An American In The UK – The HONEST Truth About Moving Abroad In Your 40s
About this episode
Victoria Pearce shares her honest experiences of moving to the UK in her 40s, discussing both the challenges and benefits of relocating later in life.
Victoria Pearce, the writer behind A Life Away, joins the Expat Focus Podcast to talk about moving abroad after 40. Victoria has lived in the UK twice — once as a young grad student, and again in her 40s with a husband and an 11-year-old in tow. Her story unpacks what it really looks like to uproot a settled life, swap a legal career for a writing one, and rebuild from scratch on the other side of the Atlantic. Victoria is candid about the cons of relocating in your 40s — selling the house, losing the easy school-gate friendships, rebuilding a settled life from very little — and equally honest about the upsides, including the career confidence that makes a midlife move surprisingly workable. She also discusses the practical side: moving an 11-year-old into the UK secondary school system, navigating GCSEs as an American parent, pivoting from practising attorney to content writer, the strange double life of being an American abroad in a politically turbulent moment, citizenship plans, and the pull of ageing parents back home. If you're weighing up a move abroad later in life, supporting a child through an international relocation, or rethinking your career as a trailing spouse…
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