Would you ever return to your home country?

I have mates in NZ. 1 recently returned after about 8 years - it just sounds a wee bit dull culturally.

Right. Next holidays is to San Francisco.

I just thought I'd add the caveat that, if you're one of those people who like to swim in the ocean, then you'd want to be in southern California, not northern. Here you need a wetsuit.

Totally agree.


Exactly. I would love to combine the plus points from everywhere I've lived so far to make the ideal place ...


But great supermarkets, eh...

That's not what I'm saying. It might be harder to get a job, but that also applies if you stay in the same place.
I'd be happy to go to the US or Aus if the right job opportunity came up. But if I went back to England I can't see myself moving away again, it would be the big Coming Home.

Oh and I third what IPJ says.

I don't think I'd ever move back to the US, unless temporarily for family reasons. We might wind up moving to Ireland, the UK, or Canada at some point, if I want to go off and be a professor after all.

Yes, Johnny English, that's certainly always been my impression of it.
Nope, never going back.

Interesting points everyone is bringing up. I've already been back to the US and what do you know...here I am in good ol' Germany again. So I guess you could say I've already been back to the home country. I think if I move out of Germany again it will be to some place completely different. Just don't know if I want to learn another language or pick a place where they speak German or English...

Yes I will go back!

All of this BEER in Germany and not one drop of ROOT BEER. How the hell am I supposed to make a root beer float?

Being here is the lesser of two evils...I could be in Moscow.

Silver lining: it is only temporary and the French Riviera is only 7 hours away!

I have a case of A&W Rootbeer in my pantry, want a few cans? Just had a RB Float 2 weeks ago...mmmmmm

yep, there's A&W Rootbeer at the gas station around the corner from me.
Dr. Pepper too.

Ooo Thanks L8Knight!

Thanks ER I will have to check..lol.
They are so good in the summertime! We must all have root beer float party this summer. lol.

Ok, now I can stay in DE a while longer. Whew.

You can find it at Esso gas stations, they have all sorts of unexpected treats. My favourite being Dentyne Fire gum, I've never seen it anywhere else in Germany.

Our new-ish local Subway has it on tap. Every so often I stop in and buy a big-ass iced cup full for later RBF usage.

I will go back, its my home. I cannot afford to retire here!

Culturally very similar to the UK I'd say, but with Maori culture thrown in for a bit of colour.
NZ is more about the outdoor experience than mixing it with the people/city experience.

Visa options
1. keep applying for the lottery. If u are from the UK you have decent chance.
2. Talk to a immigration lawyer. I can recommend one. Very straight forward, good rates and extremely reliable. She can give u all possible scenarios. PM me if you need it.
3. Apply for an O visa
4. Apply for green card as an extraordinary professional

for snowboarding AND decent weather AND close to the sea in the USA.

1. San Fran's beaches suck. no sun there. fog. cold. u can do some surfing below the Golden gate but it s terrible. tiny tiny place. SF is beautiful though. yes u can go skii.
California is a great state in any case.
2. Maine. great for snow boarding and skiing. Sunday River is one of the top 3 spots in th US. It is amazing. Then you have lots of places nearby in Canada, Vermont and NH. Good sea - you can use it during the summer. lots of lakes for lake houses too. Maine - one reason why our president has a house there. Beautiful state. lobsters are cheap. The state is cold in winter. It is also less populated.
3. Seatle - nah, rains a lot. it is like the UK.
4. Vancouver - hmmn check about the rain but is beautiful.

My fav would be San Fran. A lot of businesses there. Kind of "gives you all place": hehe not exactly - horrible fashion, no beauties(one or two). Expensive. need a million to buy a 2 br shitty house

San Fran is always good for a visit...but the damn FOG! It never gets above 60 degrees F...

Virginia is good, you have all four seasons. Beaches,mountains, D.C..NYC is not to far to drive to. I can't wait to go back!

We moved back to the US (but to a new-ish part of it) almost a year ago, mostly because we are both American and we have a small daughter. We wanted our child to know her grandparents and other extended family (and vice versa) without those loooooong flights and jet-lag. Plus, we originally decided to move to Germany for two or three years, for fun, and stayed six years. We loved it, but it was time to go home.

I also used to whine about things, mostly food, that I couldn't get in Germany. Many of these things were not things I cared too much about when I was in the US, but suddenly I was all nostalgic for them in Germany. (I went out and bought an entire bag of candy corn this October, and ate it all myself. Yuck.) At least I would go home once a year or so and just chow down for a couple of weeks, and bring a haul back to Germany to dole out through the "lean months."

