Trips to Britain
 

How often do you go (home! :) ) to Britain? Do you go as often as you would like or is it too little for your liking and if it's the latter then what are the things that prohibit you from travelling more.
When I lived on the west coast I only managed to go about every 2-3 years as it was really cost prohibitive. I always made it clear to my employers when I applied for jobs that I would require 3-4 weeks vacation (mostly unpaid of course!) during the years that I went to Britain as I wasn't going to fly all that way and spend all that money for 1-2 weeks. I never had a problem with any employer (although sometimes other employees thought that you were getting preferential treatment which is stupid because it was unpaid!)
The employer that I work for now is great but is not going to be able to let me go for that long and I also have to take specific weeks off as these are the times that the office is closed. Unfortunately we are closed during the busiest travel weeks of the year so even though I am on the east coast it is still really costly.
So, how do you handle this situation and are you content with the amount of time you get to spend back home? :)

Re: Trips to Britain
 

hi blaze, yep i'm lucky i can return home whenever and stay for however long i want but usually i make a trip home to blighty every 6 weeks...i could not imagine staying here for too long at a stretch...usa people say to me didn't i feel isolated living in the uk on an island and the answer is no....i feel more isolated in the usa than ever in the uk.

Re: Trips to Britain
 

You're very lucky! :) I feel more isolated here because there is such a huge distance from one place to another. If for example you want to see the ocean and you live somewhere like the Dakotas /Colorado/Minnesota e.t.c then it can take you sometimes days of travelling to get to it. That has made me feel very claustrophobic at times (strange isn't it!) :)

Re: Trips to Britain
 

that's exactly it blaze....everywhere is sooo far apart...from our place in surrey we can be in gare du nord in just over 3 hrs... :)

Re: Trips to Britain
 

I know Americans see Britain as being tiny, but when you live there it doesn't seem tiny at all. It's America that seems so insanely big! My hubby always used to call Britain the 'world's largest aircraft carrier' :)

Re: Trips to Britain
 

That's why I live living in NJ, I'm not stuck in the middle of a land mass. Sounds silly I know but that was one of the reasons I didn't want to live in Chicago. Here you have pretty easy access to NYC, Philly, DC, Boston. I could go back to the UK as often as I want but don't because it unsettles me.

Re: Trips to Britain
 

but it's all still the USA... :(

Re: Trips to Britain
 

Yes but we're near the Atlantic and guess what's at the other side? :p

BTW thought of you yesterday when I saw some white chocolate M & M's.

Re: Trips to Britain
 

miss your point...yep the uk is across the pond and only a few hrs from here that's why i go back so often.....non stop easy peasy :)
i also saw some yesterday in target but didn't buy them still got lots of maltesers left..lol

Re: Trips to Britain
 

Precisely why when we retired from the military we moved to the east coast as opposed to going back to AZ which is what we were originally going to do. Much closer to family here (American AND British!) :)

Re: Trips to Britain
 

Oh I was thinking more on the lines that its closer to M & S, or have I got the wrong thread?

Re: Trips to Britain
 

LOL, there's no rule against combining treads as far as I know! :p

Re: Trips to Britain
 

I've lived in the NYC metro area for about 4 and a half years now. I generally get back to Britain about 4 times a year.

I was last back at christmas, but would have gone back since then, but I'm three weeks away from giving birth and the idea of sitting on a plane for that long fills me with horror. Am planning on going Sept/Oct with hubby and the little one, and perhaps again at xmas. We'll see. From NYC the flights are as cheap as they're gonna get....

Despite going back so frequently, I always feel a sense of relief when sitting on the tarmac at heathrow waiting to take off....

Re: Trips to Britain
 

Congratulations on baby! Is this your first? You wait until you have to buy a plane ticket for them too, then it starts to get expensive! :p You said you feel relief sitting on the tarmac at LHR waiting to TAKE OFF!, it's completely the other way around for me, as soon as I hit that tarmac a calm feeling comes over me and I feel completely at home. The problem is that it doesn't happen often enough and I get withdrawal symptoms. Do you mind me asking (if you do then you don't have to answer! :) ) Do you work? I couldn't go home that often because I could never get away from work.
P.s If you're due in 3 weeks I don't think that you're allowed to fly anyway are you? :)

Re: Trips to Britain
 

too skint...even though I could get a ticket for myself for a 100 notes, doesn't help the missus out...plus there's only a couple mates still back home, minted enough to come see me those cheap tarts...but anyway, another mates moved to San Fran, another randomly blagged a huge job in China, beats toy designs in Beds, but anyway, and the rest have randomly scattered across London, except one fool that ended up in Leeds or there abouts...