I never thought I’d miss England (and yet here we are)
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- Опубліковано 10 кві 2023
- I didn't think I would miss England.. but...!
Recently I got back from a holiday to Italy! And it was lovely! BUT I found myself missing "home" in England.. even though I'm not English. As a foreigner living in the UK, the idea of "home" is weird!!
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Hey! I'm Alanna - a thirty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a UA-cam video every Tuesday plus an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm GMT/BST on Twitch.
Alanna x
I'm homesick for Britain too and I live here or rather in what's left of it.
I really would like to find someone who can repair my Tardis so I can go home to England as it was just a few years ago.
A change of government wouldn't go amiss perhaps!
Lol I thought it was just me that’s planning a time-escape. 1983 feels like a good date. Just remember to set the times machine to automatically throw you back to ‘83 every time it reaches 2012.
Thank God there's loads of room in a Tardis, you could probably get 50 million to go with you!
As a Brit when you go on holiday either home or abroad the first thing you do when you get home is put the kettle on for a cup of tea. Absolute Heaven
Absolutely true!
or just use a electric kettle
So true
The last time we went to Italy in 2019, Positano for 3 weeks, we took a kettle with us and a months worth of tea bags. Absolute Heaven.
@@kw8757 I always travel with plenty of my favourite teabags. A kettle is taking things a bit too far. 😁
Its such a different feeling being british iv been in Australia for 4 months and miss the culture and our history and the castle and everything !! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Doesn't matter how good the holiday... getting though the front door, bunging a wash on, changing into your comfy scruffs and chilling out with a coffee not surrounded by strangers, with the rest of the day to do whatever you please and not running to some crazy self-inflicted schedule...giving the credit card time to cool down! Can't beat it. We love going to new places and exploring, eating new foods...but one of the best things about holidays in general for me is how they seem to renew my love for home, family, and the simple pleasure of luxuriating in your own little kingdom.
Awesome video, I'm English, I live in New Zealand, I did live in Halifax, nova Scotia, and Moncton, new Brunswick, I love Canada and I love Canadians. I think that of all the commonwealth England and Canada have the best relationship. I miss little cafes, whose coffees are fantastic, I miss pubs with fireplaces and proper beer gardens, I miss Hyde park, I miss the tube, I miss Peter Kay, Ricky gervais, I miss a good pie, a full English breakfast and women saying " alright darling, what can I do for you?", Lol. It's all very basic, but it's why I'll be forever English. This kind of content warms my heart and makes me realise just how much England is embedded in the English. For my money, you're an English Canadian. Thank you
Only brits feel about Canadians the way you describe. Huge majority of us Canadians do not feel about the brirish the way you claim brits feel about us. Sorry for the confrontation, I know You brits hate it, but it is not our problem.
Not a suprise! You have been here a long time and become anglicised! especially to your own home! No suprise there! And we are very glad to have you back, cos we love you!
Call me a miserable ol' trout, I probably am, but my favourite part of any holiday is returning home to my place, my desk my living space, my garden and my cup and saucer with a decent cup of tea in it!
You are an honoray Brit. We are privileged to have you.
My daughter lives about 5 miles away from me and sometimes I will stay there overnight I cannot wait to get home to my own bed though, the right amount of cosiness, the right thickness of pillow, the way I can snuggle up and spread out . Never underestimate the power of THE BED! X
The power of the bed is usually decided by who you share it with…like with a nice snuggly partner. The alternative being a tossing and turning partner who snores their bloody head off..As for me, some of my best nights are falling asleep on the settee in front of the TV, snuggled up with my dog!
I moved to the UK a month ago. I love it here. I am looking for a sponsorship job. Its so lovely being around such nice people.
Had a parking fine in Portugal many years ago. The Portuguese policeman thanked me for being so polite and agreeable and English! I'm from Belfast, wish I had told him.
Four of us(Belfast and Bangor) were in Germany and stopped at an Italian restaurant late at night. None of us spoke German or Italian and the Italians didn't speak English. Between us all we had a great conversation, got a great meal and were directed to a good hotel for the night.
I'm from Edinburgh and I have just had to tolerate people saying English instead of British. 😘
I never thought I'd hear someone say they "miss British customer service"! I mean, I'm British and I wasn't even aware we had customer service.
Alanna: "I will never be British."
The audience: "But you kind of are British though."