Now, I'm really in a fix because there are Munich things (and even things from other Euro countries) I was fond of that can't be gotten here. But I won't be visiting Munich with anything near the regularity with which I visited the US. (The other day, at a swank supermarket nearby, I spotted some Ballsen Lebkuchen and Stollen and actually wept while I loaded up the cart. Now, I don't think Ballsen is the best brand for baked Christmas specialties, but you see what I'm reduced to. Crying over Lebkuchen. We have Aldi here, but Minnesota has a ridiculous law against selling wine in supermarkets, so there's no chance of buying Gluehwein there.)

Good post Cinzia.
For Gluehwein you can make it on your own. Give it a shot. Many Germans in the US make it without importing any ingredients.

True for all seasons.
BUT the people and culture hmmmnnnn my doubts linger

Way too far south of the Mason-Dixon line, in my humble opinion. I am astonished at how hick VA is whenever I go back there.

Cinzia, you must be mistaken, I've read on Toytown that you can get everything you could possibly want in an American supermarket, so you obviously just have not be shopping correctly, try going on a Sunday next time, this will probably help.

I know, I know. But I want the 1 Euro Aldi pre-made stuff! Waaaaaaaaah!

Seriously, you know how you can get Tex-Mex food in Germany, but it just doesn't taste right? If I make my own Gluehwein (and I probably will), it just won't taste right. At least, not the first couple of cups ...

Allerhausen and Cinzia, never listen to that - "you can get everything you could possibly want in an American supermarket". It is not true. You will get American goods yes but you will not get European stuff. Only a little even in NYC which is the most known place in the US for European imports.

I think Allershausen was being a little sarcastic, there, Liebe.

Certainly I never subscribed to the silly notion that you can get everything in American supermarkets. However, here are a few German goods you can easily buy:

Ritter Sport bars (but not all flavors)
Leibnitz crackers
Some Munich beers (and cheaper than the local microbrews): Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr
Maggi mixes, and Maggi Spaetzle

This is not to say I actually do purchase them, but it's comforting to know they're available!

In addition to the above, we get also Milka, kinder chocolate and Gluehwein here in Michigan *ducks*

We moved back to the US about 5 years ago now. My mom was sick, so it was a good time for us to return.
We still go back to Germany quite frequently since all of my husband's family is there. We think that we may eventually return... but who knows.

That's why I like living in Berkeley. It's nice and beautiful here, and you can look across the bay to see the wall of fog where San Francisco starts. It's almost always much warmer than SF, and when you want to head into town, it's just a 20 minute train ride.


This reminds me of a woman I met while I was in Monterey during the summer. She was visiting from Virginia as a tourist, and to spark conversation I commented that Virginia Beach and Santa Cruz were alike in a lot of ways. She immediately started telling me how much better Virginia Beach is and how the water in Santa Cruz/Monterey is far too cold to swim in, so they're not "real" beaches. Not only is it silly to compare the two in that sense (who the hell goes to northern California beaches expecting warm water?), but how horribly rude that was! It's like walking into someone else's house and telling them how much nicer you think yours is.


At my local supermarket they sell Paulaner, Hacker-pschorr, Hofbrau, Franziskaner and Spaten. There's a restaurant in SF that sells all of these plus Augustiner Edelstoff and some others.

Perhaps you didn't spend much time in Northern Virginia? Richmond has come quite a ways as well.

I lived six years in Alexandria before moving back to Europe. My mother moved to Chevy Chase in the meantime and I can't tell you how much of a difference being a few miles away from VA made when I would go back and visit. Maybe it was uninternational more than it was hick though? I definitely miss the shopping (Tysons Corner, Potomac Mills, Pentagon City... ) .

I was reading this and wondering: "Egypt? Why is he talking about Egypt all of a sudden?" Time for more coffee, I think.

JW, what you seem to have experienced in No Va is a bit different than what I did. Alexandria is really diverse these days, even the Route 1 corridor just outside the city (where I am told the rednecks used to live).

Dude... Route 1 was my 'hood. You know Montebello, those beige highrises?

JW, that looks like a 70's beach side hotel complex

Beach side? I wish. Unfortunately you can't see the lovely surrounding area which was made up of seedy motels, cheap apartment complexes and tacky strip malls.
The place is old now actually, it was built in the mid-80s and it hasn't aged well as you can see.

