if you had the chance, would you emigrate?

I would! But like you Tom starts secondary school next year so that would affect our decision as to when we would/if we would go

This is something I think about from time to time to be honest. My real dad lives in Australia and we have some family and good friends over there. OH could get a job quite easily as he could transfer straight over I think (Police). I should be able to get a job relatively easily too (Marketing & Events).

When it comes down to it though I don't think OH would do it. And I'm not sure I could leave my mam - although she thinks we should do it for a couple of years just to say we've done it! It is tempting. We're going to Australia for honeymoon so it'll be interesting to see what we think of it!

I dont think I could!! id miss friends and family too much here!!

I know Mr F definatly couldnt emigrate ever!

I would move today if I could! We've no kids but H wants to stay close to family. We went to Aus last year for 3 weeks, loved loved LOVED it!! xx

Probably not. I am SUCH a homebody (add to that the fact my family is all here and my qualifications don't travel well). While living here has its down sides (weather, cost of living, national moaning attitude) it's where I know and the thought of trying to adopt a whole new culture potentially for life is too daunting for me. I'm also not convinced that anywhere else would be any better. That said, if I was struggling to find work here and it appeared plentiful elsewhere I'd be a mug not to at least consider it.

I would go - but then we don't have any children to consider.

We've moved abroad a few times - the thing to remember is that it doesn't have to be forever - you could go and set yourself a target of say 3 years, then see how you feel. We missed family and friends, but rarely had a month go by without someone visiting - we were surprised by how many people suddenly had the urge for a holiday!

Absolutely! We talking about this last night in fact. I think I'd miss my friends, but since I moved out of London (and I'm only 35 miles out now) I hardly ever see them, so I feel like it would be no different if I were on the other side of the world. Not sure where we'd go though! H can't stand that Australian accent, which is a shame as I'd love to go there. He could probably transfer to Germany with his company. Who knows!!

Probably not.

I am close to my family and see them most weeks so would miss that. Also wCGs about adopting a whole new culture and way of life too.

I'd love to move to New Zealand. I went travelling a few years ago and it is absolutely my favourite place in the world and could see myself living there. The only issue is I'm really close to my family and I would miss my friends. It's a fair distance, so would probably not be able to travel back regularly. It doesn't help that I want a job in the probation service, and from the government newsletters they send me, they're desperate for them, whereas there's no chance of me getting a job anytime soon here!

We briefly talked about Canada once, but would really miss family at home.

As another poster said (sorry memory is awful this morning) we moved 30 miles away from our friends and it is very often the case of out of sight out of mind so being across the world wouldnt be that much different.

But I would miss seeing my niece and nephew grow up, it is not the same on Skype (when it even works!)

A friend of ours went travelling and ended up in Thailand... he has been there for 6 years now, never came back!

He owns half of a bar in Phi Phi and is a scuba instructor!

my cousin went travelling and ended up meeting a guy from malaysia, shes now married to him and lives there now.......so funny how life can turn out isnt it? she was over last month and has asked me and the H2b to visit as soon as we can.........possibly for our honeymoon?!

she would never come back permanently she loves it over there.

Mrs C - how lucky is your friend?! Very jealous. I would have loved to be able to just decide not to come back. I was tempted, but I had a place at uni waiting for me, and probably nowhere near enough money!

I would love to move to America, but that won't be possible unless I marry an American citizen. In fact, I'd happily live in Oz or NZ too, I'd miss my Mum a lot though as we're very close.

My half brother lives in Thailand and loves it.

I wouldn't. I'd miss my family and friends too much.

I'm a homebody, and only moved 5 minutes down the road from my folks when I moved out, so i'd never be able to emigrate.

I'd love to, not forever but I'd certainly give it a shot for a couple of years. Would miss my friends and family and mum and my sis especially though. I'd love to move to Australia and was born in New Zealand so think that might make it a bit easier for us visa wise if we decided to go for it.

