What would you miss if you were to emigrate?

Canada is a wonderful country—much more space than there are people.

I might like to live in the south of France or in Greece.

I would miss the greenery of the UK… trees, fields etc etc. I would also miss the many historical buildings… but most of all I would miss the moors where I live.
If I were to move then perhaps I would prefer somewhere warmer, but on the whole I love where I am now.
My neighbours moved to Canada three years ago. They love the country but detest the weather.

I would go to a Scandinavian country; probably Norway. I understand they have a high standard of living as well as a non-ridiculous criminal justice system. Plus, I like cold weather! I hate sweating.

I would also consider the UK; the birthplace of the mini skirt has got to be a cool place to hang. Not to mention i love British accents and British slang; I’d totally start saying “init”, “blood”, etc.

I wouldn’t want to leave the Unites States, though. I am American. My family has been in the US since at least the Revolutionary War, I don’t see any real reason to uproot myself anytime soon.

I would miss the weed sold in stores, the easy bike riding anywhere, my favourite foods. People look different everywhere. I would miss the Dutch girls. I would miss the fact you can curse by saying nearly anything.

Learning how to grow weed and make my favourite dishes from basic ingredients, so if I should tie up a girl, throw her in the trunk of my car and move somewhere ridiculous I’d be fine.

American beer being cheap.

I recently moved (not to a different country mind you) from Baltimore, Maryland to Raleigh, NC. Even though it wasn’t a huge distance, I really miss my old home a LOT. I think the thing I miss the most is the network of people I had there. Friends are always tough to replace. Of course, you will always meet new people.

I also miss living in a city. It just seemed like everything was closer. I also made more money at my job in Baltimore.

Anyway, the weather is very nice here.

If I were to move anywhere though, I would probably move to Colorado.

I live in the SF Bay Area. I am planning to retire 225 miles north in Shingletown.
I am dreading the loss of culture, from foreign foods to foreign films. I am also worried about the loss of tolerence (Shingletown is in a very Republican, Red-Neck area).
And yet I can’t wait.

Would miss cheeseburgers and the ocean. Would like to move to a country with socialized medicine and a greater regard for the public good (Canada? England?)

I’d love to move England, but I’d really miss the good cooking and good plumbing America has. What would really be best is if Canada and England just switched places on the map, and I could just drive back and forth.

Right now, it saddens me to say I wouldn’t miss living in the UK at all and if I were to leave it would be lovely to live somewhere warm like Australia. Maybe its just a reaction to the cold snap we’re having (and the snow thats coming our way according to the weather folk on tv) or just how my mood is right now. Don’t know. I do love my home, but you can’t turn on the tv without doom and gloom being everywhere, we’re stuck with this coalition government who are more Tory than Tory, although still better (God help us) than the shower who got kicked out, Brown was turning us into a police state and….<sighs> I could write pages on what was wrong with the last government…. nope, the question was what would I miss?...... nope, nothing right now. Not even a little bit. I feel very sad now at that thought. Very sad indeed.

ENGLISH MUFFINS!! I was in Spain for five months last year and missed them soooo much. Do other countries besides the US (and probably Canada) have them?

Besides English Muffins, I don’t think I would miss much about the US. I certainly wouldn’t miss our corrupt health care system and all the Tea Partiers just elected to office. I would not miss the men in my life watching [American] football all the time. The one thing I would miss is my family, so I’d have to bring them with me if (when) I emigrated.

@papayalily if we could switch Canada with the UK (England is just a quarter of the country honey) I’d dance, it would put a decent distance between us and the EU madness, (the madness being that we’re still a part of it when a massive proportion of the population want to get us the hell out of it) don’t think Canada would like it though.
<huggles> xx

I’d go to New Zealand. Beautiful place that is well developed yet kind of out of the way of the rest of the world. You are close to Southeast Asia if you want some cool places to go touring. It just sounds lovely.

I’m not sure what I would miss. Well, yes I am. I would miss my friends and my dance group. I would miss my musician friends. Community is why it is unlikely I’ll ever move anywhere else. Building a network of friends is very difficult, and not something to be tossed away lightly, if at all.

@bunnygrl Think of it. We could teach you to cook and redo your plumbing system, and you could teach us how to properly brew a cup of tea and be witty!

LOL <hugs> and there was me thinking that folk loved Scottish food :-) Despite the opinion of the popular press not everyone in Scotland lives on fried food and takeaways. I am embarrassed to admit that I haven’t ever been able to bring myself to try haggis, not even once (hubby adores it though) I was told as a child how it was made and well….. yuk. I like to think I make a mean pot of stovies and hubby loves my homemade soup. Some help with the plumbing during flooding would be nice though our drainage system really is hellish LOL
huggles xx

@bunnygrl I haven’t had Scottish food (yet) but when I was in London and Bath, I couldn’t believe that all these restaurants were open – in the US, they’d last less than a week. It’s not a recipe thing (mostly…) it’s a technique thing – like not knowing how to make toast without burning it, etc.

