Seatle to Tampa to Huntingdon

Hey everybody! My name is Rachael, and I am a born and raised Washingtonian. This past summer, I moved to Tampa to pursue my career as a government contractor, and I've been miserable. I'm not one for constant sunshine and hot humidity. I miss the cool mornings and the sound of the rain, and my scarves and boots! As such, I began to look into transferring to the DC area, when a friend of mine said, Rachael, you've always been obsessed with European culture, why don't you go live in it!? Within a week I'd renewed my close to expiration date passport and applied for every job I could. I'm in the application process and have a 90% chance of getting the job. I'd be moving to Cambridgeshire, probably staying in Huntingdon at first as it is near RAF Molesworth where I'd be working, and seems to be the cheapest option until I find the perfect small town to settle in. I'm single, and I'll be traveling with just myself and my small dog, Dobby, so I can easily pick up and move from town to town.

While out of my mind with excitement, I'm also pretty nervous about all of this! I've never lived more than 20 minutes away from a family member, and we are all VERY close. I have siblings 20 years younger than me who could hardly stand the cross country distance, nor I, and now I'll be practically on the other side of the world!

Looking forward to learning some things from my fellow expats.
Rachael

I'm from Clearwater and while I thought I was done with florida, I would kill to go back!   

Clearwater is beautiful, I'll give you that! I've only been in FL for 6 months, but I've been coming for years as I have family here and my Reserve unit is out of MacDill. Being from Seattle, it's hard to adjust to the constant sunshine. I also miss hills and mountains and the like.

When did you move to the UK and why?

Yeah, I've heard people from Seattle adjust much better to lie in the UK.  I lived in Colorado for 4 years before moving to the UK.  I would move back to Colorado in a heartbeat.  4 proper seasons, year round outdoor activities, good food and good people.  Doesn't get much better than that.

I came to the UK for work.  Was my stepping stone to a job in China which is what I really wanted.  But life had other plans and I've married a local and stayed.  Two weeks from today I'll be on my flight to Tampa for a visit and it can't come soon enough!  Ready for a break.