Why..............?

[Emmalee25]

Do we leave the UK??? As I am sat here in the middle of an E2 c*ck-up, ive been thinking....Why did we leave the UK??? haha, at the time we actually wrote a list, a list of pro's and cons for staying/leaving...at the time the pro's for leaving the UK far outweighed the cons, the cons mainly consisted of family and friends tbh!
I am interested as to why so many brits are desperate to become 'EX' pats? are we all feeling the same way about a sinking UK economy, no reward for hard work, taxes paying out benefits etc....or are there other reasons.....Just need to bring my 'Pro's' list back up......
Am worried that the Grass in the UK is looking quite green at the moment :(

Em x

[InnVic]

The problem is that the grass looks green in the UK to everyone on the planet - and if you're ex eastern block, new to the EU...come on in!
We were told by a good authority that over 650,000 polish immigrants have arrived in the UK since they joined the EU. Where we used to live in Cambridge there was an Asylum (read: economic migrants) centre. Parts of peterborough were no go areas with gangs of (Albanian?) eastern men who spoke no english but though western women were "easy" . Rape and mugging went up ten fold and the poilice could do little about it for fear of being labelled racist. At many schools English was the second language (as well as many of the hospitals!)........are we getting enough reasons yet??
How about 40% income tax, 10% national insurance 17.5% VAT. and then you still would probably pay for private healthcare and education as the state service is overused and underfunded (how does that happen??....are we getting close to convincing you now Emm. What about the weather then....thats a no brainer. Or the house prices - which makes owning a decent home outside the reaches of most young folk - unless they wish to spend their whole lives in debt.

We all know what its like going through this torture... but when your comes through you won't have to think WHYyou jumped ship.

[Kriz1]

We just came for work..if a job had turned up anywhere in the world we would of gone there...would of been happy to stay where we were...but the company was going under slow but sure...and there was no work in IT anywhere near where we lived...in fact not one of hubbys old work mates that we still know still has a job in IT...they drive trucks etc for a living...

[Kriz1]

My kids can't find a place to live on the Cape and they have to leave...its getting harder for young people in the US to buy a home...or even rent one...
I find little difference between the UK and the US...its down to where you pick to live...both countries have good and bad places to live....

[floridapete]

The problem is that the grass looks green in the UK to everyone on the planet - and if you're ex eastern block, new to the EU...come on in!
We were told by a good authority that over 650,000 polish immigrants have arrived in the UK since they joined the EU. Where we used to live in Cambridge there was an Asylum (read: economic migrants) centre. Parts of peterborough were no go areas with gangs of (Albanian?) eastern men who spoke no english but though western women were "easy" . Rape and mugging went up ten fold and the poilice could do little about it for fear of being labelled racist. At many schools English was the second language (as well as many of the hospitals!)........are we getting enough reasons yet??
How about 40% income tax, 10% national insurance 17.5% VAT. and then you still would probably pay for private healthcare and education as the state service is overused and underfunded (how does that happen??....are we getting close to convincing you now Emm. What about the weather then....thats a no brainer. Or the house prices - which makes owning a decent home outside the reaches of most young folk - unless they wish to spend their whole lives in debt.

We all know what its like going through this torture... but when your comes through you won't have to think WHYyou jumped ship.

But, just a minute, aren't you also 'economic migrants', immigrants seeking that 'better lifestyle' just like the Poles that you criticise ? What if your local neighbours, your small-town residents who may have been there for all of two generations since their own ancestors were economic migrants from Europe, Russia or the Mediterranean came to the USA who also came in search of a better lifestyle (except that they were probably fleeing war, political oppression or religious persecution) started on a witch hunt against 'all these Brits who are flocking in to our wonderful country, eating up our benefits, our excellent medical programmes and our better standard of living' ? Now you and I both know that is a crock...but maybe they don't ?

There may be things which are cheaper in the US - but there are also many things which are much more expensive too - take power/electricity for instance, bread, milk, biscuits etc. The weather is only 'better' depending on where you live and what time of year it is. Kriz and InnVic will get pretty damned cold winters - much colder than we get in England. Florida, on the other hand, gets hellish hot and sticky Summers much hotter than we get in England. This last week has been lovely here - the last week in September and we have had golden days, and we have had a very warm dry Summer too.

But you will never get everything, everywhere ! So you pays your money and takes your choice.

I think that Alan Oakley is just making himself feel better (about his decision to make the move) when he writes in another thread that 'everybody from Canada and Britain would just love to emigrate to America'. I was going to contest it there but I will do so here.

