Johnny Kash

Just about the half and half thing. That would be my dream lifestyle, but just doesnt seem to be practical. Would you have a property in each country? Where do you keep all your possessions? Car or cars to get around split over two hemispheres? Would you have to fill in two tax returns? Look if it can be done then great, I want to know and Im all over it like a cheap suit!

I have similar positive weegie memories late 90s early 00s. glasgow green, the tunnel, the arches etc. it was always seen as a better night out than the burgh for clubbing gigs and the like in those days. Taxis were dirt cheap compared to the capital. Also better for shopping for those who like their clobber. whilst I’m commenting from afar here in Oz it does seem that Edinburgh is starting to assert dominance as the eminent city in Scotland - busiest airport, will overtake glasgow to be Scotland biggest city in around 15 years or something ? We have friends here in Adelaide from Glasgow/ayrshire and they say it’s pretty depressing there now on visits home. as I’ve said before I never felt this on recent visits to Edinburgh - seemed to be doing fine from what I could see

Was always a bit grim up there in the winter. Mate of mine who ping ponged from Melbourne back to Aberdeen described the moment he realised his error, still makes me chuckle as I can relate having spent a few years up there in the North East. He was walking down Union Street in the winter, typical grey Aberdeen day in awful weather. In his lunch hour, has a nice suit on. He always had a bit of gallus swagger about him this boy, anyway out of nowhere some random Aberdonian jakey/Ned just comes right up to him and says 'who the f*ck you think YOU are'? . At this point he questions his decision to move back to this place When he told me I found it funny and tragic at the same time as it really just sums up the worst part of the Scottish/British pysche (Im Scottish btw and yes this can happen anywhere but you get the point).

Impractical for us now with a school age child. Although I did see a presenter from The Project (carrie bickmore?) went off to London for a few months with kids and I think enrolled them into school, no idea how they managed this or all of the other logistics involved. They wouldnt be your typical working family though. The main reason we did it once when we could was not so much for the endless summer (although that was a bonus and we caught a half decent UK summer in 2016), more to avoid the frustrations of having a rushed 3 or 4 weeks trying to see family and friends when back which makes it stressful and not enjoyable at times. It was quite a surreal feeling being back for a few months knowing it was temporary and we were heading back to Oz. Really glad we did it when we could though

As I said, the London of Scotland - partly what makes it great but you have to have the means to afford it. I was back in September. A lot of my old mates, those with young families have moved away to the borders/East Lothian/Fife. One is still in the city but renting, seemingly given up on buying for now. One is still in the Burgh itself (Corstorphine) with a 10 year old and has a great life - their son is doing snowboarding at Hillend/Scotland in the season, tennis, soccer, even surfing down at Dunbar - very active. They go kayaking, paddleboarding in Aviemore and go away a lot in Europe. Thats two parents working both with well paid jobs though. Comparing that quality of life to ours they do better with holidays, being able to go to Europe etc. and weekends away. Their house/garden is a bit cramped compared to what we have in Adelaide and thats the trade-off I guess. Locals have always moaned about tourists and the trams. Apart from the increased traffic the city was still as vibrant and fun as ever from what I could see

cant comment on the Weege but Ive been back to Edinburgh a few times over the last 10 years and its still a fantastic city. As vibrant and cosmopolitan as ever. Any Aussies over here who've been there either for holiday or longer term working have also spoken highly of it. Only negatives we noticed is how much busier its become in terms of traffic on the roads etc. and doesnt really seem to have the infrastructure to cope with it. Plus the ever climbing house prices, its become the London of Scotland in many ways - great place to live if you can afford it !

This would be my dream. Managed one year of doing it. Put all our Oz stuff into storage, quit our rental and headed back to UK for a summer. Back to Oz, Airbnb for couple of weeks then found another rental. It only happened due to the perfect storm of me having a contract job I wasnt bothered about in Oz, wife was on maternity leave so we could wangle it. If there a way you can do it, go for it I say. Best of both worlds. Although the logistics of accommodation, furniture etc is tricky unless youre seriously wealthy or a professional cricketer

We found you can fit more in than you first think. We had all the stuff laid out as MarisaWright suggested in the garage. When the guy from Sevenseas came round to do the assessment he said straightaway 'you'll fit that in no problem' and he was right, theyre the experts after all. I dug out this photo of a large from our move back to UK in 2018. Its actually better to have it as fully packed as possible for its journey over with less stuff moving around. From what youve said that will fit in no problem, depending how many boxes you have. Would highly recommend Sevenseas and the Movecube service as well. Get insurance through Letton Percival rather than Sevenseas though.