Alanna: "No, I'm Canadian. Absolutely Canadian."
The audience: "Sure, but you're still British. We see it even if you don't. And you're very welcome."
Alanna: "???"
😂
That's a lovely thing to say. She is a bit British, isn't she!
Oh she is Canadian 🇨🇦 first 😆 ❤❤❤
We love ya girl , you are a Brit for sure !❤❤❤❤
She's Canadian but she's gone native.
I think people don't realise how lucky they are to be in this country until they travel to another. Thanks for the video. All the best.
I am probably the least patriotic person on the planet and I might just as well say that I am proud of my height or my eye colour, considering that I had no say in those either.
That said, in the past few days I have been watching American UA-camrs reacting to videos about how good a design the British plugs and sockets are and have felt an odd sense of pride, even though I had no say in those either. 😃
You seem to think you have some sort of control over whether you will or won't become British. As this UA-cam channel clearly demonstrates, it's happening right before our eyes!
Nice video Alanna 😀
😂 Cheers Stuart!
@@AdventuresAndNaps That cheer's exemplifies
@@AdventuresAndNaps The transition won't be complete until we get you loving marmite on hot toast with butter.
@@dabe1971 In that case I'm not British despite being born here and having lived here for over 35 years!
@@dabe1971 🤢🤢🤮🤮49%/51%
I HEAR YOU! I went on holiday (from Texas) to HAWAII!!! And can you believe that the whole time I was wishing I were in England instead. True story.
Italy is awesome! If you go to Rome. The first sunday of every month all the museums are free.
"I miss British customer service" said nobody ever before!
I love to go traveling but I love to come home. Seeing the green fields of England from the plane as we get near the airport brings a tear to my eyes.
I always start packing days before I need to! 😂
Sometimes it's the yellow fields if you come back when oilseed rape is in full flower.
@@martinconnelly1473 Stansted!
Absolutely, the green fields from the plane window, means we’re nearly home. Good old Blighty
And hopefully a light drizzle. I Iove our weather.
I remember your reaction to getting your visa renewed, that tells me all I need to know about how you feel towards the UK
That seems like a lifetime ago and even more when recalling Alanna's anxiety stories about getting on the bus for the first time and not knowing anyone except Mr Naps, until finding Anna and Hannah.
I am in my 80s- and i have always been glad to get home, I like travel , but yes; HOME. One more thing you don't have to travel far now you are in England, Europe is on your doorstep. By the way, the Algarve for ace coffee.
🇬🇧Good to have you back home 👍
☺️
I went away for the weekend recently and I had a great bed with four pillows and a memory foam mattress but it just wasn’t the same. I missed my creaky old bed at home and when I finally climbed back into it I was so happy. 🛌 ✌️
I love Alanna’s content, her videos always make me smile. It’s just the way she is, very likeable 😊 totally get the uncomfortable beds with the thin pillow when abroad ha. She says she’s not British but she’s definitely classed as one of us now
I love the raw honesty in this video. It's what keeps us all coming back!
Thanks so much pal!
@@AdventuresAndNaps canada is part of the commonwealth. so yes you are british.
@@AdventuresAndNaps You're welcome!
@@thedisabledwelshman9266 Hahahaha
Then you are easily pleased.
I lived in kiev for a few years.. have since moved back home.
I do miss it though and all the people i met. I miss the food and the chaotic traffic and the babushkas that sold fruit or flowers on the corners.
I've had 'Buy something or get lost' (paraphrasing) in both the UK (London, specifically) and Italy - so there ya go!
i always miss England when i go away
always look forward to getting home after a bit
I'm a born and bred Londoner who's lived in leafy Staffordshire for 20+ years now.
Whenever I spend 2 days or more in London I'm like "ok I wanna go home now" 😅
I'm a stokie born and bred and I've visited London and I loved it but I could never live down there.
Same here Belle.
Visited Treviso Alanna and it was virtually impossible to find anything other than pizza or spag bol on the menu. Which says a lot about the palette of tourists!
I do enjoy your videos. I’ve been living in Cambodia for 16 months and the amount of things I miss is incredible. Thanks
English born and bred and living in Bristol currently. I miss England too. I can't remember the last time I felt like I actually lived there.
I really agree with the point about getting back to your own bed and bedding thing. Always a better nights sleep with fresh bedding!
So good!
