Marion

I live in Canada (ex-brit) and I was talking to a guy to-day who said "If I won the lottery I would go back to the UK like a shot".
So I said to him "I guess you are fed-up with living in Canada?". "Oh no" he replied, "I love Canada - but you can go abroad on holidays much cheaper from England than you can here"!!
I guess there are all sorts of reasons for returning home...but my reason is that I would have to be "fed up to the back teeth" with where I was living before I went back home. But each to their own eh.
Marion

TheWilliams

Hello Marion,
I think people might consider moving back for all sorts of different reasons. Obviously if people are unhappy wher they are ....'fed up to the back teeth' as you put it would be a major reason. But also possibly for other reasons...work or family or simply for a change.
Me and my wife are long time canadian residents, but we're starting to think seriously about moving back to the UK, not because we're particualary unhappy but the idea has simply started to appeal to us over the last year or two. We go back on holiday again in a few weeks, and then we'll have a long hard think about it. Since we've talked about it with friends here in canada they often say that the country we left has changed of course, but we don't want to move back thirty years to the country we left, if we did move it would be because we want to move forward to live in the modern britain (with all of its differences from Canada). As I said we go back again in a few weeks, and we both can't wait! Hopefully we have a good time.
Just a few thoughts Marion.

Spindleman

Hello Marion... My wife and I Have been in Canada for 29 wonderful years..and never regretted a moment...I have to dissagree with your statement about "fed up to the back teeth"
we like Canada very much.. it is a fine young Country...but there are many different types of reasons that people go back home.
As for myself and my wife .. we miss friends,family, the beautiful
sceneries of our beloved Lancashire and Yorkshire dales..we miss being able to go to a nice country pub for lunch or out to the Cheshire countryside for a day out,or to the many seaside resorts all around the Uk.We miss the cheap airfares to the continent..now my wife and I get closer to retirement we want to travel to Europe and see foreign parts,I agree that moving back is not for everyone..it is a personal choice we all must make individually.
Yes Britain has changed (for the better)it has its problems like any other country...only a fool would return home expecting it to be as they left it...you must be ready to accept those changes...they are
one of the many reasons we are going home.
Good luck Bob on your vacation home..my wife and I decided on our last trip last year that the time had come to return...my wife leaves in 3 weeks and I will follow shortly after.Please let us know when you return and give us your own perspective on it.

Peace to you all


Harold

Marion

Thanks for your responses. I wish both of you the best of luck on returning home. We have lived in Canada for 26 years and are now retired and I am a little homesick as most of my family have gone back to the UK. I too get reminiscent of the lifestyle we had back there. (I`m from Lancashire) the countryside, the pub lunches the walks across the fields. (sigh) But to come back to reality I don`t think we could afford to live back there. We couldn`t afford to buy a house or rent - our pension wouldn`t stretch that far. Although my sister-in-law moved back as a pensioner and has no regrets - she`s on some income support system - but she isn`t able to have a car like she had in Canada. But she`s not too bothered about that. You have to follow your heart - and if you do you can`t go too far wrong. Marion

Interested

Well i've only lived in Canada for two years so far, but I intend to go back, just because that's where my family is. I mean when I have kids I really want my mum to be around and plus as they get older I want to be there for them!

I couldn't imagine living here for more than another 5 years. If I could somehow transport my family here though then I wouldn't bother to go back.

good luck with your plans!

NC Penguin

I've heard of Brits of working age, living in the US, wanting to move back to the UK 'cos they would have a greater number of vacation days from employment and so be able to take holidays to a greater variety of places within Europe (for example).




NC Penguin

AndrewR

As I've said before on this forum, my (canadian) wife and I plan to move back to the UK, but its certainly not because we're fed up of canada. Far from it, but there are wealth of reasons why we would move back to blighty (my wife has spent a year working in the UK by the way, so knows what she's getting herself in for!)
Whenever I go back and see my parents and other relatives in the UK I notice what full interesting lives their leading, and the opportunities they have to enjoy themselves.... to go to cultural events, travel opportunities, to enjoy the british countryside, visiting historic buildings etc....I guess you get the idea. In alot of ways the enjoy a lifestyle that I would like to have. When we do move back we would consider it a move back for 'positive' reasons, as an opportunity to enjoy some of those things that other people have already mentioned.
And to Spindleman and the Williams....good luck with the move, and the holiday! Hope you have a great time!

sundarize

The only reason holidays are cheaper from the UK is thats is so bloody miserable here that the holiday industry is huge!!

AndrewR

Hmmm not sure about that.....i think having an airline industry with plenty of competion between the big players makes a huge difference (EasyJet, Ryanair, BA, BMI, Virgin etc etc) Certainly flights are way more affordable than they are here in Canada.
btw.... isn't the UK the fifth most popular tourist destination around? Twenty eight million people a year visit despite the 'bloody miserable weather', partly because of the sheer wealth of things to see and do. One small example....i saw a poll recently in a canadian newspaper of favourite cities to visit worldwide.....London was the top choice.

kubwasana

"Yes Britain has changed (for the better)" ? Where did yu get that idea? I can't wait to get OUT! If you love the country and can live in the Yorkshire Dales - fine; or love theatre and can afford to live in Central London - great! But this country has changed considerably since I first came here. Living - particularly in London - is very expensive; property prices are prohibitive in desirable or central areas; council taxes are rising rapidly; whatever the government may say, the Health service is strained beyond capacity; transport is expensive and not always reliable and if you run a car - then you're an ace target for road tax, road pricing, forthcoming "tolls", insurane increases (now plus VAT) and a night out with a meal for 2 or 4 is ludicrous! You'll have substantial power bills to keep warm for six months of the year in this dreary climate.
Still, if it appeals to you, welcome home!

Rosy

So where do you intend to go then???

fried_emu

Where you will be the happiest is what really matters.

I'm not for the pubs, I miss my fast food.

I'm not for the night clubbing, give me my nights in with loads of friends for network games.

I miss the way they stock the food in Canada. I still haven't gotton used to buying my eggs from the shelf and not from a fridge.

I can't wait to be able to drive on a regular size road again. I still hold my breath when a car drives by me in my car (our side mirrors must kiss).

The list goes on for me. But thats just me. I moved back to the UK 3 years ago and Tim-eh is right you have to be prepared for the modern Britian, the old one is gone.

I think it comes down to how much time you spent in the UK before you left. The more time you have spent here - the happier you may be when you come back.

The one thing that we did not think about had to do with our children. The immunizations are different in every country. Everybody gets immunized for HIb as a baby, but what it is made up of is different in every country.

We came back when my then youngest was 1 year old. By the time he was 2 he was on life support fighting for his life. He had contacted HIb with a side effect of epiglotitis. The vaccine was diiferent in Canada than the UK. He was on life support for 2 weeks, I was 8 months pregnant and it was hell. He was deaf for 7 months after the fact and it took 3 months just to get over the side effects of all the drugs they had pumped into him.

If you are changing countries and you have children - try to be aware of everything that could affect them. And be prepared because you will have missed something for sure.

Fried