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Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by durham_lad
(Post 12616248)
...After 6 weeks we fitted back in so well we decided to make the move permanent. We went back to Texas that November and spend a couple of months selling up before moving back.
Everyone is different. I visit Blighty less and less these days, when I'm back I do a couple of days with friends/family here, then a few days with friends/family there, then a few days with family/friends elsewhere. There's nothing left for me in my 'roots village', they've all died/upped and moved, and the last time I returned to 'roots', I found that some bastard(s) had had the audacity to paint double yellow lines around the village green. :( Bravo, South Bucks, wonder how much got So, no homesickness for the UK from me. ;) |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by durham_lad
(Post 12616248)
We lived in the USA for 23 years before retiring in 2010. Had a great life in the US but we always had that good to be home feeling when we visited family and friends in England and Scotland. In 2011 we decided to give those feelings a good test by renting a house for 7 months and it was marvelous so we decided that at some point we would set up a 2nd home in England, spend summers there and winters in Texas. The next few years we did extensive traveling in the US, Canada and New Zealand before setting up a second home in England in May, 2016. After 6 weeks we fitted back in so well we decided to make the move permanent. We went back to Texas that November and spend a couple of months selling up before moving back. Everyone is different. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by Steerpike
(Post 12617287)
How easy was it to rent a house, and how did you find it? Roughly where did you land? I have an elderly mother over there and am about to make my 5th trip in 12 months. I'm not keen to spend too much time there but it may be easier to just camp out there for a few months ...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent.html |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Durham_Lad
You had to provide ability to pay, and also pay 6 months? Wouldn't either one have been sufficient? Are you continuing to rent? I'm assuming if/when we move back home that we won't get a mortgage and we'll need to buy a place outright. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by Steerpike
(Post 12617287)
How easy was it to rent a house, and how did you find it? Roughly where did you land? I have an elderly mother over there and am about to make my 5th trip in 12 months. I'm not keen to spend too much time there but it may be easier to just camp out there for a few months ...
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Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by Hotscot
(Post 12617547)
Durham_Lad
You had to provide ability to pay, and also pay 6 months? Wouldn't either one have been sufficient? Are you continuing to rent? I'm assuming if/when we move back home that we won't get a mortgage and we'll need to buy a place outright. After a few weeks renting we knew for sure what part of town we wanted to live in, and it turned out not to be where the rented house was located. Lovely area and only a mile from the town centre but we love to walk and that mile was all downhill into town. We settled on an estate that was only a half mile away from the town centre plus it has its own mini shopping area with a Sainsburys Express, great local butcher, a couple of takeaways, a local green grocer etc. This was to be our forever house so we wanted somewhere close to town and close to a bus route. We then bought a house exactly where we wanted and moved out of the rental house 3 months before the lease was up. The owners were great and put the rental house back on the market before we had moved out and it was snapped up so we didn’t even pay any extra months rent. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Samantha Fish.... off topic, but excellent blues player, must have been a festival or blues bar at a guess.. cool. On topic, yeah, concur, 25 years here in the US and neither really feels like home, but long past the 'return by' date ;)
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Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Durham_Lad
Nice. I feel we'll be treading the same path within a few years. I just need to figure out how to run my US business from the UK. Otherwise I'd move yesterday. But that's just details. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Been here in Texas for coming on 9 years now. I've only been back home once and that was in 2014. At that point I'd only been away for 4 years but still, going back to Wales and the town I grew up in, there was a strange feeling. It was familiar but it wasn't. I felt as if I was just visiting. I know my next trip back will be the same feeling but probably intensified though, strangely, I am starting to feel the pull of home which I never thought I would. I think I just need to gorge myself on the food though!
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Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by TheTokenBrit
(Post 12621651)
Been here in Texas for coming on 9 years now. I've only been back home once and that was in 2014. At that point I'd only been away for 4 years but still, going back to Wales and the town I grew up in, there was a strange feeling. It was familiar but it wasn't. I felt as if I was just visiting. I know my next trip back will be the same feeling but probably intensified though, strangely, I am starting to feel the pull of home which I never thought I would. I think I just need to gorge myself on the food though!
