dunroving

What is it about Wales that floats your boat?

I like Wales, but I think the idea of a certain area often does not match the reality of living there. We have one BE member who moved to the valleys who plans to leave (for the SW I think) because the reality does not equal quality of life (a Ned problem in her case).

Perth

Not sure if I can really explain it. I come from London but will not return due to the cost of living and the overcrowding. I initially looked at Cardiff as an alternative as I have known a few people who made an easy transition from London to there. I've spent the better part of 6 months looking around the rest of the country for ideas for day trips essentially.

At some point it all began to feel very familiar and comfortable to me. Now that we are looking at abandoning the idea of Cardiff, we just find ourselves drawn to those places we have been looking at within Wales. I know what you are saying - it's possible that we don't really have a good sense of reality about the place. But that could be said of anywhere we might go really,.

feelbritish

I think because I have been so busy cleaning out cupboards and having sold our ski equipment, he is getting cold feet! I am probably going to have to work even part time, that is his latest worry, not having enough money! Today he acknowledged that unless we win the lottery we cannot stay here and travel back to see our families there just will not be the finances for it. As a friend said, you know when your pets get all anxious when you have boxes packed and all over the place? that is probably what he is feeling!

I am happy to share any info with you! Have just seen your later post. You might want to look further south although much more expensive than Wales. The main drawback with IOW is ferries and some people may feel claustrophobic being on a small island especially if you have lived in States where you drive around a lot! We live in a small community on a larger island so know what it is like.

Perth

Money is a concern here too, which is partly the reason we are looking to live in a more rural area. That and just generally wanting to live far from the madding crowd! I remember when we started our research on going home a year ago and all I wanted to do was to live right in the heart of a city and experience all that culture we have been missing here in Florida. But life intervened and now all we want is peace and quiet!

I popped in to your website. Looks like you live in a lovely area, and your B&B is fabulous! Sounds like the OH is having the wobbles! Hardly unexpected since he did take some persuading to even consider the idea in the first place. Have faith though - remember sally simmons' OH? Your situation mirrors hers. She could probably give you some pointers!

Fish n Chips 56

Just got back from a two week trip to the place I love, we had great weather, we didn't get to do all we had planned but still it was a busy two weeks, we did get up to the Lake District for three days, I've always wanted to go but never been before, I wasn't dissapointed, we stayed in a super B&B in the centre of Keswick, If anyone needs a good B&B PM me... It was Fab... Great people, rooms, breakfast, parking and location...

The food was great in the UK, the people were good too, all in all it was an awesome two weeks, the Drivers never disappoint me with their polite road manners, it blows me away how good the drivers are, even cyclists, the cost of parking is a major bummer with very high fees, The speed camera's are a real pain in the you know what, I just hope I havent bought any tickets as I try to stick to the speed limit but found myself over the limit by 3-5mph a few times in 50mph areas... I love the flashing "Thankyou" speed signs.

I enjoyed 2 episiodes of Downton and Doc, on the negative side I cant see why people are wrapped up in the X factor, what garbage...

Everyone seems concerned with the immigrants, I arrive back in the US and its the same old grind, Murder, War and Politics... Huhhhhhh...

cheers

Tell us more...How was the airline? Which car car rental company? Where are you going to move to?
Cheers

Fish n Chips 56

Airline was American, the coach seats were tight and uncomfortable at least for me, its no fun for the 12 hour trip, my wifes seats were OK on the return trip, the AA people were very nice, loading the plane was a unorganized, I think all coach passngers should be loaded by seat rows sooner than an uncontroled free for all that takes forever.

Connections were through Chicago, people have complained to me about Ohare over the years, we were through customs and immigration in less than 30 mins after landing, I think thats very good...

Rental, Ford Mondeo Diesel Automatic, £490 including collision Insurance, from a Local Ford dealer, a bit spendy, the car did 44mpg average, Automatics can be expensive, I was planning on going with enterprise like last time but their rate was high too, next time I may just get a small manual gearbox car, Fiesta sized.

Moving is on hold until we have cash saved for a home, it may be many years from now, we are planning on the Derbyshire, Notts, South Yorkshire border, its the area we came from, we havent decided on an actual town, we are flexible, much of it depends on finding the right home.

cheers

Thanks Chips!
It's getting cool here. As we have mentioned it's like a switch, hot or cold.
I'm sorry it's going to take so long for you to take the move.
I like the idea that many have said on here to rent first or rent period when we get back. The uk papers say prices for homes are skyrocketing. (What goes up eventually comes down??)

I see more homes I like that are for rent than those for sale.

Cheers

Fish n Chips 56

Its colder here than it was in the UK, we had two decent weeks, it should be warmer next week...

I understand about renting, I just fear getting stuck in a rental property for life, neither of us would think thats a great trade off, and life is trade off as I see it, there are some nice homes to rent but they arent cheap even in the areas we are looking at...

Skyrocketing, I'm not so sure that true in our area, Money is hard to come by so we just have to ride this out, hopefully home prices will rise here and help us out a little... I fear the UKs home prices will go up before ours...

I see a few homes Id love to buy, I just dont have the funds.

windsong

I have wanted to go back for SO many years - and it will happen in the not too distant future - but even now I feel nerves about it all. ANY big change, whether desired or not, can be nerve-wracking, so go easy on yourselves.

windsong

I've looked at the UK rentals quite a bit and it seems you have to pay a lot each month just for something that is halfway reasonable, nevermind "really nice".

windsong

I notice something on this site I haven't seen before. Up in the address bar where you see the URL - way over to the left of the address bar, there is a little symbol that looks like a pair of binoculars. When you click on it, it says "Adobe Flash enabled for this site". What does this mean? (I immediately disabled it, of course.)

Note: Found this link. Trying to make head/tail of it all. It's clearly more about cookies, though - and collecting data from our computers.

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/...cts-flash.html

curleytops

Note to all you Apple users - I just received an e-mail in my junk mail purporting to be from Apple entitled ''How to reset your Apple ID password.‏"
Being me, I smelled a rat but as there were no attachments I opened it avoiding any links. This is what it said:

"To reset your Apple ID password, simply click the link below. That will take you to a web page where you can create a new password.

Please note that the link will expire three hours after this email was sent."

- hyperlink inserted here -

" If you weren't trying to reset your password, don't worry – your account is still secure and no one has been given access to it. Most likely, someone just mistyped their email address while trying to reset their own password.

Thanks,
Apple Customer Support"

This may or may not be legit but I actually got two of them and no, I wasn't trying to change a password. I had an i-tunes account years ago that hasn't (and I won't be using it again) been used since before I left Canada (life is too short) and the cardholder info on file is obsolete so I'm not all that concerned. I just wondered if anyone else has been getting them; can't hurt to be diligent.

cheers

I was referring to prices in the UK. This maybe hype.

I was talking to a person here and he said that after a good start last year it has gone back to the doldrums here. Meaning the real estate has slowed back down. He is in a position to know.

cheers

Hey Windsong, can you tell me something about the cat world?

Example. There is a female cat that lives in the bushes in my garden and she brushes by my pant leg continually. She let me pick her up for the first time a few minutes ago. So what goes?

Cheers