Frenchy

Thanks

BEVS

I'd like to echo the above.
Hope you all have a good flight back and a lovely time back with UK family and friends.

Enjoy

Frenchy

Well we are here!!!!!
First impression feels rather dull!!!
Lovely green pastures and forgot how nice Oxfordshire is!!
Staying with my pal and feeling like royalty with 5 star treatment.
Shops feel so crowded
Heathrow looked dirty compared to lovely Hong Kong
Seems odd for strangers not to be saying "Hello"
Walking around Sutton yesterday and expected to see someone I knew as that happens all the time in little old Blenheim
Lovely to see some familiar faces
Already had an M&S prawn sarnie and thortntons alpini bar... yum!!!
17 year old daughter missing Blenheim already but enjoying seing her pals from 2 years ago but so glad we live in NZ which is fab!!! (She was so traumatised by the move at first)
Its such an odd feeling looking at things that were once so familiar like my lovely old house but not really feeling any emotion towards a... a sign of transition I think.
Places that seemed big now feel small i.e my old close feels really hemmed in.
Thats about it for 2nd day in... feels good but a bit odd!!!

Jan n Neil

Have you noticed how untidy/dirty the place is

We travel a lot and it always depresses me back in the UK with shite all over the place

Am Loolah

Awww, mixed feelings - am sure that's only natural?

Make the most of it - may be a long time before you do it again! Just revel in catching up with the people you care about, that's what matters.

scrubbedexpat094

We are going back to the UK for the first time in 3 years later this year. Just wondering if it's cheaper to arrange a hire car this end or in the UK?

Have to say, we aren't looking forward to it but promised the parents we would go. Would rather have spent the dosh going to Aitutaki .

Enjoy your time there, Frenchy but be thankful your home's in NZ

lapsed kiwi

Cheapest all-inclusive rates I could find were at holidayautos.co.uk

love30stm

Im going back on 12th June for two weeks, taking my daughter who is nearly 16, hope she realizes how great NZ is as she has never liked it here. and we have been here two Years in July.

cant wait to see family and friends though and to get some clothes shopping in, but thats about it. im just hoping my daughter would love it in Nz as much as yours did...just hoping going back will make her relize or mayber it wont! but I will let you know

scrubbedexpat094

Cheers for that, I'll check it out

Joshlin

very similar feelings for us. same but different; tired; crowded; dirty; miserable people ........... but absolutely great to see family again - feels like we've never been away in that regard.
driven past the old house - can't imagine that it was ever ours, had no real resonance.
still struggling a bit with jet lag - falling asleep early, waking up early, but that will settle.
got lots more catching up to do - want to do some more shopping - been to tesco's and felt very overwhelmed
at this stage kids still saying that NZ is better but they are enjoying the catch up

nero

We will be there in a weeks time after nearly two years in NZ, heading to Tokyo first so we are hoping this will aclimatise us to crowds prior to getting into London ;-) Really looking forward to seeing family and friends. Very interested to see what we miss, like and dislike as it is our first visit back to the UK!! Definately not looking forward to the jet lag.
Safe travels for everyone

lapsed kiwi

I've been lucky enough to have three business trips to UK in the last two years (althoug two were only for weekends en route to/from Europe). It was great to catch up with friends, but I was surprised at how little like home it felt - it really did feel like a foreign country. The beer (real ale) was great, gadget shopping was good, supermarkets overwhelming choice of prepared foods. I thought Heathrow and surrounds was a pretty horrible gateway to the country, although Terminal 5 is quite cool. I found driving very hard work, you're always dodging in and out of parked cars in towns; on the motorways everyone is speeding and the GPS was constantly telling me there was a speed camera coming up - work that one out! Everything - cars, roads, towns, houses seemed more cramped. The space and light on arriving back in NZ was striking

englishheaven

My first trip back was not untill i had been here 11 years! Felt a bit strange at first but after a few days felt like i had never been away. Reawakened all the old feelings of homesickness. Could happily move back tomorrow but cant now because daughters are settled here. Nevermind, there are worse places to live, and holidays to Aus make it bearable

janek

Heck that was a stretch!

Joshlin

So here we are, home again and it so feels like home (NZ that is )
summary of my feelings after 3 weeks in UK:
great to see friends and family - just dropped back into all the old relationships like we'd never been away
great for the children to have extended family all around - my 4 yr old couldn't get over how many relatives she has and we don't have a huge family
we were spoilt and had pretty good weather for most of our stay - lovely to see all the daffodils out and the spring coming in
didn't enjoy the crowds and general feeling of too many people, too many cars, queueing, traffic jams
very dismayed at heathrow as a first impression to UK - very dirty, dark and claustraphobic
didn't enjoy the shopping as much as I had expected - too much choice and seemed very expensive (although we were spending pounds that we'd left behind we did do conversion and found it scary) and we spent a huge amount on nothing really.
enjoyed weetabix again

so as I say - glad we went, great to catch up but very glad to be home
Vicki