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Hi Paul,
Since I am someone who has already escaped the UK I'm glad you found my post encouraging. Sounds as though people are not very happy with life in Manchester at the moment! I can appreciate KARENN's sentiments about wanting to get back to the desert. I remember only to well the October through May gloom in the UK. I'll take 115 degrees, my pool and a cold beer anytime.
Don't want to sound like a know-it-all (everyone has their own experience) but I will say that my wife and I made a couple of rules regarding our first year in Phoenix that really paid off.
1. Once arrived do not return for a visit to the UK for at least one year. This gives time to get over the initial stressful settling-in period (no-one wants to give you credit when you first arrive. It doesn't matter how succesful one has been in the Uk). After a year living in Phoenix (OK, one of the better suburbs, Fountain Hills) and buying a home we quickly felt at home here. On returning to London for a visit 18 months later we were astonished how dirty and down-at-heel it seemed. Probably always was like that, but didn't really notice when we lived there. No yearning for home after a year in the Arizona sun!
2. Other folks have pointed out that there is a good smattering of English bars around Phoenix many of which show British soccer games and Six nations rugby matches etc and have Bass etc. Of course as with everywhere in the USA the large Irish influence means a bar with a good pint of Guinness is never far away. Having said that my wife and I made a point of avoiding the trappings of English life for our first year in the States. This really prevented any longing for an imagined England that never really existed! We socialized with American friends as much as possible who taught us the joys of American life-including the intricacies of American Football, Basketball and Baseball. Now we are huge fans.
After a year I felt it was time to visit the "British Gourmet" in South Scottsdale to buy the Branston Pickle, British Baked Beans etc that I really felt I would enjoy after a long time without them. Ironically my taste buds had changed and I find a lot of these foods really bland now (still prefer Euro beer though!).
Sounds as though you are a couple who are ready to grasp American life with gusto so I'm sure you are already determined to avoid living the ex-pat ghetto life, always complaining about how great things were in the UK. How quickly they forget!
Anyway, hope you get the experience you need and get over here soon. The sooner you can start your 401K the better off you will be later -but that's another story!
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