Calling Lea_Lea and others...a year from now I'll be working in the UK; help me decide where!
 

I am a speech therapist and have initiated my placement for employment for a year (at least) somewhere in the UK. It's up to my husband and I to narrow it down to where.

Positions are rarely available in London or Edinburgh so they are out. Neither of us have ever lived in a city and have loved doing such on trips to Paris and Rome, so we've ruled-in city. My daughter spent a year of college in London and in traipsing about became enamored of Scotland so that's her vote (she's not going though :) ). The woman who owns the business/does the placement loves Scotland as well and tells me it will remind me a lot of Maine (where we live). We don't really need that as we are trying for a different experience (and certainly it may be different enough to be in a foreign country and in a city so that something like home would be familiar).

So anyhow, I'm sort of leaning toward Wales as it's a bit more south and a bit more temperate compared to Scotland--I've been monitoring weather for a few months. My husband is leaning toward Scotland. We're not averse to anything and certainly England is not ruled out. Oh, being close-ish to the ocean would be good.

So tell me about where you live/where you've spent a lot of time and anything at all you'd like to add.

Thanks,
Linda

A lot depends on WHERE in Scotland and Wales. Glasgow? Cardiff? Or are there openings in smaller towns/cities like Aberdeen, Inverness, Aberystwyth? If you want a large-ish city - your choices are very limited in both Wales and Scotland.

Parts of Wales won't have better weather than parts of Scotland? Also some areas of England would be lovely and give easy access to either Scotland or Wales.

So what are some of your choices?

janisj--you're right, that's why I need help. The aforementioned placement lady loves Inverness. When I asked about cities in Wales she recommended Newport.

I need to determine country first and then potential cities. I won't be able to say, "I want Cardiff" and then get to pick from a variety of positions.

What I'm hoping to learn from this thread is more about different places so that I can make a more informed decision than I would otherwise. There is only so much you can learn from websites and I'm overloaded looking at online newspapers for so many places--I need to narrow things down.

Well, it's hard to say, really. I'm inlcined to suggest you stick with Scotland (I WOULD say that, wouldn't I?), and that you use Glasgow as your base.

It's not the prettiest, but it is QUITE pretty; and it's certainly the liveliest, and it has the best transport links to get to other places. What's not to like?

You might want to consider the Manchester area. It's central to a lot of places in UK to visit, the Dales in Yorksire, the Lake District, York (all great places to spend a few days). Also, it's easy to fly in and out of Man Airport if you want to explore the continent. It's not near the ocean, but Liverpool's only abut an hour away. Hope this helps! Have fun!!

Congratulations and please let us know where you end up going and how things progress. I would second Sheila's vote for Glasgow. And make sure the placement lady is pushing a certain destination because she really loves it and NOT because the client facility is a lousy place to work with high turnover and she desperately wants to fill that position! I was offered a position in another European country that sounded great on paper and the people were very enthusiastic during the interviews, but the reality of worklife there was...unpleasant. What are your options if you don't like the job/location?
Also, just a suggestion, keep a diary of your work experiences, etc. When you get back to the U.S., one of the publications representing your profession would probably be interested in doing an article on your time abroad or you could write one yourself (like Advance for SP, but of course I'm biased toward them as I helped found the mag).

sheila: excellent thought which I had meant to add to my original post, a good jumping off spot to other places for use with my generous vacation time! Where is the prettiest, in your opinion?

kittens2: likewise, thanks for the tip about Man Airport; do you live in/near Manchester?

BTilke: wow, a celebrity! I've received Advance since I was in grad school (only been out seven years, a "nontraditional" student). Thank you for the idea about keeping a journal. Fear not about the lady, she just gave her opinion while we were talking about places in the abstract. She owns HealthConnections which advertises in the ASHA Leader and I think Advance too; been in business for years and of which I've heard no complaint. She told me that she didn't recommend a couple of places because her clients have had unpleasant experiences there.

Wherever you are it can't be all that far from the coast. I'd say pretty much everywhere is within a two hour drive of the sea...had to look it up. It's actually a farm in Derbyshire that is the furthest point inland and that is still only 70 miles from coast!

Still looking for Lea_Lea....

OK - is there a reason you need Lea_Lea? As far as I can tell she has only been on the forum a few times and only once in the last couple of months.

It is fairly likely she won't see this thread. There are a LOT of posters on here who live in the very places you are curious about . . . . .

