Well, it's official: DH and I will be relocating to Cambridge from Canada in July/August for his work! I've been lurking on the UK tax board and various journals, but now we have confirmation I feel confident about starting my own relocation thread. I've read through
@Kwill's and it was super useful.
A bit about us:
I'm 32, Australian, and a chemical engineer by training, but I haven't had the chance to work in that field. My main working background is in research science (~5 years). I came to Canada on a university exchange in 2014, met a Canadian, fell in love, etc. I went back and forth between Australia and Canada while I finished my degree, then moved over at the end of 2015. We ended up in a town about 4 hours north of Toronto and I've been in survival mode job-wise since then as there isn't much engineering work. I ran a brewery for a year, attempted to be a mechanical engineer (lasted 5 months), worked at a ski hill as a Jill of all trades, and now I have a great little contract with the local cycling advocacy group.
DH is 37, Canadian, and has a cushy job with the government. Of the two of us, I am the frugal one, but he has made admirable progress in being steered towards a less spendy lifestyle. He will be working outside Cambridge, but we are hoping to live closer to downtown and have him ride out to work on the busway. He is a Cyclist (yes, with a capital C) so this commute would be perfect for him.
We are incredibly fortunate that our living costs in Cambridge will be subsidised, so that lifts a huge cost off our shoulders. At the moment my living expenses are ~$CA1100 a month, so ~#650. I'm really hoping I can manage to live on around #800 a month, and I would be really interested to hear if you think that sounds feasible (or if I can do better!).
I lived in the UK 10 years ago, in London (not Shepherd's Bush!), Edinburgh, and remote northwest Scotland. I worked minimum wage jobs (serving, bar tending, packing smoked salmon, the usual) and was one of those skint Australian backpackers you see taking leftover food off other people's plates and lurking near the Pret dumpsters at closing time (not really; we only ever fantasised about being brave enough to do that). I'm looking forward to experiencing the UK and Europe as a Real Adult with a (slightly) higher disposable income. It will be odd living there as an Australian-who-lives-in-Canada-now, and the question "Where are you from?" will give me some pause. But overall it's an amazing opportunity and Cambridge looks like a great city to live in.
It is a seemingly trivial thing, but I am also really excited to get back to *my language*. Hello boot, footpath, chips, car park! Catch you later trunk, sidewalk, fries and parking lot! I think I have already started to revert because tonight I referred to fries as chips, which I haven't done for years. My brain will have a meltdown when we do return to Canada.
Also, as anyone who has read more than three of my posts will know, I am excited about clotted cream. This amazing product barely exists in Canada, and when it does it's incredibly expensive, is shipped over from the UK, and has an expiry date about 6 months in the future. I'm guessing it's half cream, half plastic.
I think that about covers the basics. I will have a thousand questions over the next few months and I have a feeling this forum will save my bacon. I look forward to chatting with all of you and maybe meeting you on the other side of the pond!