Canveydave

Unfortunately it shut a long time ago!

Canvey Island is a different place now!

kins

I'm going for three weeks this year. I'm leaving the children with my parents for a few days while I go to London and possibly Bath to catch up with friends.

I do find it somewhat of a holiday as I push to go to places I want, like National Trust properties, country pubs, walks in the Peaks.

I wouldn't go twice a year. And my dad has never bothered visiting us, so we will not bother visiting him. He has no good excuse for not visiting.

scrubbedexpat099

8k? How many are there of you.?

robin1234

Two first class or eight in the boxcar?

SarahG

We are going back to the UK this summer for the first time in 4 years and we are only going because I got 2 free flights from Virgin and we only had to pay for 2 tickets for my kids. No one in my family has visited us here since we moved over in 2009. My mother in law has visited twice and my father in law once. My brother in law has been over a couple times but he cannot visit any more due to visa problems. I have come to the realization that if I want to see my family in person I will need to go to them. Of course when I moved to England they never visited me there either and my dad only came down once and that was for my wedding day. (I lived in England for 15 years before moving to the US). In contrast we have seen a lot of the US. We have had lots of day trips to places and completed several longer road trips to places. We have loads more we want to see and all of our future vacations will be here in the US, Caribbean or Canada. My husband Skypes his parents every week. I Skype, telephone call not video chat, my parents on Fathers/Mothers Day, Christmas & New Years. They never Skype me. My brother Skypes every so often.
I am looking forward to going to the UK and seeing everyone, but I know it will be several years before I go back again. Even if I could afford it I would not go back every year, nevermind twice a year. That is just my personal opinion.

Lion in Winter

Sorry, not related to the holiday theme, but what is Canvey Island like now? Has it gone all expensive, with lots of Waitroses, etc?

Canveydave

Far from it.

House prices have gone up a bit, but in general there has been no gentrification of the Island. My wife lived there for 34 years and I lived there for 28 of my 35 years.

I don't like it as much as my wife does. Traffic is terrible, new houses are going up at a ridiculous rate and you get the sense that crime is rising.

The I10 is bad at rush hour, but imagine 30,000 people trying to get off an island that has only one way off at 7am. I must be the only person in Houston whose commute is less stressful now!

Lion in Winter

You would think that being within striking distance of London it would have been gentrified by now.

Yorkieabroad

Going back twice a year is pretty full on! We alternate Christmas - one there, one here, then we also often manage a trip over summer, maybe once every 3 years, but my wife rarely makes it for the summer trip as she has work commitments. I actually enjoy going back, and so do the kids, but all the family are in one town, so it's easy, and we're in a great part of the country with lots to do, so to the kids its like a holiday, minus the sunshine. Quite a few years back we cut out the dashing round to visit friends all over the country - we realized that very few of them were willing to travel even an hour (too much hassle) and expected us to travel the 3, 4, or more hours to see them, so one time we just said "no" and that was it! Don't see them any more! We do make one trip down to near Wakefield, about 1.5 hours away, to meet a few university friends who all travel about the same distance to come to meet us, but that's it.

Because of the long summer holidays, we've managed to get out and about and see quite a bit of the US. We're fortunate in that I am the one that enjoys traveling and exploring, and my wife's a bit "meh" about it, but I stay home with the kids and she works. It means I can do 4-5 week trips with the kids in the travel trailer, and wife normally flies out to join us somewhere for the middle 7-10 days. If it wasn't for that, I think I would start to question the UK trips a bit more closely - I certainly wouldn't be going twice a year, but nor would I want to cut them out totally - there has to be a happy medium in there somewhere.

WJS

I personally believe that if you are the one that has left and moved to another country, it is your responsibility to visit family particularly parents. It certainly isn't their responsibility to bear the expense and make the difficult long journey because you have decided to leave! For me, I would never have expectations or place that responsibility on my parents.

Canveydave

Definitely see this point of view, don't necessarily agree with it, but understand it.

Every situation is different, but in ours, the very same people who won't fly or come to the US are the ones who also wont take even one days annual leave while we are back.

Annual leave here is precious and I feel like we are wasting it (and a lot of money) for something that most definitely isn't a holiday

WJS

Agreed. In my opinion, those people are definitely not worth visiting!

GeoffM

You do know there are two roads off...? They built the one to Sadlers Farm what 10-20 years ago?

That said (my sister lives on the west side), it is a bit of a nightmare, especially around the town bit.

Anyway, we've not been back as a family, though I did one work trip just by myself. Luckily my parents have visited here twice in the three years we've now been here. But I do want to go visit, just can't afford it at the moment. It will be on our own terms though - maybe stay at my parents in Southend for a few days, then up to Manchester to see my brother, down to Swindon to see friends... the rest for us.

Bob

Why not meet them in a third party country? Can't they get the ferry or the train to somewhere else in Europe, so you can all have a holiday somewhere fun?

Twice a year, is mental though, unless they're on their last legs.

Canveydave

They did indeed,

In fact I think it was 30 years ago, but they all go through the same one roundabout. You either use that one roundabout or swim!