Thread: UK living

Originally Posted by Disco Pom

BTW..Jon (ventureoverland)..I lived in Driffield during the mid 80's when I was posted to a nearby RAF base..excellent pubs..not far to crawl between them !..

No Way!! The older I get the more I realise that this is indeed a small world!

I bet you used to go out on a Thursday night - that was locally known as "squaddi night"!!!

RAF base just outside Driffield is now mothballed / disused. There are now a few more bars than back then! Indeed not so long ago I remember reading that Driffield has more pubs per square km than anywhere else in the UK! It may have changed again but either-way lots to choose from.

Back on the house price note, We have some friends that live about 10 - 15 minutes north east of Loch Ness / Inverness - Very nice area, but very expensive also... Ironically though, Scottish city prices are more sensible!

Originally Posted by camel_landy

Ali... The only reason most Brits do a high mileage by car is coz they're lazy fcukers and they're too stuck up their own @rses to use public transport!!!

/RANT OFF


M

Or you live outside the M25 and therefore there is no real public transport . A fact the Uk goverment forgets when charing more for the use of cars in the Uk
I used to live in southampton and any bus that take you where you want to go ,only comes along every half an hour. And then cost a fortune and takes ages and ages to get there. Then dropping you off in the wrong area so you have to walk across the center of town to get to where you want to go . And you wonder why people don't use it

rant off

OK here is my take on, if you want to move to UK for the experience fair enough, but if your doing it for the money, no way, unless you have a high powered job or you are being transfered with your company and they are paying your removal expenses and will help with the relocation costs.

To make money you need to live in or near London, that is where the money is in the NHS, but conversely thats where you will pay the most for your cost of living.

I have lived across the SE of England and completed various contracts around Europe between 95-2005 and have lived in Dubai since the start of 2006. We always keep an eye on Australia as well as we will move back home sooner or later, or more to the point when the right job turns up.

There is more to money than what it looks like on paper, in AUDs the salary you see in GBP might look almost double but in reality it is`nt. If you pay for your own removal and in most cases even with company support you will never normally save a cent for the first 12-24 months, it takes this long to set up in a new country re-buying all the things you used to own back home, you rarely down trade in vehicles etc it is normally an up-trade so all these cost hit the savings you thought you would make. In the UK things that are semi cheap in OZ like car insurance, rates etc cost a packet in the UK, super is much better in OZ, exchange rates are also a big issue and can effect when you move, move at the wrong time back to OZ as is the case now with the AUD being so strong it will also make a big dent in your savings, so take all these things into account before you make up your mnd. If you are doing it for the experience all of these factors are know where near as important.

When we moved to Dubai from the UK on paper the job offer I had looked very good, but the reality rarely lives up to the expectations. I recieved a good relocation package and with our previous experience we thought writting the first 12months off in relocation costs would cover it, wrong it ended up more like 24months, as we went from a situation of owning everything to all of a sudden having two car loans and borrowing other money to furnish your house etc. In my experience it does not pay to bring money from your home country to pay for these relocation costs it works out cheaper to borrow the money when you get there and leave your money from home invested, due to all the losses in exchange rates, fees etc, and at the moment credit overseas is cheaper than in OZ. So if you are doing it for money you need to be in it for the long run, not just a couple of years and hope to bring home a fortune.

I don`t know your personal situation but if your wife works will she be able to earn the same money in the UK, if she takes a pay cut as was our case when we moved to Dubai this comes off your pay rise. Exchange rates are another thing most people in OZ do not consider who have not lived OS before. Since I have started working in Dubai I have taken an approx 25% pay cut due to our currency being linked to the USD, when I started in Jan 06 the AUD/USD was approx 74c and is now approx 94c, which is a real kick in the guts as we still have to service our mortgages in the UK and in OZ, so when you couple a falling exchange rate with rising interest rates in the other countries your projected and actual savings can drop dramatically.

I am not say do not move, but if you do make sure you look at all angles and speak to as many people you can who have been there done that. A lot of people have made a fortune OS but a lot never save a cent, but probably had a great few years travelling around seeing new places.

Sorry to stray off course, but how can you edit a post, there seems to be no edit facitity for fixing typo`s etc.

As is the case in my previous post.

Inc deleted it a week or so back trying to fix some issue with the site and I'd reckon Cooma has got in the way of re-installing it

there's a couple of dodgy posts of mine floating around now......

Hi Yer Edd

Mate all I can say is you must have rocks in your head...that 130 of yours

must be driving you mad if you wanna go to the UK

I have just got back (yesterday) 6 weeks in the west Midlands its

bulls##t the cost of living is way more than here (but thats all relevant

if your earning pounds) the price of petrol isn't a bit more its rough-lee

double, its cold damp way to meny people, and there moveing closer to

George Orwells 1984 than any one would like to admit mate as you know

this was a trial run to see if I could live over there for an extended period

well there is no way I would...think long and hard Edd

Tony

Originally Posted by Panda

Hi Yer Edd

Mate all I can say is you must have rocks in your head...that 130 of yours

must be driving you mad if you wanna go to the UK

I have just got back (yesterday) 6 weeks in the west Midlands its

bulls##t the cost of living is way more than here (but thats all relevant

if your earning pounds) the price of petrol isn't a bit more its rough-lee

double, its cold damp way to meny people, and there moveing closer to

George Orwells 1984 than any one would like to admit mate as you know

this was a trial run to see if I could live over there for an extended period

well there is no way I would...think long and hard Edd

Tony

You don't sound like the real Panda.

Who are you?



Cheers
Simon

Thanks guys. I wasn't looking at it as a make big $$$ fast. Just I don't know how long I can cope with work and the game of we will break your spirit before you break ours. I lived in the UK as a kid and have family there so thought along the lines of we could do it for a few years and travel when not working. If things went well then we may stay longer.
On the super front I am in one of the best super scemes in Aus. I currently also have 5 months of annual leave and long service leave but no savings anymore.
There would be no removal assistance so I would have to sell anything not nailed down to fund the move. We planned to keep the house and rent over there.
I'm only just starting to look. First countrys to pop up were the UK and US. I know nothing on what the yanks are up to other than their equivelent to my work area was turned off last year after failing. The UK's equivelent was also turned off and they have pigybacked the NHS system so we are now the leaders in my field except for the civi sector.
I just want to find someone who is serious about doing it and not pretending they are.