US or Them
 

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?

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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.

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

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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.

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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 :p

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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.

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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.

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

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Mystic Meg.

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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.

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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. :D

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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.

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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.

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

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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:

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Been over here 3 years now and have decided to return home in 2, no one can say we did not give it long enough.

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No not where they are, up in the hills. They're pretty cheap by comparison.

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Genius plan. Sadly Mr Sibsie is always one step ahead of me so any skulduggery on my part re moving home would get a swift kick in the califlours. I need a super super genius plan, the likes of which have never previously been seen.

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what about health care, though?

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Get some friends of yours (whom you do not know, of course) to put a "for sale" sign in their front garden. Assure your husband that knocking on the door to enquire the price of the home is an accepted practise. Knock, and have them quote a Mr-Sibsie-sized price. Three homes ought to do it.

Of course, those homes will "sell" before you could possibly get it together to move back. ;)

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If you're over pension age, then it's free. Otherwise you either pay into the Spanish system or get private coverage. Private is a kazillion times cheaper than over here though. I didn't have it but went to a private doc and it was only 20 euries a pop. Most drugs, even hard core painkillers are over the counter and again, squadoodles times cheaper than the UK or US.

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My wife and I are both Brits. We came over here because of my job - actually, we were dating when I took the plunge to come out here, and she wouldn't relocate unless/until we were married :)

Anyway, she loves it over here - probably more than I do. We've never talked about retirement, but my hope is to go back at some undefined point in the future.

Its now 9 years since we got married, and only this year did we finally get all the wedding presents shipped over from the UK :D So I guess that means we are here for the long haul - whatever that may be.

We had our first child in December, and thats got me thinking how I want her to grow up. My preference would really be for her to be educated in England, partly because I've seen the result of my English nephew grow up here, and he's a total Yank.

So that would mean moving back to the UK in the not too distant future, supposing 'er indoors is up for it. Housing wouldn't be a problem - we still have a house in Plymouth (which is empty), and because of the small mortgage we could easily rent out our US house and cover our costs.

Don't fancy shipping all those wedding presents back though :D

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The quality is good? Do you have to be an EU citizen to receive free care? (I am a USC.)

Same hold for the south of France in case I win enough of a lottery pool to afford the digs? :rolleyes:

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I always thought we would go back.....but now I'm not sure.......

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Can't see myself staying here forever. The wife says she'll think about moving to the UK if I become a US citizen so it'd be easier to return. Not sure when that'll happen though, after 2 years here and no green card as yet! :rolleyes:

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My knowledge only really extends to living there as an EU person. You'd have to be able to get in there first, but I *think* that once you're there legally, you're good to go.

The quality is ok. Spain is very much a family place and as such the hospitals don't provide meals etc., they expect the families to do that. I'd say it's comparable with the NHS minus the waiting times.

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What she said.

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And again. Except one of my parents friends had to go into hospital in Elche for a bypass and they got excellent care and meals provided. Of course the family also brought in several truck loads of Paella and fruit which we helped to, er, put away.

Oh and on the cost of medications front, my father has high blood pressure and has to take tablets every day which I believe cost them 15Euros per month. If I recall the same pills over here would set them back over $100 per month.

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Are kazillions and squadoodles the correct mathematical terms? :D

Where did squadoodles come from? That's my new favourite word!

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I want to be where my wife is, so I don't see me going "home" any time soon, which is fine by me as I love it here.

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I had to K it just for the use of Squadoodles.

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Lol - me too!

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I've been in the US for 15 years and hubby and I are now thinking about moving back to the UK once I get my US citizenship (I can't belive it's taken me this long to get around to applying for it!). We've lived in 3 different states and for the most part I've enjoyed my time here, but I'm getting itchy feet and my parents are getting on in age and I want to be able to spend more time with them, as well as other members of my family. Luckily, hubby, who is a USC, is more than willing to move back overseas (he's a military brat who spent a total of 15 years in Germany and Belgium) and my girls (ages 5 and 2) should still be young enough to adjust to moving to another country.

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Sibsie....I want out and the wife doesnt.....you "now" want out and your hubby doesnt...........BRILLIANT :confused: :mad:

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I want to be where my wife is too.......just wish she were in the UK.........one thing is for sure I wont be here for a lot longer.....I am sick and tired of it here.....too hot and humid in the summer and TOO cold in the winter......I just want to be back home with my own people......thats no disrespect to Americans but they are not my people never have been never will be

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It's what my friends call a Sibsieism. If I don't know the correct term I make a word up. :o

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I don't want to jump on a plane and head off immediately or anything. It's just a lingering thought of something I'd like to do before my zimmer frame gets rusty.

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I am from the Uk and my husband is a US citizen. We have been here for only 6 months but so far have no desire to return the the UK to live.
We had a high standard of living in the UK due partly to my husband having an extremly high paid job. However along with that goes alot of stress, long working hours and alot of travelling. We deceided that he needed to retire early from his job to save his sanity and his health. We were not able to do this in the UK and retain a similar standard of living so we started looking at the USA. We are able to have a similar house, cars and work only if we want to over here - and it is sunny.

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You can sue if a bit breaks off and lances you through both thighs you know.