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Just wondering really - did it work for you?
Moving to France next month. I hope so!
Yup. Sitting in Lausanne, switzerland waiting for the weekend to go skiing. Best thing I ever did.
Thinking about it in the next 1-2 years.
Doing a lot of reading.
Tim
Does goog know? And if not, do you think it's wise he finds out here?
Ha - been thinking a lot about the very same idea of late. Couldn't leave my daughter though.
Shame, that.
I'll just stick around and moan a lot instead.
Yup. It worked for nearly ten years, decided I'd had enough of it taking up my whole life, have just gone back to where I was originally.
Best thing I ever did, don't regret a thing.
Right now I am wondering getting a job related to my PhD back in the south of the UK. Or trying to find something that will pay the bills and keep my relationship going here in the south of France and ditch the last 9 years of my life. So I know it's a tough choice.
Nearly 2 years ago I left a safe job in the town I'd been in for all my 33 years-took a gamble on a job and moved 250 miles away to a place where I'd never been.
No regrets-worth it just for the scenery(mk to south wales)
ive done it a few times lol left the forces and started work in london and hated it so jacked and moved to belgium then one day got offered a job as a guide if i could start in 5 days time so packed up everything that would fit in my car gave the rest away and drove off. i then sacked that off to come back to the uk as i fancied the fire service i sometimes wonder why tho lol but ive some lovely kids so its not all bad 😉 you only live once so if you considering doing it just do it 😉 and good luck
(btw i was a few years at each place lol i didnt just jack after five mins)
The problem with these threads is that the people who have tried it, failed and are now lying in a filthy gutter in a foreign side street tend not to reply 🙂
Well, so far all the input is definitely making me more tempted! France or Switzerland would be awesome.
tree-magnet - MemberDoes goog know? And if not, do you think it's wise he finds out here?
Even I'm not THAT much of a dumbass! Course he knows, I'd not make any decision without his input. I've been uming and ahing about it for quite a while now.
Ha - been thinking a lot about the very same idea of late. Couldn't leave my daughter though.
Shame, that.
I'll just stick around and moan a lot instead.
Yeah, I'm doing the sticking around moaning about it thing now, but it's not doing me any good. Take this week - working Sunday evening, Monday working all day, up at 4 am Tuesday to drive to Dundee, Towed home at 4 am Wednesday (effectively making a 24 hour workday), up at 9 am Wednesday to sort Van, working wednesday evening, up early today to write urgent reports and now the boss wants me to spend several hours on public transport trying to get from the outskirts of brum early tomorrow to hereford. It's killing me.
I'd have walked out a long time ago but I need to make sure I have a secure home for my little dog. It's so difficult to rent anywhere with a pet.
littlegirlbunny - Member
Well, so far all the input is definitely making me more tempted! France or Switzerland would be awesome.tree-magnet - Member
Does goog know? And if not, do you think it's wise he finds out here?
Even I'm not THAT much of a dumbass! Course he knows, I'd not make any decision without his input. I've been uming and ahing about it for quite a while now.
That was meant in jest. 😳
tree-magnet - MemberThat was meant in jest.
To be fair, I am normally a dumbass so it was a fair question 😉
i was going to say with that sense of humour perhaps germany was an option 😉
yes yes i know stereotypes lol but i did live there for a good few years so i know 😉
I'd do it if there was enough equity in my house to buy a caravan 🙂
Yes - I have.
When I was 30 sold the house and set off to see the world. 2 yrs later started from scratch again in a new city.
I don't regret it at all.
LGB - you need to sort your boss out over those working hours - totally illegal and will damage you
LGB - you need to sort your boss out over those working hours - totally illegal and will damage you
They already have damaged me (hence the serious contemplation to sell up my tiny home in my dream location and walk). A few years ago we'd have busy weeks, and quiet weeks, and flexi-time really was that. Now I am always working, whether physically or thinking about it. I have to be available on the phone all day, so 'flexi-time' isn't really that anymore. It's got harder and harder to get time off and I don't get paid any more than I did three years ago, despite being the more qualified, more experienced and having a whole load more responsibility. It's a terrible state of affairs tbh, but, apparently I just need to MTFU and accept that the other staff are also under pressure, and I should be grateful to have a job considering the recent economic climate. We are apparently getting more staff, but I'm not holding my breath it'll relieve the pressure - because it seems that the construction industry just expects this kind of dedication to the job. The amount of families and relationships I hear about that have fallen apart because the contractors/consultancies demand so much from their staff is just sad. 😕
But to be fair I sort of came back to where I was before but with a better view/perspective (and a rather nice set of memories and friends).
