Beware of reverse culture shock
I left Thailand for the UK a few years ago to try and get on the career ladder with a "real job". Yeah at the beginning it was ok, seeing friends, family etc. But reverse culture shock hit 100 x worse.
Trying to settle back into the "normality" in a corporate office job with a load of people who've never left and either couldn't comprehend my experiences or didn't care since their lives revolved around working all week, getting drunk at the weekend, watching football and the occasional holiday to Benidorm. Boredom set in fast as I daydreamed about whizzing through the jungle on a motorbike while looking out the office window at the grey, rainy street wondering where life went wrong. I couldn't hack the monotony of life in the UK and after a year, I packed up and came back to Asia. The UK isn't for everyone and it sure wasn't for me. Reverse culture shock bites hard, especially in somewhere as dreary and dull as the UK. Many returning expats I knew had similar problems and ended up leaving again within a year or two.
Giacomo
