Hi everyone, bit of an imposter here (I’m an Aussie, but I have an English partner) - wanting to see if any couples where one partner is English and one is Australian have navigated similar issues/decisions.
A little over 4 years I moved to London from Sydney, met my now long term partner and generally had a good life and felt quite settled. Just before the pandemic hit, we were living in my partner’s home in Hertfordshire and whilst it had a lot of pros in terms of the areas surrounding and had easy connections to London where we worked, I felt quite isolated and the specific area we were in wasn’t entirely safe. We decided to buy together elsewhere in England and so he put his property up for sale.
About a week later, lockdown hit and there was no interest in his property as it was a one bedroom without a garden.
So we were then stuck in that place throughout lockdown and were isolated/far from family and friends, and unable to proceed with buying somewhere new because his house wasn’t selling. Simultaneously, I was in a job that was becoming increasingly more toxic, but that I couldn’t change as my visa in the UK was tied to it. I also received all sorts of good and bad news from back home (unexpected deaths, pregnancies, weddings) but because of the pandemic/Aus flight caps, I couldn’t go home for any of it.
I was pretty down and so towards the end of 2020, we discussed the idea of moving to Sydney (my home city) and we both convinced ourselves it was a great idea and that at least that way we’ll have each lived in each other’s countries before making a permanent decision about where to live.
If I’m being honest, I thought Sydney would be the winner, but having now been back here for 6 months, I think we’ve made the wrong decision.
I prefer the UK for so many reasons, and my partner - despite trying his best to stay upbeat and make Sydney work for me - feels the same way.
I’d move back in a heartbeat but my family and friends who I’m very close to are all here so I feel a lot of guilt. I also then see forums like this where a lot of people move back to the UK to be back closer with family, particularly for support with kids.
Sorry for the long winded background, but I suppose I’m interested to see how couples have made a decision where you have sets of families in both countries and where you’ve ultimately chosen the country that has less of a support network, but has other pros - eg you feel more “alive” or more “you” there. Or just any other perspectives where a mixed Aus/English couple have opted for the UK having tried out Aus.
Thanks