Nothing lasts forever, time passes, one life, blah, blah. Do what makes you happy and the best thing about going back is that you tried. Everyone likes a tryer 🙂
We did it. Shipped out to Auckland (NZ). It didn't work out. We came back. Lost loads of money in the process and it has caused irredemable damage that won't get repaired.
Having said that, it clearly worked out for Mick the Fireman - he can't seem to communicate a single sentence without laughing out loud at some point during it (unless he's a gibbering nut and in which case, I apologise unreservedly).
Yep. At first it was great (for about 6 weeks) then it steadily went horribly wrong.
3 years later I did it all again and this time it was ace and now I'm in a ditch and couldn't be happier;0)
Yes. I was suffering a lot from stress and depression in 2002/2003. I sold my house, gave up a very well paid career in London, and went travelling for a year in 2004. I was very sick in India due to an allergic reaction to the malaria tablets I had been told to take, so had to come home after just a few months to recover. I then went to the US for a month and Peru for another month in October and November.
It took me quite a few months to get another job, which was not an ideal job and I was earning around half of what I had been in London. But I was up in Leeds which was very different to the London scene I had. I was then offered a 2 year secondment in Gibraltar which I took in order to give me time to work out what I wanted to do next.
Half way through, I discovered Schumacher College due to a documentary on BBC, and saw that they did an MSc in all the stuff I was interested in. So instead of taking up the offer to convert my secondment into a permanent job in Gibraltar, and despite having enjoying many months of riding with Roper, I decided to take another year off and do my MSc which I am half way through.
On my course I have met the very lovely and now Mrs Ralli, who had the very good sense and foresight to be born Brazilian. She is a director of a consultancy in Brazil, and so I will be moving to Brazil where I should be able to join her company doing much more constructive work for the environment and world community, which is what I had in mind when I left London in 2003, but didnt quite work out the first time around.
So yeah, I have had quite a few troubles along the way, at times got quite stressed and worried that my life wasn't going in the direction I really wanted it to, but things seem to be really going well for me. I guess you just have to really go with your heart and do what you feel is right for you, and if it doesn't work out, it is not the end of the world. Not everything in life always goes according to plan, but if you have a dream that will get you through the low points.
i am indeed a gibbering nut steve 😉
Barca2 if you don't mind me asking what went wrong in NZ? Have toyed with the idea myself a fair bit.
wah gwan
Definitely do it. Life's too short to be sitting in crap jobs worrying.
You are so dumped Goog
Take this week - working Sunday evening, Monday working all day, up at 4 am Tuesday to drive to Dundee, Towed home at 4 am Wednesday (effectively making a 24 hour workday), up at 9 am Wednesday to sort Van, working wednesday evening, up early today to write urgent reports and now the boss wants me to spend several hours on public transport trying to get from the outskirts of brum early tomorrow to hereford. It's killing me.
I can see why you'd want to sack that off.
Having been a victim of a 100 hour week work culture, I've recently had enough time to revisit my career and work out what to do with it next. I've taken the softer option of a change of job from working in a law firm to working in-house (as lawyers say) for a company (i..e being one of three lawyers in a building of 500, rather than the other way round). Resignaiton to be handed in on Monday. Foot is right off the gas, even now.
It's not jacking it all in, but that's not my style - I'd rather slowly transition myself between things, picking up skills and knowledge along the way. But it's mainly because I've a child on the way, and need to provide for it.
But, if it was me, another (adult) and a dog, I'd disappear with them tomorrow and not even leave a note.
Yes. It's great. [url= http://www.whiteroomchalet.com/sumabout.htm ]See here.[/url]
looks like its takeout night tonight 😕
Moved from Colne in Lancashire to Ipswich in Suffolk (270 Miles)- Great area (If not for MTBing) 6 mths ago. Loved it, Kids settled in to better school, better standard of living (Less crime etc) Wife could'nt settle. Been back in Colne a month now and loving it (MTB much better) I think we'll move again when kids have flown the nest just not so far next time
Yep i've done it a few times. 1st: gave up a career as an accountant to go to University and study Geology. After 9 years dropped everything in the UK and moved to Switzerland. After 5 years in Zurich, 5 fantastic years, i dropped everything there and moved to Norway to be with a Norwegian girl. Very happy here, having an easy life and now working in the oil industry.
