Expats, do you wanna go back home?

[Proceed As Cleared]

You've made the big move abroad.

Is it how you expected it to be?

Did you ever regret it?

Do you miss anything?

[divingduck]

hah! not likely!

Apart from the financial concerns, the current industrial problems that are in effect back in OZ just about precludes any thinking person from going back!

cheers

[The Crimson Fruitbat]

I agree with DD 100%.

I'll eventually go back when I have enough $$$ so I do not need to put on a headset again (except listening to my 'Hotel California' CD barefoot on the beach with an icey Crown Lager in my hand).

Anyway, Canada is a beautiful country with great people and is the leading G8 country in economic growth so I'm not exactly doing it tough.

[imnomaverick]

No way Hose B,

Having too much fun over here. The Job is very enjoyable and busy. And who can complain when your 2 hours by train away from Paris,Amsterdam,Frankfurt etc. plus cruising down the Rhine river on a warm summers afternoon, can't get much better.

Plus don't have to put up with Managers who have little to no brains, and couldn't organise the proverbial in a brothel.

I get to go back once a year, to hear all my friends complaining about the situation and the managers. Glad I made the move, YOU BET, do I wan't to go home NO WAY, lot more in life to worry about than incompetant managers.

I will also get to watch Australia in the Next World Cup in Germany. Hopefully they will be in the same pool as the Poms. Then we can beat them at Soccer (Football) as well.

[Lon More]

Nope!!

[professor yaffle]

are you counting english folk living in scotland as ex-pats cos' sometimes i sure feel like one!!

[Avman]

:confused: :confused: :confused: So, IMNOMAVERICK , are you trying to tell me that our managers have brains? But I agree with you in as much that at least you can "escape" from it all in many different cross-border directions. By the way, the Poms will beat the Krauts 5-1 in the 2006 final :p

[ferris]

Every time I go back it reinforces the reasons I left.
Former colleagues describing the ineptitude, antagonist environment, pettiness, lack of stimulation etc.
Unbelievably wealthier, no tax, travel opportunties, cultural experiences, no tax, wx, combined with the fact there is no tax of any description here.
Better go back to planning the next trip........

I, too, don't intend to go back and WORK!

[Justin Time]

Could not agree more with you nomav.

And returning home once a year at the pointy end also ensures that you see the homeland in a very favourable light!!!

And avman living with other management flunkies ineptitude makes ours here look like the proverbial brothers in arms. They may not be perfect but they absolutely sh*t over what passes for management elsewhere!!!!

And by the way DD check your mail and look us up if you can get away from your bordeaux or champagne or whatever else you'll be quaffing down there!!

[imnomaverick]

Duck,

If you can make it up, would love to catch up for a beer or two as well.

Avman,

Haven't had a lot to do with our managers, but they seem to be definitely the lesser of the two evils.

LATCC Guys,

By the way any of you LATCC guys going to the ECC Football in EDDL??

[Stunty]

imnomaverick - please check your mailbox.

Fruitbat - Gday num nuts! Hope all is well.

[email protected]

Rueffy

[maus-warra]

Home?....of course


In about 20 years and in a large box:rolleyes:

[Balooo]

Hello :)

If any of you guys from Nav Canada can spare a bit of time I'd really appreciate any tips on how to jump ship and join you, cheers.

[donpizmeov]

ferris,
I am sure you only enjoy the UAE so much because of the fine work those EK drivers do! Oh, and I guess the no tax of course.

Don

[Red Dragon]

Ferris,

No tax? I guess you don't drink or eat in hotel restaurants or go down to the hole in the wall!!
Sure there's no income tax but plenty of stealth tax on the good stuff.
:)

[ferris]

Well, actually, now that I can afford it I do occasionally eat and drink at hotels! They are not the only options, you know.
Have you tried to eat at a restaurant in an hotel in any part of the world? It's OK for the pilot types, such as donpizmeoff, who often need to dump some of the enormous weight of cash they carry.
Stealth taxes? Do you mean bank charges? Banks make those, and where I came from the banks are sucking people dry with exorbitant charges. Then you pay tax on top of that! Hotel service charges are standard the world over.

As for the EK drivers- if only I had a dirham for every 'does the speed restriction apply tonight?'..............:cool:

[Stomper]

Your moving AGAIN? Where to now? Don't you like skyguide? I emailed them about vacancies but it sounds like Swiss Air and Sabena shook them around a bit.


Hmmm...

