"I could never go back to the US"...why not?

I'm one of those people who thinks I'll probably live here for life.  Definitely for a long time.  My DH is the only child of his two parents, so we'll stick around London at least that long.  We might then try moving somewhere else...but who knows.  I have a job I love, some good friends and I love the fact that I can play field hockey and cricket here.  I love living in London and we own our own house here. 

If I did move to the States, it probably would be somewhere new as I work in private schools and would have to go where a job existed for me...could be anywhere in the US (except South I think as I'm in a multicultural relationship and wouldn't feel comfy there).  Funnily enough, my DH LOVES my hometown in NEPA, which I never though would happen.

So we consider ourselves lucky that we can be together and we live in a country that gives us other opportunities for a great life.  And it makes for a fun story to tell strangers! 

My BIL is an engineer and worked for a defense contractor and he had to apply to leave on a visit to the UK. They made him tell them where he was going in the UK and who he was going to visit or contact??? What a country

I read this thread and felt a lot of admiration for those who have made the UK "home".  Mrs. Robinson...  you are my hero!   

Me...  I'm at the end of a 6 week trip home to the Pacific Northwest and I'm already crying about leaving again.  I was 50 when I moved to England, maybe that was a bit too old for such a huge change.      It's true that there are lots of things about the UK that I love and will miss someday, but there are so many things that I miss more when I'm there.  The county fair & rodeo, the drive-in movie, family picnics, church potlucks, country music, baseball, football, the pumpkin patch, Thanksgiving, Christmas parades, snow on the mountains, ........ 
Mostly I miss my beautiful grandchildren.  (Number four was born 3 weeks ago.)  I miss my big, loud, crazy but loving family.  Those I can't replace or replicate in England and that's the very hardest thing for me. 
Yes, I detest all politics in the US.  Luckily I'm from a blue state which suits my 'bleeding heart'.   

I have such tremendous respect for all of you who have embraced the UK with your whole heart.  I wish I could've been a little more like you.  But it was always our plan to settle in the US so I guess my 'whole heart' couldn't do it.  I wish all the very best to those who did.   

I'm staying put. I do miss a few things about the US. Mostly food items. In-N-Out and Taco Bell and a few other places. But overall, there's probably a lot more that I don't miss. I wasn't especially close to my family and found them emotionally draining so the distance is probably better for my relationship with them. Also, I refuse to deal with US health care and health insurance and so does my husband. I don't even particularly feel like visiting, to be honest.

I'm staying put. I do miss a few things about the US. Mostly food items. In-N-Out and Taco Bell and a few other places. But overall, there's probably a lot more that I don't miss. I wasn't especially close to my family and found them emotionally draining so the distance is probably better for my relationship with them. Also, I refuse to deal with US health care and health insurance and so does my husband. I don't even particularly feel like visiting, to be honest.

In the mail yesterday we got a statement from the insurance company that showed the hospital bill for the one day my wife was in hospital to have her defibrillator replaced. For the 24 hours it cost $20,000. My DW said she understood why poor people or people without insurance had to just die as the alternative. Thats kind of grim.
Then there is the UK system were the doctors in a lot of cases never went to medical school . Just joking.

In the mail yesterday we got a statement from the insurance company that showed the hospital bill for the one day my wife was in hospital to have her defibrillator replaced. For the 24 hours it cost $20,000. My DW said she understood why poor people or people without insurance had to just die as the alternative. Thats kind of grim.
Then there is the UK system were the doctors in a lot of cases never went to medical school . Just joking.

I had insurance and had knee surgery plus quite a lot of physical therapy....I still had to pay over £10,000 toward it as my insurance wasn't great.  It took me years and years to pay it off.  I've not had to pay for hardly a thing here on the NSH.  I reallly, really appreciate this.

In the mail yesterday we got a statement from the insurance company that showed the hospital bill for the one day my wife was in hospital to have her defibrillator replaced. For the 24 hours it cost $200,000. My DW said she understood why poor people or people without insurance had to just die as the alternative. Thats kind of grim.
Then there is the UK system were the doctors in a lot of cases never went to medical school . Just joking.

I had insurance and had knee surgery plus quite a lot of physical therapy....I still had to pay over £10,000 toward it as my insurance wasn't great.  It took me years and years to pay it off.  I've not had to pay for hardly a thing here on the NSH.  I reallly, really appreciate this.

I misstated...The bill was $200,000 and she was out the next day. Fortunately we have Medicare and AARP supplemental insurance so they took care of everything.

Well I haven't moved yet
But I think, because I'm originally from Europe, that maybe it will not be as hard of a move as moving from my home country to America was.
However, I would have never left America to move back to the Czech Republic. I love Americans and I especially love New Yorkers. My family came from there with not much and made a life in America, which I suppose is what a lot of people on this forum have done (and what I'll do too). So once you're in a new place that you've grown to love and you feel established and feel you have built something, it would be hard to go back no matter how much you yearn for the place you were born and raised.

Sarah Palin, Tea baggers, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Bill O'Rielly, Sean Hannitty, Cadillac Escalades, I-95, Proposition 8....

(bows low) Thank you! Add Glenn Beck and pretty much the entirety of FOX "News" to that list of scary people.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the UK was that not once did anyone ask me " . .  and what church do you go to?" with that pointed 'I'm testing you' tone. We toured several gorgeous churches, and the clergy were totally into the architecture, history, and gardening instead of indulging in the politically heavy aggressive evangelism you can get cornered by here. I had a really great time talking with the priest on duty at St. Martin in the Bullring in Birmingham, and would like to go back and do a shoot with a better lighting rig.

i hate to break it to you, but churches in the UK can be quite evangelistic if you actually go to them and aren't touring. 

i hate to break it to you, but churches in the UK can be quite evangelistic if you actually go to them and aren't touring. 

...and don't get me started on the Mormon's coming to my front door!  But that happens in the US, too.

America, tear this abomination down!

i hate to break it to you, but churches in the UK can be quite evangelistic if you actually go to them and aren't touring. 

So can they anywhere, and if I go seek them out on on their own turf sans camera and guidebook, I'd expect it. But I gather that it's overall considered bad form to be extremely aggressive out in public, ie, following someone who is walking away from them in the street and continuing to shout Bible verses at the top of their lungs, or hassling you if they catch you in particular sections of book stores or health food shops, or blocking your path in a public parking lot to confront you about a bumper sticker or t-shirt they don't like. All of which happens over here, and not just in small towns. Some people feel it's their right to grill complete strangers to see if they're orthodox enough, and our current political clusterfrack isn't helping that.

So can they anywhere, and if I go seek them out on on their own turf sans camera and guidebook, I'd expect it. But I gather that it's overall considered bad form to be extremely aggressive out in public, ie, following someone who is walking away from them in the street and continuing to shout Bible verses at the top of their lungs, or hassling you if they catch you in particular sections of book stores or health food shops, or blocking your path in a public parking lot to confront you about a bumper sticker or t-shirt they don't like. All of which happens over here, and not just in small towns. Some people feel it's their right to grill complete strangers to see if they're orthodox enough, and our current political clusterfrack isn't helping that.

Nothing like this has ever happened to me in the US. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, or that it hasn't happened to you, but it is not the norm everywhere in the US. (Where I'm from - New York City - someone who did that would probably be considered a nutjob and people would point and laugh at them). You can't speak for the whole of the US, and you can't speak for the whole of the UK.