Mixed emotions about my move to Tenerife

[tracey_in_tenerife]

Well its 6 days and me and the 4 kids and 2 boxer puppies will be flying out, husband and friends are half way through portugal driving his car and mine

Im excited for the move but also sad, i know im only 4 1/2 hours flight away and i think that is the way i have to look at it but having to say goodbye to everyone next week will be hard every though i will be visiting frequently.

one minute im :)
one minute im rolleyes2:
one minute im :spin:

[Suej]

Well its 6 days and me and the 4 kids and 2 boxer puppies will be flying out, husband and friends are half way through portugal driving his car and mine

Im excited for the move but also sad, i know im only 4 1/2 hours flight away and i think that is the way i have to look at it but having to say goodbye to everyone next week will be hard every though i will be visiting frequently.

one minute im :)
one minute im rolleyes2:
one minute im :spin:

This is the most natural feeling in the world and you must just keep thinking positive and of all the reasons you are coming here! It´s an adventure I´m sure you won´t regret! Please don´t fret it will be fine! enjoy yourselves here it´s a lovely place to be! Good luck!:wave:

[Goforgold]

Hopefully once you're settled in you will be able to keep in touch with family and friends via the internet and webcam - which is great for bringing you all closer together.

Good luck in your move :)

[DapaTenerife]

Good luck tracey,its a great place to live and bring kids up.

[karinagal]

All the very best Tracey to you and yours - remember you have all of us here to fall back on when you need a laugh, a moan or a rant!! It's really not that far away - I'm back and forward every couple of weeks!

Good luck, be strong and stay positive!

Love and hugs

Karina
:)

[slodgedad]

Completely normal feelings. I remember them well.

After all the planning and the exhilaration the day to go approaches and all the buried worries and doubts rear their ugly head.

Ignore 'em. They are completely natural. I would be more worried if you didn't have them.

Good luck with your move and welcome to Paradise on earth.

[Suej]

What nice words Slodge!:)

[Tinkabel]

You'll love it i'm sure, it's a huge adventure and naturally it's scary, but with the help of internet and phone calls you can get in touch with family and friends as often as you like.
Try not to worry too much just enjoy and thin of all the extra new friends and experences you're going to have.
Good Luck. x

[lesbroz]

It is only natural to be worried. But there will always be friends here on the forum who will be willing and able to help you through any worries. Good Luck, Relax and Enjoy.

[Jackie]

Tracey, as others have said all those feelings are natural. I think while preparing for the move there are so many things to keep your mind occupied that you really don't have time to think about it, you just seem to go into autopilot planning and arranging everything. Although I was 110% sure that we were doing the right thing moving here, it wasn't until we were actually on the plane going along the runway ready for take off that it really hit home we was on a one way flight. I even shed a few tears on the plane because this was probably the first time I had time to sit and think about the people I was going to miss. Give it a few weeks and you will feel like you have lived here forever. With all the ways of communicating now it is such a small world. You have so much to look forward to, Good Luck

[ali marshall]

I know exactly how you feel tracy.I left uk with 2 kids and 3 suitcases and the rest i left there lol. 7 years down the line im still here,not been easy but if you got your partner and kids you will soon settle.

You will soon make friends through the forum,i have made some great friends here,i do miss my family but after time you begin to forget the rat race in uk and get use to the mananas here.

Lot of family said to me you soon be back how wrong they was and i always think well if it did not work out least i gave it the shot,so glad i did.

Best of luck with your move scary times but im sure you will be fine and any question we all here to help.

[cainaries]

I think you're very brave to do it without your OH to hold your hand even though I quite understand about driving the cars down, etc.

Night before we left we'd booked a (tatty) hotel at Heathrow. When we checked in they gave us the registration card to fill in 'with your home address' and we both nearly fainted. What was our 'home' address ... yup .. the one here, only home we had. We laugh about it now but my God it made me panic at the time.

If you weren't worried, then people would worry about you. It will be just fine and everyone here has been through it so you're not alone.

