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UK Expats - what do you miss from home?

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    WolfsheadishWolfsheadish Posts: 10,400
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    I thought that countries like the US, Canada and Australia had the biggest selection of crisps in the world! :eek:

    I can assure you that Canada doesn't! :o
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    SchmiznurfSchmiznurf Posts: 4,434
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    My friends, my family, British food which is unfortunately difficult to get in a small town.
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    Victoria SpongeVictoria Sponge Posts: 16,645
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    Have they tried making their own baked beans? It's really easy and they taste just like (or better than) the tinned kind.
    Doubt it...they hate cooking. And to be honest I wouldn't fancy cooking them either because of having to soak the beans overnight and then cooking them for hours.
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    StarpussStarpuss Posts: 12,845
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    I thought of something else too! Queuing!

    I loved where I lived but the non-queuing thing drove me batty. Have some decorum people!
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    Eater SundaeEater Sundae Posts: 10,000
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    I haven't moved to Brasil (yet) but one thing I do miss is the selection of crisps from back home. Going into any supermarket/corner shop and seeing loads and loads of choices (I think I read that the UK have the biggest selection of crisps on Earth). In Brasil there's only about six different types!

    Same with breakfast cereals. Masses of choice back home. Here there's a handful. They don't even have Weetabix, lucky I brought some with me.

    Also, they do not have Indian spices to buy. So I brought a shit load of spices with me and threw a large dinner party, serving up my home made chicken curry.

    I guess I miss being able to communicate properly with people (language barrier) but I'm slowly learning to speak Portuguese and I hope to be fluent one day. That would be my dream.

    I never buy flavoured crisps in the UK.. But when I'm abroad, I often buy the plain crisps in simple polythene bags that are sold in most supermarkets.

    I worked in the middle east in the early 80s. A good range of bottled beers and spirits (but not wines) were available (via a 3 hour round trip) once I had got a licence (based on me proving I wasn't a muslim). I'm not a spirit drinker, but the beers were fine (although mostly European lagers). There were occasions when I really fancied a glass or two of wine. Also, a pint or two of draught beer.

    The same 3 hour round trip would give me access to some pretty poor bacon and pork sausages, but I didn't bother. Before going out there I'd expected to miss bacon sandwiches, but in fact I didn't.

    Once I'd got used to the food that was on offer, I can't think of anything else in particular that I missed. I remember some friends arriving back from leave, just before Christmas, and bringing sticks (if that's what they're called) of sprouts, ready for Christmas dinner.

    There is one thing I miss, now I'm back home. The only place we buy alcohol to drink while we were out was the only international hotel in town. The beer wasn't great, but they used to serve free peanuts at the bar. They were gorgeous, but I've never tasted anything like them before or since. They weren't salted or seasoned, but they had a more savoury taste than normal peanuts. In fact, for all I know they may be something else, but I assumed they were peanuts.
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    BanglaRoadBanglaRoad Posts: 57,595
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    I travel to SE Asia a lot and I miss decent cheese, bacon and tea. All these things are readily available but are just not the same. Having said that there is so much great stuff to eat over there that you just do not get in the UK you soon forget about what you are missing:)
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    LushnessLushness Posts: 38,170
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    I never planned to move here but this is my second visit in three months, I love this place and it feels like home. I'm liking the idea of living part time here and part time back in the UK. I could possibly have a business here (small town in Brasil) making cakes, there's a big market for it and many of the locals are saying that no one currently offers cakes like mine (going by the portfolio I've shown them).

    The main thing is, in order to even think about having a working life here, I must learn to speak enough Portuguese to communicate. My friend says my progress is pretty good though. But, we'll see. Also, I'll have to ask the Brasilian consulate whether they'll even let me come for extended periods.

    And the petrol...in Brasil one doesn't even have to leave one's car to fill up. Just hand them your card, tell them how much R$ worth you want, then they fill it up. I think that's pretty cool.

    Sounds so exciting! Good luck :)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,924
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    Loving this thread Victoria. Our mortgage will be paid off in 2017 and we are planning o selling our house and moving abroad. Himself fancies France and I will just follow. We are giving ourselves lots of time to thoroughly research the housing, taxes etc, healthcare, etc etc. We are planning on going over later in the year for a holiday and to start viewing houses to see what is available and for what price. Good luck for your new life. Sounds exciting. :)
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    ChocolateCheeseChocolateCheese Posts: 3,537
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    I can assure you that Canada doesn't! :o

    Do they have roast chicken flavour? It's just nowhere near me sells such flavour crisps. :(
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    WanderinWonderWanderinWonder Posts: 3,719
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    Lushness wrote: »
    Sounds so exciting! Good luck :)

    It really does. :)

    I would love to divide my time between two countries, sounds a great lifestyle. :)
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    WolfsheadishWolfsheadish Posts: 10,400
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    Do they have roast chicken flavour? It's just nowhere near me sells such flavour crisps. :(

    No, I don't think so. Certainly I've never seen it.
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    Bulletguy1Bulletguy1 Posts: 18,429
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    What do i "miss" most when out of the UK? High prices on almost everything.

