Life's crossroad

Victoria - You've nearly twisted my arm. I've wanted to leave this awful place for a long time, but can't convince the wife. One of the things that really makes me want to go now that I have a young son is that in Britain we have this culture that kids are automatically evil, and parents are automatically the prime suspect if a kid gets a bruise having fallen off their skateboard (which they shouldn't have been on in the first place because fun is illegal).

 

Clueless1. Although t'other half is American, I didn't think he'd ever 'sell up' in the UK ... it was easier to get him to leave America. :cnfs: Having been here for a few years, he decided he knew where he wanted to be.

We are not your typical 'expats'. We have English friends here but we live in a community of five houses and we are the only foreigners. The others don't speak English so learning Portuguese was of vital importance. Our friends do not live in 'expat' communities either. We also have many Portuguese friends/acquaintences having been coming here since 1983 who speak English so it's sometimes funny when they are speaking to us in English and us to them in Portuguese. :hehe:

We don't have children, but we love the way children are truly a part of the family life in most Med countries and welcomed in all establishments, including bars. :gnthb: Children seem generally 'calmer' here and have respect for their parents/elders ... that's not to say that occasionally you don't see one being spoken to in a stern voice or getting a clip around the ear.

 

If I was to persuade the wife to uproot, I'd do as you have and try to integrate into the community. When we go on our holidays, although we do use package deals because they are cheap, and thus end up in places where there is at least one 'English pub' (usually called the Red Lion for originality), we tend to just use it as a base for exploration, and for meals and drinks out we always try to seek out the places the locals use. We find it more relaxing that way. We always try to follow the local customs and coutesies, although we often get it slightly wrong, but most seem to appreciate the fact that at least we tried.

If we were to uproot and move, we would find a place that is both away from the main ex-pat neighbourhoods, and not purpose built to tempt Brits abroad.

I'd love to do it. The wife says that we wouldn't be able to see our family and friends as often. I counter that by saying that if we had our own pad in the med, our family and friends would be bugging us all the time to let them come over for a free holiday, and even if they didn't, most of the Med countries this side of Africa are only a couple of hours flight away.

 

Thankyou all for your replys, lots of good advice there. When we visited Adelaide in March we had our visa stamped which means we have 5 years to move out there,lots to think about.
I could get a dog now and when I'm ready to go take him with me

 

Do you know if the Aussie immigration authorities will allow a dog into the country? They're pretty strict about plants and seeds, because of contamination of native species, far, far more than Europe, so a dog might be out of the question. Do some research first please! It would be heartbreaking to not be able to go because of that and you couldn't leave him behind.

 

yes you can take them with you, but they have to go in to quarantine for 30 days