Hattie MacAndrews, 34, left London for Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, in 2023 and says she could never imagine going back. The former confidence coach was paying £1,800 a month for a small flat in London and felt something was missing. After a break-up and disillusionment with dating apps, she decided to move abroad for a better quality of life.
MacAndrews, who now lives with her husband Kieran and their child, says the cost of living is far lower than in the UK. She describes waking up to pink sunrises over a lake and seeing elephants at the end of her garden. The town offers a vibrant community lifestyle with hiking, sea dips, and coffee dates, rather than a big boozy culture.
She met her husband in a local sports bar two weeks after returning to South Africa in June 2023. They married five months later in a simple ceremony overlooking the Tsitsikamma mountains. MacAndrews says she would never have matched with him in London, and that the slower pace of life allowed them to connect genuinely.
Around half a million people left the UK last year, with many young people citing cold weather, high costs, and poor work-life balance as reasons. A British Council survey found 72 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds would consider living abroad.
