Chris Taylor

Thanks! Both kids will be done with school. Our property can simply be rented out so there will definitely be a Plan B. Bath, well it doesn't have to be there, but near might be nice. For me, the last few years have been crazy; lots of 60-70 hours weeks. Up until March I used to work in Space Exploration and related stuff, which while it sounds fun but can be pretty intense at the best of times. Basically I burned out completely, and after recovering, I really realised I wanted a different way of life. Even going back to something like 40 hours a week in the field is just something I don't want to do. Less stress isn't what we're looking for, It just needs to be a different lifestyle. Since we really have thought about the possibility of Canal boating for quite some time, it just seems like a good time to get the information, and then if it is agreeable, try it out approx 6 years from now - with a solid Plan B!

That would be very kind, thank you. I'll figure out exactly when my holidays are and send you a PM over the weekend.

Thank you, . That is a nice way to summarise it. Yes, we do have an escape route. Just in case we need it; there is a 'Brick and Mortar' property. That amount of money is sort of the upper limit of what we would be looking to spend. Common sense? Sadly I was back of the queue when that was handed out.

We're waiting until the kids finish school, this is why it's a 6 year time frame. Plus we're not selling our current property even if we do try this out. We should be able to rent it out for more than the mortgage due to the housing shortage over here, so we;re not really losing anything. We're only looking at a return because Brexit is slowly introducing challenges; the uncertainty that I'm even going to be able to live in my own home with a visa renewal every 5 years isn't fun. Plus, an increasing number of jobs in my line of work are starting to ask for EU27 only.

Okay, I just choked on my coffee reading this. Still, I'm going to show everything here to my wife later, so we have all these thoughts to think about. I've had a look at the other threads and they have a lot of insightful comments also.

Thanks for the input Oh gosh, not while they are still in school. I already imagine that being a disaster, besides, they are in the Dutch school system at the moment, so changing to a different language in a new country would be too unsettling. Come to think about it, there is the very real possibility that at least one of them will move out anyway by the time this becomes a possibility. Lived up North, some lovely people there and some really nice years. Also lived Wales, Taunton, Netherlands and South Africa. We really don't know how to settle down.

Definitely food for thought. Thank you everyone here for dropping in your thoughts. The reason I'm specifically asking for experiences, pitfalls and negatives, is I've known a few people in life that have gone off being captivated by the idea of doing something that sounds cool, not really listened to people that are well informed and have made a bit of a mess of things. Thanks all,

Understood, I'm sorry if I jumped in too quickly and posted right off. My wife is, yes, providing that we are fully informed about the pros and cons. Basically, this is the start of some research for us. I think our budget is around £110K. We're looking at a maybe 6 year timescale to decide what we do next in life, so no decision will be made in too little time and definitely not without making a well informed decision. So, it's plenty of time to really try and learn about the pitfalls and decide whether or not this for us.

Thanks for the quick response! So indeed, I understand it wouldn't be easy. To give you an idea, I need to find nearly 2500 Euros a month, just for bills. The reason I'm asking is because, well, if it was cheap and easy, everyone would do it. It is good to hear about what can go wrong, or how it doesn't work out because I really want to be aware of the potential pitfalls. I'm a bit out of touch with UK prices, even day to day, but I've heard inflation has gone up a bit in the UK recently.

Hi, My wife and I are both 41, and we have two kids. We've been really thinking recently about the pace of life, working all hours to cover a mortgage, building fees, bills and all the other costs in life, and having enough at the end of the month to scrape by. We're really needing a change. I can even reduce my working hours, - I just need a laptop and 4G connection to do my job. A friend of ours who lives in Bath has told me that a few people he knows, have become 'liveaboards' and never looked back. We have had the idea in the back of our minds for a while to go and considered it an option to do some research. I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to tell us of their experiences and how it has worked out for them? Possibly - and I know this sounds awfully cheeky - would anyone in the Bath area, maybe able to have a chat in person? - I will be in the UK some time in August. We're UK citizens, living in The Netherlands, looking to return to the UK as the stress and cost since Brexit is taking quite a toll on us. Best wishes, Chris.