GeoffM

Was employed in the UK but had a sideline business of software. Came to the US with the plan of building that up, and if that failed, then to apply locally. Fortunately, business is growing better than I could have imagined. Best of all I have no commute as I work from home, though that does come with its disadvantages (distractions of odd jobs around the house, cooking, cleaning, laundry - oh, and not much social life!).

Our house is twice the size of the one back in the UK (and that one was considered pretty decently sized), and our land, well, I can't even calculate it! Previously we had about 15' of grass at the back, hemmed in by other buildings. Now we have just over an acre, albeit sand. Weather is full sun 90% of the year.

Apart from a few decent restaurants and supermarkets, both pricey, food is pretty crap but you can't win them all.

I'm here to stay if I possibly can, with no regrets of having moved from the UK.

mayb

My husband moved over March 5th. He was a firefighter back in the UK and it's going to take a little work on his part to get qualified to work as a firefighter here in Texas. He just started his first job today as a delivery truck driver at Lowe's after we paid $1400 for his CDL certification. He's making a decent wage, not as good as his nice, stable job back in the UK, but he will keep looking.

It's tough leaving a stable situation to an unstable one and it's definitely been trying on both of us but we are doing our best to remain positive, be smart about spending the money we do have and we are looking forward to brighter days!

MMcD

A belated good luck on and with the new job!

Hope it lives up to, and is even better than, your best expectations.....

MMcD

Frankly, it's their loss....tho I know that thought does nothing to mitigate the feeling of alienation you've experienced over these 9 years.

I know one Yank you've "gelled" with....

SultanOfSwing

I came over on a K1, so I had no job to go to. I wasn't even allowed to work at all until the work permit came through. It was a struggle while I was unemployed but my wife was able to get me in as a runner at the company she worked at, which in turn gave me an in to the office when a spot opened up.

Now I've worked my way up to a really quite decent job (albeit at a different company - same industry though), making more money than I ever did before and a few years back we were able to buy our own house which has decent potential to give us some return on investment down the line.

I'd say it was worth it looking at it now, but it was definitely not all plain sailing getting here. I was out of work for a year, that puts a strain on things right away when you're the extra mouth to feed.

In general though, it has worked out and I can't really see us moving permanently to the UK, though it's not completely ruled out.

bewildering

Your results will be a little bias. Anyone that did not find it worthwhile probably left, and certainly would not frequent the USA section of an expats forum.

Sally Redux

Aww you are sweet

hungryhorace

The problem for me is the incredibly dumbed down society that exists here. That's my biggest bug bear. I cannot abide stupidity and have low tolerance for it. Heck, the mainstream here can't even tell the time properly without using AM or PM !

The media treat citizens like they're idiots, whilst politicians pay lip service to nationalistic bullshit. I miss the superior intellectualism that exists in England. I've yet to listen to anything here that comes close to Radio 4 for serious radio, for example.

Sally Redux

Keep people stupid and they will not question anything. Just keep consuming.

'America will never change.' I wonder. There are big demographic shifts.

Pulaski

Don't get me started on that, as applying AM and PM to noon and midnight is one of my pet peeves. ..... There is no such time as 12PM!

SultanOfSwing

One has to be careful when talking about dumbing down. I agree that the US mainstream media is pretty poor and generally speaking the BBC is very, very likely the best in the world at what it does but ...

Have you watched ITV at all? Then there's Jeremy twatting Kyle, Big Brother, assorted shows with the word 'celebrity' in it, that orange cnut who's always banging on about antiques ...

As far as Radio 4 goes, you may be as well listening to that online, then you won't have to find a substitute

Sally Redux

Come on, it's wall-to-wall idiot with little islands like NPR.

"And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind **** America".

SultanOfSwing

That's only if you pay attention to it, though.

I just live in my own little bubble of Game of Thrones and Cosmos and **** the rest of them

Sally Redux

The first two have finished

SultanOfSwing

I know, those were just the first two that sprang to mind.

Really, there are a lot of shows I happily watch on TV here. I just pick and choose and/or suspend disbelief as appropriate.