Unemigrating

[WOM]

Hawaii is too hot and touristy and I'd feel like such a foreigner. So Australia, maybe.

Umm....yeah.

[caja-dglh]

I've been in the US for a decade now. Well, in a week I will have been. My wife and I talk about going back to the UK at some point in the future, but it seems relatively unlikely. Given very few organizations have an international structure to what I do for a living, it basically needs someone to recruit me from overseas; a rather limiting feature for ever converting on the potential (though there have been one or two times where I have run the numbers with recruiters).

Not sure I would be particularly into the London schtick that would be necessary either.

[WOM]

Given very few organizations have an international structure to what I do for a living.

The solitary life of the whorehouse pianist.

[Gerontophile]

The solitary life of the whorehouse pianist.

If it was good enough for Barry Manilow...

[Hot Pepsi]

Umm....yeah.

I'm thinking, if I'm going to feel like a foreigner and be told so by the locals repeatedly, I might as well actually be one. Plus, there are places in Australia not too far from the coast that aren't so hot. And they have a good sporting scene. Even baseball. I'd be a bit nervous about the spiders, sharks, snakes, and jellyfish, though. What I like about the northern climates is that there's not much of nature that can kill you other than the cold itself and the occasional giant bear, wolves, or mountain lion, but usually one can see them coming and guard against it. There aren't any bullet ants or so many microscopic killers.

New Zealand sounds good too, but hard to immigrate too I imagine.

I'm interested to visit Hawaii sometime though. Not so much to do the normal tourist things, but to read about it's history and see volcanoes and see dudes surf really huge waves. I've also decided that I want to get into bodysurfing. I just don't have the access to proper waves to practice much. I got a handplane and flippers, though.

[Lang Spoon]

Great surf on the West coasts of Ireland and Scotland, HP. Fucking freezing water but.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah, that sounds good. I wouldn't mind getting a wetsuit and I suspect it keeps the crowds down.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

If it was good enough for Barry Manilow...

It killed scott joplin. Payment in kind frequently involves syphillis.

[Lang Spoon]

Fuckin buzzkill man.

[hallicks]

I suppose Britain's daunting cost of living is less of an obstacle if you're moving from California.

My USA rent equated to 36% of my net salary. Back in the UK, despite taking a 30% salary cut, my new rent only amounted to 25%.

"Only 25%". FFS.

I found adjusting to life back in the UK initially challenging. I missed the adrenalin of my job, I missed the climate, lifestyle, my work friends. I hated smoky pubs (this was 1997 remember). But mostly I resented my wife for failing to give the USA a better shot.

I feel an obvious observation looming (but when has that ever stopped me?). Moving a few thousand miles generally doesn't fix any negatives in one's life. They get shipped, along with your pots and pans.

Over the years I've had a few trips back to the west coast and though there are things I still miss, the place has lost some of its sheen.

Many years ago TEV and I exchanged top tens of "Things I miss from my homeland". The only one of TEV's I remember was "American supermarkets dedicating an entire aisle to ice cream".

And the secret to a happy life is who you spend it with, of course. I've been at my happiest in grotty places like Stoke, Rochdale and now Swansea. Though I have to say, West Wales is pretty bloody excellent.

So good luck, Hallicks. I was massively disappointed to leave the SF Bay Area but in hindsight l wouldn't undo it for the world.

Thanks for sharing that. I definitely have/had some of the spousal resentment, for the exact same reason. But eventually I was forced to ask myself the question, "How would YOU have a fucking social life and get all integrated when you're at home raising two children?" And then realise that the timings of our being here and subsequent decision to have kids early on have made this almost inevitable. I had just convinced myself everything would settle down, she'd stop missing home and we'd be here forever. If we'd been able to delay the decision for another 2 years, I think maybe we would have got to that point, but with the visa running out, we had to decide whether to go for a green card or not so we couldn't put it off any longer.

I am trying to focus on the positives. Yes, I'll have to commute into London every day. BUT, it means I'll read loads of books again. Yes, there's a danger of running into relatives with whom I am no longer on speaking terms. BUT, I'm far more likely to run into close friends. Far less chance of dying in a gun incident or an earthquake. Access to keen, free babysitter grandparents. Watching MOTD without a VPN. Back bacon. And ultimately, happy wife, happy life. Until she starts missing proper Mexican food and then we're fucked.