Alan believe me - they all wouldn't ! Not all of them - by a long stretch of imagination.

But I wish all those that do every success and I will try to help any of them that seek my advice and assistance, as two more did just this last week, to do so wisely and cautiously to avoid the sharks of the immigration business and to avoid them finding themselves in an E2 quandry with kids coming up 21yrs.

Then they too will add to the numbers of 'economic migrants' to the USA !

[Emmalee25]

Ah! but Pete, I think the difference is that we dont come to the USA from the UK looking for or expecting handouts!!! I think thats what Innvic meant! we come to the US to work hard, pay taxes and hopefully lead a better way of life!
Thanks Innvic, you have once again restored my faith in the jump across the atlantic! In Leeds its bad news regarding theft and rape, my friend is a police officer and a huge % of the crimes are actually commited by non-UK residents! I definiately wont be commiting crimes over here (knowingly) against the American Citizens!

Thanks
Em x

[Susie]

Hi

My hubby was a police officer in the UK and before joining the met was a special constable for five years

I was also a special constable for 5 years and during our time witnessed some horrific crimes including murder, rape, hit and runs

The three shift pattern changed to a five sift pattern. We saw less and less of each other and a week did not go by without my husband being assaulted in some way.

His life was the job and job was his life. His bosses could and would cancel leave without notice. I had to get permission for the comissioner to carry out my business even though it had been running for years.

The tax situation, lack of lifestyle and stress was mounting. Even though we commuted back and forth to the UK we saw more of each other and spent quality time together

I must admit, the lack of world wide news in the USA in someways is less depressing than in the UK

My husband made it clear to everyone that the US was his home and he had no intention of returning to the UK. Yes we work as hard if not harder than the UK but without the stress and more money in our pockets.

But more than mone than money, we are happy, just get down in the dumps with the immigration system and process and no regrets !

[Bobby]

But you will never get everything, everywhere ! So you pays your money and takes your choice.

I think that Alan Oakley is just making himself feel better (about his decision to make the move) when he writes in another thread that 'everybody from Canada and Britain would just love to emigrate to America'. I was going to contest it there but I will do so here.

Alan believe me - they all wouldn't ! Not all of them - by a long stretch of imagination.

But I wish all those that do every success and I will try to help any of them that seek my advice and assistance, as two more did just this last week, to do so wisely and cautiously to avoid the sharks of the immigration business and to avoid them finding themselves in an E2 quandry with kids coming up 21yrs.

Then they too will add to the numbers of 'economic migrants' to the USA !

******** buddy! .........and YOU know it. You would have been the first to emigrate here if it was possible for you and your family all of those years ago. You lost the dream, so please let others take it up, and stop beating the path of their dreams with sorrow because you couldn't do it.

Bobby

[floridapete]

******** buddy! .........and YOU know it. You would have been the first to emigrate here if it was possible for you and your family all of those years ago. You lost the dream, so please let others take it up, and stop beating the path of their dreams with sorrow because you couldn't do it.

Bobby

I thought that would rattle Bobby's cage ! I should have taken a bet on it! :)

For your benefit, Bobby, let me clear this up once and for all - yes, we did have some initial thoughts of possible emigration back in the early '90's but not 'at any price'. We looked at L1 and then at E2 and even H1b but none of them fitted our scenario as successful self-employed business people of many years standing with no employees and no wish to invest heavily in someone elses business or to employ US citizens to set up a mirror image of our own over there just to qualify.

So we didn't fit the boxes without making a lot of commitments and maybe - yes maybe - we didn't really WANT it badly enough. We were not ready to sell our souls just for a bit of sunshine and the tenuous perception of a 'better lifestyle' !

Family were never involved as our 'children' were into their thirties by then - in fact our son has emigrated to the US since then through his work and we now have two grandaughters over there and two other grandchildren with our daughter living in the next village to us here near York.

Our aspirations to emigration were a 'wouldn't it be wonderful if....' knee-jerk reaction to suddenly owning a home in the Sunshine State and the rose-tinted view of living and working in Florida that came with it for so many people of our era way back in 1989.

Eventually we decided to test the water before proceeding any further with it. We went to our place in Kissimmee for our first three month winter in 1994/95 and, by the magic of renting a computer, having a phone/fax machine, forwarded mail, redirected phone calls and a lot of ingenuity, I managed to keep our UK businesses running from 4,000 miles away by remote control - and nobody realised we were not back home in York U.K.

