Life after the UK: What’s Next for The Travel Tester? YES! We’re Moving!

Since our arrival here in England, we have moved around quite a bit and already lived in 4 different houses… But it is time again for some change! Our apartment is currently filled with boxes, because -yes- we’re moving again. 

Where we are going? It might surprise you!

Watch the video where we announce were we’re moving to!

Or keep on reading if you don’t want to guess but love some background information on how we made this choice…

THE TRAVEL TESTER IS MOVING COUNTRIES

BIG NEWS

We’ve waited a long time before writing this blog, because although we are really looking forward to our upcoming move, we secretly are also a little bit apprehensive about it.

We live in a nice neighborhood in East London, in a nice flat with a balcony view over the field of our local football club (which is really quite cool!) and we also have build up a good group of friends here in London in recent years. Technically, we’re super comfortable!

Then why are you moving? And where to? Tell us!

OUR UK MOVE

Well… let’s take a quick step back:

When, after our 2-year stay in Sydney between 2011-2013, we packed up our entire lives to move back to the Netherlands from Australia, the Dutch economy was at a low point. This meant that Nick, who was working as an architect, couldn’t find any job in The Netherlands, because frankly, nobody was building anything! After seven months of applying for jobs without results, we saw no immediate future in the Netherlands and this was one of the biggest reasons for us to look further.

Via a connection made in Australia, Nick was able to find a job in London and so we left at the end of 2013 with a car full of our belongings on the way to a new adventure across the pond. 

Closer to family than being on the other side of the world, far enough that it really turned out to be a world of difference. We did a LOT of adjusting to our life here in the UK and did have to overcome some of the cultural differences between the Netherlands and England.

ADJUSTING TO A NEW COUNTRY

Finding a nice place to live, adapting to a new culture (no matter how reasonably well-known and close to home London is) and arranging everything that comes with moving abroad turned out anything but smooth sailing. We certainly owe some of our gray hairs to England, haha.

If we are really honest, you can say that we are a little bit tired of living in London for a couple of reasons. 

Not only is there quite a difference in mentality and quality of life in the city compared to what we were used to back in The Netherlands (and sure, Brexit doesn’t help, but that was never a reason for us to leave), but you also have to think about things like the effort it costs us visit family and friends back home (read: travel for about 8 hours on a Friday evening to the Netherlands, then traveling twice across the country by train (family in both Amsterdam as Venlo, which is next to the German border) and then traveling back for 8 hours on a Sunday evening, almost always with delays, cancellations and not often being home before midnight, while still having to work the next day)…

In addition to that, we strongly feel like we’re living in a little bubble over here, where we begin to feel less and less in the know of what is really going on in our families lives and don’t really contribute to their lives at all. All together, we haven’t really been in The Netherlands for almost 10 years now! WOW!

REVERSE CULTURE-SHOCK

When, after returning from Sydney, we already stopped recognizing people on Dutch TV and felt like we’d been away for a long time, by now we don’t even recognize some things in daily life in the Netherlands as well. We really feel like we’re a bit at the point where it’s still possible to re-integrate, but it will become more difficult if we spend much more time abroad. 

That’s why it might make more sense to you that we’ve decided to move back to …The Netherlands!

– insert dramatic music here –

Well, when we say ‘back’, it does feel more like ‘onwards’, just to stress that a bit. The last months we’ve been thinking a lot behind-the-scenes about the life we want in the upcoming years and have decided that moving to the Netherlands at this point feels like a good move for us. 

So… From the beginning of May we will be moving to Amsterdam! Where Nick already has a job lined up and of course I can continue with my own freelance work as a travel blogger.

Yes, people, that IS very quick!

For that reason, we are currently very busy to check off things we still want to see and do here in London and have scheduled some farewell parties next week as well.

THE LONDON TESTER

Then, of course, some of you might wonder what will happen with The London Tester website?

Well, rest assured, the short answer is: not much will change!

The London Tester will continue to exist and everyone that follows it (it’s only in Dutch language, sorry about that!), you can continue to expect new articles several times a week and this will not change in the future either.

After having lived in London for more than 5 years and also traveled a lot through the other countries in the UK and Ireland, there are so many tips and stories to share that you don’t have to worry that it will suddenly become completely quiet over on that website (or when it comes to UK content here on The Travel Tester blog). I think the opposite even!

With a large group of friends and many business relations still in London, there will be a number of moments this year when I (Nienke) will travel back and forth between the Netherlands and London for personal trips and a number of campaigns that I am working on, so I see no problems in continuing with the website and grow it even more. I still have so many ideas and tons and tons of photo and video content left to edit, there will be no shortage on UK content for months (years) to come.

But yeah, in short this is where we are in our lives right now.

Of course we would love to hear your reactions to the news and we will also have to adjust a little bit, but I’m sure life will continue quickly as normal.

So ….No Worries! Be Happy!

VISITING LONDON? 

If you’re not quite ready to leave London, here is where to go:

• One Day In London, England? Complete Bloomsbury Neighbourhood Guide
• One Day in Greenwich London? Complete Guide To A Perfect City Break!
• 7+ Best London Christmas Markets and Winter Festivals
• 5 Out-of-this-World Technology, Science and Space Activities in London
• See Wisteria in London in Spring with this Walking Route!

Best tours in London:

• Tower Of London Tour Review – Meeting The Ravenmaster & Ceremony Of The Keys
• Amazing Camden Street Art Urban Adventures Tour Review
• Afternoon Tea on a Bus in London You Need to Know About: B Bakery Bus Tour

More fun things to see and do in the rest of Great Britain: 

• Great Britain Bucket List: 40 Places Not To Miss In England, Scotland And Wales
• Midlands and South East England Road Trip Itinerary: 15 Stops Not to Miss
• Weekend Road Trip to England‘s South: Exploring the Iconic Jurassic Coast and New Forest Region
• 8 Things to do and see on the Isle of Wight in Winter (London Weekend Break)
• Discover Glorious Roman Britain at Hadrian’s Wall in England‘s North
• One Day in Stratford-Upon-Avon in England? Complete Guide to a Perfect City Break!
• One Day in Exeter, England? Complete Guide to a Perfect City Break!
• One Day In Southampton, England? Complete Guide To A Perfect City Break!
• One Day In Bath, England? Complete Guide To A Perfect City Break!
• One Day in Manchester, England? Complete Guide To A Perfect City Break!
• One Day in Exmouth, England? Complete Guide to a Perfect City Break!

Best tours in Great Britain:

• Discover Royal London And Experience Changing The Guard At Windsor Castle
• Was This The Best Ship in the World? SS Great Britain in Bristol by Brunel
• Discover Cardiff Castle in Wales: An Important Piece of History!
• Osborne House on Isle of Wight Tour Review – Stepping into Queen Victoria’s Hidden Life
• Discover the Hidden Underground Passages in Exeter, England
• Join a Behind-The-Scenes Cider Tour by Thatchers in England