Expert: Bill Cissna - 7/25/2006

Question
Hello Mr. Cissna,

I've recently decided to move to England due to the current political decisions made by my government (I am from America) and I need a general idea of where to live in England.  I would so very much appreciate any advice you could offer.  

I've done some researching, but there are so many options that I am really at a loss.  I make an equivallent of about 31,800 pounds per year at my job so I would need a location that would work for me financially.  I do not want to live directly in a city but would prefer to live close to one (within an hour drive or so).  

I like the ocean very much as well as places with rich histories.  I do not mind the rain and love rich green landscaping.  I do get bored easily however so it would have to be a place that either offerred a lot of activity or was easily accesible to someplace like that.

Is there anyplace like that in England or anywhere else in the UK for that matter?  If you could give me a general direction of what you think might be good for me I would be eternally grateful.  Thank you very much,

Jennifer

Answer
Jennifer,

I hope to offer any suggestions I can that might be helpful, but I'm not sure I can give you too much help. I regret that I am not a British citizen (there might be others in Experts that are), rather an American enthusiast for traveling to and around England. I certainly can't blame you for being deeply annoyed by the current political scenario in the U.S. - I certainly agree - but of course, it might not be that much better in the U.K., since Tony Blair has mostly run down the same road as our president, at least publicly.

If you do decide to head to the U.K. anyway, you will need to check first to see what the situation is about a U.S. citizen (currently, anyway) getting a job in the U.K. There are some rules and regulations and it might not be as easy as you think, unless your job is transferrable. The U.K. tends to be pretty protective about giving jobs to "outsiders" when there are so many out of work in England already. That is not to say it is impossible, but you will want to check it out. Also, if you happen to have any pets you want to take along, check on the rules about that, too, and the quarantining process for moving pets from here to there.

That being said, yes, I feel sure you could find somewhere suitable to live that might be close to the ocean, not in a city but accessible to one for the entertainment factor. So many places in the U.K. have rich histories, so just about anywhere you choose would have SOME kind of rich history itself, or a number of places nearby.

If it were me, given that London is a very exciting city to be near but not live in, I would look at places out in the countryside, towards the ocean, that have train access to London. Similarly, but on a smaller scale, I very much like York and Chester in the north, too, or even Edinburgh, Scotland. The U.K. and other parts of Europe use trains and local buses a great deal more than we do, so you should be able to find train service from a number of places.

You will also have to keep in mind, of course, where your job might be, and how you would access it. Driving in and immediately around London is quite a chore for an American, or even for a lot of Brits!

But there are number of neat smaller cities and towns southeast of London in the county, or shire, of Kent, or due south, which are close to the Channel shores. Unfortunately, for the Atlantic coast, there are not a whole lot of large cities near which to live, with the possible exceptions of the Southamton-Portsmouth area, still on the Channel, or Cardiff in Wales. Northern cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are for me pretty industrial and not as attractive as York or Chester.

One other thing you might want to look at is whether 32,000 pounds a year is going to provide the same level of lifestyle as here -- taxes and real estate costs are going to be a major factor that you may find to be higher than here, depending on where you are currently living. I love England, but it is not a cheap place to live necessarily.

I wish you the very best in making your decision. And if I can help further in any way, about anything I might have knowledge of, ask again!

Bill