    It doesn't take long to get used to missing that! ;-)
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    oilmanoilman Posts: 4,529
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    Pubs. In spite of "English pubs" over here they just can't get it righ t.

    Blimey - I live in Scotland and miss English Pubs!
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    Stiffy78Stiffy78 Posts: 26,260
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    As a rule, I tend to embrace the differences whenever I'm in a different country.

    As a rule, it's usually the small things which irritate me most because it seems like there's no good reason why they should be different.

    Stuff like a lot of supermarkets in Europe not having a decent variety of cheese or bread, garages expecting you to pay for fuel before you stick it in your car and bars getting all confused when you try to pay after buying a drink.

    Guess it depends on the countries, areas and establishments chosen but I usually find a much more exciting variety of both of these more readily available than I can find here.
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    postitpostit Posts: 23,839
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    When I loved in America I hated the fact that their butter was so pale, and the cheese, oh my word, the cheese was abysmal.

    Had I lived on either coasts though it would have been a different story, but I lived in Okla-bloody-homa, where they'd never heard of something as simple as pate >:(
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    CaptainObvious_CaptainObvious_ Posts: 3,881
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    Just mainly the food. New food was exciting for about the first 3 months now I just crave some normal bacon, and yes Baked Beans. I thought I'd never say this but I'm so fed up of sausages. Constant sausage!

    I miss the sense of humour too.

    And obviously a decent cuppa. That goes without saying. It's weird, you can buy all the good English tea out here, but the water is just too hard. Even if you filter it, it still tastes funny. And the milk is so creamy it all goes horribly wrong :(

    Where are you?

    I'm guessing Germany


    I love threads like these!
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    BanglaRoadBanglaRoad Posts: 57,595
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    oilman wrote: »
    Blimey - I live in Scotland and miss English Pubs!

    That reminds me! I really do miss proper Scotch pies fresh from the bakers Can't get them in England or not that I have seen anyway
    Love those pies:):):)
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    TakaeTakae Posts: 13,555
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    The familiarity of British television
    The NHS
    Bookshops
    General street advertisements
    Casual (British) cultural references in conversations
    High Street shop names
    Kettles
    Cookers
    Certain foods
    Certain sweets
    Certain drinks

    I missed those a lot when I was living overseas. Especially Diet Coke. It tasted different in each country. Yup, I prefer UK Diet Coke.
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    balthasarbalthasar Posts: 2,824
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    Tea. it goes without saying. I can find Earl Grey but I miss PG tips in a mug.
    Sometimes I get a craving for a full English breakfast with lashings of brown sauce.!
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    muggins14muggins14 Posts: 61,844
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    When I lived abroad the thing I missed most was a good cup of tea. I lived in California in 1983, the water was soft - almost bubbly - and the tea available to me was Liptons. I could not wait to get home and have a good cup after a year away!

    This was what most of the ex-pats missed when we lived abroad as kids, the mums and dads would talk about it a lot as I recall. My Mum used to have Twinings tea exported for a time, but after years of struggling gave up drinking tea and hasn't touched a cup since around 1974!
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    TellystarTellystar Posts: 12,253
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    balthasar wrote: »
    Tea. it goes without saying. I can find Earl Grey but I miss PG tips in a mug.
    Sometimes I get a craving for a full English breakfast with lashings of brown sauce.!

    No need to go without a full English, wherever you are in the world.
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    RobinOfLoxleyRobinOfLoxley Posts: 27,040
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    Television. Nothing so soul destroying as being stuck on your own and no decent telly of an evening.
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    lemoncurdlemoncurd Posts: 57,778
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    I think I could emigrate as long as I could be sure that there was a ready supply of prawn cocktail and Worcestershire sauce flavoured crisps. Is there anywhere abroad that sells these in supermarkets?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 79
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    I'm in Oz now and I miss most of all the BBC,especially the radio during the day.

    The ABC tries it's best but it's doesn't cut the mustard I'm afraid.
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    WolfsheadishWolfsheadish Posts: 10,400
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    I'm in Oz now and I miss most of all the BBC,especially the radio during the day.

    The ABC tries it's best but it's doesn't cut the mustard I'm afraid.

    John, are you not able to listen to it on-line?
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