Goodbye Sam, Goodbye Samantha.

Moving to Australia: Missing Friends and Family

Ahh, Sir Cliff, now there is a British icon! Does he still sing at Wimbledon when it rains? Of course, his song from back in 1971 was actually called “Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha” and was about saying goodbye to boys and hello to girls.

Today’s post is about saying goodbye to both.

Officially my series called Moving to Australia has finished, unofficially it rambles along. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when making your decision to move to Australia is “but I’ll miss my family and friends” which is often made worse by your family and friends saying “don’t go, we’ll miss you”.

My Family. Publishing this picture should get them out here - Just to punch my face in!

To overcome this hurdle we all convince ourselves our family and friends will come and visit us. Then, instead of seeing them for just a couple of hours a week or so, we will see them full-time for say, three weeks or so whenever they visit. This will easily compensate for the problem, so there is no problem.

Think about this. Four criteria (probably, but everyone is different) need to be in place before someone will visit you.

• They need to have a history of travelling.
• They need to be able to financially afford it.
• They need to be able to find the time to come.
• They probably should have a strong desire to visit Australia.

I could also add that they need to care enough to bother. But for now, let’s just assume they do.

So what’s the reality? How are we doing for visitors? Well we’ve not been here two years yet, but we’re not doing too bad. Already we’ve had five sets of visitors. Let’s take a closer look.

On my wife’s side, she has had a cousin come to visit. She had already done a great deal of worldwide travel, having spent several months working in the Philippines and couldn’t wait to see Australia. She was a student who came during the college break and had the funds to do it. All four criteria in place.

Next to come was a friend of my wife’s, Lisa, and her family. She has known Lisa since she was six. I can’t even count how many decades that is! (It’s okay, my wife doesn’t read this blog). Lisa’s husband works as a principal at a school and they came during school holidays. They are also regular travelers, have been to Australia before and have applied and been accepted to come and live here permanently. All four criteria in place.

Again on my wife’s side, her parents. Both retired, financially okay, been to Australia before and travelled plenty, and also looking to come and live here permanently. Couldn’t wait to see their daughter and granddaughter again. All four criteria in place.

Now on my side, my first visit was one of my nephews and a couple of his mates. They were all in their gap year, had been travelling for some time, over a year I think and were visiting about five different countries including New Zealand and Australia. So they popped by to stay for three days as they were passing through. All four criteria in place.

Finally, our most recent visitor was my son whom you will remember from my post on scuba-diving. He also loves travelling, having already spent six weeks in India and four weeks in Sri Lanka. He had saved some holiday from the previous year at work so that he could book off the four weeks he wanted. All four criteria in place.

Can you see the pattern here?

In the future, I expect both of my sisters to come and visit at some point. Both have a comprehensive history of travelling around the world and always find the time and the money. And obviously, they can’t wait to see their little brother again, can they? HaHaHa!

My brother, who lives in America, has also threatened to visit. But he tells me he is waiting for his dog to die first. His dog is about 110 years old in human terms, but still going strong. Keep barking Chay!

So, why am I suggesting it’s goodbye Sam and Samantha? Well, if you use my four criteria formula on all of your friends, you can soon work out who you will never see again.

More on that next week.

For a full chronological list and brief description of all the posts in this series about how I moved to Australia, please visit my page How to Move to Australia.

Related posts:

1. Goodbye Forever? Who Will Visit You in Australia?
2. Who’s Going to Visit When You Move to Australia?
3. Leaving All Your Friends Behind.
4. Why It Is Inappropriate to Write About Life in Australia Today.
5. Australia versus the UK: Sin.

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Tagged as: Australian visitors, Family And Friends, Moving To Australia, Saying Goodbye