margaretmwilson

Hi all, I thought I'd just put on a quick update of whats been going on since I arrived back home to the UK, with my dog Alfie, since January. We arrived back home on 27 January to Manchester Airport. There was snow on the North Yorkshire moors and it was beautiful. As my husband was staying on in Florida, I moved in with my parents. I got myself a little Ford Ka on the Saturday, got insured and off I went, visiting friends & family. I had 14 job interviews lined up and had an interview on 30th January and got the job!!! I therefore just cancelled all the other interviews. I started full time employment in mid March. I went to the Job Centre to "sign on". A revelation in itself. There are two types of Jobseekers these days, income based and contributions based. I was entitled to contributions based because I had not paid any contributions for two years I was not entitled to any money. With the income based it depends on savings etc. Let me just say it was an experience and not in a pleasant way. Howevever moving on, my husband sold our property in Florida, thankfully we didn't lose our shirts, maybe just a couple of buttons but we were just glad to sell. He is living in a rented condo until he leaves to come back to the UK in July. I went back to Florida for a weeks vacation at the beginning of May and it was a breath of fresh air, it was so much nicer being a tourist. So far I have absolutely NO regrets on leaving Florida. I'm in the process of buying a lovely 3 bedroom semi-detatched home in our home town of Blyth, which is in Northumberland, some 10 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, some might say why the heck would you want to live there, even I say it, but the two things that I missed about the UK are in Blyth, which are Family & Friends so that's where we will be living. So that's my story so far. I have no regrets about moving to Florida and equally I have no regrets about leaving. It was an experience that turned out not so enjoyable for me personally but we are all different in our own way and if anybody were to ask me "should we move abroad" I certainly wouldn't put them off. If anyone wants to know anything about the process just let me know I'd be happy to give my personal advice.

Nicola1

Congratulations on your successful move.

May I ask what you mean when you were job junting and the income based and contribution based applications?

rebs

Application for Jobseeker's allowance... http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum...dg_200090.html

Nicola1

Thanks, I followed the link and had gotten the wrong gist of things I thought it was something else.

I'll be a stay at home mom and hubby is the breadwinner.

margaretmwilson

I tried to be a stay at home wife, not by choice, but by visa restrictions first year was okay after that I nearly went stir crazy so I'm loving being back to the grind lol. Weather has been lovely today even in the cold north east.

Brigette

Congrats on your return home. Thanks so much for the update and I look forward to reading more about the UK until I return home.

Nicola1

I can relate, I'm not quite sure how it's going to work out, but we'll revisit the idea when the youngest is of school going age

ohwottodo

the "backhome" forum has really given me hope, we are in fl also, have lost not only the buttons but the whole shirt and more.
Its really down to do we stay here with no money or go back home with no money. We could look for another E2 business which would generate an income.
if we moved back to the uk we have nothing to go to.
its frustrating that i can not work here if i could then our situation would be so much different.

britwhore

Ohwottodo - I personally would rather be broke in the UK than broke in the US. At least I know I can get help back home. The US is a scary place to be with no $$. But that's just my opinion! Good luck with your decision.