I'm Melissa Buckler Smith, from Maryland, US.

I met my husband on-line. After almost 5 years of a long distance relationship, I was granted a Visa to marry him in January 2011. I moved to the North West of England in February and we were married in May. I was able to come for six months the previous year. I used that time to make sure this move was what we both wanted and to insure I could live here. When I returned to the US to start the Visa process I knew there was no where else I wanted to be. I also brought my cats with me from the US.   more ...

I'm a 30-something southern belle expat from the US. I've spent the last year adapting to all things British including Victorian plumbing, the value of wellies and a new found acceptance of full fat dairy products.

After deciding I needed to shake things up a bit in my life, I moved here in May 2009.   more ...

I am a 41yr old Aussie girl from Melbourne who has loved living in the UK for the last 7 (almost) years. I love reading, cooking, eating, music, travelling, watching tv talent shows - oh, and blogging!

I left my settled and comfortable life in Melbourne and arrived at Heathrow Airport in January 2004. The catalyst for the rather sudden decision (a week in November the previous year) was running late so me and my 2 super huge suitcases sat in the grey dawn of Terminal 4 and wondered how all this was going to work out. But I just knew that this was the next 'journey' for me, no matter how it looked right then or turned out in the future.   more ...

I'm CK. That's the initials to my name and after awhile, people around me just call me that. I suspect they've forgotten about what my actual name is and I'm not about to remind them.

Moved to London in the summer of 2007 with my wife. Well, there was an opportunity and it was then or never so here we are. How time flies, come to think of it.


What challenges did you face during the move?

Irony is that both of us have never set foot into London prior to our move. On hindsight, it was pretty foolhardy. I mean, plenty could have gone wrong as we knew no one here to begin with and had to figure everything out from scratch. We spent quite sometime trying to figure out the Tube and finding accommodation.   more ...

My name is Melissa Richards-Stoey. I moved to England in 1988 as a member of the U.S. Air Force. I joined the military with the intention of travelling and I chose England as my first choice for duty station. I had been an Anglophile since the age of 13 so going to England had always been a dream of mine.


What challenges did you face during the move?

I didn't know a single soul, not even another American. I was supposed to be picked up at Gatwick by a bus that would take me to RAF Chicksands where I was to be stationed. The bus never showed, so there I was in an airport in a new country with no idea of how to get to where I needed to go. All I could think to do was jump in a cab. Sixty pounds later I arrived at my new home.   more ...