Anyone emigrated and then come back? Why?

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Beastie

I wish that I had taken your approach and consulted a bit more widely before, having sold my house, I upped sticks with my partner last year, bought a motor home and with rose tinted spectacles on, drove to Calais and thence through France, Portugal and Spain. Our intention was to buy a plot of land somewhere in one of these countries and then build our own house there. Within 3 months we had driven through these 3 countries and were heading back to the UK as fast as my van could take us.

The reasons for this, and I hasten to add these are strictly our findings, they may not necessarily be the experiences of others are as follows :-

> There is no point in trying to speak French - the natives will speak better English than you speak their language and they will cut straight across your first sentence as if to say dont even bother, we dont appreciate your effort !
> The simple truth is that the French, Spanish and Portuguese do not like the English, they will honk their horns at your car because it has English plates, they will stare at you rudely in restaurants, sometimes even aggressively, and they will do their best to be as unhelpful as they can possibly be, and if they can rip you off into the bargain then even better from their perspective.
> The driving in these 3 countries is just stupid, bordering on the positively dangerous. In France im sure their driving test stipulates driving close enough to the vehicle in front so you can see what radio station they have their stereo tuned into.

The reasons for this behaviour, as far as I can establish, are as follows :-
> Historical enmity
> The uk lager lout / club 18-30 experience of locals (and consequent tarring of all uk nationals with the same brush)
> The fact that uk nationals are buying up large areas of these countries as 2nd homes / relocations, thus driving up prices and introducing the Cornwall effect into these countries ie locals being priced out of their own locale.

I apologise for the length of this answer, but it has actually been quite therapeutic to get all of this off my chest. I would qualify all that I have just said with the following fact - the only experience of downright yobbishness that we experienced on our journey through those 3 countries was from - yes you guessed it - a ferile english boy and his surly teenage brother - who, when challenged, denied they had thrown anything at my motorhome, even though I had seen them do it. When I encountered the feckless, moronic, estate bred parents, the reason for the childrens behaviour became all too clear. Ironically enough, distancing ourselves from this type of behaviour was one of the reasons we had considered moving abroad in the first place.

Evangelista da Messina

My mum went to the US to live in New York, she realised it was time to come home when she heard the first gun shot. She lives in a very quiet part of London and the contrast was too much for her.

Josie S

Hi, yes I moved to Malta when I got married then we decided to move back to London - BIG MISTAKE - I grew up in London and it was wonderful but having been away for 3 years and going back what a big difference and having a small child I had not realised before just how "scary" it is when you have kids. Hence after 5 years we moved back "home" to Malta. Much much better. I will never move back to the UK and even the thought of ever having to visit fills me with dread - but saying all this there will always be a special place in my heart for London.

ashleightara

My Bristish Great Grandmother emigrated to Austrailia 40 years ago (on a boat :P). She was here a couple of months (with her husband and three children) when she decided that Australia was a disgusting hot place and she really didn't want to be here. So they all got on another boat back to England...she was there for 2 weeks when she remembered that England wasn't that great after all :P

So they came back again.

So I think the grass can be green on both sides, it depends on what you are looking for...and what you choose to remember about where you are coming from (i.e. if you forget the negatives then you'll think you were better off before...if you focus on the new positives you'll be happy where you are...)

charlie3127389

No place like old bilthey

angela b

I lived in Ireland for 14 years.I came back to Australia last year.
I absolutely loved living in Ireland.I came back home with my husband and 3 children so that I could help look after my elderly grandmother and to spend some time with my family.
Who's knows where I will be living in 5 years time.If my children and husband want to stay in Australia then we will stay,but if my husband and children want to go back home to Ireland,I will have no problem with going back what so ever.

Batako

G'day,

Woww... some terrific experiences here.

I am an immigrant from South-East Asia and have been living in Melbourne for over 16yrs and never regret the move. I actually feel less enthusiastic of coming back to my country of origin due to pollution, crime, traffic jams, racial tensions etc. Nowadays I feel like just a tourist in my country of origin. Australia is my home.

However I do know a number of my immigrant friends and international students that packed up and going back to their home countries. Some of the reasons are as follows:
1. Got much better job offer back home. In Australia, b'cos their English is not very good, they can't get any better jobs, or sometimes got 'overlooked' for position advancement. This is not b'cos of racial issues though.
2. Family reasons
3. Better opportunities to earn income due to better family connections. I got plenty of uni friends who went back straight after they completed their study and within a year already driving luxury cars and bought big expensive houses with plenty of housemaids and drivers.
4. Cheap maids/babysitter. For the ones who haven't got babies, you would probably say "What?!" For the ones who have at least one, you know what I mean and how grateful you'll be if you have a cheap competent baby-sitter, live in your house, look after your baby most of the time and only cost you AUD$250/mth. I'm paying the childcare AUD$50/day!! :(

Well... hope this gives more inputs on top of the excellent answers you've got already :)

Happle

My husband was asked to work in Australia (Melbourne) for 6 months and we were offered the chance to stay at the end. We turned it down and came back to London.

Melbourne was a great. Safe, clean, more house for your money, although sometimes imported goods were similar in price to the UK. You only ever see the good points of somewhere and so want to go. You have to dig deeper to find the bad. In the case of Melbourne, we were shoked how cold the winter weatehr was. We skied on the mountains in September. The wind straight of the Antartic was bitingly cold. As there is a very hot summer the houses are not built to hold heat and we found it very cold to live with. We felt better about being in the European Alps as they are set up for the cold better. Even by november there were big changed. 35 degrees on day and hail storms the next as the wind changed.

We both work in IT and I used the opportunity to do some training. All of the people there wanted to come to the UK for the career opportunites, either for themselves of there children. This included the teacher.

I could have lived there, but if you go somewhere that will give you more for your money, you will have trouble getting back if you don't like it. You are not paying enough in to a pension for those years to be able to go back to somewhere more expensive. We had friends there who had emigrated some years earlier and would have liked to go back. However, they could no longer afford to do it. Going somewhere more expensive might work short term if you have skills that are more in demand.

Going for 6 moth made us realise what we have here and it comes down to family and friend.

If you are unhappy in the UK, it is unlikely that living somewhere without your support network will make you happier. Look at making your life better here before you burn any bridges.

danielle

Yes. My parents and I have moved to Sweeden and it is great!!! But we come back 2 times a year to see my family and my friends cuz I really miss them. But I know people who came back for good because they couldn't find any place to work and they couldn't fit in... so it depends on you to make the grass greener.

steelfixer

My Aunt and Uncle moved to Australia a few years ago but went back to UK after 1 year. They were bored and prefered the UK way of life. They were quite old at the time and a bit set in their ways.

I moved from uk to Hungary 4 years ago and have no intention of going back.

laplandfan

Wow some fantastic experiences here.

Happle I read with great interest your experience as we are still wondering whether to move down under or not. What is putting me off mainly is missing my sister (she has recently recovered from cancer and is now trying for family) as i feel she needs me here in UK. Australia is so far away. However i keep noticing all the negatives about UK ....pollution, littered streets, yobs, crime etc. Maybe i am being too picky.

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