I think I may be overcompensating. I arrived in Washington DC for the FIGT conference yesterday evening, and in the ensuing 20 hours, I have sucked down two lemon drop martinis and a couple of seriously strong margaritas, slept like the dead for 8 hours, then bought one tablecloth, two umbrellas (one [...]
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This bit should probably be entitled “Expat Healthcare Future Proofing ” because that is what we are trying to do here. The healthier you stay, the better your relocation experience will be.
Timeline Cheat Sheet
Any routine tests or treatment that would otherwise be due in the first 3-6 months of your assignment. Order supplies of [...]
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This post has been prompted by an email conversation, trying to set a time for a conference call. I was aiming for calm, competent and professional. It was overambitious on my part.
Firstly, please let me reassure you that I can tell the time. I first learned when I was 3, and have [...]
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The issue of schooling is, for most expat families, one of the most important parts of the relocation plan. There is, however, a problem.
It is fairly easy to manage the education needs of younger children, especially for what we believe to be a short term transfer. What we don’t foresee is that many [...]
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I have a confession. When I previously wrote about my expat communication mishaps, it was just bait to hook the big fish. The French Kissing story.
In my world, I’m usually the master (mistress?) of the intercultural miscommunication, but someone somewhere has seen fit to bless me with the most wondrous of gifts. Someone [...]
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The most important reasons for creating a relocation timeline are to avoid scheduling conflict between the essential tasks and and to ensure that any priorities that we have for our family are reflected in a our planning right from the start. It also allows us to clarify what lies ahead and to set our [...]
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I turned 40 last year, and in an effort to do something noteworthy, I contemplated getting a Harley and a tattoo to mark my birthday. Sadly, I am rather fickle, and despite months of research into tattoo designs, I failed to find anything that I would want to look at for the next 30+ [...]
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I have recently had to produce my birth certificate, which proved rather a problem. You see, I had the shorter version, but US immigration required the more detailed one. Which no-one had seen for approximately 39 years and 12 moves.
Ah.
The good news was that the UK registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages had [...]
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My brother has a five year life plan. He and his wife have at some point, sat down together and mapped out where they want to be in five years, and how they are going to get there. Every few months, they discuss what progress they are making, examine any changes that have [...]
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How I wish I had put my camera in my handbag and not in some box during our last move. When we rode behind the truck with our belongings, our view was of one of the back doors of the truck open, showing one of the packers sitting on our table (at the very edge [...]
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