Courtesy of Amber Peacock
- Amber Peacock moved to Florida with her husband and son last fall.
- She's enjoying the weather after being used to the gray skies of the UK.
- She talked to BI about the American dream and the pros and cons of moving.
Amber Peacock, 28, grew up in England and lived in Scotland with her now-husband. Now her family is living their American dream in south Florida.
"My husband and I from a very young age, separately before we crossed paths, have always wanted to move to America," Peacock said. She said they met while they were working at a New York summer camp in 2017. "Neither of us can really say exactly why because we both had that desire before we'd ever visited America."
Peacock said she's happy living in the Sunshine State so far, and sees her family probably living there for at least a few years. More broadly, she thinks they probably will stick around the US long term.
"I think we'll definitely be in Florida for a few years, but during that time, we're trying to scope out the rest of the country and see if there's somewhere that will tick all of our boxes," she said.
The move to a Florida rental home in fall 2023 from Edinburgh, Scotland, didn't come without some doubts, however, as they began the yearslong process to come to the US.
"We had a lot of second thoughts as the process came closer because when we started the process in 2018, we were in a very different stage of our life as to when the paperwork actually came through," Peacock said.
She said back then it was just herself and her now-husband living in a one-bedroom apartment. But since then they've gone through a few life milestones: buying a place in Edinburgh that they still own, getting married, and having a child.
"Obviously that changed what the American dream looked like for us because all of a sudden we didn't just need a beachside apartment and it was just the two of us," she said. "We had a little boy to think about and the distance with the family to think about as well."
But Peacock sees several positives of living in and being able to explore the US. Peacock's family is just one example of people pursuing the American dream, which can mean different things to different people, like achieving homeownership. Some Gen Zers see the American dream has changed from how older peers may have seen it.
"For us, the American dream is our own work schedule," Peacock said, who told BI that she and her husband have their own businesses. "A work-life balance is really important for us to be able to spend lots of time with our little boy and our family when they come over to visit. For us, the American dream is also the weather and the beach lifestyle, and we have that."
Pros and cons of life in the US
Peacock said she "grew up in a remote part of the Lincolnshire Wolds but lived in several different English cities" in her late teens and early 20s. She said a big reason for the move to Florida was because of the weather. She noted the gray skies in the UK and how she thinks the weather affects not only your mood but your quality of life. Peacock said she and her husband want their son to enjoy beach and outdoor lifestyles.
One downside is being away from family, she said, although Florida is "an easy and short flight for our family when they come to visit." She said they also miss the walkability of UK towns and cities, as well as "the scenery and hiking and things like that that just don't exist, at least in south Florida." She said the family would want to "explore some of the other hot states" that might "have a bit more of the lifestyle that we were used to — just with the better weather and the beaches."
Peacock has found that Florida rent and groceries aren't cheap, and counted the cost of living as a con.
She said they bought their three-bedroom, two-story semi-detached property in Scotland during 2020. "The mortgage repayments on that are about £650 thereabouts," she said.
Meanwhile, their rent for the single-family, three-bedroom place in Florida is $4,500 a month.
"We'd obviously done a lot of research into costs of housing and things like that, but there were a lot of day-to-day expenses and even just basics like grocery shopping and things like that, that are way over and above what we had found on the internet basically because we had obviously never lived here before," she said.
Peacock said the family spends more in Florida than in the UK. She said, "Our weekly shop in the UK for two adults and a toddler was probably around £60 to £70 pounds," which would be around $76 to nearly $90. She said "somewhere between $150 and $200 would be a good week to feed us" now.
She's been to other US places too, such as Memphis, Tennessee. One pro is the different food options found in the US, saying "there are so many different cuisines, cultures, just so many different backgrounds in one place."
She said she liked the food in Tennessee. "Just to get that authentic taste of America because I guess again, from the outside looking in America to us is like western and cowboys and barbecue food and meat and southern accents," she said. "That was really cool. That was kind of, I suppose more like the movies — to be there in Memphis and Nashville."
Courtesy of Amber Peacock
She said Texas is high on her bucket list of places to visit in the US given the state's famous barbecue food. Chicago is another place she hopes to visit.
"Also high on the list is to explore the West Coast a little bit more because we do have the feeling that on the West Coast we can perhaps find a bit more of the beach lifestyle but with the walkability," she said.
She also likes that traveling around in the US is fairly easy and how being in a different state can feel "like you're in a different country."
"We've been doing as much domestic travel as we can since we've moved here, and we've really enjoyed seeing the differences," she said. "So that's a massive pro for us."
Dreaming of living in America
Peacock said long before making the move, she and her husband were seeing the American dream through movies and shows, such as "90210" and "The O.C." She said while they "were obviously seeing this very naive picture of America," she also said that "seeing these teenagers growing up by the beach and thinking, 'yeah, we want that for our kids, and we want that for our eventual retirement as well.'"
"The start of our relationship was based a lot around us wanting to eventually relocate," Peacock said. "So then it was just finding an opportunity to do that. It took us a very long time to go through the paperwork."
But the process isn't quite over. She said they're still going through the paperwork for green cards.
"We're legally entitled to do the last stage from within the country, but it's a very complicated and lengthy process," Peacock said.
Her and her husband's business Work Play USA involves recruiting people from around the world as US summer camp counselors, usually young people or students. She said these camps are mainly on the East Coast.
"It's just a fantastic way to have a cultural exchange and to spend your summer rather than working in a bar job back home or moving back in with your parents for the summer or whatever the alternative looks like," she said.
Telling the world what it's like to move to the US as a Brit
Peacock is sharing her life in the US on her TikTok account @_amberinamerica, in addition to Instagram and YouTube.
"I kind of wanted to make a bit of a video diary, I suppose, of all the little things that are different that in a few years from now are going to feel normal," she said of her TikTok account.
Peacock added she also wanted to document the visa process given it's "so complicated and so stressful and very much out of our control" so that they can also look back on it and "think how hard it was to get here."
Looking ahead, Peacock told BI since she and her husband now have their work permits, her husband "will continue to grow Work Play USA whilst we wait for our green cards to arrive."
"I will be chasing another dream which is to start a charity," she said, noting she's hoping to launch sometime this year and is looking for board members. "Growing up we had a family friend who we knew as Aunty from the moment we were born and had a huge impact on our childhood."
Peacock said even though her aunt, Aunty Bubs, was in a high-stress career, she was "the kindest and most thoughtful woman" she had met who gave back a lot, and her charitable nature inspired Peacock.
"I kind of feel extra motivated to do that now because I feel like I want to give back to America because they've welcomed us in and given us this massive opportunity for our family," she said.
She hopes to use her platform to make a difference, where she's looking into diverting PR packages "to good causes, to charities, to people that need it more."
Peacock said her advice for moving to the US is to find resources since it's not an easy process but can be worth it.
"Worst case scenario, you go back," she said. "It's really just one of those things I think you have to jump in with two feet and find out what's the worst that can happen."
Peacock isn't the only one happy about being in Florida. She said her son is so happy spending time outdoors, enjoying the beach, and making new friends at daycare.
"He's living our American dream because that's what we wanted," she said.
She added it is "really rewarding to see all of the effort and the cost and the stress that's gone into moving here pays off every time we step out the back door."
Have you moved to the US? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.