I guess you just have to really go with your heart and do what you feel is right for you, and if it doesn't work out, it is not the end of the world. Not everything in life always goes according to plan, but if you have a dream that will get you through the low points.
+1 for this...even if that dream changes over time (which it may)
We both not that is so tru - I mean not true Mick 🙂
Chuck us an email ddmonkey and I can cry on your shoulder for 10 minutes.
Can't you take goog with you? Give him pinny and he'll keep the mleh chalet spick and span for you.
(In answer to your question, no I never have and I think I'd be too much of a wimp to actually do it. I keep pondering it though)
Try and remove all 'if only's' from your life, that's my motto. When you're 70 do you want to wake up one day in that special home and think "If only I'd buggered off to France/Oz/wherever when I was reet p!ssed off with life."? Even if it doesn't work at least you know so the 'if only' question won't plague you.
Move to the West of Scotland and become an artist/potter/shoemaker and share a workshop/studio with Googy. You know it makes sense!
Yes i did it, travelled the world for 6 yrs, but realised the UK was ace and by far the nicest place on the planet for me 😉
I got bored of the travel in the end, airports aren't as glamourous as i dreamt when i was young...
Yep, 4 years ago. Sat in Tenerife now enjoying the laid back lifestyle and biking for a living. Not easy, but the best decision I've ever made.
The selling up made sure that we gave it a proper go when we got here rather than whimping out after 6 months!
littlegirlbunny - what do you do in construction? I was put through a similar situation last year (sent on secondment working nearly 100% extra hours for no increase in pay, due to the threat of losing my job) with the consultancy I work for, and I've not had a pay increase since the beginning of '08. I'm binning the job though and starting an MSc in something completely different later in the year. Same city, but a change of career. Also giving up a great flat to move in with my parents. Really looking forward to it! Hope whatever you decide to do in the end works out for you!
I did for a few months back in 2005. Work was really getting to me, driving me more and more bonkers and I just wasn't happy. So I sacked it all off and went and did a season in france for the summer. The best thing I ever did, it does make me want to do another though!
Ask John Venables, presently being gang-rutted in the shower block, wing C, HM Prison Slade .
Thinking about it at the moment but in a deep rut.
14 years left on the mortgage
Floor layer by trade and working to service the house dept
22 and 19 year old daughters seem to think it is cool to live at home
for £150 per month ( they are both in work and earning a good wage ) and go out enjoying them selves .But have food on the table / washing done / heating / leccy / internet access / the list is long .
Mrs Trout`s mum died at xmas so a bit of inheritance on its way .
it would pay off half the house .
I say sell up and buy a small spot without a mortgage and chuck the girls out to fend for them selves .
we are both 50+ so should be having a bit of fun before the reaper wanders by
am I a B-stard for thinking this
am I a B-stard for thinking this
No.
FWIW my folks made sure that as soon as we were earning, if we wanted to stay at home that the rent was suitably proportionate; I think it was 50% of take-home pay for the first year and rose after that. One thing helping us out / when we were penniless students etc but as soon as we entered the workplace...
Oh, and they're now merrily living it up, p1ssing our inheritance up the wall on fast living and cruising the tropics. Fair play I reckon - my mum and dad spent nigh on 30 years working hard to raise us (I'm one of four), I think they've earnt their retirement.
no mate you deserve it.
Kick em out. I was gone at 16 did me no harm.
If I ever become single again, I'm gone!
Gotta be canada.
Off for a spin in the Tarn gorge on Saturday, lived in France for five years now, and love every minute of it, but I didn't leave Britain 'cos I thought it was shite it isn't and life isn't all wonderful here. Same old stresses and strains and its never easy to balance work and life anywhere.
We've met a lot of ex-pats since we got here, and to generalise, they generally fall into 2 categories. Those who left Britain because they thought it had to be a better life than they suffered in the UK and those who came here for the love of life and have little bad to say about Britain. One lot seem very happy here, the others still moan about everything.