Pillows are very personal. It's very hard to find good ones that suit you and when you do they're like golddust. I found a perfect one which was then changed by the manufacturer and I'm still looking for a good replacement 5 years later. When I go somewhere hot I start missing Britain's miserable weather. The service in Greece has been fantastic whenever I've gone, very laid back and friendly.
Thank you for sharing
I actually found the same in Spain, sometimes the customer service is so moody and miserable it just starts to get you down a bit.
I was born and raised in England and I'm dual British Canadian, when I first moved to Canada I was homesick for UK but Canada is now home and I don't miss UK at all.
The Girl is as British as the rest of us...... It has taken 7 years but it has been a funny and delightful journey..... Welcome home Alanna :-))) xxxx
She won't be fully British until she can pronounce the word correctly, it is not "Briddish"!
She looks northwestern European. So would be native to this part of the world.
We missed you too
So Glad to you back in England 🏴 Alanna we missed interesting videos all about Italy 🇮🇹 now we forward to more Great videos now your here welcome home 🏡 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Dear dear Alannah, it's really heartwarming to see you were 'homesick' for us here in England and our way of life. God bless you, the honorary British part of you will never leave you now. ❤💙💚🤎
As the saying goes, 'home is where the heart is'. Yours obviously is in the UK. welcome home
I love that you allow that English, as spoken in England is, *technically*, English.
Great video Alanna. I think British customer service sometimes gets a bad wrap but in my experience was better than in many of the counties I've visited. I.m totally with you on learning foreign languages. I had to study French in school and hated it mostly because the teacher didn't like me. The only French I can say is 'What time is it? ' and 'where is the toilet?
I was in England last year (I’m American) and I thought that customer service was excellent. I often find myself missing England and I would really love to live there.
You're becoming an honorary Brit. For a lot of us Brits there's always something great about getting back home to good 'Old Blighty' to use an old fashioned term for England / Britain.
Whenever I travel I take a travel kettle, with cups, plug adapter, Yorkshire tea bags and a milk carton. It’s an essential.
I love your jumper
Welcome home sweetheart. Glad you had a nice holiday🍹🍾🦞🎡
Of course you're a Brit Alanna, or at least our favourite adopted one.😁 We can all tell when you've been back to Canada or abroad too. Your accent changes back to a more Canadian one for a while. You probably don't notice yourself, but you soon start using the English ways of speaking on your return. It does now seem to change back quicker, the longer you've been here.
I remember going to a little coffee shop in Rome. It was lovely, but the cups were TINY. I'm used to a massive Costa takeout cup that will last me about an hour as I sit and draw, or read or write. It wasn't an option in Rome seemingly!
Absolutely adorable as always, don't worry Alana, as you have been here so long now and obviously have mastered your British sense of humour, you are now most certainly a honorary Brit xx
Alanna, yes you are British by default. Canada was a British colony, it became independent from direct rule from the UK, but Canadians are family.
Yes, unlike USA, Canada has never been at war with Britain.
For some reason they copied America with lots of ways ..eg driving side
@@Phiyedough Seriously considered becoming part the US though. Also I don't think indigenous Canadians feel very British.
French Canadian here 👋 my family roots are certainly very interesting being first descendant in canada from new France. Could write ✍️ a book 📖 aka outlander 😆 😂 I definitely have a soft spot when I go to Britain and France. It’s a déjà vue feeling each time honestly. Those feelings are incomparable when I go to other continents. Our roots are who we are, no doubts about that.
@@joshuataylor3550 indiginous Canadians are native Canadians, essentially Indian Tribes. All others came from overseas, mainly from the UK or France. We still regard Canada as family, along with Australia and others. If they no longer feel British, it's because they became independent and went their own ways. We in the UK still consider them family.
Same. I just came back from Paris. I’ve been there for 4 days. And oh my God, how much I missed UK!!!!! The best country in the world❤
Totally agree with you. I'm not british and visited Paris for a few days. Coming back, I was amazed with the transport and service, and even the air here is so fresh and tasty. I love the UK. Please give me the citizenship!
Hope you had a great trip, though!
My wife and I visited Florence a few years ago. Sensational, but the sheer volume of art was overwhelming. The heatwave at the time was also an issue, but I'd certainly go again.
