rookins26

Hi all! I stumbled on your forum and figured I would introduce myself. My family and I live in Arizona USA and I have lived here most of my life. My husband is also American but is a dual citizen (US and UK) through ancestry. We are considering moving to the UK eventually when he finishes his college degree. My husband really likes the UK and said when he was there he would have considered living there in a heartbeat.

Any advice? I have never even been to the UK (we are thinking England specifically by the way) but I am very open minded to moving and experiencing something new for once. Arizona (IN MY OPINION) lacks culture in many ways and the blazing sun and 115 degree summers that are unbearable to "hang out outside" in are driving us nuts. When it rains here I am in such a good mood that I can actually go outside without getting burnt or becoming dehydrated within 20 minutes. I am not anti-America as this IS my home but am in desparate need of change (major) as is DH. We also have a one and half year old son. I want him to experience more than I did as a kid as far as the world is concerned. From the research we have been doing England sounds like it would fit us better than here (though I realize we will not know for sure until we go there). Also we are not looking at London as we cannot afford it so anywhere else in England is good! I appreciate any advice or questions...

Colette

Adnams

Youre going to lurve it!! But stay away from London.

Try the west country or Norfolk / Lincolnshire some really lovely unspoilt rural areas. But youre going to have to learn how to drink if you want to hold your own in the village pubs. Also the Northumberland coast is stunning and steeped in histroy great beacehs but its totally freezing.

But seriously if you do move you need to do a good reccy to make sure its what you want too.

dunroving

Oh, you will LOVE the UK!!

britvic

Welcome to BE but way before you think about moving you MUST go over for at least a month and travel about.

rookins26

Thank you all for your quick reponses! LOL. Yes we would definately go there first on vacation. Any thoughts on Yorkshire area? Leeds or York? I think Devon looks beautiful too. Anyway we are pretty open minded about where we would look at.

Also how are Americans looked upon who move there? We aren't pushy people or loud which is what I have been told the English don't care for. I joke with DH since him and our son have very British first names and our last name is Scottish LOL...but then when he opens his mouth everyone will say Oh Americans!

Colette

Jerseygirl

Yes do take a look at Yorkshire (especially York) and Cheshire (especially Chester). Both are well placed for trips to the south, north, Lake District, Wales and Scotland.

How rude of me...welcome to BE

TruBrit

hiya and welcome to BE

i'm a brit married to a usc and he lived in the UK for 18 yrs before we moved back here..he loves living in the UK and much prefers it to here. we have a place in surrey and it's home

he never had a problem being an american and working in london and the locals in our pub in surrey think of him as one of them or rather one of us, a brit that is!

good luck and hope you make it, btw best get saving

britvic

My OH is a USC he was based over there for eight year's and really looking forward to moving back very soon. Yes it's best not to be loud but when most Brit's hear that you like or love there country, they might not understand it as most only go to Florida and we do love to moan about our Mother Land as well you know, just as long as the American dont moan back at them.

rookins26

SAVING Yes Yes!! If we decide for sure to move there we will make sure we have a good sized savings account and also we are not willing to move there without one of us having a job lined up first. Since DH is a dual citizen I hope it won't be an issue for him to get work. He is working on finishing his bachelors degree in computers and works in the IT field right now as an electrician. Not sure what the job outlook for IT is in the UK though. I myself am a speech therapist but have read that my field over there is hurting right now due to NHS budget cuts so I would be willing work in a different sector and hope that a four year degree would help me eventually land a job. We'll see!

Colette

TruBrit

britvic

Well it would be a case of Punch in the Nose time dont you think

dukeynorton

As of right now, Devon is my favourite place in the entire world and I'm getting married on the coast there next year. It's an amazing place and I think it just has something about it. During the summer, you will struggle to find anywhere that matches up to it in my opinion. The only problem is it can be hard to find good jobs in some of those areas and property can be expensive in some of the nicer villages (holiday homes and all that). It should def be on your list of places to see.

penguinsix

Hi,

To start, take a look here:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/

This is the expat site for US citizens living in the UK. Many are women who married UK spouses and ended up living in the country 'of their dreams'. Most of them also have had nightmares.

Being an expat is not, as probably anyone here can attest, the easy thing in the world, no matter how much you love your new country nor how much you want to avoid going home. There are a number of challenges that you don't expect, and even the ones you do anticipate grow in their magnitude once you are away from home.

Please take a special look at this sub forum on the US yanks site:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?board=68.0

It deals with the Homesickness and Hard Times many US expats have experienced once landing in the UK.

I'm not encouraging you not to go, far from it--head off and enjoy. But I am also suggesting you really get a cold hard look at what expat life can be like, stuck in a country that is not your own, without your own family, friends, work (basically, without your own 'life').

I'd also encourage you to seriously talk to your husband about what happens if things go 'wrong' and to have that discussion NOW before you leave. If you absolutely hate it after 2 years and he is absolute heaven, then what? You wouldn't be the first American 'totally in love with the idea of living in England' driven to the point of near depression and divorce after a few years of UK reality sets in (in fact, you'd be far from the first). Talking through some of these possibilities now might save you some real pain later.

Good luck with your choice.

TruBrit

colette...it's good you look at the yankee website coz they say we whinge and moan us Brits, but believe you me you aint seen nothing yet till you've read some of those threads

Lothianlad

Summer 2007 so far has been the wettest on record in England - but apparently it hasn't rained now for 5 days so now it's drought conditions. Now it's the turn of Western and Northern Scotland to get loads of rain while England basks in the sun. My grandparents live in Herefordshire - in the south west Midlands close to Wales - I guarantee it's very beautiful there - lovely countryside, the Wye Valley, pretty little villages with black and white timbered houses and pubs and lovely churches and stuff. No big towns and Hereford (15 miles from Ledbury) is only a small city 50k people. One hour and a bit by train to/from both Birmingham and Cardiff, and 2hrs 40 mins by direct train to/from London Paddington. 5 miles from M50 motorway which links to M5 near Tewkesbury. Great local beer and cider and some pubs open until 1am/2am in summer. That's all for now. Good luck ...from Scotland! PS: what's wrong with Scotland then?