Our Expat Story

How Our Family of Five Moved to England From the United States

Considering moving to England from the United States? You’re in the right place.

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In 2023, our family sold everything and moved to England from the United States for a year. This blog is all about our experience and every we learned along the way.

How Our Journey of Moving to England from the US Began

My husband and I started taking little family vacations with our two daughters when they were young- a weekend hiking here, a trip to the beach there. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we valued travel and tried to make it a priority.

Instead of new cars and furniture, we stuffed all the spare cash we had into a jar labeled Family Bucketlist.

As our girl got older, we started taking bigger trips, recognizing that this time spent together exploring new places made us happier than just about anything else money could buy.

When the girls were eight and ten, we took our first big European vacation. Together we strolled cobble streets, explored ancient ruins, visited world-class museums, and sipped cappuccinos in outdoor cafes.

It felt as if we were truly able to slow down and be present, for the first time in a long time.

By the time we came home a few weeks later, we had fallen hard for the European lifestye- lots good food, rest, and time with loved ones! We couldn’t wait to go back.

Every year, we saved to return in the summer and every year it became harder to leave.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing to live in Europe?”, we would say to each other. As time went on, we started asking, “How can we live in Europe?”. 

“Wouldn’t it be amazing to live in Europe?”, we would say to each other. As time went on, we started asking, “How can we live in Europe?”. 

At night I would stay up researching the best cities in Europe for expat families, but deep down, I didn’t think it would really happen. I told myself that people in their 40s with teens, a mortgage, two cars, careers, and a dog with kidney disease didn’t move to Europe.

It felt irresponsible, silly, and just plain impossible.

But Then, Life Took an Unexpected Turn

In May of 2021, my doctor found a lump during routine exam and told me I would need to go for more testing. Later that night, as I lay in my room stunned, I didn’t think about my job, the mortgage, or how much we had (or hadn’t) saved for retirement.

What came to my mind were the memories all of the adventures we had shared as a family, and how grateful I was that we had done it while we had the chance. 

A few weeks later, a biopsy confirmed that I had breast cancer. 

For the next year, we were solely focused on getting through the next surgery or the next round of chemotherapy. It was incredibly difficult, but we got through it together.

When my treatment ended, I felt reborn and had a new perspective on life. Our dream of moving to Europe seemed more important than ever. I had been given a second chance to live the life of my dreams, and I wanted to take it.

I told my husband that I wanted to move to Europe, just as we had always talked about.

Maybe everything we went through that year had given him just as much perspective, because his eyes fill with excitement as he said, “Let’s do it.” 

How We Finally Moved Across the Pond

We knew if we really wanted to make it happen, it would have to be soon (before our eldest turned 18). After researching few different countries in Europe, we decided that moving to England made the most sense for our family.

We got to work learning everything we could about moving to England from the US and narrowed it down several towns and cities that checked all of our boxes.

In March of 2022, we took a trip across the pond to visit different areas we were considering. All four of us immediately fell in love with the historic city of York, England in North Yorkshire and decided to focus our our efforts on moving there.

There were very few guides about moving to the England from the US. We couldn’t find any guides about moving to England from the US in your 40s with teens and a dog.

We were overwhelmed by all their was to learn, know, and do.

After spending hours scouring the internet for information on everything from everything from schools to healthcare, I had more questions than when I started.

I reached out to other expats and was told the kids would never be able to adjust to British schools at their age, that it was near impossible to find a rental with a pet, and it would be hard to find a job in my field outside of London.

The outlook wasn’t great.

But cancer does a funny thing to you. It makes you realize that most of the things that scare you aren’t half as scary as not doing the things that are the most important to you.

So, we decided to have faith that it would all fall into place, and we kept going as if success was inevitable.

It did eventually all fall into place, and in 2023, we gave away, sold, or stored everything we owned. We rented out our house in Colorado, and boarded a plane to London with our teenagers to start our big expat adventure in England!

If you are dreaming of moving to a new country and feeling overwhelmed, just take it one step at a time and work on it a little each day. If we can do it, so can you.

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