Other way round for me. I can't afford to go back to Kingston-upon-Thames to retire unless it's in a little wooden box with a Bonner Hill Road address.

However, if I ever struck it megarich, then I'd be looking to build something special on Sheen Gulls to visit on weekends, or failing that, a converted tug moored up at Eel Pie Island.

My dream is to have my main home here, a flat in South London within view of The River and a hut somewhere in Northern Helgeland (Lurøy or Rødøy) which I can jaunt between to avoid paying taxes.

Yes, probably. I am here on a three year assignment, and I think I would probably leave Germany afterwards. Whether I go back to the U.S. or a different country depends on where my company wants to put me, the economic and political climate in the U.S. (i.e. if the nut-job republicans win again, I'm less likely to return), and whether I am single or committed to someone else at that point in time. So who knows?

The only things I miss about the UK is the great Indian cuisine (ironic or what?) and being able to communicate naturally in my native language. As things stand, life here in Germany - language issue notwithstanding - is far better. I have no intention to return, my home is here now

Nope, if you are from Great Britain you have no chance, as British Citz (exc N.Ireland) are not eligible for the lottery.

I don't know if I would return home, still have all my family there, but Gt Yarmouth isn't what it was , I'm also not keen on returning to the US either.

but the fog is only around the San Fran area...an hours drive outside of the city and it's as clear as anything...

We are heading back. It's sad, I love Germany as a country, but I'm so angry about everything. The rules for just about everything. The fact that I don't want to spend my life teaching english because my experience in banking doesn't mean anything here. I thought about an apprenticeship but its three years. The hubby wants to be in the U.S. too and we miss family and all of that. Plus those lovely trips to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with all of our friends down there. I doubt we'll stay forever in my home town, thinking of trying Texas...lots of jobs for him down there, and we have the luck of having some of my family members in good positions down there. Already have an Uncle scouting for an opening at his company. Fingers crossed. I have to say though that I miss Germany and we havn't even left yet. But the way things look it could take 18 months. I'm really angry that some guy on a forum for the visa is from Honduras and only waited 2 months to get his visa and here we sit along with many other German/American couples and they say 6 months. WTF!

yeah, for example sacramento is actually a really nice place. and it gets pretty hot there in the summertime.

i feel really homesick right now

i'm from the sunset. i miss being able to see wisps of fog coming through my window at night.

Hey Sin I am interested on how one can escape taxes this way. Let me know b4 someone says go to a tax accountant.

Good thing - right now houses are very cheap you can get a very nice house for 90k in Dallas within 10 minutes driving - mortgage crisis is helping. With acres of land it is still cheap.

Hey what is up with the banking thing? It was useless?? How?? What area of banking? Could you please PM if it cannot be on the forum.

Maybe she doesn't speak German.

@Janet: I've been to Monterey, Carmel by the Sea in fact! That woman must have been a hick..lol.

Carmel is gorgeous! (I loved the little shops!)

Virginia Beach is filthy and too touristy! Now the beaches in the Outerbanks North Carolina are really nice!!

Nothern Virginia is better than South Virginia and both are considerably better than West Virginia.

Ah Tysons Corner! Did a few trunk shows there..and at Pentagon City Mall (about 10 years and 10 pounds ago!LOL) It was such a nice mall...not so good anymore. Tysons is starting to look like Potomac Mills! lol!

The West End of Richmond is the only decent place these days. Shockoe Slip is getting better, ( I miss the Tobacco Company!)...and the "bottom" has hit rock bottom!

Yes. The clue's in the question...

Doing a cold comparative analysis leaving the emotional stuff aside, I am hard pressed to come up with a single convincing reason to go back to my roots. But then there's family - parents get old, siblings get sick, people die, life gets complicated and sometimes family is all we can really count on... I suspect this reason may one day lure me back, but I also suspect it will involve a little kicking and screaming on my part. You can't choose where you're from any more than you can choose your family, but they are both a part of you like it or not.

Hell yeah i'm going back. I haven't yet met a German who doesn't want to or hasn't already been to the beautiful place I'm lucky enough to carry a passport for. But, because I do carry that passport, I don't feel I need to rush back (I'll give it a few more months and some other places).

@ Elenor Rigby: Vancouver, cold? OK, maybe compared to some southern states, but all of Germany is colder than Vancouver right now.

I'm going home for Christmas, does that count?

But in all seriousness, I'll probably head home for good when my visa runs out in a year, though if it were up to me, I'd find a way to stay - if not in Germany, then somewhere else in Europe. I've got a serious case of wanderlust.