Thought I'd share our story of moving out to Australia and then coming back again just because I know that 2and a half years ago I was scanning this site desperately looking for positive stories while agonising over whether we were doing the right thing.
My husband's company offered us the chance to relocate to Sydney for a couple of years on a 457 visa. At the time our daughter was 13 and we had a lot of concerns about disrupting her education, especially as we knew she'd be nearly 16 when we came back home and we weren't at all sure how that would work with GCSE's.
Anyway, long story short, we took a deep breath and made the leap, and ended up spending 2 amazing years in Sydney. Our daughter settled really fast, and loved her new school, blossoming socially and emotionally in a way that made us realise that actually she had been pretty miserable in her old school. I can safely say that the move was an incredibly positive experience for all of us. Yes we had homesick moments, especially early on, but we really did find it a great place to live. There is also somthing very liberating about being given the chance to step out of your normal life for an extended period of time that gives you the freedom to do things differently and re-evaluate lots of things I found.
When our 2 years was coming to an end we then had the dilemma of whether to stay longer- our daughter in particular was very settled and I had a lot of worries about how she'd fit back into the UK education system and how she would react to leaving all her friends. I also had no job to come back to.
We did come back in August, and it was a bit strange at first. Our house had been rented out and for a while it didn't feel like our home anymore, (although once the furniture arrived it was better). Our daughter started a new school (restarting y10 ) and has loved it, and is just as happy as she was in Sydney.We thought she might be behind in some subjects but this hasn't been the case. She spends a fair amount of time on Skype talking to her Aussie friends, and one has just been to visit us. The main benefits for her have very much been an increase in confidence from knowing that she can cope with and adapt to change, and a knowledge that there's a big wide world out there waiting to be discovered.
My husband's career has benefited from the experience too- he has come back to a promotion and a much better role. I registered with an agency while I looked for work and had plenty of casual work, and will start a permanent job in January. I read a lot about how hard it was to find work and was really worried about it but I found loads of things to apply for.
So for those not sure about whether it's the right thing or not, I'd say if you don't try you'll never know, and for us at least both going and coming back have been positive and life affirming experiences. I do miss the beach and the sunshine though!