Share your relocation story!

[Naira]

Currently, I am considering moving to another city, so I thought to share my story and - more importantly - hear from other people. Ultimately, I know it's my own decision to make, but I enjoy reading others' experiences.

Background story: Six years ago, I took a "leap of faith" and accepted a job offer in Athens. It meant leaving my hometown and boyfriend behind and getting out there in the world on my own. I have always been an independent person, I had already been working for five years, I was almost ending my PhD. I was venturing into the unknown, and it turned out surprisingly well. The job turned out very interesting, my colleagues are smart and nice, I made good friends and my boyfriend found a job and moved here two years ago.

Current situation: Said boyfriend (who is now my husband) has a well-paid but stressful job as an academic. During a highly-stressed period, he applied for a (non-academic) job back to our hometown. Since there was really no point only for him to return, I applied as well for a similar job (we are both computer scientists). After some months, both of us were accepted! So, now, we face the following dilemma: Do we move back home, or stay in Athens?

There are pros and cons of course: We both love our hometown. We can have a nice house with a garden there. It is a much better place to raise kids and our families and childhood friends are there. However, the new jobs are not going to be as interesting as the current ones and the money will be less. Also, we will have to leave good friends behind. Plus, while my husband could return to his current job in the future in case we regret it, this is not an option for me.

I think we lean towards returning home. Personally, I am more interested in family-related stuff (kids, garden, non-chaotic city) than work-stuff. Also, our hometown is not some small god-forsaken place, it is a vibrant city of 100,000+ people. My main concern is how to balance life in the same city as all parents, since I currently enjoy not having everyone around all the time.

So... what is your story?

 

[HaventGotALife]

There is nothing as exciting as moving to Athens, in my life. I have lived in Metro Detroit all my life.

9 years ago, I was homeless. Staying in shelters of different communities, around Detroit, I learned what I like and dislike, what I value in my living space. Michigan is mostly Rural. Big Metropolitan areas of Detroit, Flint, Traverse City, and Lansing dot a landscape of farms and villages. Urban Sprawl and development is changing that, but open spaces are the norm, still, especially in the U.P.

I'm a burb kid. I found a community I love, and had to move last year because of cost. It has a great park and library. It had a great little downtown. And the people!

I miss it terribly.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

If you do relocate, buy a quality satnav or you might end up in the wrong place.

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Due to some salmon-like programmed behavioral or temporary loss of reason, I moved back to my town of origin only to discover it's still full of red necks.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I've not done any drastic moving, though have had a friend and her family move back to our hometown after years spent away, and have another pal who is looking at relocating to New Zealand later this year.

A couple years ago my and her family had an awful year (I won't go into details, but everything bad that could happen to them pretty much did). They were living a few miles outside Aberdeen, and after their terrible year started talking about moving to Shetland, for a better quality of life. She got a job that was better paying and they moved up last year. The work she's doing isn't great, it's not her field and not what she wants to do, but it's less stress and the pay is good, so she's sticking at it for now (applying for other things as well) whilst her husband is in a manual job and also looking for something that's more in line with what he trained to do. They've just bought a house (helped them move a couple weeks ago), though everything is still in upheaval they can start getting settled in and make a new life for themselves. There are times she's talked about why they moved up here and how things could've been if they'd stayed, but the quality of life and what benefits they'll have for their family still outweighs everything they had down there. Of course, if things change then there's nothing stopping them from moving away again.

It's one of these things you need to weigh up for yourself and your husband, what is more important to you now and what are your goals for the next 5 years? But whatever decision you make now doesn't have to be your life forever, just the latest chapter.