"We've gotta get out of this place"

"We've gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing we ever do, Girl there's a better life for me and you". 

I believe it was Eric Burdon of The Animals that first sang these words back in 1965 but today, for me at least, these words still ring more true than ever. I'm currently stuck in a retail job I've quickly grown to detest, in a country that's growing danker by the day and with the winter months here for the fore-see able, I'm now the one screaming these words at my some-what perplexed girlfriend, Leah.

Leah is a Kiwi, she moved over to England to be with me after we met during my backpacking years in Australia. She's as proud-a-kiwi as you can get, but for some reason she's grown to love her life here in the UK. I think it's largely due to her job at an animal shelter, which she adores. I hate to sound selfish but I've been trying my absolute best to get her out of this country and back to NZ for some time now.

The original plan was to live here for 2 years and then travel back to NZ, late this year, so she can continue her studies and I can begin my new life out of this country. I've got my working holiday visa and I've just recently purchased 2 tickets to Auckland for June of this year - This was done without Leah's consent (I know, I'm a douche). But desperate times call for desperate measures! I honestly don't think I could last another year here, Everything bothers me about this place; the weather, the culture, the people, etc. I've grown into such a pessimist and it's got to the stage now where I think I'm better off going ASAP so as not to drive my family and friends insane with my frequent mood swings.

So now I've decided to start this blog malarkey to mainly keep myself entertained while counting down the days until I leave and also to keep as a public journal of the whole emigrating process for myself and my future family to look back on (One of my biggest regrets is not keeping a journal from my backpacking years). It's also going to be a way of keeping my family and friends up to date on everything I do when I eventually do get to New Zealand. 

I'll try and update this as much as possible and hopefully there may even be some helpful advice in here for people hoping to emigrate as well. but for now I'll leave you with the silver-tongued lyricist that I've so elegantly plagiarized...