died in the first couple of days we were there, all my friends were away on holiday and we were stuck inside the whole time and yet I would still choose to go home and be with family in those same conditions a million times over than stay here. I was actually grateful for that trip ( which actually we did as a final decider as Bud mentioned above) because it really cemented the decision for us. So yes, for us even when the holiday has not been all rosy, it confirmed where we want to be and that is home, with family.

Snap shot I agree, I feel that I will be returning from a long holiday when we go home and finally, we will be able to get on with our lives.

dunroving

I'd recommend a visit back for anyone who hasn't been back in a while, and especially those who aren't sure about the move.

Although a "holiday" back doesn't really represent the reality of permanent life in the UK, it is a more accurate picture than distant memories.

Redgal

fulwood

Dunroving, I agree. I as you know or read will be over next year for 3-4 months. I will be looking at the UK and life there with my eyes wide open.