I would say go for it, I love the adventure, the many new friends I have met, and did I mention how good the riding is?
am I a B-stard for thinking this
NO
As for me 5 years ago got through a wifectomy which was hard, life going no where infact it was on hold and did the internet dating
Met up with a lass from Devon and it went well ( it was a 100 mile relationship) got the invite to move in, sold my place jacked a cracking job and went on a whim and it worked okay so the job situation has been a bit hit and miss but it was a good move
Now married again to a fantastic lass, planning our future to a place we bought in france ( haute vienne), problem is when is the right time to go. It is not just me anymore just a load more complications
Life never easy eh 😕
Long time ago i was ina shyte job, hated the peoplr there, the hours, the travelling etc - was in a major rut and getting myself into a lot of illegal stuff.
Jacked it in and went to a kibbutz for a year - opened my eyes up to other cultures and loads of people from all around the world. it forced me to re-evaluate what i had been doing.
was offered the opertunity to stay in Israel and take up citezinship, but i went back to Scotland for a while to see if things would work out - they didn't. I ended up dealing again, so packed it in and fekked off to London one day with all i could take in a car.
22 Years later, i live in the Midlands, have about 6 years left on the mortgage, have no money in the bank, have 3 motorbikes, 2 road bikes, 3 mountain bikes, a mental cat, and a lovely wife to be.
Best thing i done was move and break the chains that were dragging me down.
Construction industry is very tough at the moment, lots of contractors going out of business, contractors desperate to get work are tendering at stupidly low levels. I used to do lane rental jobs, 7 days a week, 14-18plus hours per day - that was tough,no idea what day or week it was - just work, nap, eat, work.
If the job is that bad - leave if you can. What is it you do?
Trout, your future is in the light business ;). As for the girls do the old housemate trick. Split the bills in 4 and make them pay for their share. And by bills I mean all the bills (gas, internet, tv, food, water and so).
Yes. sorry a bit late,
Whilst going through a divorce, I moved down to France (near Perpignan) in November 2008 to start a gardening business as have some friends here. The house was sold and I'm still here.
It's been a hard first year what with the recession and noone having much money but hope for better things this year. I've also started a horticulture qualification.
Oh a complete change from my last job/career, involved in marketing the automotive sector!!
MMM worth thinking about
some good ideas and now the mum in law is at rest no ties cept the 2 girls .
good idea Juan will do the maths and present it to them and see what they think .
I reckon I can help there, Trout: I'll take the troublesome girls off your hands for, say, a handful of shiny LEDs? 😉
Yes. So far so good.
I left another part of the world because of shite life slaving away for peanuts so decided to start again from scratch.
All I can say is it is the best thing I have ever done. Now I am a citizen of GeordieLand. Wahey!
😆
p/s: I was having £40 saving for several years ...
Yup.
Was Andy to everyone in the UK, rented, lived a nice life spending with gay abandon...
Now in Australia, two kids, house (mortgage), known as Andrew, rarely talk to folk in the UK to be honest. All in the past 3 years.
Would I go back? Nope. Is it hard? Yes, though gets easier.
Never underestimate the culture shock, even to a place with the same language.
Yep, me and the mrs sold up and moved to NZ two years ago, having never been here before. We love it, don't plan on going back any time soon, but wouldn't rule it out. We didn't move here to get away from anything, we just fancied a change.
[i]Never underestimate the culture shock, even to a place with the same language[/i]
or even to a place with the same language, and where you also spent most of your childhood lol. Things are very different (but not impossible) 20 years later as an adult.
I think geography has a lot to do with it too. For instance I think I would feel differently if I was say "a long drive away, but it was do-able" (eg somewhere in Europe) as opposed to "6000 miles away". Also being in a different hemisphere throws you, winter here/ summer there and vice versa.
I can't decide whether having half a dozen UK TV channels here on satelite makes it easier or harder? It's nice for the entertainment value, but it adds greatly to the surrealness of the situation.
🙂
Well, whilst not quite dropping the work (Is suspect the large promotion I'm taking in Adelaide will cause yet more work...) we are disappearing down under. I was told to apply for the job in November (I never thought I'd get it), was interviewed just before xmas, and then told basically to pack my bags. I'll be there in June.
This certainly will be a shock, but I doubt they'll call me Andrew, seeing as I'm actually called Mark 😉 Where you based ex-pat?
Went and started a MTB company in Italy...
Very hard work, language barriers to begin with and you will be amazed as to what you will miss in the UK.
Its not all better you still have to work and you get different stress, especilly money worries etc...
It also depends on what sort of person you are, if you will easily miss your family and friends then its even harder.
we havent regreted what we did but there were times why we wondered ever leaving the UK but now the business is doing well, worries are much less and it doesnt rain...
