Emigration Update...

Wow, Time is just flying by!! I started writing this post days ago, but constant interruptions and a vast amount of stuff to do meant that I am still working on it now! 

I thought, though, that rather than re-edit it and waste more time, I would just explain that it was started days ago (done!) and then put what I started, then carry on afterwards :)   So, the next purple bit is as far as I got over 2 separate days, then I'll finish off :)

We just got back yesterday from a couple of days spent with one of my husband Adam’s old school friends. He is a really nice guy, and I have quite a bit in common with him as he is really into rock climbing and other adventurous stuff, although he has done a lot more than me – and at a much higher standard too! We met up with him at the home of his new girlfriend, who also seemed really great and interesting and who has lots of outdoorsy interests. It was lovely just to get away again and relax in good company :)

Stuff here has been pretty stressy of late. I don’t want to go into details as I believe in personal privacy and I wouldn’t want to violate someone else’s privacy at all, but let’s just say that I am looking forward to our stuff being collected for shipping, so I can get away to Pembrokeshire for a little while :)

Speaking of shipping our stuff, there are lots of developments on that front! We are moving to Australia on my husband’s visa, and he is being sponsored by his new employer. They are helping sort out most of the admin for the move, and as part of that we have now been assigned a moving company – 2 of them in fact, one to send things from this side, and one to continue the move at the other end. Both have now been in touch, and we have a provisional collection date at the end of this month. They will do all of the packing as well, which is frustrating after all the time we have spent packing things as well as we could!! Still, I guess everything fits better in the store for being packed well, and at least it means that we can do the last bits more quickly and with less worry!

This news has also generated a lot of paperwork, so we now have even more forms to fill in about our stuff. All this form-filling gets me really stressed – like, far more than seems rational - for some reason, so much as I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to people and actually leaving, I am looking forward to all the packing / shipping / forms etc being finished with!

We don’t have a house lined up yet for when we get there, but we will get help with this from Adam’s employer too, and we have been told that when we first arrive we will be given some temporary accommodation for while we choose a place to live. That’s quite a relief!

We might not know exactly where we’ll live when we get there, but we do also know how we’ll get there now. Our flights have been booked!!!! We’ll be flying on the 1^st October from London, and we’ll get a stopover in Hong Kong on the way. This is quite exciting to us; we have spoken to a few people who can’t understand taking a stopover and who say that they would just want to get all the way there as quickly as possible, but to us it a free mini-holiday in a place that neither of us have been before. Not to mention being a break in the otherwise hugely long flight! I would not be keen on having to sit still for over 24 hours!

So, it is all very real now. Everything is in progress, or at least on track to be in progress when it is needed. 

And back to today :) Today we have done a little more putting stuff into store, I have had to apply for a new driving licence as I have lost mine (Ooops!), and then I will need to apply for an International Drivers Permit so that I can use my licence when we arrive. I do hope everything gets back in time, I am rubbish for leaving it so late to deal with everything :(

Tomorrow, however, is a day off from all of this. It's a mixture of relief to get away from everything, and panic that it means we are losing badly needed time, but we have a lovely short trip planned: courtesy of Adam's dad, we are going to Edinburgh overnight! We will go up on the train, stay in a hotel, and get to see the Edinburgh Tattoo! I'm pretty excited about that, so hopefully I will manage to get some good pictures to post. The day after we get back is the day the removals company come to do an assessment prior to beginning the 'uplift' of all our stuff, so things will be continuing at full pace a little while longer. Hopefully then I can get a chance to relax a little and spend time with people who are important to me :)

Phew!! Lots going on, but the end is in sight!