Talk pro and con about move to UK

My wife is dual US UK and we are seriously thinking of making the move. Anyone want to talk about the pros and cons of making the move?

She spent several months a year in UK as she grew up and we have been vacationing and visiting family since we married 15 years ago. We both love the country and the people. I just feels like a place we want to live...

We realize the taxes are higher than in the US. I guess this is a "con" against the move but it also seems like one is getting more for there tax dollar/pound in UK.

On the pro side for us is family / support network is already in place but we have that on both sides of the pond.

Just throwing this one up to see if anyone has any thoughts..

Thanks

I'll bite first..

I think the standard line is that it is hard to compare....areas in the UK are different, as are those in the US. So moving from, say, San Francisco to rural Wales....boy the houses will seem cheap! From Mississippi to London....opposite.

There are some comparison sites on cost of living...like this one:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+Kingdom

I don't know....probably OK for a quick peek. There are some seemingly strange things on that page....like the first one, Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant. You may have noticed that on one of your previous visits....it seems true. It gets me every time I dine out here.....to the point where I don't dine out much any more...I feel gouged.

You probably know all of this as you have been here so often.

Regarding the in-laws...I can't help think that it would be nice to have some sort of support. I read a lot on these boards about people feeling terribly isolated when they are here unsupported. Personally, I like an ocean between me and family/in-laws, but at times it sure would be nice to have someone...anyone...to help move a couch or something.

No one will be able to answer this, but the two of you!

Family support is huge, in my opinion.  I've had a child since moving here and while my inlaws are lovely people, they are not involved grandparents.  Fortunately we have now found a couple of babysitters and are able to occasionally go to dinner just the two of us.

As SoS says, it really depends on where you are moving from and where you are moving to.  I moved from Denver Colorado, was single, and making an excellent salary for the US.  Moved to the UK for work and while I thought I had a great salary in the US, I was eating into savings greatly my first year.  I moved to Wokingham, which is in the SouthEast.

Where we live, to get into a detached house (single family home) it will cost a minimum of £550k ($800k).  We are fortunate to be able to afford this and now have a detached home!  It is 1200 square feet.  Up North, this would buy a mansion from what I understand.

For most people, salaries will be substantially less in the UK and the cost will be substantially higher.  But there is more to life than "numbers".  My career has been very successful here (international finance).  My husband and I do very well salary wise and therefore we can afford a trip home to the US each year, as well as a summer holiday outside of the UK.  We eat out about once a month (two fold, it costs us about £70 to eat out.  And my husband grew up NEVER eating out, so it's a compromise with us).

I don't know if you have children but I'm nervous about how my daughter will do in the UK school system.  It is strictly exam based.  I worry that if she is not a good test taker that she may not succeed, whereas the US system is more "rounded" with tests, homework, assignments, reading, essays, projects, presentations, etc. 

I'm happy with my life here.  I was happy with my life in the US.  I think people think that my life is glamorous.  It's not.  It's the same life (work, bills, positives, negatives) that I lived in the US, just in a different location. 

Pro: you can travel cheaply and easily throughout Europe.  I take day trips to France.

Con:  a large part of what the British communicate  is all "nudge nudge, wink wink ". They talk in a secret code that on one level makes sense, but has many subtle layers of meaning that most likely will mean the exact opposite of what is said .  You can live here for 100 years and you will still be a foreigner who doesn't understand the code. 


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Is it really that cheap to travel to Europe though?  I have a hard time finding a hotel in a city center for less than £125/night, plus transport.  A weekend away for 2 of us always costs at least £500.

Of course a massive con is the weather.  But again, it depends where you are moving from.  If you are moving from a dreary climate, it won't seem bad.  But I only ever lived in Florida and Colorado.  I honestly never realised how much I would be affected by the grey drizzle that is frequently on display.  While I do not like hot weather (70's is my ideal), I do like sunny weather!

Is it really that cheap to travel to Europe though?  I have a hard time finding a hotel in a city center for less than £125/night, plus transport.  A weekend away for 2 of us always costs at least £500.

It can be if you catch offers through travel agents or airlines. DH and I got return flights plus 3 nights hotel stay in Vienna city centre for £340 for the both of us through British airways.


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But what does a flight from say Atlanta to Rome cost? And can you....or would you ever choose to, pop over from the States to Barcelona for two or three nights?

So while it isn't pocket change by any means to visit a Continental destination from the UK there is no real comparison to doing it from the US.

It's gloriously sunny in London today.  I can feel Spring just around the corner. 


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But what does a flight from say Atlanta to Rome cost? And can you....or would you ever choose to, pop over from the States to Barcelona for two or three nights?

So while it isn't pocket change by any means to visit a Continental destination from the UK there is no real comparison to doing it from the US.

Of course!

But the same can be said for being able to go to Chicago, NYC, New Orleans, Las Vegas, etc.  Things many British think is amazing!

The grass is always greener, you know?  I grew up with school trips to Sea World and Disney World.  My husband grew up with school trips to France and Germany.  I think his schools trips sound AMAZING.  He thinks they sucked and would have much rather have been in Orlando!

a large part of what the British communicate  is all "nudge nudge, wink wink ".

I was just reading about this a few weeks ago. Apparently there are things called "high context" and "low context" cultures. The higher the context, the fewer words used....a lot of stuff is hinted at, or sort of embedded. Think of the Gallic shrug....nothing is said, everything is said.

I think, though the article said that England is a low context culture, that it can have more stuff embedded than perhaps some Americans are used to. Or in different ways.

I must admit that today I had a lady say "Sorreeeee" in a way that seemed to mean a heck of a lot more than "Sorry".  I'm pretty sure it was "eff you".

The grass is always greener, you know? 

True. There was this intern kid at an office I worked at.....he came from a filthy rich family....but a likeable guy none-the-less.

I was going by his desk one day and he had a photo album out putting some new pics in. So I stopped and asked him about them. He excitedly showed me a bunch of Southeast Asia photos. Sweaty jungles and rivers and things.

But I flipped through and saw some taken in Paris. Loving Paris, I asked him about his visits there and he was very blasé...."Oh, thats' just Paris...". 

I've not found any 'cons' yet, but I have only been here for 30 years.  Maybe talk to me after I've been here a while.   

Pro: you can travel cheaply and easily throughout Europe.  I take day trips to France.

Con:  a large part of what the British communicate  is all "nudge nudge, wink wink ". They talk in a secret code that on one level makes sense, but has many subtle layers of meaning that most likely will mean the exact opposite of what is said .  You can live here for 100 years and you will still be a foreigner who doesn't understand the code. 


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Meh, not trying to toot my own horn, but I 'get it'. And, actually, thoroughly enjoy 'it'. So much so that I have trouble acclimating when i go back home. People back home remark on every last little thing to the point it seems juvenile. 'Look, the lights green now!'. It's not dumb, it's just the way it's done back home, but still, I do notice it when I go back home.

We hope the traveling to the continent would be a big plus.

We actually live in one of if not the most expensive places in the US. We are in Westchester county just north of NYC and the property taxes are OUTRAGEOUS. Is there a similar tax on property in the UK?

I terms of the weather, we get the worst of it all it seems. Can be 98 and humid in the summer and then snow 5 feet in the winter and be 20 below zero.
We feel like having weather that is not to the extremes would be great.

Ahh, that's good then as it will feel less expensive moving here.

One consideration is if you want to buy versus rent.  As neither of you will have UK credit, if you would need a mortgage it could take several years to build enough credit.  Of course a non issue if paying cash.

Property taxes are called council tax here.  Mine is £2500 a year (not London).  Most of the tax is paid at the time of purchase of the property.