Moving from London to Hyd- Final goodbye to Great Britain!!

WglVanitha · Post by **WglVanitha** » Fri May 13, 2016 3:23 pm

The time has come. The journey is over! The pursue of western dreams is ended.

Came to the UK 15 years back for greener pastures, enjoyed every bit that this beautiful country has to offer. Then kids, house, career, came to a stagnant point in life to question ourselves, what next where next. That’s where the decision for new journey into life begins. Yes, it is a journey though we are going back to our own country, we left the shores quite long time back.

I am thankful to this forum in many ways. It took few moments to decide but years to implement in order to get things right. This forum helped a lot, mostly diaries of people and their experiences which has helped to set our expectations. Since then I regularly visited this forum and it used to give me some comfort and developed a virtual socialising form. I’ve been feeding the info to my husband and kids and prepared them mentally.

Today is last day at school for kids (age 11 boy, and 8 girl). Their hearts are filled with emotions.
My last day at work. Everyone is heavy hearted. Husband works from home all the time so no departing from work. He is with mixed feelings but I am the backbone of this decision and planning. Will write more on that later.
Kids gave their teachers and classmates with gifts and sweets, son is having final sleepovers at friend's (which he has made quite a lot since past few weeks), daughter is having final playdate meet ups.

One way journey from Heathrow airport in couple of days. Will write more in detail but wanted to thank this forum very much, it helped us a lot to prepare in all ways.

sweet_honey · Post by **sweet_honey** » Fri May 13, 2016 5:01 pm

Good start. Pls continue to write the diary.

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punjabi · Post by **punjabi** » Fri May 13, 2016 5:36 pm

Nice to see someone r2i from UK. Please keep us updated about this journey to back home.
Are you shipping your belongings and have you secured a job in india

WglVanitha · Post by **WglVanitha** » Fri May 13, 2016 6:38 pm

Punjabi

Yesterday we shipped boxes using Anglo pacific movers. Around 10 boxes of utility, kitchen, kids stuff clothes electronics etc., no furniture.

Now final packing for the suitcases left over the weekend. I am planning to take few months break initially and start looking for. My husband got internal transfer through his Irish company which he works for remotely from London, so that's God's grace and real blessing. Major issue is sorted. My focus will be kids and hubby settling down. I am the starter for R2I, so I will be taking full care and support for them until the kids understand and adapt living in India.

desi4ever · Post by **desi4ever** » Fri May 13, 2016 11:07 pm

WglVanitha, Which part of India are you going to live in ? Good luck in your move. Its quite an emotional drain when you are moving from one country to another.

backin5 · Post by **backin5** » Sat May 14, 2016 12:28 am

desi4ever;630716WglVanitha, Which part of India are you going to live in ? Good luck in your move. Its quite an emotional drain when you are moving from one country to another.

I am going purely by the display name and I guess she is from the Warangal a part of Telangana State

Trafford · Post by **Trafford** » Sat May 14, 2016 12:43 am

All the best Vanitha. Really nice to see a diary getting initiated for someone returning from UK to India. I will be watching with keen interest as I will be following the footsteps early next year. However I am perplexed with your timings of movement!

It would be near impossible to secure school admission in India for your kids since new school year starts in April in India and admission process for that generally closes by Dec/ Jan. Your kids must be in year3 & year6, I guess. Have you secured school admission from them or will you sort that after reaching India?

Have you sold your house or giving on long term rental?

Pls keep posting as some of us from UK will be keenly watching this thread pls

Cheers and all the best again

WglVanitha · Post by **WglVanitha** » Sat May 14, 2016 5:13 am

@Desi4ever,

thank you for the wishes. As backin5 guessed I am from Warangal, Telangana state and moving to Hyderabad, Telangana. Husband is also from Hyd.
Since the IT base is in Hyd, and the plan was to move to close to family and relatives, that has become our destination. Brother and in-laws are also living in Hyd and I can reach mum in hometown in 4-5 hours.

@Trafford,
this was all planned very well and not a sudden decision. Short listed 3-4 schools by choosing the location and reviews (thanks to parentree.in and r2iforum) Visited schools in India in last February, liked apartments near the school too. Had kids assessments then came back to England and the final date was planned in May. Rest everything happened online. Confirmed the schools for admissions, paid fees all done.

Apartment search also finalised at that time itself. Liked one, bought one though it sounds like hasty I did quite a lot of research on internet and went by instinct.

Home in London- a bit of story on this. We had a nice end terrace home in London. But once the decision was made 3 years back we decided to sell it which was utterly wrong decision it seems (? don't know). the idea was to downsize the mortgage and buy flat which we delayed and the prices skyrocketed in London.
Ironically we bought flat in manchester close to city centre, most of mortgage paid, now tenanted via agency and treat this as extra income.

Not sure if it was good or bad decision to sell house but I didn't wanted to have big ties which might be troublesome to manage from abroad. Flat on the other hand is different, light weight I guess.

Started contracting (both in IT) 3 years back. Fully paid flat in nice gated community with people around me is more than enough than half million empty home in London with just both of us, after the kids leave the nest. Oh yeah, they might call in for Christmas and Easter to say hi Ma, hi Da.

Can't imagine old age in country other than where I belong to. When my friends think that I am crazy to leave all this ask why and what is there in India. I simply smile and say it's home and that's where i belong to. BMWs, Benz cars and massive homes cannot be everything in life. Comforts, luxuries are needed to an extent.There are little things in India that are priceless to me. I don't elaborate much as they too know the answer.

So far to everyone we told we are leaving, I only heard 'I wish I was in your place', 'we too have plans but don't know when that will happen'.

Praying God to give me strength to sustain everything, want to go with low expectations there and make it a success. My main concern is with kids and husband adjusting.

poofygoogle · Post by **poofygoogle** » Sat May 14, 2016 8:26 am

Best wishes for the move and do keep posting your experiences. Staying tuned for more updates..

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desi4ever · Post by **desi4ever** » Sat May 14, 2016 8:30 am

[QUOTE] My main concern is with kids and husband adjusting.
There is a saying "As long as the momma is happy everyone is happy". Since you are the one that has initiated and took the decision to R2I , you need to remain stay focused on R2I execution. Having "low expectations" definitely helps and also be prepared to be surprised ( good or bad cant say till you find out yourself ). Anyways for you if dont give an opportunity to your husband to say "see I told you ..This is how India is..." then you have won half the battle. Your kids should be able to adjust quicker though.