So, I am moving back to the States
 

After very nearly 16 years in the UK (I will be exactly two months away from that anniversary), I have decided to move back to the States. I will be moving to the San Francisco Bay area of California and I will be making that move on March 12.

My job is staying the same apart from working on a different time zone.

I am excited, nervous and so much more all rolled into one but mostly excited.

Of course, being me, I have already registered the domain for the blog I will be writing about adjusting back to American life after all these years.

Good luck Sarah, I don't think you'll find it as hard as you think. Living in Scotland all my life till I was 25 then 3 different places in the last 2.5 years, I have adjusted to each place pretty well.

/me queues them from Welcome Back Kotter :)

Ha...and soon I will be around people that get that culture reference. Every time I have made a Kotter reference over here I get met with blank looks.

"raises beer."

Welcome back to the US Sarah, I am sure you will adjust back to the red white and blue pretty quickly :)

Welcome Back to the States:thumbsup

Very cool, welcome back!

Congrats on your move.

I was going to return to the states myself, but unfortunately, deportation causes certain limitations...

lol - there's still Guantanamo if you need a holiday resort

What prompted the move back?

Congrats on the moves. Cant wait to see the blog

Life changes combined with having two new nephews in the space of 20 months and ageing parents. I still can't bring myself to live on the same coast as them but the same continent makes dealing with emergencies slightly easier. I have had two grandparents die in the last few years and each time I was the cause of delays to funerals. So, time to come home. Of course, being me, I had to find the most liberal place I could. Plus, I have a ton of close friends there already.

Cool, Sarah! Just yesterday I was wondering why I hadnt seen a post or thread from you in quite some time it seemed.

What about health insurance?

yeah, my wife and I have talked about moving out of Country as well. With her and my parents both getting older I'm guessing if we did make the move it would be temporary at best. Not sure we want to go through the hassle of moving, then 5-10 years down the road we have to pack up and come back...

California welcomes your return

LOL, Don't you only save 4-5 hours by being in San Francisco vs London?


.

Researched and ready to go. That is going to be a real cultural shift for me.

welcome back :thumbsup

Pretty much but it is cheaper and my mom likes being in the mental space where one of us *could* drive to each other if we had to do it.

have a good journey back

Goog luck on that

Yay! LMK where you are in the Bay, we'll have to get together --

Alameda :) My house is right across from the yacht club too. I believe they have involvement with the America's Cup shortly.

I got that about six years ago. I am very glad I did and I will always consider the UK partially 'home'. I will be back often. After all, I have spent just under half of my life here and my entire adult life.

Welcome back.

Congratulations with 16 years of living in the United Kingdom. You are moving back to the United States. United States is not part of the Commonwealth.

Did you know... Commonwealth writers' prize announces regional winners to compete for £10,000 prize.

What happened? Got dumped?

Hope it goes well and you don't have any pre-conditions.

My relative has who is older(50s) has dual citizenship and goes back to her country for medical needs about 3 times a year.

welcome back :)

Best of luck with the transition back to 'that' way of life:winkwink:

Just out of curiosity, how does this kind of turmoil affect pension benefits? None of us are getting any younger and I know that the bullshit thing called the EU purports to allow "transition of pension contributions from member state to member state" but in reality, that's bullshit - 10 years of contribs in the UK == 3 years contribs in France. So how does the moving back to the US affect you in that area?

I know most UK have private pensions, and US too, but are they flexible like that or will you end up with 20GBP here and 20USD there per month etc when the time comes....

welcome back :thumbsup

Well, you'll love it here in SF!

Wow that will be a big transition. I have only been gone 8 years and I barely imagine moving back to the States...... not because I don't love the place...... just because it is so different from what I have become used to. Anyway best of luck with the move. :)

alameda is a long way from san francisco.


(j/k sarah) :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

he says that but what he isn't saying is he still wears a kilt daily...

makes for a frosty winter!

Two taps in bathroom.

Welcome (back) to the neighborhood girlfriend! :)



ADG

Guess I will see you more often now. Coolio.

I know I will :) I have been there several times over the past year and each time I didn't want to leave.

I know :) I have already sussed several paths to downtown SF from the house. Personally, the ferry right across is pretty neat and it means I don't have to go to Oakland for the BART.

have gay ole time :)

there's an outside bar/restaurant at that alameda ferry landing that's a total blast!

Good tip...I will have to check it out.

One of my favorite Tiki Bar Lounges is in Alameda:

Forbidden Island

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/imager...ood-island.JPG

Lemme know if you want to go sometime...the first Mai Tai is on me! :)

ADG

You will miss the Curry's ?

Good luck on the move back to your home country. I know you are leaving for other reasons but the way the UK is going atm I think a lot more people are gonna start to leave the UK

I've driven by that place several times. Maybe worth having a Bay Area webmaster meetup sometime?