But I won’t have haggis. It haunts my nightmares.

ooooooooo I know what you mean about the burnt toast thing and the smell!!!! there isn’t enough yuk in the world to describe the smell of burnt toast :-( hubby does it all the time. I really don’t like to eat out very often, honestly I prefer home cooking, even when its just simple things, like tonight I’m making Macaroni cheese (I like to add garlic to my cheese sauce). I also like to know exactly what I’m eating. I have an ingrained fear (possibly due to all of these expose programes on tv showing kitchens you wouldn’t wish a rodent to have to live in) of kitchens that I don’t have a hand in cleaning lol.

@papayalily – please don’t send us so far away! :)

This question was actually something I had to think about last year. I was planning to do my MA in Italy, and when that fell through, I was accepted to the University of Wisconsin, where I would’ve gone to do both MA and PhD. (Finances turned out to be a big factor – university in the US is much more expensive than here.)

I’d miss the free health care, good beer, hockey fans, winter… But most of all I think I’d miss the general Canadian-ness. I’ll admit that I’ve never spent a prolonged period of time in the US (no more than a couple of weeks), and I’m not pooping on the country, but the general sense of community seems stronger to me here. I know that’s in large part due to the fact that I’ve been Canadian all my life, but it just seems to me that we’re more accepting of everyone – different religions, colours, languages, etc.

I’d miss being able to walk down the street and hear 4 different languages being spoken. I’d miss the signs on the bank window saying that they can serve customers in 5 languages. I’d miss the fact that the whole country tunes in to CBC at 7pm on Saturday for Hockey Night in Canada. I’d miss that feeling of pride that comes after Team Canada wins an international tournament. I’d miss having to press 1 for English or 2 for French. I’d miss being able to get a large double-double any time of day or night. I’d miss poutine. I’d miss ketchup chips. I’d miss cigarettes that don’t taste “American”. I’d miss going to a specific store to buy my beer or liquor.

Wow, that was a lot longer than I had intended :)

The food. Oh, the food…

@Seelix Think of the benefits though – if you moved out of Canada, you’d probably be forced to stop saying “eh?” every five minutes.

@FutureMemory – It’s more like every 7½ minutes, thank you :P

@Seelix Don’t you mean “thank you, eh”?

This just goes to show that Canadians really are good-natured. We think we are, and everyone else does, too… Why else would there be so much ribbing, eh?

I always thought it was ribbed for her pleasure…

Not much and now would be a good time to get out of Dodge….this ship is sinking fast.

Australia would be my first choice, the country of my birth…. We left when I was too young to know the place so that would be the incentive.. Also New Zealand & maybe Canada too…… what would I miss the most?? Family of course & the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland too & the Lake district where I’ve spent many happy hours, nothing much else as the UK seems to be on the brink of self destruct, maybe it is time to move on!? :-/
I guess people are the same pretty much wherever you go, maybe that’s why I stay!? :-/

Yes, apparently Canada is supposed to be amazing with the most lovely people… I would just miss the general familiarity of everything… and of course my family if I left them… which I wouldn’t

I would miss my friends, and my weekly folk music club. But I am sure I would make new friends, and I can always manage to find music wherever I go.

We considered emigrating to Canada at one point (we have family there already) but the cold winters put me right off. I can’t handle a British winter, never mind a Canadian one.

I wouldn’t leave. I like it here (Canada).

I did emigrate (for a while) and I missed the hills of Scotland and oddly enought the cold and the rain. I was in the Deep South of the USA, where CSA doesn’t stand for Child Support Agency and where the rain was tropical and warm and heavy and to be avoided.

I loved the USA and now I love Australia so I have dual citizenship, it is the best of both worlds.
There is no perfect country, Australia has socialized medicine and it has its flaws, like a guy was just told he had to wait 8 years in his community for a dentist appointment. Some of its social welfare programs are way superior to USA some are woefully behind. If you’re looking for paradise, I think you gotta croak (if you believe in paradise).

I miss Tasty Kakes, Lebanon Bologna, root beer, sausage that is not red and made out of petroleum products, Pepperidge Farm cookies and American hot dogs. I used to say Hellman’s mayo but I just found an asian brand I like even better.

@wundayatta – NZ is too damned cold, a friend just moved there from the NT and he said it has rained every day for the last 6 months. That is probably an exaggeration but you get the gist. Tropical oz is the best!!!

@flutherother What does CSA stand for in the South?

@FutureMemory Confederate States of America

In the late 80ies when we lived in the US I missed the Bundesliga soccer games. At the time there was no world wide web or cable with European channels.

Definitly I would miss the food the greenery and the accents of the people. The British accent is one of the coolest accents in the world.

@EGGIE – but there are sooooo many British accents!