- At 23, Hong Kong was the city of Hannah Ho’s dreams until it was so.
- She had moved there after graduation, but when she was 30 years old, she knew it was time to return home.
- She enjoys spending more time with her family again in the UK, but wants to continue exploring the world.
When I graduated with degrees in business management and Chinese, I didn’t have a clear career plan. I just knew I wanted to live abroad.
I had spent two semesters in China – six months studying in Shanghai and six months completing a practice in Qingdao. That year, I made a 5-day trip to Hong Kong, and something about the energy and diversity of the city attracted me. I decided I wanted to move there.
So, on 23, I took the dance and moved to Hong Kong. I was excited but also nervous. I was a freshly inexperienced graduate in the real world and had dropped a nine -month job as a project coordinator for an educational foundation.
I thought it would be a short adventure, but I ended up staying for seven years. I moved to the recruitment industry and before I knew it, Hong Kong took place at home. I made a lot of friends and adapted to the city’s fast lifestyle.
But my life in Hong Kong began to move in 2020. During and after the pandemia, the once attractive city felt gloomy. In time, I realized that the Hong Kong version with which I had fallen in love was gone. Some of my close friends had left, tourism had slowed down and the once widespread social scene had faded with fewer gatherings and events.
As the city changed, so I do. I found myself wanting something new, a fresh challenge and the desire for a career change began to grow.
Moving home was hard
In 2023, and after I was 30 years old, I knew it was time to leave. Returning home to the UK was not an easy decision. It meant leaving behind the life and career I had built, the friendships I had formed and a city that had formed me as a person.
I had never heard someone talk about how difficult it is to move home after being an exile. The truth is, you return as another person, formed by the experiences and perspectives that the people around you may not fully understand.
In the meantime, I soon noticed that things at home had changed as well. My parents were older, most of my friends had calmed down, and the life I once knew felt familiar and foreign.
One of the biggest challenges with which I faced was the return without a professional network. After leaving the United Kingdom shortly after the university, I had built my career in Hong Kong. Now, I was basically starting all over again.
In Hong Kong, my well -established career provided useful links. Back to the UK, I had to rebuild everything. I began to get back in touch with friends and old acquaintances, following events on the network and using LinkedIn to create new opportunities. Sometimes, it was uncomfortable, but I reminded myself that I had done this before – I had built a life from scratch once, and I could do it again.
Not losing Hong Kong’s work culture
For the first time in years, I had time to stop and reflect. It was a strange paradox – I had longed for more balance, yet I found myself losing the intensity of my old life.
There are so many I miss for Hong Kong: by transporting yourself from rushing and accelerating the center to an island beach or a walking trail in 30 minutes. I miss food, social scene and warm weather. Feeling the adventure coming with living in a place where something was always happening.
In Hong Kong, I shared a compact apartment with a roommate in a living neighborhood. The living of the big city meant to be surrounded by high rise and skyscrapers. Now, in Liverpool – a port city of about 200 miles northwest London – I’ve gone from the apartment living in a house with a garden – something that used to feel almost impossible in Hong Kong. With more space, fresh air and a quieter environment, the house now feels more open and calm.
At home, Ho has explored the English village.
Hannah Ho
Returning to the UK has brought its joys. The passing of quality time with my family has been a pronounced point, I notice myself by appreciating them now in a way I have never done before. I can remove from my sister and brother’s places for home -cooked foods, a cup of tea and just talk about life. These simple moments remind me of the comfort and connection I once took as good.
I have a car so I can go to the village instead of relying on public transport.
Arrangement in UK working culture has also been refreshing. In Hong Kong, the work ethic was intense – long working days were the norm, and the efficiency was everything. There was a sense of emergency in everything people did. In contrast, the United Kingdom has felt calmer. Standard 9 to 5 program, hybrid/distance work models and emphasis on work-life balance have been a welcome change.
Most importantly, I have used this transition as an opportunity to run my career. While I still work a part -time job, I have decided to leave the agency recruitment industry. Now, I am building an online business that will allow me to work from distance and travel more. Because if there is one thing I have learned, once an exile, always an exile.
It feels like I am starting all over again, but I see it as an opportunity to build something new in my conditions as I embrace the lessons and experiences that shaped me abroad.
Do you have a personal essay to move home after living abroad you want to share? Contact the editor: akarPlus@businsinsider.com.