[AirNoServicesAustralia]

My 2 dirhams worth.... I've only been in the Sandpit for a few months, and granted I haven't done a summer here yet, but after coming from ...well read my name and work it out.... work here is stimulating and interesting, and life is bloody good. When you come from a place where you pay 48% income tax plus 10% GST plus Super Surcharge plus Medicare Levy plus Bank fees plus Huge Stamp duty plus Capital Gains Tax plus plus plus etc etc. and now getting all but food drink and telephone paid for by employer and no income tax hey how hard is the decision. Its a nobrainer from my opinion. And with 2 kids having their private education paid for...no I won't be goin back till ... well I haven't worked that out yet but not for a long while anyway.

And in 2 months time I will take great pleasure in watching Australia win the Youth World Cup here in the UAE.

And Red Dragon if you drink at the Club here its 9 dirhams for a pint of Kilkenny, less than you'd pay in one of those fake Irish places in Melbourne, and get a meal for 25 dirhams. And if you eat Indian here you eat for less than anywhere back home. Stealth Tax, I don't think so. And the banks...unlimited withdrawals from ATM's for no charge?? I was paying a buck back home per withdrawal after the first 4 per month.

[Red Dragon]

ANSA,

Think you must be confusing me with someone else. I aint no aussie and I know exactly what you`re talking about as I spent 6 years in UAE. I enjoyed my time there but didn`t want to spend my whole career there. Too many places to see and experience. It also doesn`t matter how long you spend there, it`ll never be home. Agreed, some don`t have any options, but I did.

Cheers,

Red Dragon

PS.....I do like Kilkenny though!!


:D :D

[Spodman]

The banks only charge you a dollar when you withdraw after 2am and the booze detector decides you are going to spend it on beer... They're doing it for your health!!

Besides, my SpodGrog only costs 80c a bottle, and three of them would blind a camel.

Keep your head down when the Scuds start flying.

[WX Man]

I do miss my family and friends, but a quick weekend every now and then on the Eurostar (€115) is enough to satisfy my craving for a pint of Harvey's in The Compasses.

Every time I get homesick, I just think of those many happy hours spent sitting on the M25, paying stupidly high prices to rent a small box with windows that masquerades as a home, ITV, No-Win-No-Fee Lawyers, Stansted Airport, Birmingham, Income Tax, The Rat Race, not having any litter bins in railway stations (where you do seem to spend an inordinately high amount of time because your train was probably cancelled), 9-5, Yoof Culcha (I'm turning into an old fart! I knew that would happen some day!), and Connex South East.

The only thing I don't really like is the fact that there's an art to being a pedestrian and crossing a road. This I have yet to master.

[Arkady]

Go home now? No, but it does form a fairly sizeable portion of my retirement strategy. Once I've sold my house here how much coastline/wine growing area/small country town etc will I be able to afford in the more unfashionable bits of Oz....?

[Dumpvalve]

Defnitely not ready to go home - been in Dubai for several years and still enjoying the laid back life here.

[Da Nephew]

Ferris,

I am sure, if things go a little pear shape in the Gulf[ I sincerely hope they do not ], the family and yourself will be lining up for the Australian taxpayer funded evacuation flight home!!

[ferris]

What's your point?

Had to create a new identity to post that?

Sorry, can't abide cowards.

[AirNoServicesAustralia]

Firstly Da Nephew, I have paid enough tax in 12 years of Tax paying to more than pay for a measly trip home in the back of a Herc.

Secondly, after Bali, Australians more than anyone should understand that nowhere in the world is safe, and if anything the middle of the arab world is probably safer than anywhere. I know I'd prefer to be here than New York City right now.

Thirdly with a wannabe Gangster Rapper name like yours, I know you are too much of a loser to warrant a response, and I should know better, but I know it was probably a fluke for you to harness the mental capacity to find the on button on the computer and you likely won't fluke it again so you'll never get to read this anyway.

[Unrestricted Climb]

No way..!

Working as an expat has its pros and cons, but life is so great here in the Middle East!
I have no intention to go back home before another 15 to 20 years and furthermore I'm not even sure I'll go home when the retirement day rings.
:cool:

[On the beach]

Okay bhoys you've got 39 days and counting to stop Mr. Sports Personality from gettin' back to Abu Dhabi. How you gonna do it?

Dog on Area!!!!! Get out a here!

On the Beach -4.25%

[ferris]

Ever heard that expression "a dog watching television"?

They should set up a web cam and charge.