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How often did you see family once immigrated?


L30GME

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I moved to WA to be with my parents and my only sibling, when my marriage disintegrated in UK.   My ex had no family, and I had no family left in UK either, so in effect I was joining the rest of my family.   Been here 29 years now and have only been back to UK 4 times, and one of those was a work trip.  I have no thoughts about going back again as the England I lived in is not the country it is today.   I have no family there and it is only friends I wish to see... but they come here frequently, and there is skype, facetime, whatsapp etc.

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17 hours ago, starlight7 said:

Every now and then I fancy going back there but then I think- nah, I wouldn't recognise it so why bother?  Having said that we are off for one week over there later this year but to Keswick where I have never been before.

Keswick is a lovely little town.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

I moved to the UK 12 years ago and absolutely fell in love with the country, the people and the climate, surprisingly enough. Over those 12 years I have managed to see one family member at least once a years - I tended to go back every 2-3 years and my parents and my sister would come over every 3-4 years.We skype and whatsapp through the week as well, something which wasn't really possible when I first moved over. 

But after 12 years the distance has become too much and I'm moving back to spend more time with my family and see what Australia is like now.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

We had regular visitors here.  I went back for 1 week for the first time in 2016 when my dad passed away.  My hubby and son did a football tour last year for 3 weeks (for my son's 18th birthday) and my daughter visited for 4 days on her way back from Europe.

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I don't want to go to London anymore now because it has changed so much, I don't know anyone there , they have all moved so I am only interested in pretty little villages etc  My daughter goes to London for work sometimes and she seems to like it but she is in the art set so I guess she gets chaperoned around and misses the funny bits.

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On 17/03/2019 at 21:07, L30GME said:

Today I have been thinking ‘if we make the move how often will I see my parents’ so I thought I’d come on here and see how often people saw their families once in Australia.

obviously everyone’s circumstances are different as some may not be close to parents so rarely see them but others may have close bonds with parents and see a few times a year maybe - again depending on money, work etc. 

I saw my Mum every year until she died.  She would come to Australia every 2nd year and I went back on the other year.  I  saved up my annual leave so I could go back for 6 weeks over Dec and Jan when my boys were on school summer holidays.  She came usually from November 'til March.

 

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We did use to go back every 12/18 months but we have baby #3 on the way so cost will become a factor in the future and our eldest daughter has started school so we’re more tied to school holidays. Plus my parents have now sold up in the UK and live permanently in France so we have nowhere to stay in the UK. For me, I don’t miss the UK and my parents visit us in Australia every year for 6 weeks - they’re retired - (plus my mum has come out to help when our children have been born each time - so this year my mum is out for six weeks in June/July and then both my parents are coming out for Christmas 😀) and we’re quite social media-happy so Skype/Facebook all the time. We’re planning on going back to Europe in July 2020 when bub #3 is still an infant but not sure how it will work visiting hubby’s family and our friends as we will have a full on tribe to accommodate. I find having to use up annual leave to visit the UK the most annoying thing as it means no holidays in Australia, or taking unpaid leave to have other holidays. And trips back to the UK are not holidays - it’s hard work dashing around trying to fit everyone in, especially when the people you are visiting are working so you’re tied to weekends or evenings. 

I think it depends on the type of person you are and your family/friends’ capacity/willingness regarding visits as to whether emigrating will work for you - I love my parents dearly but I’m v independent (as are they) and they are more than happy to visit regularly and to have us stay with them when we visit them (my dad especially gets cross if I don’t send pics/updates on our life at least every 48 hours!). And I have zero affinity for the UK, I love Australia (although I miss France heaps). 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 18/03/2019 at 11:02, Marisawright said:

The most successful migrants are people who are already used to coping without family support.

And / or don’t get on with their family lol, they probably have it easiest in terms of migrating, I have met poms here like that who have no reason to go back to the UK for that very reason. 

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4 hours ago, Red Rose said:

And / or don’t get on with their family lol, they probably have it easiest in terms of migrating, I have met poms here like that who have no reason to go back to the UK for that very reason. 

Or, get on pretty well but just not that close! We’ve always felt pretty secure and confident in our decision to move to Australia, we’ve never really felt the urge to go back for a visit and really because it wouldn’t be a holiday, every single living relative would be dragged out to meet us and us them, I know for a fact cousins who I barely recollect will be summoned and they will be literally as uninterested in me as I will be them. It is my mums nostalgia not mine, we prefer them to visit us because they do get a great holiday, we know if we went home it would be nothing like a holiday. However, I will say we are tempted to do a quick 48 hour hi and bye surprise and then chill in a few Greek islands, now that I do bloody miss!!! 

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8 hours ago, Phoenix16 said:

 we’ve never really felt the urge to go back for a visit and really because it wouldn’t be a holiday, every single living relative would be dragged out to meet us and us them, I know for a fact cousins who I barely recollect will be summoned and they will be literally as uninterested in me as I will be them. It is my mums nostalgia not mine

Snap!   When my parents were alive, that used to be me.  I saved up all my leave and went on a six-week holiday every two years.  It never felt like a holiday, it was just a succession of visits to relatives with endless cups of tea, telling the same stories again and again. After the first few times, I pretended to cut the holiday to five weeks.  In fact, I did take the extra week's leave but I spent that week on a beach somewhere in Europe, to have a real holiday to get over my fake holiday!

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2 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Snap!   When my parents were alive, that used to be me.  I saved up all my leave and went on a six-week holiday every two years.  It never felt like a holiday, it was just a succession of visits to relatives with endless cups of tea, telling the same stories again and again. After the first few times, I pretended to cut the holiday to five weeks.  In fact, I did take the extra week's leave but I spent that week on a beach somewhere in Europe, to have a real holiday to get over my fake holiday!

After trying all that visiting relatives palaver the first time I went back I put a stop to it.  Each time I went back after that if they wanted to see me and the boys they came to my Mum's house.  Apart from one cousin and an aunt and uncle who lived nearby, I wasn't close at all to all my other relatives and I was a bit like Amber Snowball - some of them I hardly knew.  They were scattered all over the place.  I was far fonder of very good friends and I did travel down to the north of England to see them and they would also come up to Scotland to visit us.  

 

Edited by Toots
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On 17/03/2019 at 20:07, L30GME said:

Today I have been thinking ‘if we make the move how often will I see my parents’ so I thought I’d come on here and see how often people saw their families once in Australia.

obviously everyone’s circumstances are different as some may not be close to parents so rarely see them but others may have close bonds with parents and see a few times a year maybe - again depending on money, work etc. 

We see family every couple of weeks.  My parents managed 9 months of all children / grandchildren being in Australia and followed us over 😉

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I have been here almost 10 years and have never been back. My mother has been out once 2 years ago. I have no plans to ever go back. I would rather spend my free time exploring Aus or other countries. Last year I went to South Korea and this year I plan to visit Japan for the second time.

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57 minutes ago, ajs604 said:

I have been here almost 10 years and have never been back. My mother has been out once 2 years ago. I have no plans to ever go back. I would rather spend my free time exploring Aus or other countries. Last year I went to South Korea and this year I plan to visit Japan for the second time.

A more intelligent use of your time and money 

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