Meanwhile we started to look around the 'lifetstyle' in Central Florida. We joined a groups for British expats which met each month to share business tips and social things. (It only lasted a year as it was only being run by a couple from Manchester as a survival exercise for their own status benefit anyway). The more we looked around, the more we asked around, the more people we met in what would be our situation if we emigrated, the more we came to the decision that such a precarious existence was not for us.

Everyone we met in these circles seemed to be in some legal, immigration or family quandry. If it wasn't a constant concern for their legal immigration status it was they were doing legal battle with other people who were 'ripping them off' (usually fellow-Brits) in Central Florida, or they were heartbroken over the severing of families ties with dear ones they had left 4,000 miles away now unable to visit because they couldn't afford the cost of the flight home.

I remember one couple specifically telling us "you have it made - you can come and go between here and there every six months and have the best of both worlds, while we are stuck here. Why would you even want to emigrate ?"

So by the end of that first three months winter Jean and I had firmly decided that we already had built a better life in York, England, than we could possibly rebuild it in Orlando, Florida at our time of life (then mid-50's). So why take the risks of even trying and maybe losing it all before our old-age?

We got over it - right there and then ! And we have never looked back since !!

Three years later, after continuing to work our businesses towards our retirement, we started to winter in Florida again and the plan of 94/95 worked even better by '98 because we now had the internet and e-mail to make communications even easier. I continued to run the UK businesses from the kitchen table in Kissimmee every morning whilst enjoying the benefits of Florida winters every afternoon and evening. But I wasn't working 24/7/365 in order to do so. I was also earning UK pounds to spend as US dollars. And that makes a BIG difference doesn't it !

We have now spent five winters in Florida doing just this, and as time passed by it got even easier to move around the US whilst doing so over periods of three to five months per trip. We visit our family and grandchildren in California, friends in Texas, meet up with other friends in Ft. Lauderdale and we also spend time at a rented condo looking out over the ocean at Lovers Key, Ft. Myers Beach. At each stop I just 'plug in' to keep up with our business concerns back home in the UK.

I was standing in the kitchen in Kissimmee about four years ago when I suddenly decided "hell, I'm goin' to retire" - but that was only from the full-time business which we had started 28 years before and was still running successfully. I decided that I was now 'too old for that business which was now full of bright young things'. So I switched it off, stopped advertising, and a year later put it to bed with the vat man and the tax man. Since then I haven't given it a second thought !

But our other business interests, since 1990, have involved me in things Floridian on a day by day basis. So that keeps running - but on a part-time basis keeping me occupied in my semi-retirement. Hence I have the time to spend involved in things like this forum and Top Forums. I like to think that some people may still benefit from our own experiences and my knowledge of things Floridian (even if as a non-Expat). Some people seem do so to because I receive e-mails almost everyday from people seeking my advice on various things.

I have absolutely no regrets about not emigrating. We enjoy a great life here in a beautiful country, a historic City, the quiet 14th century village where we live. We have two grandkids just five minutes away in the next village who we see every week - and two more 6,000 miles away that we get to see once or twice a year but otherwise 'see' every Sunday at 6pm UK when we 'chat' through our computers and webcams. If we were in Florida we wouldn't get to see any of them because our daughter and family would never emigrate to join us - and our son who lives in California would NEVER want to live in Florida (Californians are funny like that).

We hope that, when you are all as old as Jean and Peter now are, you will have the enjoyment of life that we now do - free from the cares of immigration laws that may not allow you to retire there, free from the astounding costs of medical care and insurances there, the high costs of prescriptions medicines, concerns over retirement pensions and investments going nowhere and everything else.

So please, Bobby, leave off the 'sour grapes' that you keep trawling up as my reason for contributing to these threads in the objective way that I try to. There are NO sour grapes on my part - I got over it many years ago. Just because you may not agree with my views - DO try to discuss them in intelligent terms if you can, not just cast aspersions as you do !

Now I have shown you mine - how about showing us all yours ? Put up or shut up !!

I don't think that you have ever told everyone on here who you are, what you do and why you emigrated to Florida to do it ? So how about it ???

We're all ears, aren't we folks???? :) :)

[Kriz1]

I'd love to snowbird Pete..it is the best of both worlds...
We give up on moving to the USA very early on...we had no way to get here so why think about it ...we had great holidays all over the USA each year....and Christmas in Disney FL..

