Elaine B.

Sounds like you're in need of a little adventure in your life. Have you visited many of those place? Would it be possible for you to take an extended break from work and travel for awhile?

It would be a lot less risky than emigrating.

(do I get a prize for stating the obvious)

cricket1again

You could join the Navy.

Millie11

Denmark - God I miss that country - but then I am Danish and have just had the pleasure of living there for 1 one year before we arrived in Oz. Hopefully I'll soon be back there again

Londonuck

Oi, where's your fada?

mr_v

Yeah, I am going through a premature mid-life crisis...

I have been to Denmark once, France many times....

Never Argentina.

Yeah I need adventure, maybe a month or two travelling may be good. But I think I just want a new life rather than an escapist trip

Elaine B.

That just reminded me when I was at school here in Northern Ireland people would put a fada above their very obviously non-Irish name to make it look more Irish.

Londonuck

In London you never here my name at all. Now im over here ive got to contend with Ciara's aswell. Im always turning round thinking people are talking to me!

USAGypsies

Yes. We returned to the UK on boxing day last year with the intention of remaining for good. I think it was around day 6 that my huz sat bolt upright in bed at 3am and announced that we needed to have an emergency meeting, right there and then. We were back in the USA first week of January.
The most ridiculous, hardest, physically exhausting, expensive, emotionally disturbing and fastest ping-pong I have ever heard of and unfortunately, it was ours.

Millie11

- but hopefully worth it??

Bevm

Just wondering why. Must have been powerful to hit that hard and fast. What had you expected that you didn't find?

Was it the weather? We've only been back once over Christmas, and the chilly damp in the north had us determined not to do that again. But it was mainly my mother's Lancashire house -- drafty and no central heating.

Bev

USAGypsies

Millie11 & Bevm

Our return was done in haste and I think we were just whisked along in the moment and thought it all made sense at the time. We had flights booked as we intended to go home for just a trip but we decided that we had had enough of the states 10 days before our trip so went crazy selling and organizing to meet our flight deadline. It was amazing what we managed to achieve in just a few days. It really is possible to just up sticks and go, but it's not ideal.
The weather did play a factor, particularly as we've been enjoying the Florida climate for a few years now, but worse than the weather was how early the nights drew in. We were so jet lagged and disorientated with the time difference that by the time we got out of bed we only saw daylight for an hour or so and it was dark again.
It was a lot to take in, just driving along, the greyness and the imperfections after coming from a sunny new subdivision. Our tiny little 'barn' we were staying in probably made us feel worse. I didn't want to take a bath for fear of freezing to death when I got out. I hate being cold. A slight breeze and the pain in my ears.... ow! It's pathetic really lol. You couldn't swing a cat either. Going just after Christmas was probably a bad idea in hindsight too because the festive buzz was mostly over.
I think for my huz, the final straw was what you could get for your money when renting a house. I'm pleased to see that the prices have come down quite a lot since last December. Some of the houses we looked at are showing as still available so that will tell you.
For me, the final straw was the change in my family. My sister has a new fella after being married for 30 years and it's caused a real divide. It's easy when your overseas with situations like that. You can make fairly vague comments and stay out of it easily and that's that but suddenly we were plunged into the depths of it and all the drama and I just thought.... I don't like this!
I'm glad for the trip though, and for the experience because I do think I had my head a bit in cloud cukkoo land and at least this time, if we definately go through with our return, we'll be doing it with a clearer understanding of what the reality truly is.

dunroving

So how did you go about getting new jobs, new house, etc., in the US? Did you go back to exactly the same place in Florida?

USAGypsies

Well, it was interesting that's for sure and we were literally thinking (and acting) on our feet as this was not part of the plan at all!

First we had to spend 3 hours in the Abbey getting our money sent back to our US bank account. We very nearly arrived back with just a few hundred $$ in our wallets and nothing else! That was a nightmare in itself and a looooong story.
We flew back in on our return tickets, hired a car and headed back to the same area we had left because our anchor was our sons school.
We stayed at the local Holiday Inn and contacted the companies we leased our cars from and asked if we could pick them back up. One was still parked in the same place we left it.... it was bizarre. We collected ur cats from the pet shippers down in Ft Lauderdale. My persian had been completely shaved! We had called the shippers from the UK and told them to 'STOP' and fortunately our stuff was returned (after paying a $750 fee!!
I couldn't bring myself to return to our house we owned - it was the only emotional part I couldn't handle and partly because I was extra sensitive being pregnant at the time.... yes all this going on in between bouts of violent morning sickness, what a circus.
We left the house on the market and we went to a rental house around the corner to it. It still hasn't sold (no suprise in this market) so we JUST moved back into it 3 weeks ago. The house is not worth what we paid so unsure what to do just now but that's another story. I suppose we'll wait and see how the next few months pan out with the new President etc....
Anyway, we had left a lot of furniture, electronics etc... that we hadn't managed to sell prior to leaving so huz and son got a uhaul and we played house in our rental for a bit so we could at least feel settled whilst the pregnancy continued. I have a history of pre-term so we focused on the 'bump' as priority number 1. Our bump was born a little early, in July and all is well, thank goodness. She's a doll. Anyway.... as far as jobs, we picked up where we left off with the business and huz has pretty much taken that over as I am knee high in diapers plus a toddler and a teenager to keep me busy. We're deciding what to do next. Since we've got through the first tricky and tiring 3 months of having a newborn, we've started to think about our long term plans again and believe we will try again to go home to the UK.
If it wasn't for a good and slightly twisted sense of humour I think we would have cracked by now
The British 'stiff upper lip' and a bit of cockney spirit (my parents were east Londoners) certainly helps too.

hobbes79

Went back to the UK for 18 months. Been back in the US since Jan. Reasons mainly covered, but house prices and a low salary (compared to what I could get in the US) were the main things. I was doing ok in the UK, but knew I could provide for my family better and have so much more in the US. With a baby arrival while in the UK, and seeing that if I was lucky we would be able to bring him up in a 2-bed semi, I found work in the states and we all moved back.

I'm now in a 4-bed detached with an acre of land.

For me it was no comparison.

I miss having so much vacation and old friends, but I considered it worth the sacrifice. I also found myself getting unjustifiably bitter at certain friends if they were not available to go out... left me thinking "but I gave up on the American dream to have a pint with you on a Fri night!". Incredibly ridiculous and not very sensible... figured it was time to call it quits!

gruffbrown

I was going to write a long and meaningful post here, but I'll end up using a cliche "It's swings and roundabouts" (Or Circles as they say in the States)