Come to cardiff it is a great place to live. The people are frendly,with it's wonderful castle in the town center.
A very nice compact captol city. It has gone through a big re-generation programme so there is plenty to do in and around it. The cost of living is cheaper here than some of the places you mentioned. Breacon is on the on the door step, an hour away from the Gower coast. West wales and it's beatiful coastal walks along National park routes and it's un spolit beaches is about 2 hours drive. London is a 2 hour train ride away. Cardiff airport also has reasonable flights to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast etc so you can vist these places very easy if you want to do short weekend breaks. Ferry crossings to South Ireland from wales are within driving distance, the people are so friendly in Ireland I love it.
OK I would say all this as I live here, but check out these wesbites
http://www.cardiffharbour.com/
www.visitwales.co.uk
http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?id=694

AS there's a shortage of speech therapists in the UK you should have plenty of choice. How about the south-west? Alright, I'm biased, having lived here now for 9 years or so, but the weather is warmer than other places, the scenery is fantastic, the pace of life is slower, and the beaches are just down the road or over the hill. and you can always get a train/plane to get your fix of cities! Hope you have a great time, wherever you choose.

janisj: Explanation--when I'm cruising through the Fodors site I'm not lingering; looking quickly for info re: upcoming trip to the Netherlands (learned about the Dutch Flyer that way) and occasionally a thread that catches my attention on the UK. Lea_Lea seemed passionate about Wales in a post and that's what I'm looking for (but a stupid move considering the time difference unless she's a night owl). I also try to respond to threads in which I might be able to offer some perspective from my comparatively limited travels or just because (Carmella's coats). I'm not stalking her, I just noticed her posts....

crazychick: Exactly what I'm looking for, thank you! Cardiff is where I'm leaning. We watch "Location Location Location" on BBC America and Cardiff SEEMED like a decent place but what I want is real people stuff.

annhig: What cities are in the south-west? (Total ignorance alert--am I correct that you are referring to England?) You've been there for nine years...were you from another part of England before or an ex-pat? I'm asking because if an ex-pat, I have other questions if you don't mind.

sorriso: Just so you understand, I'm only trying to help you use the forum. I'm not saying you won't get anything of value from Lea_Lea - if she sees this thread. Apparently she lives in South Wales so would likely have some useful info.

But she is a <b>very</b> infrequent poster. It looks like she made one short entry about Wales last week and before that the last time she has posted anything was back on April 11. She has posted a total of <u>seven</u> times in two years. There are other Fodorites who live in S. Wales who post nearly every day.

Hopefully she will see your thread - just don't put too many eggs in one basket.

nona1: I've never lived more than a half-hour from the coast but what you pointed out is basically common sense; two hours isn't that far!

janisj: Yes, thanks for the help; I didn't research all her posts. Hopefully some of those other South Wales posters will take a peek. If I think of it, I'll top in the a.m. before work.

Have you considered the south coast rather than the south west? The Dorset coastline is really pretty and quite dramatic in places, with large towns like Bournemouth and Poole. The next county along is Hampshire with Southampton and Winchester as good sized towns, which aren't too far from London. Plus you have the New Forest in this area which is great for weekend cycling trips along with some pretty villages. Southampton and Bournemouth both have airports which offer flights to UK and European destinations also.

Sheila, Did you really sugggest to an american speech therapist that she should work in Glasgow?

What has the poor woman done to you?

In all seriousness...There are all sorts of things you need to think about - for example, what are they paying you as the costs of living vary wildly (in general - the further north you go the cheaper).

You also seem to think that Britain has seperate climate zones - it doesn't. Unless you are going to live in the very north of scotland (where no one actually lives -it's empty) the climate is pretty much the same all over.

The other thing that you should know is that Britain's regions are not homogenous even within themselves. There's no similarity between say Harrrogate and a pit village, or even different suburbs of the same town.

Incidentally, nowhere in Britain is more than 61 miles from the sea. But there's sea (North norfolk) and there's sea (portsmouth)

Dear Sorriso,
sorry I wasn't clear, i meant the south-west of England. To me that means specifically Devon &amp; cornwall, but to the rest of the country it stretches all the way up to Bristol. THat's the biggest city and very nice too- then there's Taunton, Exeter [vey nice] Bath [ditto] Plymouth [loved by a few] an Truro - small but beautifully formed. A good map should be able to help you locate us. I don't think it's much like I imagine Maine to be, and certainly Scotland wouldn't make me think of Maine at all!
I'm not ex-pat - just a Brit that's moved around a bit, including living and working in London for 15 years. So still feel free to ask your questinos - you never know, OPs might be able to help.
On the weather front, generally, south is warmer, and west is wetter - so down here we're wet and warm!

TT