Mr Kooks would like to emigrate too and it's something we often talk about though leaving his son here might hold him back from ever actually doing it

im in the same position as you kooks......my other half's son lives with us full time and even though he is currently not seeing his mum (fell out the first week of school holidays cos she just cant cope with him being at hers for more than 2 days and then gives us hassle to go and get him, she is bloody toxic to that boy so we stopped him going).....he wouldnt want to go. i wouldnt force him either. so if i do decide to take the job....then id have to leave the best guy ive ever known, but at the same time id need to think of what is right for my family as well.

jeez my brain hurts!

OH and I have discussed this A LOT over the past couple of weeks. We're getting married in Sydney next year and have just come back from our pre-wedding visit. Every time we go, we love it more. We both just tolerate our jobs here and I'm looking for an excuse to get out of the law. We've even discussed the finer details of where we'd live and what we'd do for work.

Literally the only thing holding us back is the fact that we're both very close to our families. My mum would break her heart if I moved to Australia, although I think I'd manage what with Skype etc.

If we were a few years younger, and not planning on starting a family asap, I think we'd move out for 2 or 3 years and then come back to settle down. I don't think that's really practical at the moment as we want to start a family pretty much straight away after we get married and there's little point going out there to find a job that I'd only be in for a year or so.

Ouch - not a nice decision to have to make!

For us it's we both go or neither of us goes but then I don't have any children so am a bit freer in making my decisions.

Would your step-son def not come with you?

In an instant, to New Zealand, but I've already said that a fair few times on here. Our plan is to go in the second half of 2013.

Emma Jayne - how do I sign up for these?

So am I!

We often think about moving to another country, but family and friends stop us from actually doing it. I think the quality of life here is on the down!

Luckily my OH works for an American company and they would sponsor us for the Green Card and to go together we would have to be married - so if we do decide to go in the near future we would need to bring our wedding forward by a lot.

we have asked him before and he has said no, i dont want to leave my mum......but that wasnt a full blown discussion more us just throwing it out there to see what the kids would say......my eldest wouldnt come but shes 18 so i have no probs with that, my twins have said yes yes yes! they would love to go, and like someone else has said, this country is on the decline, what future is there for our kids really?

i daresay if my H2b knew i was 100% serious about it ( im 50/50 just now) he would have a chat with him, but we couldnt force it.....and he wouldnt go with me if his son didnt want to go, which is the dilemma for me really.

i have a friend whom i trained with at uni and shes been there for nearly 5 yrs now, we keep in touch via facebook and ive asked her advice a few times, she wants me to go lol, but its such a huge decision to make.

Hmmmmm tricky one. I don't think I could at this point in my life... I'd miss my family too much (I know my sister would be devastated if I left the country, as she has told me before when I mentioned in passing about it), and bearing in mind in an ideal world we'd like to start trying for a family 2 years after getting married, there is absolutely no way I want to have babies in a country with no friends and family around me. I couldn't think of anything lonelier.

Maybe when we're retired or something!

Yes we would and have discussed it recently, we were thinking about Canada and that if we were going to do it it would need to be before we have kids.

Tricky one.... I can understand the boy not wanting to leave his mum but if he lives with you anyway then and doesn't spend much time with her then he won't be missing much! I do think that growing up somewhere like Oz must be an amazing experience.

I hope it works out for you.

I'm an hour away from my family and that's far enough. Plus hubby has three kids and would never leave them.

Ever thought of adopting a 28 year old beardy?!

I did! It was a terrifying decision to make and more terrifying when the day we had to relocate arrived but it is the best thing we have ever done. Yes I miss family and friends and wish I could see them more often, but the quality of life here is not even comparable to the uK. We have made a lovely group of friends here, never have to worry about 'unpredictable weather' and I can enjoy quality time with my daughter everyday whilst my H furthers his career which will ensure all of our futures.

I had never been to Dubai before I moved here either! If I were you, I'd go but only you can make the decision.

This is a tricky one for me, I never thought I would move from my hometown and I did, over 200 miles away, so as much as I sit here and say I wouldnt if it was somehting close to OH's heart I would certainly consider it - We have touched upon the subject very briefly and said if we did it would have to be Canada, we are going there on holiday next year we wanted to go for our honeymoon this year but in the end we couldnt afford it.

How big are the differences in your quality of life? Genuinely curious.