Two years ago, we arrived in San Francisco with a couple of suitcases and a lot of excitement.

Since then, California has provided a lot of amazing experiences, one way or another. We’ve travelled to beautiful spots I never knew existed, and done things we never thought we could. We’ve made some amazing friends, met some remarkable people and revelled in the idiosyncrasies and complexities of life in America. And we’ve seen our work lives shift dramatically, through an initial rush of excitement, the recession and angst until — ultimately — I was liberated from the Guardian and went freelance.

We’ve gone places, both literally and metaphorically.

Today, having gained a dramatically improved understanding of what we can and can’t do, we’ve made a new decision: we’re going to head back to Britain. We’ll be back in the UK, or more accurately Brighton, in November — just five weeks from now.

While we dearly love it in San Francisco (and would move back in a heartbeat if the right opportunities arose) there are plenty of good things about our decision. Most of the reasoning is practical: both of us can be more successful professionally from outside the US; We have a string of opportunities that are available from Britain that aren’t elsewhere; the support systems there are much better for people who, like us, have to be closely acquainted with instability.

And of course, there are the friends and family in the UK that we miss terribly. Though there will also be family of friends in America that we will be extremely sad to leave.

Will we be going back to Britain for good? I don’t know. A few years ago I hadn’t ever really considered the option of living abroad: it had always seemed like an impossibly complex idea. Now I understand that it can be a lot easier than I thought and a lot more fun that I could comprehend. But we’ll be in the UK for a while.

What will I do there? The plan for me is to remain a freelance writer in the vein that I’ve been exploring over the last few months: slow, deep reporting for magazines, newspapers and websites that want great writing and ideas. I’m always open to good chances to work for great employers — so feel free to contact me if you’ve got something you’d like to talk about — but I like the sense of control that I’ve built up since leaving the Guardian. I plan to talk a lot more in public about what’s going on in the world, I may be able to put some of my entrepreneurial instincts to good use and who knows, perhaps I’ll be able to finish one of the books that have been rattling around inside my brain forever.

Wherever you are, thanks for the support over the last couple of years. I think I can now say that I am officially a grown-up.