The adventure starts here

It's official (sort of). We're going. We're finally going. After almost 10 years in the UK, our family is moving to America in April. I told my boss today and it's a relief to finally be able to discuss it with everyone.

I want to keep this blog over the next year or so to document my final months in the UK and my first experience of life Stateside. In it, I want to look at the pros and the cons of the move, as well as any surprises on either side of the Atlantic.

The first topic I want to cover is the question I get asked the most when I talk to people about the move: "What are you looking forward to about moving?" There are many reasons why I can't wait to get to the States, but here are my top 5:

1) The space
New Hampshire has roughly the same area as the whole of Yorkshire (population 5.5 million approx), but just over 1 million inhabitants. Given the scale and emptiness of the Yorkshire Dales, you can get a picture of the space available to us in America. House hunting regularly pulls up 3 or 4 bedroom houses with a couple of acres of land for the same price that we paid for our 2 bedroom terraced house. I'm also tired of living near people and being able to hear every part of our neighbour's life. Bring on a detached house in the woods with space for a vegetable patch, chickens and for the children to play.

2) The people
The big draw is my wife's family of course. She's quite the homebody, which makes the length of her stay over here all the more impressive. However, by people I also mean the general populace. I miss being greeted and smiled at in restaurants and the casual conversations and polite chitchat in just about any situation. I know that there will be rude folk out there, the same as over here, but there just seems to be less of them where we want to move to.

3) An outdoorsy lifestyle
Despite having grown up and lived in cities all my life, I find myself yearning to live in the wild with the ability to hike mountains, canoe down rivers and play on quiet beaches to my heart's content. There's plenty of scope in New Hampshire for this, including 42 mountains that are bigger than Scafell (England's highest peak) that I want to hike with the kids as they get older. The houses that we're looking at are surrounded by woods and wilderness, ideal for playing and exploring with our children.

4) Exploration and adventure
I've always wanted to live in a foreign country, and America represents a fantastic opportunity to set up a full life relatively easily. My wife laughs at my desire to simply get in my car and drive somewhere exotic ("I'm in Mexico, do you want milk on the way home?"), but I guess having lived on a small island, the idea that I could drive for thousands of miles without needing a passport or different money is exciting. There are enough famous landmarks across the States to last me many roadtrips, and the call of Central America being a few hours flight away instead of a long haul holiday will make for interesting family holidays in the years to come.

5) Living on holiday
I know this one will probably change over time. I'm aware that my only experience of New Hampshire so far has been whilst I'm on there on holiday and that the reality of having to have a job and financial responsibilities will soon kick in. However, imagine coming home from work and being able to go to your favourite places to eat, or getting to the weekend and hiking your favourite mountain or visiting your favourite town. This sounds like a good bargain and will make any job seem worthwhile.

There are of course things that I'm concerned about (gun laws and private health care to name but two), so it will be interesting to chart on here how much impact they have on the excitement of the adventure. However, the pros far outweigh the cons at the moment and I can't wait to go!