Hubby had looked at a job in CA mostly for the free trip over for a long weekend...but that was what lead to the job offer he took that got us here....if it meant to be it happens my nan always said...
I've never seen what you post as sour grapes...just things you learn if you spend any time in the US...

[JulieC]

Why did I come?? Already owned homes here that were in poor management and I hated leaving them and here every time we visited. Some uncertainty in my husbands work position provided a chink and we decided. You could get through in 5 weeks then so there wasnt the same amount of time to cointemplate. We had it hard when we first got here as the business we bought didnt pan out and had to really start something else from scratch which has done well though. I do like the life here and my son has always loved it but i hate all the immigration bull****. every day you hear of someone else going home or not being renewed and being sent home. Plus I now have a child aging out. To anyone thinking of coming out to live, I would say think hard particularly if you have teenage kids and are on a non immigrant visa. And be aware how expensive it is to live here. not at all like you find it on holiday, as things like insurances and property taxes are a killer. And so are the hot steamy summers when you are working. But the winters are a joy. Havent had to scrape the ice of a windscreen or had a bad cold in nearly four years. And sitting outside having a meal in November when everyone in the UK is cooped up by the fire is what it is all about. Having said that if I could afford to just winter over lile Floridapete does, I may be tempted!!

[JulieC]

Why did I come?? Already owned homes here that were in poor management and I hated leaving them and here every time we visited. Some uncertainty in my husbands work position provided a chink and we decided. You could get through in 5 weeks then so there wasnt the same amount of time to cointemplate. We had it hard when we first got here as the business we bought didnt pan out and had to really start something else from scratch which has done well though. I do like the life here and my son has always loved it but i hate all the immigration bull****. every day you hear of someone else going home or not being renewed and being sent home. Plus I now have a child aging out. To anyone thinking of coming out to live, I would say think hard particularly if you have teenage kids and are on a non immigrant visa. And be aware how expensive it is to live here. not at all like you find it on holiday, as things like insurances and property taxes are a killer. And so are the hot steamy summers when you are working. But the winters are a joy. Havent had to scrape the ice off a windscreen or had a bad cold in nearly four years. And sitting outside having a meal in November when everyone in the UK is cooped up by the fire is what it is all about. Having said that if I could afford to just winter over lile Floridapete does, I may be tempted!!

[Bobby]

Good for you Peter. You just confirmed what we already knew.

As a group I seem to be the only one with the balls to ask Peter the question each time, although many people contact me privately questioning the intentions.

I am not going to spend too long on this, as I am sure many people over the years have fallen out with Mr Stanhope. I am just next in line.
I'm not here to bash someone in public forum either. Far from it. I would like to get on with everyone, but for some reason this Floridapete name crops up and seems to bash everyone with a Florida dream. It gets old.

You have now cleared up the fact that if had you filled the criteria for immigration back then, it may have been different. That's fine.

I think you have a lot of knowledge and experience to offer the folks of the forum, I just don't understand why you do! Well, in fact, I do, and I find it strange to say the least.

Thank you for sharing your story, which allows people to look at your posts more objectively, rather than "who is this bloke over in York, who keeps criticising Florida and the immigration dreams of the forum members?"
I commend you for your post..... as for sharing my life story with everyone, I don't find it relevant to bare your soul to get a point across. Those who have met me or I have had correspondence with privately, know my story, and anyone with a brain can work out from my posts and immigration story exactly who I am and how I came here. It's right there in the text. I'm not hiding anything.

I wish you good luck in York, Mr Stanhope.

Bobby

[Susie]

Well said Peter and Bobby

Good posts and nice to see that a discussion can take place in a civil manor

The US is not for everyone, like Peter says in his view of the down side. But once you have #the bug # unless you try to live your dream you will never know if you have made the right choice.

Some settle very quickly and yet some never quite settle at all which is why we decided to give it three years to see if we wished to pursue. Within two years my husband knew he made the right choice

It must be hard though for Peter and Jean to have children and grandchildren living so far away.

Do you have a web cam Peter ? so you can see and speak with your grandchildren and watch them grow

[floridapete]

Well, that's the delight of having grandkids, Susie !

We have two here in York so we get to see them every week - Lucy (4) comes to spend time with Jean every Thursday afternoon (girls things) and Daniel (nearly 8) comes to me every Saturday morning to do guys things (gardening, fixing, mending, anything that involves historic York and doing things with my computers).

