Quality of life for kids

[bristolman]

9 hours ago, ali said:

My daughter went to Europe for her 21st birthday, whilst I agree it's cheaper, not everyone wants to 'do Europe' .. from what I see, a lot (not all) of people use the cheapness for boozy weekends away

I think the 'boozy weekends away' was a bit of an 80s and 90s thing really. 

[RMG]

Lake Garda is fab, take mountain bikes, lots of cycling, canoeing, windsurfing and climbing  plus gelato shops and relaxation. 

I travelled extensively in the UK as a child as part of a mountaineering club, learning to ski in Scotland, Ice climbing and walking in Scotland ,LKC you have chosen a beautiful place to live.

I only went abroad at 21 and have travelled extensively since it’s a wonderful world with lots of diversity , enjoy.

 

[LKC]

1 hour ago, simmo said:

nowt wrong with the Costa del sol!!

Seriously though Spain is a stunning country and there is so much more than Fuengirola and torremolinos.  Just a few miles inland you have stunning unspoilt national parks, lakes, mountains and pains.  An hour from marbs you have the stunning Tariffa.

It has a lot to offer. 

I know, I was being facetious!  I've been to Barcelona, albeit very briefly, and really enjoyed my time there.  I quite fancy Granada, it looks really interesting.  I did Spanish for a short time at school, although these days I think I would only be able to ask my way to the town hall!

[LKC]

1 hour ago, bunbury61 said:

??...god bless you LKC .....can I recommend lake garda ? for your trip ....beautiful scenery , food , weather ....you can even get to Venice by train from garda

Lake Garda is on my (very long) list!  Looks beautiful!  I think this time we might go to Kefalonia.

[bunbury61]

1 hour ago, Toots said:

Italy would be my top choice in Europe - haven't been for about 10 years now though.  I also like Germany especially the areas around Munich.  Bamberg is a beautiful town in that region.

Meanwhile I am very content here in Tassie.  

yes toots ....munich is a lovely place , ....lucerne in Switzerland is stunning ....as is Innsbruck .....Italy , my favourite though ...has it all

[bristolman]

Getting back to the topic, after 180 replies the answer is still that there is no difference, one place is not magically better for kids than the other. Ours thrived in Australia and they are thriving here. 

[LKC]

4 hours ago, bristolman said:

Because it doesn't work out for some doesn't make them failures, it's a bit sad to refer to them in that way. 

I know, it's just that this is how most other people (who haven't returned) seem to see it, as do people who have never tried migrating at all (a couple of family members/friends have said this to me, despite themselves having never moved from the part of the city they were born in).  I don't think that anyone who returns has failed.  You can't see what is going to happen in the future and how circumstances will change.  Failure is not giving it a go in the first place.

[bristolman]

50 minutes ago, LKC said:

I know, it's just that this is how most other people (who haven't returned) seem to see it, as do people who have never tried migrating at all (a couple of family members/friends have said this to me, despite themselves having never moved from the part of the city they were born in).  I don't think that anyone who returns has failed.  You can't see what is going to happen in the future and how circumstances will change.  Failure is not giving it a go in the first place.

Yes I totally agree, to be fair I have only ever seen a few on here refer to returnees as failures. It's a very odd comment as people return for all sorts of reasons, rarely if ever because they have 'failed'. 

[Saurer Pfirsich]

On 3/8/2018 at 05:48, simmo said:

Its funny, I remember telling friends and fam we were moving to australia and it was all best wishes, good lucks and general good will.  Then when telling friends and colleagues I was moving back  it was like I had just curled one out on their living room floor!  They seemed to take it personally.  I never said (out loud) anything negative about the place or that the place didn't really seem to stimulate me but I would still get looks of disbelief.. like "what do you mean you don't want to live in Australia!!".

weird...   

Sorry, still getting used to the response function. When I pressed the 'Laugh out loud' icon it was because the highlighted part of your post had me chuckling! Have experienced similar responses in my time here!

[Saurer Pfirsich]

45 minutes ago, bristolman said:

Yes I totally agree, to be fair I have only ever seen a few on here refer to returnees as failures. It's a very odd comment as people return for all sorts of reasons, rarely if ever because they have 'failed'. 

