Any Polish members? Emigrating thread

[AstronautNinja]

Looking to get my passport by decent shortly and will be moving out there with my missus and son 

 

Figured I'd start a thread covering my move 

Edited August 28, 2024 by AstronautNinja

[S-Westerly]

Have you got Polish connections as its a fairly unusual place to migrate to? Good luck in it however it goes. I believe they have a healthy motorbike community out there although I've never been. I've worked with quite a lot of Poles - good people in all cases.

[AstronautNinja]

6 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

Have you got Polish connections as its a fairly unusual place to migrate to? Good luck in it however it goes. I believe they have a healthy motorbike community out there although I've never been. I've worked with quite a lot of Poles - good people in all cases.

Well I've previously lived in rural France on my own and very much regret ending up stuck back in the UK now I have a son. 

 

My missus's cousins girlfriend (Vee) is polish and they've decided to move back with their kids of very similar age to my son. Vees aunty owns and runs a school and several nursery's so there will be a job immediately for my missus and we will at least have a social circle of an English speaking family etc. 

 

The way I see it is let's just load a van and have a go. 

 

Waiting for perfect opportunities of this nature will often result in the person doing nothing. 

 

The school system got graded a good bit higher than the UK, offers a large amount of English lessons and life there is far less intrusive than how I see the UK system going. 

 

I'm also an impulsive guy who thinks almost anything will turn out fine. If it doesn't we'll pack the van and likely try Spain. 

 

With my Polish passport for me and my son we can just stay anywhere in Europe at a drop of a hat. 

 

It may well all go Pete Tong but it's going to be an adventure and a memory for life 

[AstronautNinja]

I'll leave this thread running and will post the road trip hilarities when I pack a van and do a 24h emigration mission. I'm sure there'll be some interesting stuff to share. 

 

When I moved to France I went down for a week, viewed a few houses, signed a contract, came home, packed my car, sold what I didn't need and went to live 20km from Spanish boarder. What a beautiful place. 

[Joe85]

All due respect (and this isn’t a criticism, just an observation) but reading your posts you mention yourself a lot; what you regret, how you see things going, your impulsive nature. 

 

Some friendly advice, just be sure it's a family decision and that everyone is comfortable relocating. Sometimes, we want something so bad, we get tunnel vision and become unable to see what's going on around us (talking from experience).

 

All the best. 

Edited August 29, 2024 by Joe85

[AstronautNinja]

For me, living in a peaceful town out in the countryside, surrounded by vast forests and lakes, riding my bikes (leg, battery and petrol powered), being left alone by the government to live my life and raise my son in a traditional way just sounds awesome. 

 

I'd also try and open a motorbike related business out there, something I really enjoyed and that I can get my son involved in when he's a bit older, he's 4 in April for reference but already sits and "helps" as soon as my tool box opens 

[AstronautNinja]

Just now, Joe85 said:

All due respect (and this isn’t a criticism, just an observation) but reading your posts you mention yourself a lot; what you regret, how you see things going, your impulsive nature. 

 

Some friendly advice, just be sure it's a family decision and that everyone is comfortable relocating. 

 

All the best. 

Oh I certainly see your point. 

 

To give a little more context. My missus and I had already agreed on moving to Wales to peruse a similar approach to life as I've described above. We had also agreed on Spain being a second home with the goal to be there as much as possible. It wasn't till her friend announced her move that my missus jokes that we'd have to move Poland instead now. She'd already mentioned a variety of aspects she liked regarding their school system. 

 

My posts here are definitely directed at the parts I'm exited about. 

[Joe85]

Just now, AstronautNinja said:

Oh I certainly see your point. 

 

To give a little more context. My missus and I had already agreed on moving to Wales to peruse a similar approach to life as I've described above. We had also agreed on Spain being a second home with the goal to be there as much as possible. It wasn't till her friend announced her move that my missus jokes that we'd have to move Poland instead now. She'd already mentioned a variety of aspects she liked regarding their school system. 

 

My posts here are definitely directed at the parts I'm exited about. 

That's awesome. 

[RideWithStyles]

If nothing here attached too or anchored too (family direct/indirect, home,business etc) then why not? Timing doesn’t seem bad? Son is still young so to upsticks (school and friends) now is better than later on. If the wife can get that job over there with family and members in the vicinity makes moving easier, your not bothered about UK life from the sounds of it…

[Simon Davey]

Good for you @AstronautNinja

I sincerely hope it goes smoothly and works out for you. 

At least we'll have a bike shop to visit when we tour Poland. 

[AstronautNinja]

2 minutes ago, Joe85 said:

That's awesome. 

Aso regarding the tuinnel vision. I feel to of ended up in that position as things are now, this feels like an expansion of scope, more how I used to feel.

 

I've done many things in life with people around me having the attitude of "if it was that easy everyone would do it"....... Everyone doesn't do these things because comfort is easy, staying in the same routines is easy etc etc...... Try something that's hard and you may find an aspect to yourself you either didn't kow existed or were scared to explore.

