Paying the price to visit family

How to manage the costs of visiting adult children during the festive season.

- SUSAN HELY

Most of us encourage our grownup children to travel to broaden their world and encourage independence. Sometimes they meet a love interest or land a dream job on the other side of the world and end up not coming back home.

It happened to me. I was backpacking in Scotland and met an American in a queue at the tourist information office, then we met again on the same train north. We kept in touch over the years and visited each other in our home countries.

He proposed on one of his visits and I decided to move to the US, said goodbye to my family and friends, quit my great job, sold my car and gave away my washing machine.

Making the move

About 600,000 Australians born in Australia choose to live overseas, with the most popular destination being the UK, with 165,000 Australians, followed by Greece with 135,000 and the US with 99,000, according to the UN's 2020 International Migration report.

It can be heartbreaking when your children decide to live overseas for the long term. I really missed my family and friends. Finances and other commitments play a big part in whether or not you can afford to see your dispersed family as often as you would like.

Home for the festive season

Distance can change relationships, and having family scattered around the world can make the festive season, in particular, fraught for parents.