Moving is a challenge no matter what the reason or how far you have to move. It is a difficult and stressful time in your life. You need to look for and accept as much help along the way as is available. To that end, having moved to the U.K. a little over a year ago and having gone through all that stress and trying to keep my sanity (fortunately successfully), I came to the conclusion that I wanted to help other spouses moving here to make it easier for them if I could.
I created the web site www.expatspouseguide.com. The site is packed full of information on what to pack, what not to pack, how to ship pets, how to settle children into school, how to locate housing, how to shop, American English and English English and so much more.
Whether it's because of your work, your spouses work, furthering your education or some other reason moving to the U.K. will be an experience you will remember. It will be a challenge there is no doubt about that. American's have a wonderful country with many things that we take for granted, but that in actuality are luxuries in other countries.
Example? Most refrigerators in England would be equal to a dorm size fridge in the U.S. Doesn't sound like much of a problem does it? Small, virtually no freezer, doesn't stay as cold as we're used to . . . so . . . shopping has to be minimal (not much room), forget the ice cream or ice cubes and you'll need to go shopping every couple of days because of how little it holds and how quickly food spoils.
I would appreciate hearing others' experience in moving to and living in the U.K. Sharing suggestions on how to make the experience easier for other readers and contributors to this site would be welcome.
