dfrbrowne

Its looking more and more likely that my family and I will be moving to Tampa in Florida.

We are over for a week next week paid for by her company to help us decide and have a look around.

What do you Brits miss about England now that you are living in the US?

I just hear that the driving is bad,
The TV has ads every couple of minutes,
The hurricanes
the mosquitos

Can someone tell me all the positives, give me something to look forward to!

My children are young, with there whole life ahead of them, this could be a permanent move I want to base my decision on taking them to a better life.

RICH

Endless sunshine. Gulf beaches. Theme parks. Relaxed pace of life.
I have been in Tampa bay 9 Years and love it.

SalopianFunk

If you're a football man, then the Rowdies have a pretty sizable following and a bit of history to them considering themselves as a continuation of the original rowdies.

paul32x

I've been here since 2001 now, became a citizen last year, and to be honest, there's not a thing about the UK that I miss that much. Yes, little things like adverts every 60 seconds are annoying (but they are getting a bit like that in the UK now), driving could be better, but wherever you live (and I've lived in 5 different countries) is what you make of it. I've always found there's plenty of positives wherever I've lived, but I suppose it's very much an individual thing. If you were to enter into it thinking you're going to be hankering for all sorts, then I think that may work against you. Have fun and enjoy, there's plenty to see, do and make the most of not only in Florida, but if you get time, all over this great country.

Pulaski

Ditto.

It was also a good opportunity to get away from endless soccer, forever having to dodge coverage of different countries' leagues every night of the week, different competitions, plus midweek games, and even the NFL isn't that bad, at least coverage is mostly confined to the sports channels. .... But now NBC has started piping British soccer into everyone's home.

civilservant

Stop calling it British Soccer. It's FOOTBALL!!!

BubbleChog

I miss the usual brit stuff marmite, gravy, bread that doesn't taste like sugar, bacon, chocolate that doesn't taste like vomit . Most of it you can find here with a bit of leg work and being prepared to spend extra dollars on it.

I miss my family and friends back in the UK.

I miss being able to walk places. Here in GA pavements don't really exist and to be fair even if they did most of the time I don't want to wander round in 90F heat.
I HATE the health system - drives me nuts. Its ridiculously complicated and peicemeal even with great insurance.

Things I don't miss - wearing thick black tights 10 months of the year, working for a living, walking to work in the rain, staying awake till stupid O clock in the morning to talk to my sweetie.

Things I really like - I get to be a housewife - I could never have afforded that in the UK. I'm living in a big house in a nice part of town. Peanut butter M&M's. Eating out for reasonably cheaply. I get away with so much snark because of my "cute" accent.

To be honest living here is what you make of it. You can assimilate and become as american as you like. You can try to remain a tiny corner of some imagined british paradise. I think most of the people on the forum fall between the 2. We like a good old fashioned British moan (frequently about the weather, how crappy the bacon/tea/bread/chocolate/healthcare is, how weird americans are etc) but most of us are here either because we have a special someone from the wrong side of the atlantic or we got a job offer we simply couldn't refuse.

It's all in the attitude as various posters frequently point out your life is your life whether it's in the UK or the US. If you are miserable and dissatisfied in the UK swapping sides is not necessarily a magic bullet to sunshine, lemon drops and rainbow coloured unicorn dust

Lx

RICH

You're new here, aren't you

Sally Redux

I sense a certain amount of understandable caution on your part. Without wishing to sound negative, perhaps you should discuss a Plan B with your wife for the possibility that you find it doesn't suit you here. You have to be a little bit careful because once kids are settled in a jurisdiction, it is not necessarily easy to legally move them back with you.

md95065

Just to be clear (since I was initially confused by this statement) you are talking about the possibility that the OP and his wife split up and he returns to the UK and they can't agree on who gets custody of the children, right?

... because that's the only situation that I can think of where there would be an issue ...

Jerseygirl

There is a current thread about a similar situation...there have also been threads in the MBTTUK forum. A marriage breakup is something hardly any of us considered before we became expats. One parent wants to return to the UK with the children....the other wants them to stay in the US. If they are US residents the other parent cannot remove them from the US without the other parent's permission. Sadly it can and does happen.

Sally Redux

Yes. I should have been clearer.
It never crossed my mind before I came over - something to be aware of.

Jacksdad619

I'm over on the left coast in SoCal so I can't tell you much about Florida, but after 22 years living in the States I have trouble thinking of anything in the UK that I miss enough to want to go back. Okay, decent beer, but thanks to the almighty widget at least you can buy draught in cans now.

Jacksdad619

christmasoompa

Ok, so it's a minor thing, but I just thought I'd let you know that you can get these in the UK.