Had exactly the same issue with Rome and the Vatican and the heatwave last summer made walking around the city unbearable; the only respite was the cool temperature in St.Peter's
One thing about British museums while they are free it is only polite to leave a donation :) (if you can afford that is as the whole point of free admission is to make them open for everyone)
Italian here! To me it just sounds like you just missed the creature comforts you've acquired since living in the UK which is a very normal thing. I've been living in the UK a number of years now and I and other Italians I know also miss some of the creature comforts we've acquired since moving here even when we go home for a visit. I know Americans living in Italy who, when they go back to the US for a visit, are surprised to discover that they miss the creature comforts they've acquired since living in Italy. I think know what you mean, though. There are so many things, as expats, that we miss about home and it can take so much time to adjust to our new surroundings (and even so we still tend to feel a little out of place) so it takes us by surprise when we realise that our adopted country has become a true second home.
We love Italy & the Italians - and spend several weeks there every year in a campervan, mostly Piedmont, Umbria, Tuscany, Puglia - and Sicily last year. Visiting Italy spoils you for every other country
@@Pippins666 That's very true.
That's exactly what I thought. You get used to your home comforts wherever you happen to live.
I remember being surprised at how expensive the Uffizi Gallery seemed, after going to all the London galleries and museums for free (or a voluntary donation), and the fact there were no lifts (I did struggle with the stairs!), but it was so worth it! The staff were so friendly and knowledgeable and seeing the Botticellis that I love was a wonderful experience. In fact, all the Italian people were welcoming. I fell in love with the country.
Also, the churches in Florence are free to visit and they have beautiful art work, as well as impressive architecture. I want to go back. Soon!
@@miaschu8175 When I first moved to the UK I missed my Italian creature comforts a lot but now I have new creature comforts that I miss when I leave the UK. Everyone I know (who has moved to a different country) experienced a change in habits. I guess the Uffizi Gallery is a must when visiting Florence/Italy for the first time. However, I prefer to visit the churches: especially in the summer (nice and cool) as they contain much of our nation's historic artwork anyway.
The old saying there's no place like home is so true. I totally agree about the the bed and pillow.❤
I moved from the UK to Spain and then to the US. I feel equally homesick at times for both of those places. Leicester, Barcelona and NM since you ask.
Home is where the heart is.
Why would you want to live in the US 🤷♀️
@@phoenix-xu9xj My wife is American.
What a lovely video. Glad you feel so at home in Britain. I would add to your list, our weather! Not to everyone’s taste, but I love a moody sky, cloud, rain, sunshine - usually all in one day.
Hey Alanna, another expat here...well double expat...Canadian that moved to Oz for a long time now I have moved to the Uk, enjoying your stuff and always nice to hear another canadian accent ;)
Thank you, commonwealth lady
I'm not British and here I am watching your videos.
Cool
Glad you had a great Hol with 'The Butler' Alanna. With your hair highlights & jumper you looked like an excited & happy bumble bee!
Keep crossing off those calendar & spreadsheet items until your next holiday! 🙏🙏
Old Blue Eyes said it best:
It's very nice to go traveling
To Paris, London and Rome
It's oh, so nice to go traveling
But it's so much nicer
Yes, it's so much nicer to come home!
I really understand you missing your bed and pillows. At some point, I decided to take one of my pillows with me on vacations. It really helped me sleep, but it does take up a bit of room in my suitcase!
Always love your videos, but must say and hope you don't mind, but at this point I'm proud to say as an English man that you've been adopted by us brits and we are lucky to have you 💙💙💖💖
Thank you so much!
Brits, Englishman, make your mind up. They are not one and the same.
@@williamwallace5857 I'm British and I live in England and hopefully that now makes it more understandable why both were used.
@@weeblesdontwobble But your picture didn't make the distinction and that's why I came here. You say 'I never thought I'd miss England' but there is a BRITISH flag there.
@@williamwallace5857 I did not post a picture, just a comment.
Great video Alanna
Thank you!!
Great little video Alanna, I'm glad you had a great holiday but it's nice to hear that you missed us while you were away, we all missed you too. Welcome home Miss Naps. 😊
Thank you so much!
The free museums are a great thing about London. Also how clean it now is, at least compared to 20 years ago,
Home is where your heart is
You are an honorary Brit Alana,whether you like it or not!
Alanna missed her home and there is nothing wrong with that...😊
☺️
All I can say about the bed one is I feel this for sure... there is no better bed than your own, especially when your away from it init😂
Nice as Always Alanna your more British then you think :)
Loved the video. I'm off to Italy in October and looking forward to feeling homesick.