I really do feel that that's a rotten phrase to throw at people and I don't understand why people use it. It seems terribly unfair to me. In truth, by the standards of the people who use it I'm probably a 'failed migrant' too as I don't have any Australian friends, struggle with hot weather and am planning to return to the UK upon retirement. That's despite the fact that we've had a happy 10 year stint here and we're not planning to go home until the kids have flown the coup and the inlaws have joined St Peter's Bridge Team! 

Edited March 9, 2018 by Saurer Pfirsich

[bristolman]

5 minutes ago, Saurer Pfirsich said:

I really do feel that that's a rotten phrase to throw at people and I don't understand why people use it. It seems terribly unfair to me. In truth, by the standards of the people who use it I'm probably a 'failed migrant' too as I don't have any Australian friends, struggle with hot weather and am planning to return to the UK upon retirement. That's despite the fact that we've had a happy 10 year stint here and we're not planning to go home until the kids have flown the coup and the inlaws have joined St Peter's Bridge Team! 

Yeah I know exactly why they use the phrase to be honest and it speaks volumes about those people. It's not something I hear often anymore, more often than not it's an attempt to be personal. 

[Saurer Pfirsich]

1 hour ago, LKC said:

I know, it's just that this is how most other people (who haven't returned) seem to see it, as do people who have never tried migrating at all (a couple of family members/friends have said this to me, despite themselves having never moved from the part of the city they were born in).  I don't think that anyone who returns has failed.  You can't see what is going to happen in the future and how circumstances will change.  Failure is not giving it a go in the first place.

Beautifully put. Life is about experiences, and moving countries provides plenty of those, the good, the bad, and everything in between really. By trying it, you enriched your lives as a family, and in fairness, not many people can make that boast. And, your new adventure sounds just as exciting as what went before, so I read your posts with more than a hint of envy! Good luck for the future. 

[ali]

6 hours ago, bristolman said:

I think the 'boozy weekends away' was a bit of an 80s and 90s thing really. 

I don't know .. i'm still seeing it on social media with people slightly older than my daughter.

[bristolman]

2 minutes ago, ali said:

I don't know .. i'm still seeing it on social media with people slightly older than my daughter.

Of course there will be those who go there for that reason, there will always be that element. The same as Aussies to Bali or Americans to...wherever Americans go lol

[ali]

9 hours ago, bunbury61 said:

mine certainly DONT use it for boozy weekends away though .

iam just saying , in my humble opinion ,oz is great for young children , but lacks when they get older .

take my children , they are the youngest of the grandchildren , as the others are in oz .

they have lost out materially ...houses etc , but have gained emotionally ...grandparents etc .

but they have done substantially more in terms of travel and experience ,compared to their cousins at the same age .

so much more .

we have another European trip coming I the summer .

if my youngest , just 18 , called it a day now ,her travel c.v would be impressive

I did say . not all (for the boozy weekends)

Can only speak of my own children and those of friends .. who haven't found Aus lacking as they've got older (my  two are well travelled and maybe that makes a difference???) .. My two have actually travelled more world wide from Aus than they did from the UK.

My youngest is also 18 .. his travel CV is mostly the US, Singapore and Europe and a recent visit to the UK for the first time in 11 years,  my eldest 23 has travelled Europe independently (from Aus), USA 3 times, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain, France, Italy.. to be honest, my children are more well travelled than some people I know in the UK and Aus .. so being in a certain country doesn't limit you specifically to where you can travel. Granted some places will be cheaper/more expensive the nearer/further away that you are  

[ali]

4 minutes ago, bristolman said:

Of course there will be those who go there for that reason, there will always be that element. The same as Aussies to Bali or Americans to...wherever Americans go lol

Americans I think tend to go to Mexico (booze related holidays .. according to my American friend).

[bristolman]

12 minutes ago, ali said:

Americans I think tend to go to Mexico (booze related holidays .. according to my American friend).

Bugger, I was going to say Mexico lol

[simmo]

3 hours ago, ali said:

I did say . not all (for the boozy weekends)

Can only speak of my own children and those of friends .. who haven't found Aus lacking as they've got older (my  two are well travelled and maybe that makes a difference???) .. My two have actually travelled more world wide from Aus than they did from the UK.

