kimkev

I completely agree with you on the moving of families as it is very expensive and shouldn't be undertaken without a lot of thought and planning, I would hope people do meticulously plan, especially if there are children involved. We may not have moved if we had children due to cost and also job security. It is also the hardest thing I have ever done and I do get the 'I want to go home feeling' every now and then, I imagine even harder with a family in tow and that lack of support network! My folks moved here in the 70's (for $20) and went home 4 years later (for about $6000) an expense some people forget about and don't plan for (the journey back if needed). Regarding the 'What if'. I was brought up on the philosophy 'if you don't give it a go you will never know' but obviously you have also have to be realistic. That doesn't involve bankrupting yourself or making life harder, also doesn't mean you don't plan and turn opportunities down if they're not right for you. But I can see that some people have that attitude to a move here and fail to plan and see the bigger picture. We probably wouldn't have said 'what if' if we couldn't have afforded to do it, we would have stayed in the UK and found a different challenge. Hope you enjoy retirement (when you get there that is) and hope it doesn't get too costly for you. Something I think we need to make sure we plan for.

We moved to Oz 9 months ago to an inland city called Toowoomba in Queensland near Brisbane (never heard of it but I got an amazing job there). It is different, sleepy and a little like being in the UK in the 60's where shops close at 12 on a Saturday. However I kinda like it, we get time to walk through the park (instead of shopping), drive down to the beach (even if it is 3hrs away) as the weather is pretty good most of the time and we are less stressed and out of the rat race (although if you moved to Sydney etc I am sure the rat race would be very much the same). We came here with the theory, if we don't like it, we go home but we didn't want to wake up when we were 50 and wonder 'what if'. I do get very homesick sometimes though and that is something that you will have to deal with, I have travelled a lot but never been homesick before (not pleasant) but we have an amazing supportive family back in the UK. Everyone is different though and we may stay, we may not, who knows but I would never regret giving it a go, no matter how hard it was and how much it cost, as life is short and the world has shrunk with cheaper flights and Skype. Good luck and at the end of the day, do what is right for you :-)