Haha!
it's funny for ages now whenever you say you're foreign I've often felt that actually you had moved past that point you are no longer a foreigner. 😀
It's funny, when I go abroad I don't 'miss' England, but then that's because I know I am eventually going home to blighty, and everything will be right again, especially in rural Shrewsbury, Shropshire, the real Hobbiton, the real Shire, where us little people matter and make a difference. As long as my home exists, I don't miss it, and nobody can take it away from me.
Alanna going on holiday is great and you can have the time of your life,but you can't beat coming home to a real cuppa and your own bed. Maybe even a Gregg's sausage roll and a bevvy at the local to round the holiday off. Then whinging about the crappy weather wishing you were away again 😂
Your as British as they come,go girl great vid as always 😊
Hi Alanna,when we go abroad on holiday I try to learn please and thank you in the local language as a courtesy,and I find that a lot of the people want to practice their English on you.cheers Roly 🇬🇧.
Lovely that you have so many 'small' things that bring you happiness. As you get older, you truly find joy in the simple things.
So true!
I'm finally coming to visit KENT! In July. Can't wait!!!
Goudhurst, Cranbrook, Biddenden. Centre your stay around there
@@graememorrison333 thanks so much for the advice!
That is one of the side effects of traveling. The unexpected longing for home. It certainly can make one appreciate the mundane.
That said... being in the US, traveling to the UK is my favorite... for all the reasons you enumerated.
The way I see it, if you feel at home here and you get on with everyone that makes you just as British as someone who's born here. (In a few cases a lot more British than some born here)
Never missed uk for a fraction of a second when I lived there. Always used to escape from the uk when took my holiday or time off. Always used to feel physically ill and tormented closer to my return flight date. Freed myself from that place at last.
Great video as always xx
Living quite controversially with some of that 🤣
On the free museums - initialy I thought, "yes but that's very much a London thing" - but perhaps not; here in Hastings, the Hastings Museum and Art gallery, the Fishermen's Museum, and the Shipwreck museum are all free (they're small compared to the big London national museums of course!). Council-run museums like HMAG are often free (or at least low cost); and many small museums are charity-funded so have a free to visit, donation if you want to arrangement.
I never thought I'd miss Texas but, after being in London since November 2022, here we are.
It's the weather, innit! God, I hate the weather here, and I'm English.
It's perfectly reasonable and acceptable to be homesick for wherever you do live, as well as for where you have lived, when you spend some time away. But Italy is amazing and I'm glad you had a great time! 🙂
Another great video as well, though I agree - for reasons I've given in a comment on your homebrew video - it might not be your choice if, or when, you become British! 🤣🤪
Love your videos Alanna.....all done with humour and grace. A new (UK) subscriber. Canada should be proud of you. 😊
It sounds to me as though you actually are now British! Besides, if you're Canadian, we know that normally means you descend from here or over the channel. Welcome home!
Great video Alanna.
I was told that the Italian hand gestures are a language all their own. I was in Sardinia where Italian is the natural language. Sitting in a piazza in Cagliari, I watched as 2 men had a conversation. I couldn't hear what they said but I understood a lot through the hand gestures! It was obvious that they hadn't met up for a while & were enjoying a good natter.
Missing your home & routine is part of being on holiday. You'll *always* be Canadian, but you can certainly call yourself an honorary Brit.
Take care Alanna & keep on great videos.
Yeah, we went to Florence not very long ago, and I had one of the worst coffees I’ve ever had 😂
I went to Italy once....was absolutely terrible, I forgot to pack my glasses and never saw a thing while I was there, even struggled getting home again.😆😆😂🙃😊
Nice video-as always, Alana.Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.
Enjoy your content
Thanks so much!
Hello Alanna, that's so true. It's a privilege to visit wonderful places but even better to come back to where you feel at home.
As a adopted Brit did you really think you wouldn't miss home, hope you had a great time.
You seriously need to visit Cornwall. It's quirky, beautiful Britain at its best.
Yes. Spent my holidays there when I was a kid.
Ya defo becoming British by evert vid gal respect to you glad you enjoyed ya hols n welcome back home ✌️🏴🇨🇦❤ x
i must say i dont watch this channel all the time but know about it and i am for sure seeing bits of british in yourself ie movement, words, accent and things that you like