Have you ever moved away alone for a job? Would you?

his_missus

My best friend did just this after uni and dumping a boyfriend, aged 21.

She moved to Liverpool, away from her family and friends, joined the local church (obviously only viable if you have faith) and threw herself into socialising with her colleagues (fortunately she worked within quite a large department and her colleagues luckily had similar leisure interests to her)

perhaps it would have been different if she was moving to a small town and working for a small company.

Not sure I could've done it at that age and almost certainly wouldn't be brave enough to now but then I'm not a natural, socially confident person.

CupOfChai

Yup. Moved about 400 miles from home, family, friends, on my own to a place I'd never been to or even heard of before. Shocked everyone. Even I thought I must be mad, but it worked out ok I think.

Shortly after moving, met OH. Moved house and job again, from where I was to where he's from. I still haven't made any friends locally and I've been here about 5 years now. But I do have friends who are scattered all over the country, and we meet up from time to time.

One problem - recently, seemingly out of nowhere, I had a period where I was overcome with feelings of wanting to move back home, which as he really didn't want to move away from here would mean OH and I breaking up, which I didn't want. It was horrible and really messed me up for a while, I felt like I was cracking up. I'd still really love to move back (taking him with me) and be close (distance-wise) to my family and the couple of friends who live there, but I'm currently dealing better with being here and not there.

chocdonuty

Yup, didn't have much going for me in the midlands, was looking for a job and spotted an ad for bar work in a hotel on the Isle of Wight with accommodation, after a few minutes dithering I thought sod it and applied I think it was 2 weeks later when I left with a suitcase in the back of my mini metro alone and heading off to my new job!
Accommodation was a tiny chalet in a block of 20ish and shared with a girl I'd never spoke or met before.
All good fun in the end but sometimes you just have to say why not ? Life's an adventure sometimes and you have to grab the chance to try new things as often as you can!

NoAngel

I moved 180 miles for a job even though I was in a 9 year relationship. I was 24. After a year my OH joined me, we stayed for 2 more years and then moved back home just before our baby was due (work contract ended and wanted to be near family with baby).

Glad I did it as otherwise I'd always wonder if I'd missed out by just going to uni in my hometown. However I didn't put much effort into making friends so probably didn't make the most of it.

tesuhoha

When I was 23 I took a small amount of savings from my previous job, and a suitcase and got on the overnight coach from London to Edinburgh. I arrived in the early morning and had nowhere to live and no job.

Fortunately for me I bought a newspaper and saw an ad for a fifth girl to share a flat. They took pity on me and I ended up in a tiny attic room but at least it was a roof over my head. I then got a job in a whisky bottling factory although that didn't last long. I got other jobs, each one better than the last and managed to survive for 4 years in Edinburgh before returning to the South East.

Previous to that when I was about 18 I took a job in an hotel in Devon for the summer season. It turned out though when I got there that my room and bed was full of disgusting blood filled bugs and I had to clean the hotel's massive dining room with a dustpan and brush. Therefore I walked out and hitchhiked all the way back to London by myself. I was picked up by a very dodgy man and had to talk my way out of a dangerous situation when he turned off the road onto a dusty track. I was then picked up by the road manager of The Band who was an extremely nice person and gave me a lift all the way to London.