thedtb

So, we made it to three years (in September) with vague plans to stay long enough to get citizenship (and the future immigration "doors" - OZ, NZ etc that having citizenship may 'open' for our kids in their future), but... how things change.

Yesterday we booked our flights back to the UK. We fly out on Christmas Eve, landing in the UK in the early hours of Christmas Day morning. Bit of a Christmas present for the folks back home.

Apart from the wife having secured a job back in the UK, we have no other plans. Nor any clue yet as to where we're gonna end up living.

It seems another exciting journey beckons!

MrsFychan

How comes you are leaving? Wife's job offer to good to turn down?

hazeandsteve

Best of luck.
Unplanned often works out well.

Justcol

At least you have given it a good go, hope it all goes well for you back home

cappuccino

Good luck for your return to Blighty. Hope it all works out for your family. Do keep us updated.

simonsi

Best of luck! From your sig I always assumed you arrived last year...

luvwelly

What a lovely time of year to return - very best wishes with it all. We left with just PR and not citizenship as well.

shirl

Good luck, it will be a great time of year, we didn't get our Citizenship either only PR, we could have had it this month! But I am glad we came back. Good luck with it all.

love30stm

Yes I thought that too!

thedtb

Ha, I wish.

Around a month before our 3rd little boy was born (May 2011), it became apparent that my business partner (UK Company) was, well, not being much of a "partner" and was trying to steal the business from under me. Whilst he didn't succeed and he's now been removed from the business he did succeed in all but destroying it and, I've been effectively unemployed ever since - though I've thoroughly enjoyed being a full-time, stay-at-home Dad!

We've struggled to make ends meet on one salary, the wife has really not enjoyed having to go back to work full time with the (now not so much of a) baby at home and wants to go back to part-time work, whilst if I stand any chance of resurrecting my business (to facilitate her stepping down to part-time work) I really need to be back home in the UK.

A small (but reasonable) and unexpected, cash injection left us with a choice... a deposit on a house here or pay for our return to the UK... the wife was looking for other jobs and contacted her ex-boss back in the UK to give a heads up that they may be called upon to provide a reference again... it turned out they had just advertised a job vacancy themselves... so a few days and having completed the interview process later, she was informed she'd got the job!

I see what you mean!

Nah, we arrived mid September 2009, as visitors, knowing nobody and not having a clue where we'd end up. We bought a car, a tent, a roof-box, a mobile phone and a 3G wireless adaptor for the laptop.

We (myself, the wife, and our 4yr & 2yr old boys) then set off. The wife applied for jobs from the passenger seat of the car as I drove and we simply pointed the car in the vague direction of wherever there was a concentration of jobs that she was applying for, on the off chance that she might be called up for an interview.

Circa 56 job applications, 2 interviews, almost 2 months and a considerable amount of miles later she got the job... the rest, I guess, is something I've considered writing a book about!

MrsFychan

well best of luck for that.
you've been on a bit of an adventure since you've been here

Psychopandy

I havent been on here in ages but poke in every now and again. Really sad to see you guys are going back, but hopeful that you are doing it for all the right reasons.
I hope things got better for you after your bumpy start and you enjoyed at least some of your time here.
Just wanted to wish you good luck with your next venture and hope that all goes well for you xx
God bless
Psycho x

thedtb

Thank you everyone for the good wishes. It means a lot.

Things did indeed get better for us Psycho and even with the bumpy start, we have - on the whole - enjoyed our NZ Adventure.

We always said that we'd give it at least a year, and that we'd rather say we did it and failed as opposed to saying that we just didn't bother... we actually gave it over 3 years and I at least, am going back not with an attitude that "we failed", but rather it's external factors that have "failed us" which ultimately mean we *have* to go back.

janeyk

good luck we are not far behind you!

Shard

Failure doesn't even exist when it comes to living abroad. You wouldn't say you failed if you moved to a different town/village in Britain then decided or needed to move on - same when it's international. Good luck.