 

I'll be keeping a house in the UK for tax reasons and will remain a UK domicile most likely for life. If things go wrong I pack the van and bring everyone home should that be the way everyone feels, we then go back to what was "easy"

 

When I moved to France I ended up getting off a bus in the wrong place and having to hitch hike back to the house in some very cold torrential rain, very much a situation of desperation out in the french equivilant of the yorkshire moors, just darkness and fields, no lights, no houses. I ended up getting picked up by a pug 205 with a group of young lads smoking hash, blasting hiphop with one of the back seats entirely occupied by Malboro Red. I eventually got home, soaked to the bone and shivering. My friends back in the Uk, the people that chose easy comfort all urged me to just come home because it seemed hard. I had one cousin that changed my view and I'm always greatful I listened to his very blunt advice of "progress isn't easy, your still alive, remember how much you wanted this all to work out". I was back in shelter, I lit the open fire, changed into some dry cloathes and reflected on the nuts mission that the day turned into and signed the rental papers.

 

I've chosen easy for too many years, I was suprised the missus chose hard this time around but given her response I'm happy to take the hard task on my shoulders and hopefully we all hit the ground running.

[AstronautNinja]

15 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

If nothing here attached too or anchored too (family direct/indirect, home,business etc) then why not? Timing doesn’t seem bad? Son is still young so to upsticks (school and friends) now is better than later on. If the wife can get that job over there with family and members in the vicinity makes moving easier, your not bothered about UK life from the sounds of it…

 

It seems I have a very nomadic aspect to my personality. Home is where you make it.

 

7 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

Good for you @AstronautNinja

I sincerely hope it goes smoothly and works out for you. 

At least we'll have a bike shop to visit when we tour Poland. 

 

Tools and a bed for everyone haha. I might even let you have a crack on my sinful Surron

[Mawsley]

On 29/08/2024 at 07:52, Joe85 said:

All due respect (and this isn’t a criticism, just an observation) but reading your posts you mention yourself a lot; what you regret, how you see things going, your impulsive nature. 

 

Some friendly advice, just be sure it's a family decision and that everyone is comfortable relocating. Sometimes, we want something so bad, we get tunnel vision and become unable to see what's going on around us (talking from experience).

 

All the best. 

 

I dragged the wife off to Colombia by announcing I’d quit my job because everyone I worked with were “w*****s.” It was brilliant.

 

Worst thing we ever did was to return to this shithole…because ‘family decision’. Now none of us are happy. Go family!

[Bender]

By descent I'm presuming, do you have polish parents, how far back do they go for a polish link

[AstronautNinja]

Just now, Bender said:

By descent I'm presuming, do you have polish parents, how far back do they go for a polish link

Great grandparents is as far as they allow it. Polish grandparents, dad was born in the UK, mum is English. Both me and my son will qualify. 

 

My cousin is about to submit his application so it's pretty much a copy paste job bar the obvious difference in documents. We have a Polish cousin who's done all the translation etc so should be very straightforward. 

[Throttled]

I went to Posnan in 1993. It was run down but had character and the people were friendly. There were lots of signs of the old Communist ways. Buying a postcard with a stamp was a four stage process involving at least four people at three counters, and it included wrapping the postcard in brown paper! I see from some travel shows it has come on leaps and bounds since then.

[bonio]

I paid a quick visit to Wroclaw in '93 or '94. It was pretty depressing to be honest: lots of heavy industry and pollution, lots of empty shelves in the shops, nothing worked. The tram drivers even had to get out their cabs and change each set of points by hand, as the mechanical switchwork had failed. The opera house was great. And there were some trendy cafes opening up in the main square. Interesting to see the old crumbling communist world cheek by jowl with western hipsterised consumerism.

I expect it too has changed a lot since then.

[Bender]

Been to Poland a few times, bit gritty in places but they  work hard and the nice bits are great

[husoi]

Loved the city centre or Wroclaw and finding all the gnomes spread all over

 

Delicious cakes and food

[Blackholesun]

Good luck...bit of a different move. I must be an outlier in that for all of the UK's issues I like it here !

[peepae]

When I moved to the UK, I had only been once, and not to Brighton or London. When I got onto the plane, I didn't have a place to live yet - by the time I landed I had a house share I could move into.

 

Poland is a nice country, just generally salaries are lower, and that can be a bit of a pain when going back to visit the UK for example.

Edited September 6, 2024 by peepae

[Mawsley]

I’ve been going to Poland every year for a week since 2015 for a conference. From what was a dirt cheap place to live and eat, it ain’t anymore. June this year, prices in Warsaw were up there with London for room, food and fancy bars. I did manage to track down affordable yet decent options, but it took a bit of effort. Politically, it’s become a nastier place too under Duda’s watch. The sooner that man is placed in a barrel and floated off out into the Baltic the better. Ultimately, compared to the UK, I’d move in a heartbeat. There again, I’d move to the Ukrainian/Russian border rather than live here.

[Blackholesun]

Every country has its problems it’s just we don’t know about them in Poland or wherever you go 

[S-Westerly]

We might be going to the dogs but we don't yet need to worry about a missile coming through the roof so I'd say it could be a lot worse!

[Mawsley]

11 hours ago, Blackholesun said:

Every country has its problems it’s just we don’t know about them in Poland or wherever you go 

 

You might not, I do.