Upping sticks

[anonnymous]

I am considering leaving my home town for a complete change of life. Have any of you done this?

How did you cope in a new City alone?

How did you go about making friends?

How did you find out whether the places you were looking to buy/rent were not 'bad' areas?

How did you deal with homesickness?

Did you move back to your original home in the end or was it the best thing you have ever done?

[weenireeni]

ive moved cities but did it with my boyfriend. we;ve managed to make friends by meeting people from the internet. youre most likely to meet friends at work i guess. i researched on the net about where we were going to live and visited it a few times on different times of day to check the area was ok!! see if your new city has an internet forum then you can ask all the usual questions!

homesickness....? not got it! love being in a cool city, and as im only an hour away from home town, friends come visit all the time!

if i was you i wouldnt pick somewhere too far, then if you get lonely you can always visit friends at weekends etc.

my move has been so successfull my mum has just moved here last weekend!

good luck!!!

[anonnymous]

wow, thank you weenireeni!

I didn't think about using the internet as gaining a network of friends (which was my primary concern).

I've had only 'bad' feedback from people I know in 'real' life that I have asked about, but it's never been first hand experiences, always "I knew someone.......so they came back home", but never really knowing why that someone came back home!

[libby1980]

I am planning to do this too! Next Spring, and I have chosen a city where my sister lives so I am lucky in that sense. I'm sure you will meet new friends through your job too. I do not want to stay in my current city forever, and am excited about it!! What makes you want to move?

[spudqueen]

I did this, moving from Lancashire to London. Though I was really lucky as I worked for a Bank, got a transfer through them and got a room in the Banks Halls of Residence. Met loads of people, had a fantastic time and ended up meeting Mr Spudqueen (through a friend of a friend). Moved to Manchester with Mr Spudqueen, then the Wirral, then Devon and am now back in Lancashire, not 10 miles from where I originally moved from, though this is due to Mr Spudqueens work not an actual desire to move back here! Twenty something years after moving to London I am still in touch with a couple of the friends I made down there and have some great memories.

I'd go for it, if not you'll always be wondering what it would have been like. I found it to be a very liberating experience, I felt that I actually 'grew' after moving away, I became much more my own person and experienced things that I wouldn't have done if I'd stayed in my home town.

[minimonkey]

i have also done it a few times and sometimes more successful than others...it is hard to make friends esp. if the people you work with are not your type of people....i have never gone back home though - apart from to visit

which city you thinking about?

[Savannagh]

I have recently moved to the North-East from West Sussex and I love it. Make friends by talking to people and letting them know you are new to town, ask people's advice about where to go and what to do, people are friendly if you are friendly. Go on the internet and view facts about where you are moving to, and ring the police in that town and ask about which are bad areas. Homesickness will disappear once you make friends and find a job and get out and about.