sibsie

I've been thinking about England a lot lately. I've been away three years with only one brief trip back. Much as I like my life over here, I'm really not sure that I want to end my days in America and often think that I would like at some point, to move back. Of course Mr Sibsie has no such ideas which leaves me a bit stuck.

Anyone else ever fancy living back in the UK or are you here til you're pushing up daisies?

jjmb

most definitely going back to the UK or Europe before we retire. Don't hate living here by any means but its not home by a long shot.

Manc

My misses is very open to the possibility of retiring in warm sunny southern europe.

ladylisa

I'm happy to stay for a while as long as I know I will one day return to the UK. I'm settled at the moment however only because I know its not forever. I would feel like I was missing out on too much of my families future (in the Uk) to stay here permanently.

MiniBrit

Hi Sibsie,

Well I've only been here 2 months, so I guess its a little early to say!!

Funny thing is, I spent a year in Australia when I was younger and always imagined I'd end up living there, then of course I married a Yank and the rest was history... oh well.... Although hubby is open to suggestions and likes the idea of the comparatively tiny population in Oz, also he is a 'beach person'. May have take him there on a late honeymoon... if I ever get my Advanced Parole!

MB

Wintersong

I definitely don't want to retire in the US. The thought of all the medical bills :scared:

I guess it's long enough off to wait and see what the situation is like in both countries nearer to the time.

ImHere

Sounds good to me.

I seem to recall saying this on another thread somewhere, but while we dont mind being here and are quite happy for the time being (and theres plenty to see and do yet) we dont envisage retireing here. Of course it helps we are both Brits so are coming from the same viewpoint.

Bob

Errr....wouldn't want to retire here,but then again, who knows in the future...

ImHere

Mystic Meg.

Dimsie

If I could, I'd go back tomorrow. But like you, I'm stuck because of my husband's preferences - almost entirely due to family. He enjoyed living in England, and could see the advantages!

My ideal scenario would be to afford a rented flat somewhere in the North, so that we could spend time in both countries. But that would be too expensive, all things considered. Flights, overheads...etc.

Duncs

All the time. Luckily my USC wife has decided that our life ‘was’ actually better in blighty and is now convinced that the USA is not all she thought it was cracked up to be either. We are now actively saving in the hope that we can get together enough money to go home. God knows what we will do over there for work, or where we will live or anything but I will just be glad to get out. I have not really enjoyed living over here and it certainly doesn’t suit me. I graduate from my degree next summer so I am hoping I can use it to springboard into some kind of job in (1st choice) Belfast, or (more likely) London.

America is fun in places and has been an experience and I think it has helped me to properly appreciate the value of what I had in the UK but the things I value most are just no more available here than in the UK and I suspect in a lot of a cases less so. I know that for some people standard of living i.e. big house , sunshine etc make it attractive but that’s just not enough for me. The things that matter the most to me are things I haven’t found here so far and my career ambition is still focused around things I want to do in the UK. Its like my mum always says you do the 1 million quid test (imagine you have million quid and consider where you would want to be. Yes I know money is part of the decision but it gets you in touch with your basic emotional desires). So the cat has had her rabies shot (my god vets are thieves in Boston!) and we are getting ourselves gunned up to move back. We haven’t been buying any furniture and we try to avoid buying things that we couldn’t take back with us. It may not work out, I reckon on needing about $25,000 to get it all sorted and get our feet back on the ground over there but at least we have a sense of direction about it and that’s a start.

ironporer

My wife actually openly advocates the same idea, in no small part due to the fact that she's from warm sunny southern europe. If I could earn 1/2 of what I make her, over there...we'd be out'a here in a heartbeat.

ImHere

Ahh but you dont need half of what you have here to have a good life there. My Parents monthly outgoings are about 200 Euros for a largish villa on an acre of land, 2 cars, 1 motorbike, 1 motorhome. Food is much, much cheaper there too.

You only need as much money as you make it. If you can do without the latest and biggest toys every other month then its not a problem.

sibsie

Blimey they can't be in Spain then. Utilities over there are :scared: expensive.

LeedsGirl

I am going back for three weeks at Christmas and plan to look at some houses over there with the hope that in the future we could move there. Hubbie is not keen right now but who knows, daughter says she would love to move to England but she's eight and a few months ago she wanted to move to Hawaii! If we sold our house now we could take the money and buy a nice house in England without a huge mortgage or even no mortgage at all but I'm not sure that Yorkshire is where I would go back to. Anyway could change my mind after being home for three weeks and say no bloody way :scared: