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Both myself and my partner have discussed it for a few years and now we are both at the point where we think its time to leave blighty, can't believe we stuck around the past 6-7 years and looking forward, it's grim, even if Labour get in in 2024.
Both kids are in early stages at school so minimal disruption there, the only thing I'll miss is going to PR every other week, but that's it, and certainly not a strong enough pull to keep us here.
Sad state of affairs, but just can't see a promising future in this country for us or our children.
It's a real shame we lost our right to live & work in the EU.
Canada, Aus and NZ would be tempting, they have a lot of housing issues though and chances are you'd initially be renting and that's a competitive market these days.
Lived in Aus for a year and loved it, not sure it's the most robust place when considering climate change, but then again not many places are.
Looked into Singapore recently but decided I couldn't handle the weather day in day out, double the rainfall compared to here
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Actively looking to Emigrate now on 15:04 - Sep 27 with 2175 views
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 14:20 - Sep 27 by ArnoldMoorhen
As Zombies suggests, look at Scotland.
In terms of opportunities for your kids:
1 University tuition is free. That's a 30 grand plus saving on the student loan.
2 There is a possibility of independence and rejoining the EU. I would put it as less than 50-50 in the next 10 years, but possible. So your kids could regain Freedom of Movement.
3 The countryside is beautiful and varied. An outdoor lifestyle is possible. Walking, running, climbing, biking, camping, swimming. Head North and wintersports are on the doorstep.
4 Glasgow is easily the equal of cities like Manchester or Birmingham. Edinburgh has everything that a world class cultural capital has, plus the seaside on the doorstep. Both are truly international cities, with diversity and a flow of ideas, creativity and life.
5 House prices are way cheaper than in England. If you aren't on the ladder, it will become a possibility- if you are then you will be able to buy much more with your capital. Which gives more space or a better lifestyle location for you and your family.
If you both can work up here then consider it!
EU will never let Scotland join, would open up a too big can of worms!
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Actively looking to Emigrate now on 15:51 - Sep 27 with 2056 views
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 14:20 - Sep 27 by ArnoldMoorhen
As Zombies suggests, look at Scotland.
In terms of opportunities for your kids:
1 University tuition is free. That's a 30 grand plus saving on the student loan.
2 There is a possibility of independence and rejoining the EU. I would put it as less than 50-50 in the next 10 years, but possible. So your kids could regain Freedom of Movement.
3 The countryside is beautiful and varied. An outdoor lifestyle is possible. Walking, running, climbing, biking, camping, swimming. Head North and wintersports are on the doorstep.
4 Glasgow is easily the equal of cities like Manchester or Birmingham. Edinburgh has everything that a world class cultural capital has, plus the seaside on the doorstep. Both are truly international cities, with diversity and a flow of ideas, creativity and life.
5 House prices are way cheaper than in England. If you aren't on the ladder, it will become a possibility- if you are then you will be able to buy much more with your capital. Which gives more space or a better lifestyle location for you and your family.
If you both can work up here then consider it!
Ta for the mention but I would put in a couple of caveats. I probably don't need to mention the weather can be a put off putting at times, especially on the West Coast (conversely, if you are used to East Coast winds then you are good for the surprisingly sunny eastern side of the country.) Secondly, house prices in some parts of Edinburgh rival London and Glawgow's West End is not much less expensive. You can find cheap houses in, or close to, either city but sometimes there are reasons why the houses are relatively cheap...
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 13:47 - Sep 27 by blueasfook
I lived in Spain for a couple of years back in the 90s. Loved it. Great climate, relaxed way of life, sexy senoritas. My plan is to retire to Spain or Canary Islands.
All the best in your future pal. I suspect you're not alone and part of me has looked at teaching abroad, but it remains fantasy for me.
One thing I've noticed is more teachers leaving for international schools abroad. Usually you get one or two who are struggling in the profession, but loads of young ones are heading off it seems.
Those who keep supporting the Tories over the last decade have more than just a dab of blood on their hands.
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 12:01 - Sep 27 by hype313
We both work for organisations that have offices in Singapore, Canada, Australia, and have had positive initial discussion with all three offices.
Won't be an overnight move, but we're putting plans together.
I made the move to Canada a year ago. Glad I did. Feel free to DM me if you choose Canada and need any assistance. As part of my role, I recently helped a family move from Czechia to BC, Canada. So I have first-hand experience and job experience supporting someone.
Submit your 1-24 league prediction here -https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/514096/page:1 - for the opportunity to get a free Ipswich top.
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 20:33 - Sep 27 by Kropotkin123
I made the move to Canada a year ago. Glad I did. Feel free to DM me if you choose Canada and need any assistance. As part of my role, I recently helped a family move from Czechia to BC, Canada. So I have first-hand experience and job experience supporting someone.
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 13:55 - Sep 27 by Ryorry
Quite apart from your patronising tone, your comment -"Life in Germany France Ireland and Canada are much of a muchness to here" is just laughable.
I’ve lived and worked in Germany and Ireland and know people very well who love and work in France and Canada.
In the spirit of reconciliation and happiness at the end of the Banter Era (RIP) and as a result of promotion I have cleared out my ignore list. Look forwards to reading your posts!
Actively looking to Emigrate now on 14:27 - Sep 27 by KrakenBlue
It's a real shame we lost our right to live & work in the EU.
Canada, Aus and NZ would be tempting, they have a lot of housing issues though and chances are you'd initially be renting and that's a competitive market these days.
Lived in Aus for a year and loved it, not sure it's the most robust place when considering climate change, but then again not many places are.
Looked into Singapore recently but decided I couldn't handle the weather day in day out, double the rainfall compared to here
Pre pandemic I worked in Singapore a lot. Perhaps 3/4 weeks a year. It's a fantastic city. Incredibly safe, very structured and clean. The food is varied and cheap. Indonesia is on your door step for weekends in Bali etc. I would however see it as 2/3 years not a life defining move though.
I'd love to move to the Cairngorms or the Solway Firth. If you can hack the weather. Scotland is the dream in my eyes.
We made the move almost nine years ago - moving to Perth. Was meant to be a two year adventure but we're citizens now and our oldest is about to finish high school and starts university in the New Year. You probably know most of this, but here are some pros and cons from our experience.
THREE BIGGEST PROS
- Moving to a new country is an adventure and the first two years feel like a really long holiday as you discover new places, experience new cultures (even though Australia isn't that different to the UK) and go through a couple of years to understand seasonal changes. But (and this isn't a con) if you stay any longer you will fall into a routine and the initial excitement/adventure does wear off.
- You get a chance to pick what climate you want to live in. If you like the sun and long summers then Australia is great. If you prefer wilder variations then Canada would be better. Even though we've just gone through our ninth winter I still pinch myself when I'm walking along a beach in the middle of winter in a pair of shorts, a light jacket and it's 22c. I genuinely have not seen frost for almost a decade.
- It builds your resilience and world awareness. There will be very few things in your life that will be harder and it does make the small things in life seem very trivial.
THREE BIGGEST CONS
- Missing family, and there's no doubt this is the biggie. Whilst we didn't live close to family in the UK before we emigrated you could still see them once every couple of months. Now, it's every couple of weeks on FaceTime and every couple of years in person. I'm actually back in the UK at the moment because my Dad had heart surgery three weeks ago and had some serious complications. I'm here for five weeks, but that's five weeks away from my wife and kids and I've had to put work on hold. As our parents are getting older it is getting emotionally harder to be the other side of the world, and we've both had some sh1tty comments from siblings still in the UK that we're neglecting our ageing parents.
- A complete lack of cultural awareness. This one crept up on me, but it really is frustrating when colleagues make comments or jokes about something from the 90s/00s that happened in Australia and you're the only person in the room to not know what they are talking about. And forget pub quizzes, there will always be at least 25% of questions where you just have no idea about.
- Making friends is hard work - especially once you get into your 30s and older - because most people have established friendship groups. Having young kids can help, but both of us worked full time from the start so we were the ones dropping the kids and running so we didn't really meet other parents. I have a lot of work colleagues who I get on great with and do the occasional beer after work - but we only really have a couple of other couples with kids who we occasionally socialise with. Neither of us have ever been big social animals, but it is something we do miss.
As for Australia itself, personally we really love it, but can understand why some people don't like it or the prospect of it. Here are some general observations about life down under:
- The cost of living is much higher than the UK, but to a large extent wages are equivalently higher. Like lots of folks who move down under we had to go through a period of adjustment and we did use up most of our savings in the first 18 months and it took a few years to rebuild them.
- There is a housing crisis in most cities, so getting an affordable rental is pretty bloody hard.
- There have been an increasing number of extreme weather events. Most of this is east coast (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne) and we haven't had the same issues over in Perth; but climate change is very obvious - it does feel like we're on the front line of it.
- It does get cold in winter at night (single figures) and houses were not designed for cold weather (no double glazing, no insulation, no central heating) so your house will feel like living in a fridge for two months a year.
- Don't believe the hype about snakes, spiders and sharks. Yes they are there, but in nine years I think I've seen one snake and about three properly dangerous spiders (I suspect it may be worse in Queensland).
- 75% of the whole population live in the 5-6 big cities and they are getting bigger and taking longer to get around. Locals love to complain how long it now takes to get from A to B. But if you've lived in the UK this is a complete nonsense. I think I've been sat in four proper traffic jams in nine years and the traffic is worse around Ipswich than it is around most parts of Perth. Sydney is worse for commuting because to live anywhere near the city centre you would need to be buying a million dollar property.
- Don't overlook the fact that when you get here (or any new country for that matter) you will have zero credit rating, so you will be paying higher rates for any loans (cars, furniture, mortgage) for the first couple of years.
Personally, we love living in Perth. It's that little bit closer to the UK both in travel time (18 vs 22 hours) and time difference (7 vs 10 hours) compared to the other cities. But, it is a long long way from anywhere so I could understand why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. Flying to Sydney/Melbourne from Perth is like flying from London to Moscow.
Australian society and politics are generally more moderate than the UK/US - although there is a racist history (especially with Aboriginal people) that makes Apartheid South Africa seem quite tame - it's just there's not much global awareness about it. It is diminishing though because the influx of migrants from South East Asia over the last 30 years has led to a significant diversification in the general community.
A lot of the perceptions of the typical brash, dickish Australian don't really match reality in our experience if you live in the cities - but venture out into regional Australia and it is very much like the worst stereotypes you would have of Australians.
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