Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

So your moves have been UK to US to UK to Canada to UK to Oz? If so, you have me beat! UK to Bahamas/US to UK to US to UK (do the words ping-pong come to mind?). And now I'm mulling over the pros and cons of a permanent move back to the US (job opportunities and immigration officials permitting), because if I stay here I'll be flat broke until retirement and long after.

Do you think Oz is long-term for you? And how did all those moves mess with your head? There are days when mine feels like it is spinning at 100 mph.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

Where do you think you will be really happy DR? I think ping ponging is easier when we are younger and get harder as we get older as time isn't on our side. I found moving around made me very unsettled for a while. I worked it out that I moved 12 times in Oz whilst I was there and lived in 4 States once I stopped travelling, and have moved 6 times since living in Spain. Now I've brought my house, it has grounded me more and I feel a bit more settled, although still get itchy feet now and then which I compensate with travelling for work. But maybe you need to get back to USA and make it your final home if you're not totally happy in UK. I dreaded in getting stranded there, especially when exchange rates were bad. Isn't the dollar low in comparison to UK, so might be a good time to go back there?

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

Really? I didn't realize that, explains a lot though :D

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

I thought she was French:confused:

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

I trust you will be renouncing your British citizenship then?

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

No, why should I. I am proud to be English just don't want to live there.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

My moves just reiterated that I didn't want to live in England. I know everywhere else in the world has its problems but they didn't affect me in the way they did when I lived in England. We did intend going back to Canada and are just about to have our meds for our PR application. We only intended coming to Australia to wait. We have since settled here very well and don't want to move and are awaiting our PR applications to be processed here. The Canada ones are a belt and braces type of thing just in case we don't get PR here in Australia. Good luck DR, it is a hard decision to make for sure.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

:p

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

Well, that's the million dollar question. I do try to work through how I felt when I was there, how I've felt when I am here, pros and cons, etc. It messes with my head so much that I almost have to save that kind of thing for weekends so I can try to clear my head before the next work week! :o

I certainly didn't leave the US because I didn't like living there. Particularly in TN, I really, really enjoyed my life. I rode my bike hundreds of miles a month with a huge group of great people, I love Nashville (was 30 mins drive from there), love the TN countryside, financially is very easy there, etc.

The answer to the question varies depending on the frame of mind I am in (see next set of comments re: age). When I am in a good frame of mind, I can handle the prospect of applying for jobs, visas, GC, moving, being in a non-permanent status for a few years, etc. When I am not in a good frame of mind, I aks myself can I handle all the stress involved and start beating myself up with "Well if you'd just stayed in TN in 2000, you'd have PR and maybe even USC by now"

I hear you. What was an exhilirating adventure becomes a stressful, worrying experience. The other two age factors for me are (a) health care and implications of a major health problem, and (b) closer to retirement, financial decisions have a much bigger impact (particularly bad ones).

Yes, if I count up all my house moves, it goes something like this:

Bahamas: 3 different houses, and about 20 short- to medium-term housesits.
Massachusetts: 4 houses in 2 years.
Georgia: 4 houses in 4 years.
Tennessee: 2 houses in 3 and half years.
Scotland: 2 houses in 1 year.
North Carolina: 1 house in 5 and half years
UK: Two places (Wales and Scotland) and 2 houses in 1 year.

Anyway, the short answer to your question is "I still don't know"
I think I'm getting a headache ... :(

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

That is nice that he is settling into a retirement and he has a family and having sold his house the money to afford to fly back to the USA to see his friends. I think that it is entirely wrong that he should deprive a poor and needy of the opportunity for subsidised housing. Knowing the way things are he would have to have declared his funds and I wonder what he acually did say.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

That's an interesting thought. Selling a retirement home in the US may not yield much cash in UK terms, and of course the money may still be held in the US, therefore not showing up in a UK statement of finances. Difficult to assume he's pulling a fast one, though, without knowing the details of his situation. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people getting long-term gov't assistance in the UK who don't deserve it, but that's one of the weaknesses of the system.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

Good reply and well said - selling a retirement home in USA now will yield very little. Agree that there are underserving causes too. As you hint - my speculation is not an analysis or set of facts.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

well in that case don't even consider moving anywhere and wasting more money...you will be penniless before you even retire! i do feel sorry for you, at least i do know where home is although i'm not back there full time yet.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

My problem is actually more to do with "Can I afford to live in the UK?" than being unsure of how I feel about the UK. Certainly, it's been a challenge adjusting to my new lifestyle in the UK, and I get homesick for the US regularly (but then I also would get homesick for the UK when I lived in the US). But my main problem is money, specifically: UK = 25-year mortgage of $2,200 a month, not much spare cash ever again; US = $525 mortgage per month and ability to pay off within a few years at most, and lots of spare cash left over every month.

Re: Interesting Conversation on the Plane
 

well then, you'll have to move back if you can't afford the uk unless you cut your cloth dramatically.
can you take in a lodger and rent a room out?