Making your life in another country..

Did you ever think of emigrating when you were young?

My hubby's brother & wife emigrated to Canada & we did consider joining them but in the end decided against it.

It was such an opportunity to change ones life wasn't it? - the £10 passage - Unbelievable now.

We know quite a few people who went and settled for ever.
My brother in law & his family came back after 5 years because a baby came along - his wife got homesick wanting baby to know her grandparents ... It can't be easy starting a new life away from all your family. It was so different back then in the 60's - people didn't just fly over for visits as they do now.

Were you ever tempted to emigrate?

Re: Making your life in another country..

No not one bit I was too attached to my family I would have withered away not seeing them. Quite a few of our friends went but they all came back after a few years.

Re: Making your life in another country..

Yes I was tempted to go to Canada or if I had plenty of money, to settle in Southern Ireland, but like Gabi, attached to my family in my case foolish ...
Ah well .........

Re: Making your life in another country..

I was offered jobs in South Africa, Italy and Mexico and my husband a prestigious position in Oman but I was never tempted to go.

Now I am too old to contemplate moving very far at all

Re: Making your life in another country..

I did go abroad to work when it was the 60's Worked in Holland for
over a year and in Spain for 5 months.
My want was always to travel but my love of my Mum dragged me back
to Leeds. Then with children in tow it wasn't practical.
My eldest son has emigrated to France so not too far. I go over regular
so its not like he went to Australia.
My Dad wanted to take us all to Australia in the 1950's for £10 each. No mention about how you found money for food for about 6 weeks on the boat. My Mum didn't have any gypsy in her like myself and my Dad. So it would have been interesting to find out what my life might had been if I had gone aged 10 to Oz.

Re: Making your life in another country..

I considered going to austrailia on a 10£ trip,that was before i got married i was about 17,i wanted to make a life away from my family but wasnt sure i could make it by myself,.I never told them my thoughts two years later i made that break,.but stayed in england .

DB my son decided he would live in SPAIN AT THE AGE OF 17/18 i guess it runs in the blood. Daughter went and settled on IOM when she was in her twenties.

Re: Making your life in another country..

I've lived abroad for over half my life and never have felt any yearning to come back and live in the UK.

We emigrated to South Africa in 1975 after my husband was offered a job there. In 1980, having just got divorced I briefly came back to the UK but then lived in Spain for the next 5 years before returning to South Africa where I worked until the year 2001 when I went to live on a small French island in the Indian Ocean where my younger son owned a hotel. In 2007 when I retired I came to live in Hungary which is where I'll stay for the rest of my life.

I should add that I come from a family that has always travelled. I have relations in the States, Australia, South Africa and France all of whom emigrated from the UK.

Re: Making your life in another country..

Did I think of it? You bet I did. as soon as I finished my traineeship with the GPO at the age of 19 I got all the forms for emigrating to the USA, Canada and Australia

The USA form was far too complex for a 19 year old to fathom, Canada was fine but you had to pay your full fare and it was bloody cold in winter, Australia did everything to get you to go especially if you were young and had a trade. So I paid my 10 pounds.

After my interview at Australia House I was told I could either fly out or go by ship but the ship would take about 6 months to come through whereas if I wanted to go by air it would take 3 weeks. With the impatience of youth I chose the latter - basically my parents got about four weeks notice before I was gone for 2 years!

I only wanted to go for the two year minimum as a sort of paid holiday in exotic places and much as I enjoyed those two years in 1968 I happily returned. to cut a long story short - I returned to Australia a few years later (1972) to make some money after spending 9 months in the Middle East and Asia.

The moment I stepped off the plane in Sydney I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was 'home' it was the most incredible feeling and most unexpected. I returned to the UK briefly to sort out my affairs (during the 3 day week) and have never looked back but I think it took living back in the UK in the late 60s to make me realise what a great place Australia really was.

Re: Making your life in another country..

Never been abroad, never wanted to, and always said i was happy to stay here in Northumberland. However given the chance i would leave the UK in a flash these days, Canada, or New Zealand would suit me fine as long as it was in the wilderness areas.

Re: Making your life in another country..

My first husband was given a post in South Africa, so we went in 1973.

I was there for four years and I'm still on contact with close friends there. I couldn't live there permanently now - I saw enough with the Soweto riots, the crime rate and apartheid to convince me that it would never be 'home'.

It's a beautiful country - but spoiled by the politics even now.