The things Brit expats miss… and the things they don’t

Life away from the UK has near-endless perks, but some of us will still miss the old country

Life as an expat can be occasionally strange. One minute you will be embracing your new life to the full – language courses, new cuisines, a growing social group drawn from many different countries, an evolving sense of belonging – and before you know it you’re trawling Google Street View of old haunts, sighing wistfully at the battered fish & chip shops, grey skies and slight air of menace and mild decay blinking back at you from your computer screen…

You soon snap out of it, but like an alcoholic in denial, you return again and again, tapping ‘Birmingham New Street’ surreptitiously into Google Maps like some vodka-addled spinster raiding the drinks cabinet.

The urge to embrace the odd home comfort here and there is a strong one that all expats will feel – note the presence of stores on the Costa del Sol that sell foodstuffs like Marmite, Cadbury’s chocolate and Yorkshire Tea as proof – but sometimes it becomes something more: an odd yearning for things you never missed before; a rose-tinted reprisal of a life you were happy to leave behind.

This is only natural for any British expat living abroad. It does not mean you wish to return home, nor does it indicate that life in your new country is unfulfilling. It is simply human nature to miss certain aspects of your upbringing, the place you know better than anywhere.

Which is why it is reassuring to read the results of a recent survey by clothing retailer Cotton Traders that asked 3,500 British expats what they miss most about the UK.

The results may be surprising, but I bet the majority of you will sit there and think “Yep, me too!” While for those yet to make the move but seriously considering it, this survey is a handy checklist of things to remember before you take the plunge.

This is what Brits miss…

Aaah! The English summer…

The weather: Well, one in five do, according to the survey. Yep – the drizzle, the constant puddle-dodging, the soggy trouser bottoms, the inverted umbrella battling yet another unexpected gust, the endless grey skies, the steamed-up bus windows, the nowhere-near-often-enough frost and snow – the UK’s predictably unpredictable weather may be one of the key reasons you moved/wish to move, but it might (emphasis on might) be something you miss when you’re sitting idly around your Spanish swimming pool in November.

The NHS: At least 15 per cent of those polled said that they miss the National Health Service of the UK. Cotton Traders’ survey drew from a wide range of British expats living all over the world, so for many Brits who decide to move to Spain, this is likely to be something they don’t actually miss, given Spain’s own excellent healthcare system that is similar to the NHS.

British pub culture just isn’t the same away from the UK

Humour: This is a big one. Although only one in eight expats said that they miss the British sense of quirky humour and love of culture, one can bet that the real figure would be much higher if the question also encapsulated general politeness, sarcasm and day-to-day interaction. The British way of life is often not best measured in cuisine output, engineering prowess, scientific achievement or architecture (although the country does pretty well on all accounts), but in its cultural output – its TV, its comedians, its music, its art… all of which revolves around us Brits’ love of having a laugh, a self-deprecating joke, and not taking ourselves too seriously.

But Brits don’t miss…

Work/life balance: a whopping 77 per cent of those polled said that their work/life balance is better in their adopted country than it was at home. UK workers still work some of the longest hours in Europe, pay the most proportion of their salary in rent/mortgage, and endure some of the highest commuting costs and longest commuting journeys on the continent. As a result, many Brits are stressed to breaking point – financially as well as physically – and many don’t even know it. Those that have moved abroad do, however, and that is the main thing that keeps them from returning to the UK. Indeed, two-thirds of those polled also said that they have a better social life abroad than they did in the UK – something to do with more money, time and a more outward-looking mentality.

The pace, and cost, of living abroad is often far more agreeable

High living costs: Half of those polled in the survey said that their living costs were lower in their new country, while 89 per cent said that their quality of life is now higher. The first metric is tangible – how much you earn divided by how much you have to pay for things – but that latter metric, quality of life, is often hard to measure. You just know when your life is going better, and for the majority, this happens away from the UK.

Expensive property: Over a quarter (26 per cent) cited affordable housing as one of the things that they love about their new country. Renting or buying a place to live in the UK is expensive – in London, the average monthly mortgage payment is 48 per cent of the average monthly wage, which means that most people spend nearly half of their income on buying a home. The UK also has the smallest new build properties in Europe, so not only is property expensive, it is also tiny. Spain, on the other hand, has perhaps the most robust, rounded and affordable property market on the continent, with every house built under clear blue skies…