meonline

If you lived and worked abroad, and were uncertain to return to the UK or stay in your adopted country, but eventually did return to the UK. How did you arrive at your decision? Your experiences please as I thinking about it these days.

livinginreality

Easy,I just had faith it would work,and it did!

scbrit

I moved to the US in 96, hubby is a USC, we always wondered "what if" and I always saw England with rose tinted glasses, eventually after we had kids we decided it had to be now or never, we decided to give it 2 years to decide where we wanted to bring up our children (and we didn't want to regret not doing it), we were at the point with our jobs where we were ready for a change. So we rented the house and stored our stuff, moved over to the Uk in Feb 2007, but hubby felt claustrophobic, the roads, the weather, he just couldn't get used to it, his personality changed alittle, money wise we were better off in the US. Anyway so we just moved back to the US, for him he would rather bring the kids up where they can play outside more and he has an business opportunity with his brother, for me I had to agree as we couldn't afford a house where we lived. We have been back in the US for about a month, big emotional upheaval for me as my parents had been so close with my children, so I feel a huge amount of guilt, I have hated it here some days (strange when I didn't want to leave in the first place), but the renters all but destroyed the house and its early days. I hope I can settle here and love it, I think I can, just need to make an effort to be apart of the community. I miss England alot, but I have quickly forgotten the things I didn't like, rose tinted specs are firmly back on! I don't want to move again, too much upheaval, but I won't rule out moving back one day!

MartynK

I'm not sure there is an answer to this, other than on an individual level. Some people may go back for practical or rational reasons, such as a good job opportunity, family circumstances or poor health and inability to pay for treatment in their adopted country; and for others it's emotional.

Some people fall in love with their new country right away and feel that they would never go back, then, as the years go by, their perspectives change; others hate it from day one, think they've made a huge mistake and can't wait to return and write it off as an aberration. I imagine some of these people also change as time goes by. These forums can only represent a very small fraction of the people who have left the UK, and I suppose we never hear from the "silent majority" who are happily settled in their new countries, or don't have any desire to go back, anyway.

scbrit

Good Point, I usually only haunt this place if I am feeling alittle lost!

Jay Bird

You can't base your decision on anyone else's experiences, as we are all unique. I find that people who are really thinking about returning are not settled enough to stay where they are.....otherwise why think about it? I would say only this.....don't spend too much time analysing....follow your heart

meonline

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A very good summary of the reasons to think about whether to go back or not. Thanks.

Candy001

I have to agree "Follow your Heart"

Sandra1

Well, I haven't moved back to the UK yet, but I'm planning to after living in the US for 40 years. Two reasons - my sister and I are both divorced and we'd be great company for each other when I retire. The other issue is the cost of US hospital and medical coverage. The fear of being old, alone and poor having bankrupted myself when sick is not a happy prospect. The one big fear I have is the weather in England. It doesn't bother my during vacations there, but living under grey skies in perpituity may be another matter.

livinginreality

Its not always grey skies.This week has been gorgeous!

Jules Europe

The grey skies ain`t gonna go away and its something that you will have to get used to once again, but if you`re living in the UK just take frequent vacations to warmer climes...............its cheap and easy these days.

Jay Bird

Grey skies? Not down here in West Sussex.......we're enjoying our fifth gorgeous day in a row!

Ruby Murray

Pack it in you....or you'll have that beautiful, quaint part of England swarming with all of us

Jay Bird

OMG, that would never do!

bubbles08

well i lived in perth for seven years and i decided life was too short to be unhappy.i felt alot older than i am.people told me that i would miss the sunshine.....but i would rather look back on my life and think how rich my life had been surrounded by lovely and very genuine friends than thinking.........oh well least it was sunny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we have been back three months now.bought a house,setting up a business and loving every minute.
emigrating has been a lesson in life that has taught me what really counts.we had alot of abuse from aussies who never been out of W A and also english people who were very blinkered in their view that as they had lived in a bad area then they presumed that all of Uk was the same.this made me decide i could not live in a place like that.
the aussies were blinkered in the crime that went on.we were out for a drink in joondalup in the northern suburb of Perth and the day before the police station had been fire bombed and Warrick station had the same thing done.someone had reversed a truck into the front of the station and set it alight.
but none of this was mentioned and the aussies could not understand why we wanted to come back.!!!!!!!!!!i could not stand the narrow minds of the people that lived there.we had a business there and we were swore at when we told them we were coming back.i would love to see all those people and let them know that they were totally wrong as this was a great decision and totally the right thin to do.
we thought we would encounter abuse from people here on our decision to come back.
But we have had nothing like that!!!!!!!!!! we have had a fantastic reception with lots ofpositive response and has just made us realise that we love England and we love English people .

My advice would be,you have to be practical ,but you have to follow your gut instinct.
i decided that i did not want to be surrounded by people that were not genuine.
i decided that i did not want to be surrounded by people that think having a big house and swimming pool and flash car makes them better than someone else.
There really were lots of things that made me decide but i am so glad i did.Since we been back we have been very stressed as you can imagine buying a house and setting up a business would be, but we havealso spent alot of really good times with my friends which have helped us through.
It was not easy as we had met some lovely people there but i now know it was SOOOOO RIGHT for us