SarahInTX

I think it's just wonderful to see all these threads from people who have returned home and ARE SO GLAD THEY DID!!! Those of us who've been wondering if it's the "right" thing to do must surely be getting reassured. I know I am.

But it makes me wonder, are there people who've gone back recently and are regretting it and we're just not hearing from them?

At any rate, I'm so happy for all the returnees who've posted their news. Thanks for letting us know how things are going.

Sarah

USAGypsies

Yes I keep wondering the same thing. I love it that so many are happy happy joy joy but there is a suspicious bit in my head that keeps wondering 'Where are the Brits who went home and now wish they didn't?'
Helloooo... are you out there?? Maybe they are in the immigration forum trying to find out which visa to get

Serenity

I was one of those Brits! Once the initial novelty had worn off at six months or so I hated it. All the reasons I hated it have been said many times on here by people who left... tho I initially left (to move to the US) to get married not because I had issues with England, I loved it back then!

Then after 9 months back I got pregnant and we had a mad discussion about moving back while my green card was technically still valid, but decided that was too crazy. But it was always in our minds, the life we'd lost and what we had now. Then last year we started the visa process to move back... and then decided to stay for a number of reasons, but including realising that the grass isn't always greener... the grass is mostly the same, it's our perceptions of the grass that change...

The fact is you can be happy anywhere (with obvious crazy exceptions) if you let yourself. In some ways you'll be worse off in a different, or in your home, country, in some ways better. At some point you will feel more than likely feel sad, even grief, for what you don't have, something will happen and you'll generalise that a whole country is like that, or that it could never have happened in previous/home country. But don't let this blind you to the good there is wherever you are.

crazymotionride

Ive just moved to swansea to study after spending 10 years in Singapore, im only 18 but had fond memories of my life in the uk and came back to visit every summer. However ive been back for 4 months and already am planning to maybe move to and complete a masters degree in the US. I did a lot of travelling in asia, australia and NZ and so i guess the idea of settling down in one country for the rest of my life seems a bit boring. I realy love the UK, virtually everything about it but for some stange reason i just don't think i can live here and i can't put my finger on why.

on a mission

I am one of those, but liek someone said, I am just a dick and a **AT so my opionion counts for nothing!!!!!

Not allowed to say I made a mistake

Serenity

That's a good point... once you've tasted something else you realise there's a whole world out there to explore. And at your age you should just go for it!

I had issues with the settling down bit as well and if it'd just been the hubs and me we would probably have had an adventure. However, neither of us are willing to move our son around. The hubs moved every 4 years as his dad was in the USAF and it was really hard on him, in the end he didn't bother making any friends because he'd only leave them. Something which I suppose made his move to the UK easier than mine to the US, but it's still sad.

Dave_Was

It's really important to understand why you are going back.

I was born in the UK and left the UK twice, both times to the US.

The first time I left for the US it was a combination of two things one was adventure and the second was that I thought it was better for my career. After two years in the US, I still was pretty career minded, and the company I was working for took a downturn. I was offered a good job in the UK that I jumped at. That in hindsight may not have been the right decision.

A year and a half later HQ shut down the UK center. The UK has always had less opportunities in the field that I work in and I should have made that part of my decision before moving back to the UK.

A couple of years after the above I realised that contracting wasn't for me and I wanted to 'settle down' somewhere. I was offered a job in the US and again I moved. I was a single guy and thought what the heck.

Now I'm thinking about moving back, but my reasons have changed. I've changed to being a more family person now. I have a wonderful wife and though we have friends here, we have no family, and when we have children I would want them to be close to my family. Work now is still important but not the prime focus for me. So my reasons for going back have changed and that may make the move back to the UK better.

I think that the first move to the UK was always going to be difficult as I moved for work and to be honest the opportunities in my field in the US are always going to be better in both in terms money and work. So moving back to the UK with this as the prime focus was risky at best.

I think you really need to look deep down inside and see what the reasons for you are moving back and where can you can acheive those goals and aspirations.

And finally this time I have my Green Card, so if I decide that I want to come back to the US within two years of me leaving, I wont have visa hassles.

dunroving

I'm right here. Have posted a lot on here about my misgivings since returning and no-one has barracked me for it.

I don't think people on this forum are closed-minded about negative comments re: returning to the UK, I just think it's less tolerated when bloody-minded eejits come on here purely to wind up people who realise they love the UK and don't love wherever they emigrated to.

dunroving

I can recommend it. What is your area of study?

on a mission

fine, good for you.

JULIEROSE

I have not gone back but my best friend did a few months ago.

My best pal lived here for 8 years in Florida sold her house and all it's contents - returned because she missed her kids and never worked out the health insurance issue that can bankrupt you here. She has been back in the UK less than five months and decided last month it wasn't for her.

She said things had changed and it didn't feel right. She still didn't see her kids much (they have lives of their own of course) and so they are coming back to the States to tour some different areas to find a new home. They haven't ruled out going back to Blighty in say ten years and buying a flat to end their days.

The housing market in the UK has got so overpriced she wasn't prepared to go back and live in a tiny house or flat which, was all she could afford changing her dollars back to pounds. She told me she was unhappy with a lot of things there, crime, yob culture, Gordon Brown and his policies, the weather, the general expenses of daily life such as paying to park everywhere etc . Her words to me were "this is not the home I remember." So not everyone loves it when they go back. She couldn't settle back into life there. Not sure if she will here either though!

dunroving

Danny B

It's bad enough that returnees have to face the people who were at their leaving do and explain why they came home after only 1yr. I really cannot see that they would then come back to this forum and admit that they made a mistake and are regretting their return to the UK.

You never though, someone may prove me wrong..but for the most I think they are so relieved to be back with friends and family, you could throw anything at them in the UK and they wouldn't batter an eyelid.

Heart of gold

We made that choice, only after numerous discussions on making sure it was the right move to make... Kids and hubby were happy but I wasn't but we still moved and now a year on - its the best thing we ever did.
I can enjoy quality family time with the kids, I passed my uk driving test and now we are due another baby.... So yes, Im damned happy and content.
I wish anyone who is thinking on moving back to the uk all the very best in their decision.

ShozInOz

We returned from 2.5 years in Australia in April 2006, and plan to return to Sydney in early 2008. We don't regret moving back as such, because we have gained so much being back, and had we not moved back I am sure that we would still have had that nagging doubt - that 50/50 feeling about where to be. After a few months of enjoyment, it became more and more obvious that we had outgrown the UK, and just did not find it a fun or pleasant place to be FOR US. The things we came back for - the occasional life of travelling around seeing people and places, just do not happen with a small child. They are actually stressful! We knew we would lose day-to-day quality of life, but did not anticipate that the occasional life would be so hard.

The lesson is that you can't have everything though. There is no perfect life anywhere. You just exchange one type of suffering for another. Here we often have dull/cold/wet weather, clogged up roads, aggression, yobbishness, debt, stress, no friends nearby. In Sydney we often have heat, humidity, flies, boredom, isolation, no family at all. It may sound negative, but it somehow seems better to accept that nowhere is ideal, and sometimes it depends which types of suffering you find most tolerable!