[timmylish]

As a person who,s home has been here for something like 22 years now I think the only things I can say is that you WILL feel something which people call "homesickness". Hopefully that will not come along until you have been here 6 months or so, longer hopefully, 'cause you,ll be too busy with all the changes and dealing with paperwork, schools and the like. Once you feel this "lost" feeling, sit down and try to be totally honest with yourself. Look around and see the wonderful new world which opened up to you. You,re lucky. Many will never be able to do what you have and are doing. The day that you call Tenerife your "home" and not the UK you have finally arrived. I know that you think this odd but, its true. Watch on here and see those of us who refer to here as home, not just somewhere you are currently living.
I sincerely wish you and your family all the very best in coming to your new home. As others have said, more eloquently than me, this place offers you all the help which me and others never had (sounds like your Da' telling you that) when we landed. Again, as had been said, make full use of the internet, get out of the "holiday mode" asap, the sun 'aint going nowhere!

[mony71]

grasp this chance with both hands,i had the chance 14 years ago. my father enlaw was there business was booming,he sorted schools for my 3 and 4 year old daughters,a job in the building game for my husband an apartment for us..everything, my nerves and doubts got the better of me and 6 weeks before i bottled out,caused a lot of heart ache between me and hubby,i believed i was doing the right thing but omg how wrong was i.

my father inlaw was killed 8 years ago in an accident in tenerife so that was our ties cut,even though we have friends out there now,we are dubious about moving out,but if you are packed and ready to go then do it,go. whats the worst that can happen,you move back,well at least you had the backbone to go in the first place. i wish i would have done it,i would do it tomorrow but becuse my hubby has lost his dad he feels he wont ever get work(his dad was a biggy in the building trade) but you go enjoy,dont look back its a better life for your kids and you,good luck and enjoy

[princessmonika]

yes good luck, you love tenerife - at the moment i go there 1or 2 month at a time, but will be there soon to retire,it it the best place on earth-- i love it, made new friends- live is great in the sun--:wave:

[DeeD]

And believe me, you will probably see more of friends and family once you are living here. They will all be wanting to come for holidays!

[Jackie]

As a person who,s home has been here for something like 22 years now I think the only things I can say is that you WILL feel something which people call "homesickness". Hopefully that will not come along until you have been here 6 months or so, longer hopefully, 'cause you,ll be too busy with all the changes and dealing with paperwork, schools and the like. Once you feel this "lost" feeling, sit down and try to be totally honest with yourself. Look around and see the wonderful new world which opened up to you. You,re lucky. Many will never be able to do what you have and are doing. The day that you call Tenerife your "home" and not the UK you have finally arrived. I know that you think this odd but, its true. Watch on here and see those of us who refer to here as home, not just somewhere you are currently living.
I sincerely wish you and your family all the very best in coming to your new home. As others have said, more eloquently than me, this place offers you all the help which me and others never had (sounds like your Da' telling you that) when we landed. Again, as had been said, make full use of the internet, get out of the "holiday mode" asap, the sun 'aint going nowhere!

That is so true Timmy, I hear so many people saying they are 'going home' to see family/friends, meaning the UK. When any of my family and friends ask me 'when are you coming home to see us' I tell them I am home and they are more than welcome to come and see me here.

[cainaries]

grasp this chance with both hands,i had the chance 14 years ago. my father enlaw was there business was booming,he sorted schools for my 3 and 4 year old daughters,a job in the building game for my husband an apartment for us..everything, my nerves and doubts got the better of me and 6 weeks before i bottled out,caused a lot of heart ache between me and hubby,i believed i was doing the right thing but omg how wrong was i.

my father inlaw was killed 8 years ago in an accident in tenerife so that was our ties cut,even though we have friends out there now,we are dubious about moving out,but if you are packed and ready to go then do it,go. whats the worst that can happen,you move back,well at least you had the backbone to go in the first place. i wish i would have done it,i would do it tomorrow but becuse my hubby has lost his dad he feels he wont ever get work(his dad was a biggy in the building trade) but you go enjoy,dont look back its a better life for your kids and you,good luck and enjoy

You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. I'm sure you thought you were doing the right thing at the time. It was one of those crossroads in life and you chose a certain path and now you wish you'd chosen another one. But you don't know what would have happened if you had chosen it. Might have moved and hated it and had to have packed up and moved back causing even more heart-ache. I do wish I could see what would have happened if I had chosen the other path at certain points in my life.

