...There must be something wrong with me - either that or I am just an unusual case, as I have not missed the UK since settling here permanently. I came here at the age of 23, 26 years ago, and haven't missed it that much at all, with one exception. After 3 months here, I decided I was missing England, so went back for Christmas with the intent of also setting myself up with a job and a life etc. After a few months back there, I couldn't get Los Angeles (where I had been living) out of my head and returned a few months later. Since then, I haven't missed it once. One visit back was all it took to "cure" me.
I do enjoy my visits back to England but something about it feels
too comfortable and familiar - almost like putting on an old shoe that is very comfortable but offers no surprises (bad analogy probably) - or slipping back into a habit that wasn't all that good for me to begin with. I'm sure a shrink would have a field day with that description. The UK feels very contained and even rather mundane. Nothing changes. Things are always the same. But then, I
am one of those loopy Californians now
My family would feel quite insulted if they knew this was what I thought. Perhaps one day I'll change my mind and go back for a few years, but the US feels like home.
While Americans, being from a young country with such a short history, find the old traditions in other countries interesting, some residents of the Old World often find their local customs and environments too confining and stifling.
In the 70s, we were friends with a Japanese who was attending the same university in the US. We have seen Tadashi a few times in the decades since. He liked getting outside of Japan as much as he could, and a few times, signed up with the Peace Corp just to get away for a while. He said he often worked just enough to save money for an extended trip, then hopped on a plane. I guess he is just too free-spirited for his native land, which we know is laden with thousand-year old traditions and customs.
As for me, when I was younger and in bouts of bad work days and daydreaming of ER with not a lot of money, I thought of escaping to Mexico or some place in Central America.
About 10 years ago, with more money accumulated, I pondered if I would have enough money to move to, or better yet to have a 2nd home in Tuscany (like Frances Mayes), or Provence (like Peter Mayle), or perhaps Malta. But that is a drastic move, and requires a lot of work for someone with my inertia. And then, there are complications about health care, taxes, etc...
In more recent years, after a bit of overseas traveling for sightseeing under my belt, I came to the conclusion that any of those places would cease to be exotic to me after a couple of months. The locals there still go somewhere else for vacations, don't they?
As far as calling a place home, despite our love for travel (and we still have it), we are actually homebodies the 90% of the time when we are not on the road. And as I have spent my entire adult and working life in the USA, this feels very much my home.
So, I no longer think of retiring in any other place than the USA. If my finance collapses for some reasons, it is most likely that I would downsize to a motorhome, then hit the road. Even camping in the mountains in New Mexico in this good old USA, it would still feel like home.