Gill123

Hi All

We are in the middle of an unsettling stay in Perth/move to Brisbane/return to UK dilema.

I think the first thing we need to do is go to the UK for a holiday to see if that clarifies things.

I've spoken to a few people who were all set to move back to the UK, but decided to do a 2-3 week visit first to be sure. They then decided after a week of being back that in fact, they didn't want to move to the UK.

Just wondered what people's experiences of this have been like. I know we are all different and wanting different things, but I'm wondering if there are more people who decide to stay in Australia after a visit to the UK, than those who do feel it's right and make the move back.

Mmm....!

LisaP

I don't live in Australia, I live in Greece. We went to London for a holiday in the spring and it just confirmed, totally and absolutely to me that England was the place to be for us. Good luck.

Jon77

I lived in Australia from 2002 - 2005 and in the Autumn of 2004 we went back to the UK for a holiday and as were were relaxing and not working and with our UK friends and family we loved it so much that we decided to move back to the UK in mid 2005.

It wasn't all that long before we had realised we had made a mistake, but one thing led to another and we have ended up staying in the UK for 5 years and the longing to be back in Australia has grown.

So ealry ext year we are heading back down under to our family and friends over there. This will be the last move like this we make, we are both in our early / mid 30's now and have a son who will be startign school soon and we don't want to keep on moving around whilst he is so young.

I have just fallen out of love with the UK really.

melliset

I am from UK and it is really a nice place for a visit and for a stay. I love UK. My everything is over here my family,my friends and my every moment of life. So I don't want to left it. And believe me no other place is like this.

J.J

here is our experience.

I understand where your question comes from. We asked ourselves many times. For us the move to US and move back to UK was brought about by external forces providing the opportunity / occasion rather than a grand personal desire to make the move - the pull for me was always in the direction of UK.

We lived in US for 18 yrs, moving with husbands employer.
Me, the trailing spouse had ebb and flow in my feelings about both countries. In the first 5 yrs in US I did not travel back to UK for fear that if I did I would just stay and not go back to US, I was unable to settle there in US my own mind.
Then after about 10 yrs, and a rainy week holiday in London I was so glad to be going back 'home' to the US.
Recently after 18 yrs, me retired and when DH employment was forcing a move in the US, my / his feeling was if I had to move I wanted it to be UK , although would have stayed in US if that is what DH wanted. However, he responded to my needs and we moved to UK.
I was worried about the future cost of healthcare in US if anything were to happen, that's me wanting to avoid what-if worries that may never happen. Also if DH died (he has not indicated he plans to) then I would certainly wouldn't want to stay / couldn't afford to stay in US alone.

So how do I feel now that I am back, well, relief, home at last , I never felt that US could ever be home. However, I feel the price is a lower quality of life somehow in a way that I cannot define easily, regards culture of peoples attitude and pessimism. But we will live our own lives. do what we enjoy, look over the heads of sour faces. DH has yet to find anything in UK that makes the UK fantastically better than US, but then has equal feeling that US is not exceptional better than UK, he is accepting that this is where we will stay and has no burning desire to return to US. The two countries are just different worlds, no regrets on either.

When you come to a fork in life's road, boldly make a choice based on how you feel at the time and don't look back.

Best wishes in your choices,

mbike

The big test, when travelling to the UK on holiday, is if it feels like you're heading home on your arrival or your departure. For us it was always the former. Good luck

iaink

Im always glad to visit the UK, but so far Im always glad to leave it again too after a few days.

The same logic applies to a reccie trip back to the UK if you are thinking of returning as applies to a reccie trip elsewhere when you are thinking of leaving, doesnt it? Places change, your memory of them changes, people tend to remember the good and forget the bad

A trip back for a while is a sensible precaution if you can afford it, if only to see whether you have rose tinted shades on about the whole thing. Its easy to miss family and friends, and there will of course be a whirl of activity at first, catching up with everyone and visiting, but after the initial rush has cooled down, do you miss them enough to put up with all the other stuff that made you want to leave in the first place. A short trip back may not necessarily reflect the reality of living back in the UK full time.

Jay Bird

It's the other way round for me: just got back this morning from a holiday in Canada, having returned to live in the UK a little over 2 years ago. I have felt so at home since we returned that we reckoned a holiday (clutching that all important return ticket!) to catch up with friends would be good. It was. It also confirmed (as if I needed it) that neither of us want to live in Canada ever again, and the decision to come home was totally and absolutely the right thing to do.....for us!

Good luck with your decision and I hope you end up being as happy about it as we are. Sometimes the head can overrule the heart, but it can work just as well the other way.

pinkkristen

I hope thats us sometime soon. I love it when i hear stories of happy people resettling back into the Uk. shows me it can be done!

pinkkristen

I went back for a holiday with just my eldest in the summer and it confirmed for me that i was home and needed to be back there! We have been on a downward spiral since then! I still worry i may have had my rosey glasses on, but really did try to analyse everything and look at the things that made us leave in the first place. To me though, it was home, bumping into people on the street, going to the school fete, it all felt right (even if the weather wasn't all cloudless skies), thats i think just about the only thing i will miss about canada - oh and easy parking!!

ExBritFL

I went to the UK on hols last December for two weeks - of course, everywhere was decorated for christmas, the familiar chill in the air and the taste of mulled wine to warm up the cockles made me homesick like I've never been before!!!

It was a trip that made me realise that it's in the UK that I want to be again and had I never have moved away in the first place, I wouldn't have appreciated the country for what it is.

I'm hoping to move back as soon as I can sell my house!!

brits1

Personally I could never make my mind up after just a few weeks..no matter where in the world I was (as I said that's just me) and also....being on holiday...well its a holiday.....that makes ALL the difference...totally different from living and working.....also don't listen to anyone who "did this...that etc".....theirs lives are not yours to live....you just have to take a chance really when it all comes down to it....that's sometimes how life works out....a Crystal Ball and Hindsight...well would that stop a lot of stress etc...lol....only you can really know what is right...go with your heart...and a bit of head....but go with yours and your family...nobody else's....good luck...

quoll

If you get a sense of well being as you descend into Heathrow which leaves you, with your heart, when you soar out of Heathrow then you will know I reckon. Whilst I generally agree that holidays are going to be good no matter where you go, I do think you just "know" where you belong.

iaink

Like they "knew" they wanted to be in Australia originally?

Barbara B.

When we first became expats, I didn't want to go back the the UK on holiday for two reasons, firstly because I felt I was sick of it and wanted to see the back of it, but secondly (and probably more revealingly) I didn't want to be torn in any way or reliant on Brit products and come back with suitcases stuffed with supplies.I threw myself into the move 'away'.

Fast forward quite a few years to find me returning to the UK for a couple of fact finding tours and I understand what LisaP said "We went to London for a holiday in the spring and it just confirmed, totally and absolutely to me that England was the place to be for us. "

Meeting the UK, it's people and bustle again, was like falling in love with an old flame who has aged quite well and who may have cleaned up some of the bad habits (though, can't think which of my old flames that analogy would fit with!). Any of the faults or wrinkles doesn't conceal the sheer gorgeousness of the UK.

I have a few misgivings, I can remember my good reasons for wanting out in the first place. But I guess sometimes you can travel the whole world just to want to end up on your old doorstep again?

My fear is getting there and thinking "Oh ####, WHAT have I done???"