Best of luck...
I moved to England in the mid-90's and loved it from the beginning. Now, having moved to Ireland, just across the Irish sea, you know, I struggle to adapt. Same-ish English spoken, similar breakfast at petrol stations, same-ish paper in the morning. Only they are different when it matters. It's difficult to precisely say what it is but there is this something. Small things possibly, like no BBC London on the radio, like no London Pride in the shop down the road, no curry houses nearby.
If you're make it work it'll be fine, otherwise you'll struggle. Good luck!
Trout, I'll second this: [b]your future business = lights[/b]
i'm moving to eindhoven for 5 months in April, before completing a master's. I've been getting myself used to visiting old friends infrequently now, and i'm trying to stay single, so that come graduation i'll be free to go where ever i like. I don't think i could do it in one great leap
@Zokes, We're up on the Sunshine Coast. I've lived in the cotswolds my entire life so I had to move somewhere green. Turns out there's more rain here than in the UK!!!
i.e. I have a 120mm rain gauge. I've emptied it three times in the last week as it's been overflowing (and yes it's free standing with no overhangs!), and it's up to 110mm again already...
Still, once it stops raining, within 48 hours it'll be like it never rained - hell as those hours are though with the humidity. And what's more Winter is a no rain cool days affair so ideal for biking!
If you're ever up round here let me know as there's some good riding to be had, but really not advertised at all. There is a 'where to mountain bike sunshine coast' book but it's not the best.
[looks out window, more rain - too wet to ride, sigh]
2007 - Took a year abroad in Canada as part of undergrad degree. Made alot of friends in Ontario and beyond, made even better friends with people I'd never met before from the same home university.
End 2008 - No clue what to do with myself. Finished uni in a matter of months, had been offered a min-wage salary job as the manager of a agronomics laboratory. Turned it down on account of a control freak 'i built this from the ground up' MD despite gaining plenty of job experience from summers working there. Lots of friends, but no direction whatsoever. Applied for some masters courses, all various geography related courses, [u]all[/u] over the place - looked at a map of europe, and just started picking places out that I thought would be nice to study at with international scholarships. [i]Seriously[/i].
August 2nd 2009 - e-mail in inbox. accepted into a program at the university I'd studied at previously in Canada. Term started in September.
i've never completed a visa application so fast or for that matter used so many fax machines. got there having forgotten everything, nowhere to live etc. was soon back on my feet with old friends and a mrsgibbons (Syrian/Canadian ginger!)
if there is anything i've learnt, if there is an opportunity to do something rash, probably ill-thought out, cash poor, potentially dangerous (ought to see my wildlife company at field sites).
[u]then do it.[/u]
regret the how, the who and the what later.
and by no means do I think canada is better than the uk, bitter is nearby impossible to come by and there is no such thing as a chocolate pud (yoghurt) in the local supermarket, they have stop signs instead of giving way and perogies are fairly rank...but they do make for some of the most generous, voraciously competitive and truely loving folks I've met in a long time.
n.b. i am generally penniless..canada is expensive, and i paid off my loans from undergrad (silly me...) through working every summer since 2000 odd. parents never helped a penny, father didn't even know what course i had done until i graduated... felt the need to say that before anyone felt the need to snipe. 😉
Aye, I got the chance to take voluntary redundancy and get the hell out of Dodge (well....Birmingham...), and took a six month guiding job in Whistler. Thankfully that wasn't quite the heavenly job I was hoping for, otherwise I'd have gone back to the UK in October 2007. I'm now happily married, living in Vancouver with my wife and two cats, and spend my days hitting bikes with hammers.
There's even a UK style chippy over the road from where I work.
walleater, have you moved jobs or is there more than one bike shop with a chippy over the road? We should get out for a ride on the dialled's sometime.
ps. to the OP, also in Vancouver and glad I moved, I got a transfer through work though which made it quite easy.
Ex-pat, my thoughts exactly. Moved from Bristol to Sydney 5 yrs ago with the wife. Have a 3 yr old now, sold house in Bristol and just about to put down deposit on a house 200m from Freshwater Beach. Its tough, being away from family, culturally oz is very different, it is impossible to know until you get here. Used to love MotD, forgotton all about it and follow NRL instead - Manly Sea Eagles. Never shown the slightest bit of interest in rugby league but it is massive in Sydney and i now find it quite entertaining. Any move, particularly far away will test your relationship.....be prepared for tough times but dont give up 😀
RS, yes I've moved jobs and I guess you know where to 😉 Although I keep where I work quiet on NSMB as I enjoy being an on-line idiot without it interfering with work. LOL etc...
Yes I'd be up for a hardtail mission sometime. I'll be aiming for doing a lap or two of BBY Mtn once it's lighter in an evening.
Another one to move to Lausanne - due to gf at the time, now wife.
Been here 2.5yrs, love it. Changed my language, job and most importantly life. Miss family & friends of course, but really dont regret it.
was told me & Mrs RNP couldnt have kids which knocked us sideways 2 years ago, both in good well paying secure jobs and figured we could carry on doing what we do only to look back in retirement having had nice holidays/cars/big televisions etc or do something else.
House on market this summer, our 19 year old landrover overland camper being rebuilt by myself over winter then setting off early next year heading south-ish, rough plan is to spend the summer in Ibiza, re visit Morocco then head south from there but not to retrn to the UK.
We're gonna live the no-plans, plan.
I came to Oz 10 years ago with a backpack & bike. Got down to Hobart, met my wife, found my job & some awesome trails. No plans on leaving now.
Wow, some really great stories. Thanks all for posting - really motivating stuff 🙂
I came to Oz 10 years ago with a backpack & bike. Got down to Hobart, met my wife, found my job & some awesome trails. No plans on leaving now.
my brother did the same 4-5 years ago, bmx wrapped in a cardboard box, small suitcase with a few clothes in. Lives in Sydney, great job, and he's getting married in a months time! would never return.
good idea Juan will do the maths and present it to them and [s]see what they think .[/s] tell them how it is
FTFY, and good luck trout. They sounds like they've had it far too easy so far and need kicking in to reality. i.e. take it in turns to do the cooking and washing up, etc, etc.
really motivating stuff
+1 Currently considering putting down roots in Oz. Have applied for my first job over here and would love to stay. But I'm doing things in reverse - I've been professionally footloose for a decade but know now, mid-30s, what I want: kids, security, pension... all the stuff I've avoided assiduously.
Me and the wife have talked about it a few times, but she doesn't/won't leave her family, which is a limiting factor.
I have a larger extended family but can go weeks without even speaking to my mum on the phone she only lives 8 miles away, so it's not such a hardship for me.
Switzerland would be the overseas location, and where both agreed on that.
I'd be happy to jack it all in and start afresh, in Devon, Wales or Scotland but even Devon's too far away from her family and were only talking 1 1/2 hours down the bloody road, I had a job lined up in Devon nearly 3 years ago but she wouldn't move that far from her family, and i'd have still had an hour commute each way then.
I haven't particularly however I know someone who jacked everything in and moved to Oz (transfer with police) sold his house in UK, left his family. Okay it didn't work out so much for him, he got very homesick, he did the move on hsi own, and police in Oz turned out to be quite mickey mouse (so I've been told) and he moved back. however he doesn't regret it for one minute.
If you have the opportunity I would so GO GO GO and look at all the positive stories on here, sounds like wherever you go as well there will be someone there from STW to help you along!! Excellent what more do you need. So where are you thinking on going??
I dropped everything a few years ago and lived the expat life in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years.
Not the best of times but I do not regret it for a moment.
When I came back to Manchester it all looked at bit the same so I went down to London for 9 years !!!!!!
Now back and happy living in Rossendale
Go on give it a go............
Not quite yet. Just waiting for the girlfriend to finish her masters, then going where ever she can get a job doing what she wants to do, only condition is nothing in the SE of England.
27 years ago took my first trip to the USA and worked for 2 years and been back countless times since, My father still believes I will move there, and to be honest the way this country is now, he could be right.
Sort of... Not sold up, as I still own my house, but I am now living in Awassa, Ethiopia, and working as a volunteer with the VSO. I'm looking after the IT department at the Awassa college of teacher education for the next two years.
I can't say that it's going to be an easy life, but its something I know I will never regret doing.
I was feeling completely stuck in the proverbial rut in the UK, and now I'm very happy, and finally feel like I'm doing something that really is making a difference.
And I'm hoping that by the end of my time here I've gained the experience and contacts to shift my career into a very different arena than when I was living in the UK.
Paul
tootallpaul - respect 😀