St.Georges Girl

Hello all, I haven't posted on BE for a good few years and am finding this a bit difficult, but I would just like to hear from anyone who has returned to the UK from overseas lately.
Don't know what else to say really except I have been yearning to go home from Australia for many years and yet I'm still here. (Don't ask).
I keep being told I must be out of my mind to even think of returning now. I am told by everyone, except my family who want me back,
that England and all across the UK is doomed, gone to the dogs etc.etc. but I know I need to for my sanity.

Anyone got any views? Help!

From a very scared and old BE member.

St.Georges Girl

Anyone???

verystormy

People in the UK like to put the country down and assume places like Australia are lands paved with gold. It has always been like that.

The reality is that lots of people return to the UK, myself included and are very happy.

old.sparkles

Pollyana returned to the UK earlier this year. She still posts so might be worth sending a pm.

durham_lad

We are so very pleased that we moved back from the USA a few years ago, we love it here. Since then our son moved back from Texas year later and our daughter moved back from California last year along with her partner and they are also really pleased to have moved here. (We had all moved to the USA in 1987 when the children were very small so they have little to no memory of living here)

My brother and his family all still live in Australia (McKay and Perth) and they love it there but do visit family in England quite regularly so have plenty of contact with their roots.

In other words I don’t believe it’s all doom and gloom as reported in the media but it’s not a utopia either and it will very much depend on individual circumstances how one cares.

Moses2013

People who are unhappy will always blame the whole country and all you can really do is look at your personal situation. Those who moved abroad for sunshine hours will often complain when they come back to Northern Europe, that's also reality.

Nypool1e

I returned to the UK after 32 years being in NYC along with my US born wife. Yes, the country is in a bit of a mess right now but so is most of the world one way or another. I don’t regret coming home, it was time, it felt right & my wife loves it here. It seems from your post that you want to return to Britain, if you have the resources to finance your future & family support I would say go for it! Best of luck to you.

Jolly Good

Just wanted to say hi G. Hope all is well with you xx
Also second the advice to talk to Pollyanna.
( Poster formally known as Sugarmooma)

Shard

From what I can tell, the whole world, every country, is doomed and going to the dogs right now. So don't let that stop you ! It comes down to your own personal circumstances and desires, rather than the countries themselves.

robin1234

Yeah I think this is right - personal circumstances. There’s that old quote from Charles Dickens, in Pickwick Papers. (Paraphrasing). “If your income is £1 and your expenditure is 90p, you’re happy. If your income is £1 and your expenditure is £1.10, you’re miserable.”

I really like it in England with little or no family there. So if you’ve got family in the UK who’d like you there, then go for it!

Pulaski

This!

Just remember that you are not "going back", you're moving forwards, to another country, which despite some familiar things, has changed since you left. How you balance the familiarities with the changes is something only you can decide for yourself.

Pollyana

I'm here, bit late to the party but been out enjoying Sussex thunderstorms Loving the rain and the grey skies, such a wonderful change from eternally baking in Brisbane!
Excellent way to look at it. So much is familiar, even after 20 years in Aus, yet obviously life has moved on. Even coming back to a city a knew like the back of my hand, I find some things have changed, new places open, old haunts closed - yet it still feels the same, the fundamental atmosphere and things that make Brighton what it is are still the same.

Pollyana

The UK has most of the same issues as Australia, and any other western country. Nowhere is paradise, but you know that, you've done this migration thing once already! Ignore what "everyone else" says, its your life not theirs. And if you are at that point when you want to come home, start doing it.
I stayed in Aus far too long, as I adored my job and knew I couldn't do it over here (not enough cyclones!) but finally I realised my sanity was at risk, I was hating the place more each week, and the anti-foreigner attitude of many in Queensland during Covid put the final nails in the coffin. Had to give it another year so I could get my super to fund the move, so I had time to plan it all. I knew I wanted to come back to my old home, Brighton, so eventually I did a rekkie trip, introduced myself to estate agents, spoke to my bank, got used to the place again, and after 4 weeks went back to Brisbane and resigned. There was a lot of planning as I had family illness issues that complicated the timeline and meant I literally had 3 weeks after finishing work in which to ship everything, get my super and transfer it, and get all my stuff shipped.

Yes I was knackered on arrival, but it was a happy-knackered if that makes sense and I haven't had a single moments doubt since I arrived back in March. I feel like I am alive again; I'm among people who speak my language, share my humour, and just understand me. Sounds daft but other returnees probably know what I mean. Its not perfect cos nowhere is, but I feel at home, something I didn't feel in 20 years over there.

Do a search of my posts in this Moving Back forum over the last year and you'll pick up a lot of info about shipping and stuff which people were passing on to me. Then set yourself a date - stop doing what I did and saying "one day I will go back home......" and actually set a date to work towards, trust me once you do that & you can start to build a timeline it feels like you are actually on your way, and that really will help you do do it

mikelincs

My situations wasn't that bad, returning rom Spain after 5 years, still had to get used to the actual dad to day things, in Spain, up early and out shopping etc during the summer months because of the heat, no such problems, yet, in the UK, advantages were not needing translator for trips to the Doctors unless we knew their level of English first. The UK is suffering with incompetent corrupt government at the moment, but that will change.

St.Georges Girl

That's good to hear. Yes people like to put the UK down in general, but I think at this time they have a reason to with total lack of control over it's borders.