In a months time my family and I are moving, lock stock and barrel to Seattle. We have all been very excited but we are sad to say goodbye to good friends and family. It is a wonderful new chapter for us but also a little scary. This week I have had the chance to visit Seattle to plan for our move. I have been here for 6 days and apart from missing the kids, I don’t want to come home.

The biggest surprise is how beautiful it is, it is green, full of trees, mountains in the distance and tranquil lakes. It is a little like having your cake and eating it. You have all that a cool city has to offer, with the countryside right on your doorstep. You can be gazing at the lake front within 15 minutes of finishing work or travelling to the mountains within 40 minutes for skiing and beautiful scenery. Couple that with a family friendly culture with loads for the kids to do and lots of options for childcare, excellent schools, big houses, laid back people who love fitness and the outdoors; remind me why I would want to stay in the UK?

It may be the excitement of something new but everyone I have talked to from here loves it too so it can’t be just that. Yes there are downsides – it rains a lot but as a Welsh girl I’m used to that. Other downsides are that I have to learn a whole new way of driving ( I’m sure that journey will lead to a few entertaining blogposts) and people here carry guns.

I get a similar feeling here to one I had when I visited Canada for the first time when I was 16 years old. I felt so at home there that I was moved to tears when my plane took off to go home. Here I am a few hours drive from Canada too, an added bonus.