Then most Sundays at between 6pm and 8pm UK (depending on their schedule in CA) we have a telechat through Yahoo and Skype with Isabel (4) and Alex(andra) now 8 - our two little "Miss Americas" - through our computers and webcams. They often want to show us their dolls, and last night Alex wanted to show us her new inline skates received for her birthday last week.

They will be coming over to see us for real in November and then they get to play with their cousins, Lucy and Daniel, all at our house - it can get to be hell ! :)

[Susie]

Hi Peter

Awe how sweet

Bet you cannot wait to see them in the flesh? As a matter of interest how did your family manage to Live the dream?

Hope you do not think I am being nosey, just wondered how they settled and would they go back to the UK?

[Sharon]

Hi

There comes a time when you look at your current lifestyle and ask yourselves questions like, where you started out, what you are doing now and where you would like to go forward. What sort of future will your children have if you stay in your home country and what may become of them if you move abroad


In other words, in a rut, hopeing for changes for the better and maybe to escape from whatever situation your are currently in. The fact you are in a very different country makes the family pull together as a unit and work together to achieve new goals in life

[Sharon]

Hi

There comes a time when you look at your current lifestyle and ask yourselves questions like, where you started out, what you are doing now and where you would like to go forward. What sort of future will your children have if you stay in your home country and what may become of them if you move abroad


In other words, in a rut, hopeing for changes for the better and maybe to escape from whatever situation your are currently in. The fact you are in a very different country makes the family pull together as a unit and work together to achieve new goals in life

[Sharon]

Hi

There comes a time when you look at your current lifestyle and ask yourselves questions like, where you started out, what you are doing now and where you would like to go forward. What sort of future will your children have if you stay in your home country and what may become of them if you move abroad


In other words, in a rut, hopeing for changes for the better and maybe to escape from whatever situation your are currently in. The fact you are in a very different country makes the family pull together as a unit and work together to achieve new goals in life

[mandybenn]

Hi Em

I'm from Bradford, your friendly neighbour and we are just beginning our application for an L1 (have a son 18yrs so need to apply for green card asap). I agree with what you are saying as well as others. I am fully aware that we will become immigrants in the USA, however America is made up of people from all over the world and seem to hold far less prejudice. Our Schools are suffering from a mass of children who do not speak English (asylum seekers) and this is holding back our over populated and under funded education system.

My son has just returned from Camp America working with ADHD children, he worked near New York for 4 months. He wants to return to the States asap as he has felt threatened by people walking the streets here (he say's). I'm sure York and places near the Lakes are wonderful but who can afford to live there? If we sell our home in Bradford we can buy 2 in Florida and keep our Villa in Kissimmee (not that we are buying 2). We are used to paying the Property tax and it costs no more than our Council tax in the UK.

I also pay private healthcare in the UK as our hospitals are bulging at the seems and my mum waited for a gall stone operation for 18 months, to the point where she had lost 2 stone from not being able to eat (she's fit and well now by the way).

I know the USA have their own problems and having had a villa for 3 yrs and visiting 4 times a year I can see good and bad. The biggest thing I can see is better weather for all concerned and a healthier lifestyle for us and our children. If all fails you can always go back!!

I know 'the Snow Birds' are lucky to be able to split their time across 2 or more continents, however with the ever diminishing pension system this looks hardly likely for the likes of us and our children.

The biggest issue is the Immigration process and the stress of being accepted. I'm sure this makes many people angry but when I tell people how hard it is, they wish we (in the UK) had as tougher system in place.

I wish you all Good Luck! with both renewals and new apps' but if we fail maybe it's meant to be.

Mandy

[Emmalee25]

Hi Mandy.
I know Bradford well, had a few drunken nights at Millionaires :p My home is Pudsey so am slap in the middle of Leeds and Bradford. What business are you hoping to come across with on your L1 (god i am sooo nosey) I did a similar thing to your son when i was younger, i did the au pair in america thing and stayed in NC for a year, I loved the way of life then and still do, I just wish hard working, tax paying people werent being so penilised (sp)

Hope you have good luck mandy

Em x

[mandybenn]

Hi Em

I worked in Pudsey at the Abbey for 2 yrs, not much going on!

We're buying a Lawn Co' (one of the Property Management links that they don't like). We're wanting a business which needs little outlay and has current employees so that my husband can branch out using his Plumbing skills. We have found just that! with a good geographical area too, we just need to keep our fingers crossed. What are you looking to do? and where are you looking to live? (I too am nosey!!).

