I’m in the process of doing a company transfer to San Francisco for a 3-5 year stint. Waiting on the visa petition processing, but aiming to be there in a couple of months.

I’m not expecting life to be massively better there, or that we will hugely richer financially but I’m looking forward to exploring the differences, and I’m hoping that it will be a good experience for the kids.

Might have to buy a Marin, since we may well end up living near Mt Tam.

Bloke at work has just returned to the UK from living in NZ for quite a long time. Had the nice life, big house, money etc but the last earthquake did it for him. He says that everyone is shortening their lives from living on adrenaline all the time.

Often thought about it, but ultimately I have kids that I couldn’t uproot.

Plus for all its faults, this Island in the spring sunshine is one of the best places on gods green earth.

Where I live I can be on moorland 5 mins from my door, mountains in an hour and a beach in 40 mins.

Yep. Much of this place is falling apart and I’m not sure I want junior monkey to come out the other side of a failing education system with little or no prospects. And don’t even get me started on society’s issues.

The plan is off to the USA next year.

Then I can start work proper on the religious cult I’ve been planning for the last couple of years. Mrs TT used to think it was a joke – now she thinks I put too much effort in to the plan 😈

New zealand’s not bad but it’s apparently quite rainy and is miles away from anywhere, even australia. I know a bloke who’s emigrated there, he says he quite likes it. Well he hasn’t come back, so he must quite like it.
America and australia have more than their fair share of natural disasters for my liking.
If I could work there, I’d emigrate to france.

TooTall

Should we start calling you L Ron TooTall?

Just get Tom Cruise and John Travolta signed up and you’ll be set for life (or should that be after life?).

We are 3 years in Canada, came back to the UK for the 1st time last Summer and absolutely hated it, Canada isn’t eutopia and has lots of faults in its own right but as an overall package its so much better for us, I don’t think I could face bringing my son up in Britain.
That being said theres a lot of stuff we miss and I can see why its not for everyone
I found the first 2 years of emmigrating a very stressful experience and every time something goes wrong you feel like hightailing it back ‘home’

I’d love to move to Canada but no one will give me a job as they all want people with “4-10 years local experience”.

What do you do? Where do you want to move to?
check this out Job Bank

I emigrated to NZ in 99 and have been in Wellington since then. Despite occasional wobbles mainly family related I don’t know,if I could go back to the UK. For all it’s many faults Nz is a beautiful place to live. Cost of living is now high due to xch rates and general rises, when i came it was 3.7 GBP to the dollar, now it is 2. I’ve never worked out why immigrants think it should be cheap ? Anyhow, way of life and general outlook positive, it’s not that wet unless you live in Greymouth and the beer is improving. I now part own a brewery !
I wouldn’t move looking for a nirvana like solution. Move because you want an experience or change. And don’t moan that you can’t watch uk tv, buy tetley t bags etc as that is just the way it is.

Closet roadie – I assume your mate was in CHCh, must have been. I couldn’t stay there either but remember folks that ChCh and it’s related fault are very localized and also not connected the the other major fault lines in the area. Thus the earthquakes they have had have no bearing on anywhere else. It is literally a 10k dia circle of hell down there.

I’m going to go and work for Medicines Sans Frontiers, decided working in Somalia and getting shot at would be better than staying in the UK. Have a more of an adventure before I settle down and then when I do, try to settle in Vancouver. Whistler = Swweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

I moved to Spain 9 years ago & come & go UK & Spain a fair bit. I always think I’ll move back one day but it hasn’t happened yet. The stuff I miss about UK when it comes to visiting I get bored of pretty quickly, like TV, guiness & pringles, fried breakfast.

It’s really what you make of wherever you live. Some people are bored in London. I ma lucky I could move back tomorrow as am self employed but the taxes in UK would keep me awake at night.

Hope it helps, just don’t sell up in UK till you are sure.

I would move to Canada …

i moved to Finland last August. I’m 23 and outgoing with friends here before i came, so it should have been far easier. I’ve not particularly enjoyed living here but i can appreciate that it is a nice place to visit occaisionally.

I was attacked and hospitalised in Helsinki in November and still recovering. I can’t climb or ride a bike still. If i didn’t have these many small problems (bank, salary payment, communication, prices, unsociable colleagues, etc) i think I’d have the mental strength to brush that to the side. But i haven’t, i’m very homesick and can’t wait to step back onto british soil.

If you go abroad, my advice is to commit fully and don’t let anything get you down.

OP

You mention Spain remember they are deep up sh*t street not much work about and if you get a job likely to be low paid. My company hires some of they they cost peanuts.

France? I moved there about half a year ago, are you fluent in their language?(else big problem almost everywhere) Also remember that the rural places are cheap cos most people don’t earn much down there not too sure how I will land a job one day. Live there now, don’t work used to work there 5 years ago.

New Zealand awesome place though cost of living wise VS earnings not good canned the plan 5 years ago as I would have too work that much just bymyself that I wouldn’t have enough time for the real outdoor lifestyle change.

South Africa could have been heaven on earth pity safety is such a big issue and the place is ran into the ground. Regular visito, have lived there have worked there and so.

Most other african countries well its a job what I do else I wouldn’t go there.

Remember visiting or holidaying in a country is often miles from da real life experience.

HansRey – Member
I was attacked and hospitalised in Helsinki in November and still recovering

Christ, what happened? 😕

I lived in Spain for over 11 years and just moved back to the UK last year.
I’m unsure that we’ve done the right thing and feel unsettled here.
It feels like theres more negativity in this country even though most of the people here have far more money than my Spanish friends.
Luckily we didn’t(couldn’t)sell the house in Spain so we’re looking to go back out at the end of this year.
The people i look most forward to seeing are my Spanish friends,not British.They are so welcoming and open,and because its a small village,the pressures of society seem to pass it by.

joe – what made you decide to move back here then ?

When you watch all those programs on the TV about moving to Australia, people are always surprised at just how much everything costs.

True of a surprising number of places. In Canada the cost of living is significantly higher than in the UK – a weekly grocery shop for 2 people costs about $150-240, or £100-150ish. Booze is more expensive, cars are more expensive (secondhand). Rent in the big cities (Toronto, Vancouver) is not significantly lower than London. Heck, even in the US the cost of living is higher than the UK, weirdly. We’re so used to it being cheaper but it isn’t true.
Fortunately tax is lower, I think, so take-home pay is better. And the quality of life makes it all worth it.

As for Canadian jobs and needing experience (someone else’s comment), how old are you?

I love the UK and all my friends and family are here. My parents are in their 70s and I want to be around to look after them in their later years. But…
I don’t have a problem with the way the country is being run. But I do worry that power and opportunity in the world is moving. And the general response from GB Joe Public is more than a little bit whiny.
Personally when you’re in a hard place I think the best thing to do is stand tall, dig in and fight your way through the tough times. I think UK public have been too wealthy for too long and I;m not sure we have the fight in us.
So if, in order to have a good job and future opportunities to live a decent life amongst positive people, then I will move abroad.
That said I live in the Republic of London which is possibly as good as any other major world city in terms of pragmatism, work ethic, positivity and openness to change…

The grass can never be greener on the other side if your wish list never ends … 🙄

In Canada the cost of living is significantly higher than in the UK

I earn over double what I earned in the UK, our standard of living is a hell of a lot higher, I also only work Mon-Thu instead of some crappy shifts… I could not even dream of getting as good a job as I have here in Canada back in the UK

I was in NZ for six months and although I had a great time I don’t think I would have liked to live there. The wages were low in relation to cost of living. I’ve been in Colorado now for six years and I love it here. The cost of living is less than the UK and I earn about double what I would make in the UK. The weather is great, the riding/skiing/climbing is great, the people are generally nice and friendly, we have a fantastic quality of life. I don’t ever get home sick and only see family once every couple of years but I understand how that could be a problem for a lot of folks.

I moved to Perth four years ago – as a mature Uni student. To those who say Perth (and Australia generally) is expensive – you’re dead right, but kinda missing the point.

If you do a direct comparison of the things you need to live comfortably in the UK, and price them up here, yes it’ll cost more. However, the point is that you don’t need all those things to have a great life here!

The government schools are great so you don’t need private education. Leisure time is spent at the parks and beaches & over a BBQ so you don’t need expensive restaurant meals, cinema tickets etc. You don’t rush to escape on expensive foreign holidays at every chance, instead you go camping in the national parks. And you don’t run a new BMW because the roads/heat/dust will trash it pretty quick, so you have an old banger. I could go on, but I think you get the point…

I’m living on a student grant (yes the Australian Government is paying me to study – quaint old fashion notion isn’t it!) plus the rent from my place back home, and I have to say my lifestyle is still much better.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying Australia is paradise, and its not for everyone – many struggle to settle in, miss friends & relatives etc. But just doing a straight cost of living comparison misses the point – its a nicer place to live, not a cheaper one, and I know where I’d rather my children grew up!

someone they knew got scoffed by a shark, at which point they realised that Australia is full of animals that prey on humans

LOL when that old one gets dragged out!

Sharks have killed 52 people in Australia in the last 50 years, that’s an average of 1.04 deaths a year. Meanwhile an average of 2 people a year die of wasp/bee stings in the U.K.

So, do you warn people not to come to the UK because of the killer wasps!

Australia also has a (slightly) lower homicide rate than the UK, so you’re also more likely to be killed by a human than I am, though granted – they’re not very likely to eat you afterwards!

Perth MTB has it right……i moved to Sydney in 2005, its a fantastic place to live. My son was born in Manly hospital and now goes to primary school – he does not know how good he has got it. We miss family and friends but Uk food, pubs etc not missed at all, you find similar if not better alternatives. Holidays – Fiji to Austraia is what Ibiza/Spain is to Uk

The UK is still a great place but returning here “rat race” comes to mind.
Its seems that the quantity of stuff that we own is more important for our happiness than the actual quality of our life.
This is pushed onto us continually through the media so i don’t believe people are necasarily greedy,just manipulated.
Living in a small Spanish village for a number of years without TV we were not in the consumer loop.No crap burger joints,takeaways,retail warehouses,drunken idiots or crime.Just ordinary people with not much money out socialising with their families on warm evenings.
I see Spain gradually going the way of the UK as consumerism is now taking over and younger Spanish now want,not need,to replicate other European countries.

Leave the UK? I’m hoping that 5 million of us will decide to do that in 2014 🙂

And you don’t run a new BMW because the roads/heat/dust will trash it pretty quick, so you have an old banger

Replace heat/dust for grit/salt and I don’t see how that can’t apply to the UK also.

I think a lot of people think they need to move to another country for a different lifestyle when in fact they could just change their lifestyle in the country they’re in.

Many people also equate the UK with London, many of the UK negatives are London negatives and don’t really apply across the country.

Replace heat/dust for grit/salt and I don’t see how that can’t apply to the UK also.

I think a lot of people think they need to move to another country for a different lifestyle when in fact they could just change their lifestyle in the country they’re in.

Agree completely. I lived in Hong Kong for a while, and you couldn’t get a more materialistic place than that – but I lived on a small island where there were no cars allowed, and everybody was equally poor – and it was a great community.

However, I think some countries/cultures put more emphasis on material posessions/wealth/status, and in those it is more difficult to eschew those things for a simpler more rewarding lifestyle. Unfortunately, I think the UK is one of those countries – last time I lived there the dinner party conversation was all about property prices and company cars.

Other countries are fundamentally more equitable, put less emphasis on material posessions, and more on lifestyle. I happen to think Australia is one such country, and from what I’ve read on this thread, Spain seems to be another.

It’s easy to be rich anywhere – but there’s very few places it’s Ok to be poor. As a student supporting a family I’m currently poor, and so I’d rather be in a country where rich and poor get equal access to the things that matter – education, healthcare, leisure pursuits, and of course MTB!!

They are so welcoming and open,and because its a small village,the pressures of society seem to pass it by.

I find the same in the town where I live. People are rallying around and supporting each other through the recession. Life here is family and friends, nice food and interaction rather than financial position or how big your TV, car, house etcetera is.

True of a surprising number of places. In Canada the cost of living is significantly higher than in the UK – a weekly grocery shop for 2 people costs about $150-240, or £100-150ish. Booze is more expensive, cars are more expensive (secondhand). Rent in the big cities (Toronto, Vancouver) is not significantly lower than London. Heck, even in the US the cost of living is higher than the UK, weirdly. We’re so used to it being cheaper but it isn’t true.
Fortunately tax is lower, I think, so take-home pay is better. And the quality of life makes it all worth it.

As for Canadian jobs and needing experience (someone else’s comment), how old are you?

nicko are you living in Canada? I don’t know where you’re buying your weekly shop, but you must be eating like a prince!

I’ve been in Canada getting on 4 years now, did a 2 year masters here (living well below the poverty line in one of the most poverty stricken cities in the province), am now on an incredible salary for someone who’s 25.

I’ve written about this on here before and can’t really be bothered to get into it again, but every place has its faults, there is no paradise, but if you’re young, have a sense of adventure and like the Great White North (snow, bears and wolves included) then why the hell not.

For the OP – this is from the ‘is the UK depressing’ thread

I live/work in Canada, love it, very different general attitude towards life and work, very upbeat, infact given the -40 degree weather and terrible driving they’re damn upbeat.

that said…I will always be british at heart, and would always relish an opportunity to work and live there as prosperously as I am able to in Canuck land.

media is alot smaller here in Canada, alot more to the point, and alot less ‘opinion make you feel miserable bullshit’ something I think the UK could benefit from hugely. by and large, canadians don’t sweat the small stuff, they just get on with it, but then they will also ignore the extreme poverty on some of the reserves, adiswabiskat a prime example…

do i think the uk is depressing? no. can one easily be led into thinking it is? absolutely.

if more people turned off their tellies, realised what an incredible outdoors the uk has to offer – fingells cave on Staffa anyone? or hell, the moors? I think the population as a whole would be a damn slight cheerier, similarly if the media stopped giving so much TV time to the **** idiots in parliament spouting their horseshit, it’d do everyone a world of good, likewise if more people would stand independently as councillors and MP’s and took more of a genuine interest in their immediate communities rather than secreting themselves away and never knowing ones neighbour etc.

we’re not here for long, why on earth be here miserably, make do and smile, no-one needs sky plus…

p.s. as a general observation, camerons ideas on making peoples employment terms less secure is damn right disgusting.

Well if anyone wants a few months working as an MTB guide in Italy….give us a shout.

Will give you an idea of working and riding your bike all day in a foreign country.

I was offered a job in Perth WA a few years back and the offer is still there , They are screaming out for freight train drivers and my friend moved across three weeks ago. To be honest I think the ship has sailed for me , when I say Perth its in Geraldton which is hundreds of miles from Perth . Looks very nice and the climate is great but the thought of uprooting my family from the Edinburgh area to go and live miles from knowhere just seems like a massive gamble. My mate is recently divorced and had nothing to lose so Its been a great a move for him . Sounds kind sad but I’d really miss the biking In this country and would probably pine for the most mediocre local trail being stuck in a seaside Northern Aussie town.
Funny thing Is anyone I’ve known who has emigrated has for the first 6 months posted daily weather reports from there home country.

I moved to Spain 9 years ago & come & go UK & Spain a fair bit. I always think I’ll move back one day but it hasn’t happened yet. The stuff I miss about UK when it comes to visiting I get bored of pretty quickly, like TV, guiness & pringles, fried breakfast.

Weird stuff to miss – you can get all that (or the ingredients for it) easily in Spain…

Do miss having a proper pub nearby, though.

Moved to Sweden 5 years ago with my family and am still here. Would love to go back to the UK but the question is how to get the same lifestyle and quality of life. Really cheap child care, outdoor culture, and generally a government that is interested in promoting the welfare of all it citizens.

If you can’t make a go of it in the best country in the world, what makes you think you can make a go of it somewhere else?

Edit: Speaking as an American living in the UK – seriously stop whining, the UK is the best place on earth to live.

Pretty sure I won’t emigrate but feeling convinced I’ll have a 2nd home in France when I no longer need to work, probably near the Pyrenees/Biarritz. Road cycling is so much more appealing out there.

We moved to Adelaide in South Oz nearly two years ago now. It is nothing like the UK, and why would you expect it to be. I’m paid more than double what I was on in the UK, and whilst some costs are considerably higher, others are not. Food is much better here as the quality of the produce is so high. They also make surprisingly good beer (noone drinks Foster’s!) The fact that its usually sunny does seem to have a positive effect on peoples’ wellbeing – certainly less doom and gloom around. TV is OK (certainly better than NZ), but with internet trickery you can watch most things anywhere anyway.

As for the downsides: homesickness, especially if you have close friends and family in the UK can be difficult to deal with. I occasionally get this, but my wife (who moved here for my job) does struggle more than she lets on, and this is difficult. Countryside access is very poor by UK standards – lots of rules telling you what you can / can’t do. In fact, a lot of policies and rules tend to make the UK look quite liberal by comparison. Sure, it can be hot, but the numbers of days it’s sufficiently hot to stop you doing anything outside are far fewer than those when it’s too cold / wet in the UK. As for bity things – yep, they’re here, but most Aussies seem more scared of European Wasps and Bees than their native nasties, which should make the point well enough – they’re simply not an issue if you’re careful.

Sure, things cost a lot, but the house we rent here is a big 2-bed bungalow with a garden, only 10 mins from the city centre (and it is a city of 1m+ residents), 10 mins from the hills, and 20 mins from the beach – I’d be able to afford a shoebox in Manchester for the equivalent. Curiously, I’d disagree with perthmtb about cars – most new cars here aren’t that much more expensive than the UK, and compared to salt corrosion, have a very easy life if you change filters etc. Consequently, depreciation is nowhere near as bad as it is in the UK – buying a new car does make more sense here. The health system is a confusing mix of public and private, but when you compare taxation levels in the UK (10-15% higher) to Oz, this is the only piece in the public service jigsaw that seems to be lacking, and 10% of my salary is a lot more than health insurance premiums.

When you watch all those programs on the TV about moving to Australia, people are always surprised at just how much everything costs. The idea of the house in the suburbs with the swimming pool and barby is usually out of the reach of most people.

Things were very different ten years ago – any numpty could ride the wave of buy-to-let and sell their place in the UK and trade up significantly in Australia. But in the interim, the AUD has appreciated massively, UK property has taken a pummelling and Australian property has really heated up.

perthmtb is right but with one qualifier: there’s a nice lifestyle that will appeal to some that is easily achievable here but for many that lifestyle doesn’t appeal in the first place. If you’re not the kind of person who’d move to Sheffield/Inverness/Todmorden so you can camp/climb/ride more, then you’re not the kind of person to whom a simple Australian lifestyle is going to appeal. You’re probably going to want an expensive lifestyle and unless you get a really great job (and if you’re the right type of civil engineer, you probably can), you’re going to get hammered and not enjoy it.

And conversely, if you are the type of person to whom perthmtb’s lifestyle appeals, you could probably do just as well leaving shitty shitty Home Counties for Sheffield/Inverness/Todmorden…

the UK is the best place on earth to live.

Meh, maybe for you. Different people have different interests.

I moved here from Aus almost 2 years ago.
As somebody who enjoys an outdoor lifestyle I have loved the UK.
I have lived in every part of Australia at some point in my life and it varies considerably in every way, so generalisations aren’t really appropriate.
In terms of outdoor pursuits Australia is so caught up in conservation and legislation that it is extremely restrictive.
There is no right to roam what so ever, most mtb trails are illegal, and there are no bridleway networks.
If you live in the city of Perth where I did, you could ride every mtb trail in a day.
The greatest thing I love about this country is that every weekend I open up an os map, guide book, and go and explore somewhere new and beautiful.
For a small nation this place has so many beautiful places to see and experience – I have tried as much as I can to get a taste of every part of it but I will be leaving shortly having not.
In terms of travel being on Europe’s doorstep offers amazing opportunity – in 1 hour you an be in a completely different country with a different climate, geography, culture etc. This does not compare with camping in a national park I’m afraid and I’ve done loads of that.
The closest overseas destination to Aus is south east Asia – if you’re in Perth thats Bali, if you’re in the East its Thailand.
Both are cheap dirty hovels as far as I’m concerned.
In terms of cost of living I think things are much cheaper here.
I am paying the same rent as I was in Perth. I live in Cardiff Bay and my loungeroom has panoramic views of the taff river, whilst I lived in a small villa unit in a pretty bad suburb in Aus (Maylands).
Petrol is about double here, food, drink, entertainment, real estate, cars are all much cheaper here.
I am here on a training post and have taken a paycut of about 50% but my lifestyle has not altered significantly.
Myimpression is that its fashionable to whinge about Britain but there are some amazings on your doorstep here with only a small effort.