If you set this up before you leave the UK you may be able to apply for 'consent to let' and still pay normal premiums. I did this with Santander, although this was 9 years ago so things may have changed. Probably too late for the OP but may be worth looking into for those planning to come over.

For smaller amounts Sevenseas Movecubes are excellent and good value. You can fit a surprising amount in them as long as youre prepared to pack it yourself. Part/full containers - We shipped a larger amount moving mums stuff over here and used John Mason. Overall very good and reasonably priced, but a couple of breakages on the way over - most of the stuff was packed immaculately but bizarrely they hadnt packed two glass tv stands that well in the UK and they arrived smashed to bits. Dont go with shippers insurance, would recommend you use a specialist - highly recommend Letton Percival, they dealt with above claim efficiently and fairly Good luck !

I have used Wise over the last 4/5 years and will continue to use them. Last year I had a significant GBP amount from the proceeds of my mothers house sale. Thought I would try some of the Forex companies to see if they could match or beat Wise. Neither of them could come close, Im talking around $2 or $3k difference when it comes to the larger transfer amounts. I found this quite surprising for large chunks of money but there you go. Service and transfer times decent, you can also cancel 2 or 3 times and re-submit if the market moves in your favour (there is a limit on this and they'll temporarily freeze the transfer if you do it 3 times I think so beware of doing this multiple times ).

It was the general air of resignation when I went back that people would have to settle for that which hit me on that stint in the UK. I remember talking to one of the lads from Latvia about how he went living in Kendal. He likened it to a postcard of the Lake District - very nice to look at, but practically not much use to you - so behind the facade of stunning landscapes, if youre living in cramped accommodation, generally toiling for minimum wage with no great future ahead of you, youre always going to be on the outside looking in. And the stunning views dont really make up for that. It was a rare moment of eloquence in the warehouse :)

My son is only 7 so Ill come back and report in 20 years Seriously though, with the cost of housing in particular in both countries its never going to be easy. I remember buying my first flat in Edinburgh around 2000 and I sold my old VW Golf, that was my deposit. Those days are long gone. We did a 2 year stint back in the UK 5 years ago and were living in Kendal, town in the Lake District. I was working for minimum wage in a warehouse. Almost without exception the young adults in that place were still living with parents as there was no hope of them renting somewhere, and buying there was completely out of the question. They were hit with the double whammy of high house prices due to cashed up retirees wanting to live in the Lake District and a lack of well paid jobs. Apart from one or two in social housing there were some Eastern Europeans who crammed a load of themselves into a rental, and they were managing to send pounds back to their homeland with the intention of returning after a few years doing that. I would say the young adults here (Adelaide) are far more ambitious and they all seem to be looking to get onto the housing ladder than somewhere like Kendal, where a lot of people just seemed resigned to a life of drudgery. To be fair Im comparing people working at a minimum wage labouring job to those in a well paid public sector job so the comparison is probably skewed.

It used to be 30 Lavers, now 35 to get the maximum. UK Govt keep changing things! Theyre continually looking at raising the state pension age as well, I think the only reason they didnt at the last budget was due to the backlash from voters and probably looking at the French reaction. And we all know the UK loves a good riot I do think at some point in the future the UK state pension will be means tested, similar to here in Oz. Im happy to hedge my bets and as mentioned before, if you can snag Class II contributions its ridiculously good value for what you get in return, and even Class III worth considering depending on your circumstances. Personally I think its not a bad thing to have income coming in GBP and AUD when you reach the old gipper stage

I got approved for Class 2 contributions after working on a casual (contract) basis up until around 2 weeks before we headed out here I got another qualifying year for working up until early August of that year which I was quite surprised at given my relatively low earnings in the UK and only part way through the tax year. Im not sure what criteria HMRC use to determine the applications but as others have said, definitely worth applying as theyre great value if you do qualify. Im just leaving mine ticking over until I hit the 35 years although theres always the threat the UK govt will change things again!