This is the draw home for me. From the day we returned in Nov. I have been counting the days till the next holiday. The food is the draw for me. Apple strudel with cream, delicious cakes and yummy traditional Austrian food. Not to forget the weekly shop at the fresh food market in Salzburg with all its local produce. We enjoy living in Bkk but Thai food is not our taste. The weight I gain in Austria I loose when getting home. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by Maste
(Post 12614486)
I just got back yesterday from visiting my family with my wife for Christmas. We had an amazing time seeing my family and friends. We gorged on good old British foods (pies, pasties, afternoon teas, fish and chips, fry ups), went to lots of pubs, and I took her shopping where I went to university for undergrad (Nottingham). We spent so much time with both sets of my grandparents in case anything happens from now until our next visit as it won't be for a while! We rented a car and took road trips through countrysides. Hung out with my nieces and nephews (who have grown so much in the year and half I last saw them!). I would reminisce to my wife about places and things I would do as a kid in my area, and it made me feel glad to have had the childhood I had, albeit even if I didn't have much growing up! Overall, our trip, despite being crazy and hectic, was amazing and I am so glad we got to spend Christmas with my family for at least one year together!
On the other hand, being in my town where I spent 27 years felt a little strange and weird, for want of a better word. I felt a strange disconnect at the same time as feeling connected again with the past 27 years of my life before I came here. With my town, my family, and friends. I genuinely felt like I've become such a different person in that short space of time. It didn't feel like somewhere I call 'home' anymore, and I felt a weird feeling of having now gone down a path so different than all my friends and family ever would do or have done, that I felt a tiny bit of an outsider. I felt a bit of guilt too, as I know the longer I live in the USA, the further I will drift from my old life and connections. Has anyone else experienced this stuff, or similar when visiting home? Obviously, I don't regret the choices I've made and I'm happy with my life here and it is going better than it would have in the UK, no doubt. I just wanted to share my personal experiences with you all, as I don't want to unload this nagging feeling onto the wife and make her feel guilty or think I regret making the move in the end, because I don't at all. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by strat
(Post 12617562)
Samantha Fish.... off topic, but excellent blues player, must have been a festival or blues bar at a guess.. cool. ....
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Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by durham_lad
(Post 12616248)
We lived in the USA for 23 years before retiring in 2010. Had a great life in the US but we always had that good to be home feeling when we visited family and friends in England and Scotland. In 2011 we decided to give those feelings a good test by renting a house for 7 months and it was marvelous so we decided that at some point we would set up a 2nd home in England, spend summers there and winters in Texas. The next few years we did extensive traveling in the US, Canada and New Zealand before setting up a second home in England in May, 2016. After 6 weeks we fitted back in so well we decided to make the move permanent. We went back to Texas that November and spend a couple of months selling up before moving back. Everyone is different. We've been in NZ for 15 years now and I am hoping to spend several weeks back in the UK within the next 12 months. I haven't been back in ten years. One of the aims is to see how I feel when there. MrBEVS is happy to lay his hat anywhere . I'm also hoping we can finally spend some time freely travelling before we settle into whatever is the next phase of our lives. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Originally Posted by BEVS
(Post 12622733)
I found this post and others on this thread very uplifting.
We've been in NZ for 15 years now and I am hoping to spend several weeks back in the UK within the next 12 months. I haven't been back in ten years. One of the aims is to see how I feel when there. MrBEVS is happy to lay his hat anywhere . I'm also hoping we can finally spend some time freely travelling before we settle into whatever is the next phase of our lives. |
Re: Bittersweet UK trip!
Maste - I have just read your post from 31 December. When you talk about it being strange and weird it reminded me of a line in T2:Trainspotting “You’re a tourist in your own youthâ€. I feel exactly like that when I have gone to Troon on the west coast of Scotland where I grew up. No other place makes me feel like that. We intentionally did not go back to Troon as I know that would not have been the right move for us. We visited Troon twice in 2017 and I felt strange each time. I enjoy it but it all feels surreal. I think it’s perfectly normal to have experienced these emotions. Best wishes. |
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