[KirstyJay]

I arrived here 11 years ago on my own...from Greece... and have made my family here, so it was not quite the same for me, however my advice is, throughout your time in Tenerife, be it permanent, or if you decide it's not for you, keep with us here on the forum, as I have found that I may not have my real family here, but my forum family are more than supportive for any problems I have.

Anyway... your real family back in the UK will be DYING for an excuse to take loads of holidays ;) :D

[MaxineC]

We moved here almost 8 years ago, and though I'd lived here before, it was still hard packing up and saying goodbye to everybody... even now, I still have the odd pangs of 'homesickness', but's it's mainly for things & people - usually when I see pictures/hear stories of parties/events that have happened in my absence, though I have much more quality time with my friends & family when they visit us here.

What you're feeling is perfectly natural, allow yourself those emotions... Once you're here, you'll have a whole new adventure ahead of you, and there's a lovely network of people that will give you all the support & help you need in settling down. The very best of luck to you all ;)

[KirstyJay]

I still have the odd pangs of 'homesickness', but's it's mainly for things & people - usually when I see pictures/hear stories of parties/events that have happened in my absence

Once you're here, you'll have a whole new adventure ahead of youAnd all your mate in the UK will have pangs of sickness that they are missing the sun you have and come and visit you! :D

[tracey_in_tenerife]

Thanks Guys, i am really looking forward to moving over, even when we come over for the full six weeks holidays i never want to come home.
My only wish is for my children to settle in school and enjoy the life we are going to create for ourselves in Tenerife, my children happy = happy mummy.

[ali marshall]

Tracy how old are your children???My sons were 8 when we moved over.I put them into a spanish school as i belive it was important for them to speak spanish.The first year was hard for them as they missed there friends etc.

I even put them on school dinners, after 3 months i knew was wasting my money so gave up with that one as they just would not eat the food,6 years later they will eat anything.

My twins now have many friends,mainly spanish and they no longer speak about wanting to go back to the uk.It does take older children longer to adapt but by them being at school they will soon make friends.

[dotty1]

Good luck Tracy and enjoy your new life in Tenerife

[tracey_in_tenerife]

Tracy how old are your children???My sons were 8 when we moved over.I put them into a spanish school as i belive it was important for them to speak spanish.The first year was hard for them as they missed there friends etc.

I even put them on school dinners, after 3 months i knew was wasting my money so gave up with that one as they just would not eat the food,6 years later they will eat anything.

My Boys are 10, 7 and 4 and will also be going to Spanish scholl at Tijoco Bajo, i will have my little girl who is 17 months at home with me until she is school age, i may look at a nursery at some point for maybe a couple of days a week, just so she can mingle and i can have some mummy time but thats not important at the moment, im not letting the boys do the school meals thing yet, i think their day will be long and draining enough without an extra hour and half of eating time and they are fussy eaters at the best of times lol

[ali marshall]

Tracy you need to empty your message boxes lol

[cazzav]

Once you have sorted a landline and adsl (I assume with 4 kids you will want computer access) download skype, it's free and you can have video calls with friends and relatives at home. We moved here 18 months ago and thus far no regrets at all, mind you we don't have much family at home. I know several people who have bought children here and they all seem positive about their dicision. So good luck

[poshbird22]

Hi, my hubby and I moved here 8 weeks ago and live in Los Cristianos. It is the best thing that we have done! we were movin here 3 years ago but I changed my mind at the last minute - wish I hadnt. All the people we have dealt with have been very helpful and friendly. I have had a couple of days where I thought " what have we done!" but they soon pass. Just stay positive, talk about your fears and anxiety. It is a fantastic place to live. The food and heat is a little bit strange to get used to but all in all a lovely environment. If you need any info, just ask. Enjoy life, enjoy the island:wave: