Australia for 3.5 years. I lived mostly in Melbourne.

Pros: Near the beach, hot summers, Melbourne had a great culture scene if you like art/theatre/music, lower cost of living.

Cons: Racism, droughts, summers could be far too hot (45 degrees for days on end), working culture wasn’t nice in most places I worked in.

I moved there with my then partner, but returned to the UK when we split up as my visa wasn’t going to be renewed. I decided not to return to Oz, even though the company I worked for had offered to sponsor me. Had been there and done it and encountered many of the same issues as I’d had in the UK, there were lots of nice things about it but not enough to keep me there forever.

Yes, Perth, Australia. I just had to work out that it’s coming up to 8 years since I have no intention of returning to the UK.

A question for the emigrants though. Do you think home will always be where you’re from? I just get a slight nagging feeling that my soul will never be quite as comfortable as it is in the UK. Emigration is normal in my extended family over several generations now, and interestingly some of them have returned to their home country in retirement after living elsewhere for over 50 years.

When I said expats I was more generally talking about overseas people who had moved.

I’ve always been about the experience. There is no right and wrong, now that we have started to make the move I have had some interesting feedback from people that don’t know me, my family or why we are doing it. Mainly I realise to justify their own issues.
We’re treating our move as a reverse emigration!
Crispy-I think I know you! You wouldn’t come to welly for the weather, maybe if you enjoy earthquakes ?
We will probably come back somewhere down the line, to retire.

I emigrated 48 years ago from Aus to the UK. Never looked back.

Once to Denmark seven years ago and now just about to move to Perth. Different drivers for both moves, but both came out of a sense of wanting to experience something different, rather than any dissatisfaction regarding where I was – geographically or literally. Like had already been said, if you’re not careful, some of the reasons for moving will move with you…

On a practical note, it ain’t cheap. Both moves had work already lined up, which certainly makes things easier. Not sure I would relish moving anywhere ‘cold’ and having to find work, particularly if there is a language barrier. That’s just me though and hats off to anyone braver than me.

Anyone ever moved to Canada? I think that would be my number one place to go.

There are a few from Canada on here (me included) and a few who have gone and then header back. I’m in the probably staying category with the only caveat being family… I’m just about to become a father and my parents are aging so I can see that becoming a strong(er) pull than previous. But for now I’m staying.

I’d say it took 2+ years to get settled; meet people who became friends (always a few false starts in there) and know how systems work. Every country has it’s bureaucracy and Canada isn’t bad but when you don’t know the system it’s still tough. Even buying a car seems very complicated initially….

Canada is a tough place to get to as well. I moved with work and even then it wasn’t plain sailing so unless you’re young it’ll take a while. Residency is 3 years and citizenship is 5+ years.

I’m in Calgary and it’s really cold in winter (but I like the mountains). Don’t underestimate things like health care and schooling; Alberta Health services is quite like the NHS in some ways (which is comforting from a UK perspective) but not very NHS like in other ways (for example drug prescriptions are not normally covered at all except by private medical insurance)

I like it here but I would agree about previous comments on having a pull and not just a push.. I think attitude is very important and you have to really want to make it work; embracing the differences etc

I spent 19 years in the US. Came back when my dad became terminally ill. I realized at that point what I had missed. A lot of time I could have spent with him. So my wife and I decided to move here (UK) been back since 2005. Wow 9 years!
I’ve used the time here to be with my family and in particular, my mom.
We will definitely be moving back in the not to distant future though. Everything here is just so damn difficult.

A decade in Japan for me (and my wife). Interesting experience, don’t regret it at all, but glad to be back. It was never likely to be permanent (hardly the most open society for immigration) but the job kept on going and the years mounted up, until we decided we’d had enough.

People are people wherever you live; mostly good. Some are more open than others. The people in my street were born in France, Spain, Portugal, the UK, Turkey and Algeria but have lived in France for at least a quarter of a century. When asked they say they’re French then add where they were born to explain the accent, I do the same. Expat implies an intention to someday return or being on some tax fiddle, someday a long time ago I stopped being an expat.

The longer you spend in a place the more you become impregnated with local values. At the same time wherever you left changes. Eventually wherever you left feels foreign even if the buildings and landscapes look familiar.

I enjoyed Germany and would live there again. I never felt at ease working in Spain. I intend to take a holiday in Quebec some time and have got as far as getting a biometric passport, just for a look-see.

I went through a phase of abandon then of trying to make the most of both my nationalities positively with the www as a link (waves at those who used to post on BM). Now?

We moved to Canada 5 years ago(calgary)
We came on a wim to be fair with no real reason other than we thought it was a bit shit in the UK for us, I’ve found all the things I moaned about in Britain to be far superior than here in Canada, I used to let the rain get me down but over here Winter starts to grate pretty quick and as much as I have tried I can’t face going out after -15

All that said we have a far better standard of living compared to what we could have had back “home”

I’m a bit on the fence at the moment and feel like trying somewhere else, my son wants to go to Oz for the beaches

Personally if I could earn a good living and live somewhere nice in England I would go back I think

I moved to England. What the f was I thinking.

I moved to england too. 🙄
.
.
.
.weather is crap, but life is beautiful and gave me my 2nd chance.,and i bought a lots of bikes 😀 …when i grow old and still on bike…i will move to lake garda .

The wife and I (then girlfriend) moved to The Philippines 6 1/2 years ago.

The pros:

much higher salaries + cheaper living costs = woohoo. Twenty-somethings with an amazing apartment, 2 full time ‘helpers’, saved 40k pa (we’re only teachers!)

The country itself was very easy re. language, culture, people.

It was an adventure we didn’t want to end so moved to Phuket (Thailand) last July.

Cons:

A long way from home and family. You need to have discipline or you’ll spend the money you could be saving on living the highlife, flying home frequently etc.

We got married (over a summer holiday back in Ireland) and had a son whilst away. My grandfather died and I couldn’t get home in time; all of those things are difficult when you’re on the other side of the world.

We only go home once a year, usually for the long summer hols, and being away at Christmas sucks. However much effort you put into making the day special, it’s not the same. I’ve become a real bah-humbug; I’d rather it was just over.

I didn’t have a bike in Manila (no where to use it), which was obviously awful. Plenty of riding now, so that’s great.

We left London and moved abroad mostly for financial reasons. We’ve stayed away for, besides the money, beaches, sunshine, adventure and the standard of living

I’d love to emigrate, I’ve been trying for years, I guess I must be in the wrong job to find work in Europe 🙁

It’s a big world, we are not trees

I’d ignore all the nay sayers and if you have opportunity then go for it

I took voluntary redundancy from the nuclear industry in 1999, and moved to Andalucia, Spain, to set up http://www.bikingandalucia.com on my own, armed with a Spanish GCSE, OTC mountain bike leaders course and a St John´s 1st aid course. Especially the first 2 years were hard, then I met a local (Spanish) lady and became more settled, to the point, I did not return to the UK for 7 years. Now I am beginning to view the UK as a foreign country. My advice if you do emigrate you have to have a viable plan, and unless you are financially independent, integrate with the community ie learn the language etc.

house waiting for me in Valencia, what am I doing here ???

@davidisaacs …you’re the man! Good plan

Switzerland 4 years
Back to the UK for two
Switzerland 4 years
Back to UK – then Germany 1 1/2

Horses for courses – makes you realise that there is a big wide world out there and shows you what you can do etc ….
Bad points – CH, despite being a stunning place to live is dull …
Germany – if I had to move there full time, I would. Good social aspect to life, sport is important as is life/ work balance. They don’t do the long hours thing and you get no kudos for doing it. Food is a bit average, apartments are cheaper than the UK. Second hand cars are stunningly expensive. Sundays are a bit dull

Did, but because of work.
Initial plan was to be 1-2 years in Bristol then 12-18 months in Holland, and then who knows what after that, but a distinct possibility of not going back.

Turned out to be 1999-2003 in Holland (plus a few extended bits in French Guiana and Turin), then 2003 until now in Germany.

Much handier location for the bikes and skis.

Certainly helps being in an international agency where English is the working language, but then the downside is it’s 10x harder to pick up the local lingo.

Andytherocketeer what agency are you using?

Hola Mr Issacs

No gaste mi cinceunta pounds en el bar! Or I’ll tell Liz.

Currently an emigree (sp?) Just under 3 years in western australia. Moved for a change of scenery and for the money (geologist). Definatly good and bad point. I still miss the UK, specifically the countryside,family, the beer and believe it or not the weather. Oz is a pretty awesome place to live though and the lack of a language barrier has made things easier.

It looks like we will move back to the UK in a few year as the australian gf wants to work in london, live in europe. I suspect we will see how that goes and then make a decison about either staying in europe (We both would liek to live in germany) or back to Oz, but not WA)

If you get the chance def take it, the worlds a big place and living in different places gives you a whole new perspective.