Thread: Where to go what to do?

Hi,

I’d like to introduce myself and hope this forum will help me get some real opinions from real people on long awaited questions!

I have previously lived in Spain for 3 years and loved being an expat(although in Spain 'expat' conjures images of 60+'s sitting in bars for 20 odd years, not speaking a word of Spanish or only Spanglish and moaning about the locals!) I can proudly say I was none of the above! i had to move back because work ran out.

Recently married it is mine and my husband’s dream to travel before having kids and then settle abroad. After experiencing the joys of not living in London and realizing there's quality of life outside the Rat race and miserable day to day slog i think i will find it hard to ever settle here for life, luckily for me i married someone with the same dreams.

Now here's my dilemma, after considering moving back to Spain two years ago we decided to wait 6 months and then the recession hit, luckily for us it was a close escape as work there is hard enough to find without struggling with a recession and most of my family and friends have had to move back.

Although i loved my time in Spain, i know hot weather and a relaxed atmosphere does not solve all problems and things are just as hard when you have no money in another country as they are in the UK.(even though beach days are free, no good if you can't afford suntan lotion!)

So here's the thing, I’d love suggestions on places to live that will provide quality of life, will be easy enough to find work (I’m training as a councillor and currently work in property management and my husband works in IT) and will enable us to raise kids with the ease and stress free moments that no longer seem to exist in London.
We are realistic so I’d like to know the problems and down side too, for eg in Spain it took about a year at least to sort all paperwork and necessary documents, and everywhere you went for help you got a different answer, the second year was then spent really settling in, work was difficult to come by and as the coastal towns were small, gossip was rife. The only work really available was bar work, cleaning/villa maintenance or estate agency and for any other work you understandably had to compete with the unemployed Spanish, of which numbers were high. Despite this the good still outweighed the bad but having someone inform us of these down sides before we moved would have saved a lot of time and issues.

We have narrowed down our dream destinations to Australia, USA and Canada. i personally would like to move to an English speaking country as this tends to leave one less challenge. I do speak Spanish though and know this could be useful especially in America. We're open to suggestions.

Sorry to make first post so long, I did say I had loads of questions!! x

Hi whysettleforless

Welcome to the boards of britsabroad.

For information on emigrating to the USA, and the various problems involved in getting here, check through the Brits in America section. You'll find loads of useful scenario's and information and maybe you'll see something there what will echo your own situation.
If not, then just post your particular questions in there with the relevant information on your situation, and I suspect that me and a few others here will probably shove our tuppence worth your direction. :)

I can't comment on Canada or Australia, but I'm sure plenty of others will if you were eventually to post in those sections too.

All the best, and good luck with your move.

Hi,

Thanks for your advice i will definately give that a try! :)

I notice you're in Florida. That was one place we had looked at, how long have you been there (if you don't mind me asking) and how have you found it? x