I think the reason we want to relocate, is to have the best of both worlds! a new life and experience (good weather is a big help) and still have a 'home' to go to if things don't work out. My husband has a concern about the word 'home', doe's that mean we shouldn't move? I think, when you speak to people who have moved around in the UK, they still use the term 'home' as 'where there parent's live'.

Good luck to you also and any other who is going through the dreaded red tape.

Mandy x

[Ron]

Hi Mandy

What a good post.

The reason you wish to move is very interesting especially about the problems your children face in school.

Nobody likes rejection and can understand the stress people face during the waiting time to be process.

Will we get it, wont we get it goes through your mind endlessly. As you say if it is mean't to be you end up in the USA then you will.


The road is long and hard so you have to be very sure it is want your all really want and try to keep your chin up along the way


Your correct about your son as he is in danger of aging out if you do not move fast. I think you have to have been in the USA for at least one year before you can apply to adjust status.

I am not sure about this, do you know ?
Hope all goes well

[mandybenn]

Hi Ron

Yes you have 1 / 2yr under the L1 in which you can then begin your Green Card app (this can take a long time to finalise) however as long as we have the application in place our son will not have to leave. It is more complicated doing the L1 as we have to keep our business in the UK for approx 2 yrs but it means we can go for the Green Card, where as the E2 is a continuous renewal and never changes (unless the powers that be review it)

We shall see how things go, fingers X

Mandy x

[Emmalee25]

Mandy,
What a small world hey, we have already closed on our business, its a scarpbook store, its currently being run by staff although I am in the US overlooking the running of it (so to speak) am meeting with my VA tommorow regarding this blasted 221g. We have a house in davenport, FL. If you want any more info or just to 'chat' then please email or pm me as I am afraid of Big Brother :notworthy:

Em x x

[Wendy]

here goes on the pros and cons list emmerlee, - from a Leeds Lass
house prices
petrol prices
taxes
crime
politics
education

unfortunatly the negative list can apply to either place, the thing is to know where your heart is. even if the practical problems are huge, where are you happy, where are you glad to wake up in the morning, where is home? The grass is always greener, we all have rose coloured(? -do we spell USA or UK?)glassess but some of us are just born to be explorers, adventures, risk takers and game winners. If you are then go with the ride, you'll be glad you did.

[mandybenn]

Hi Emm

It would be great if you could give me your email. What is a Scarpbook Store? I've never heard of it and I would like to be a customer if I knew what it was (I gather you sell books?). I also believe that it is important to live in a 'real' residential area to feel part of the whole Florida lifestyle. Our Villa is next to Formosa Grdns just off the 192, so not a good place to live. We have thought of renting but Schools are also important and so we need to settle somewhere for a few years. We have looked at Clermont, Dr Philips and Wndermere. The last two seem to be very isolated (no actual 'hub'), Clermont is nice as everything seems to surround Lakes and there is a small town centre.
You live in Davenport! how do you find things there?

Do we need to start a new thread? Where should we live in Central Florida?

Mandy x

[pegasus]

Good idea "Where to live"
We have been ex-pats for the past twenty or so years, only the past 11 being in the USA.
As a general comment
when we started in the ex-pat game my company at the time 3M gave us a few words of wisdom that must have paid off, because if truth were told I don't think we have been to a bad country.
1) Do not live in an ex-pat community or ghetto, Find an area where there are only locals, You will integrate much faster and enjoy the posting more.
2) Do not join ex-pat groups or societies from your home country. Join local social / sports clubs, again you will integrate quicker. (for us it was easy as Rugby Union is played in almost all countries,)
3) Do not live in a tourist area / short term rental area (the residents are on holiday you are not). Move to a residential area, again helps integration.

and finally the most important one

4) If you are a miserable person with few friends in your home country, you will be in the new country.

Given it is a long time ago when we started we have tried to follow this advice and have had great experiences over the years

B rgds

Neil

[InnVic]

4) If you are a miserable person with few friends in your home country, you will be in the new country.

[/QUOTE]

Not true... we are miserable people and had few friends in the UK but the Americans seem to find us amusing :-) (joke!)

[floridarulz]

I know why my fam moved, because we like not having to lock our doors when we leave the house and not having to worry that our car will be stolen in the time it takes us to buy a loaf of bread.

[v2002]

:p :p Aint that simple enough ? We are generous to share.....

Americans IMPORT every thing :) including brains....... and BOY we have that in abundunce :D