My youngest is also 18 .. his travel CV is mostly the US, Singapore and Europe and a recent visit to the UK for the first time in 11 years,  my eldest 23 has travelled Europe independently (from Aus), USA 3 times, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain, France, Italy.. to be honest, my children are more well travelled than some people I know in the UK and Aus .. so being in a certain country doesn't limit you specifically to where you can travel. Granted some places will be cheaper/more expensive the nearer/further away that you are  

ok..... you win 

[Toots]

12 hours ago, ali said:

Americans I think tend to go to Mexico (booze related holidays .. according to my American friend).

Cancun springs to mind.  My eldest went to a friend's wedding there.  He said it is seething with tourists from the US but he also said apart from that it was very nice.

[simmo]

3 hours ago, Toots said:

Cancun springs to mind.  My eldest went to a friend's wedding there.  He said it is seething with tourists from the US but he also said apart from that it was very nice.

I went to Fort Lauderdale when i was 19 years old, it was during spring break.  I thought I died and went to heaven.  We where competing with a group of US navy lads (there aircraft carrier was in town) for notches on bedposts.  Their tactic was to invite the girls for a tour around their aircraft carrier but  we only had to speak and the accent would make the girls putty in our hands.

 

Happy Days!!

[Toots]

36 minutes ago, simmo said:

I went to Fort Lauderdale when i was 19 years old, it was during spring break.  I thought I died and went to heaven.  We where competing with a group of US navy lads (there aircraft carrier was in town) for notches on bedposts.  Their tactic was to invite the girls for a tour around their aircraft carrier but  we only had to speak and the accent would make the girls putty in our hands.

 

Happy Days!!

Happy days indeed.

[Martinbjulieb]

On 08/03/2018 at 17:02, Ferrets said:

As they have dual citizenship hasn't that horse already bolted to an extent in that they could all move back here as soon as legally entitled?

I appreciate that you need to do what's right but trying to avoid getting "stuck" when the kids have the passport anyway doesn't seem a good reason to me; quality of family life, happy family etc. yes, but not parent concern about where grandchildren may be born 

This was our worry, the way we looked at it was if the kids decide to go back to Australia when they are older, so be it, but at least we are in the place we want to be right now and we have a choices. We couldn’t bear the thought of getting old(er) in Australia and then one day our kids saying oh by the way we are going to go back to England! Then we would have been stuck there. Our opinion only, our decision for what was right for us. 

[Martinbjulieb]

On 08/03/2018 at 17:10, Ferrets said:

Out of curiosity why does Perth seem to drive the most negative reactions from those leaving to return to the UK?

I get Melbourne and Sydney where people have come on an adventure rather than permanently migrate, but there seems a real bitterness about Perth where people have moved with families - and a lot of comments that simply don't match with my experiences since we arrived in Brisbane (though we are still two year noobs)

What's the reason?  And why do so many move to Perth in the first place?

 

For us it was the isolation of Perth. Yes, I know it is the most isolated capital city in the world but until you have lived there you don’t really understand that. Unless you want to travel to Bali (we didn’t) or Singapore you really are looking at having to travel over east first to connect a flight to other destinations. As for driving, you can drive for hours and not see much except bushland so that’s not exactly a good way to travel either! As for the drivers, simply don’t get me started on that! ?

Don’t get me wrong Perth is a beautiful city and so clean but there is only a certain amount of things to do. It was great when our kids were younger, so many parks etc but as they got older we were all very bored. I was looking through photos of when we first got to Perth in August 2007 and realised that by March of the following year we had pretty much visited every place in Perth that we would ever visit. Consequently later photos are in the same places but with us being older!! 

Edited March 10, 2018 by Martinbjulieb

[bristolman]

3 minutes ago, Martinbjulieb said:

This was our worry, the way we looked at it was if the kids decide to go back to Australia when they are older, so be it, but at least we are in the place we want to be right now and we have a choices. We couldn’t bear the thought of getting old(er) in Australia and then one day our kids saying oh by the way we are going to go back to England! Then we would have been stuck there. Our opinion only, our decision for what was right for us. 

In the unlikely event our kids want to move back to Australia it will be their decision and it's great that they have the choice. 

[Martinbjulieb]

22 hours ago, bristolman said:

Yes I totally agree, to be fair I have only ever seen a few on here refer to returnees as failures. It's a very odd comment as people return for all sorts of reasons, rarely if ever because they have 'failed'. 

This is probably the reason we didn’t return earlier (4 years earlier!) I always thought that people would have thought we had failed and given up on something some people dream about, but until you have walked in someone’s shoes it is better not to judge.?