cybersecretary

Pleased to say, airline tickets booked for all 4 of us for 1 August; leaving house 25 July; which means staying with relatives for a week, so by the time we leave i probably will be quite glad to be going.

visa interview at embassy is on 19 July, oooo, whats all that about, how does it all go? anyone got any stories on how all this works?

also got questions about mail redirection, how do you get your mail redirection done when you cant get a house until you have got your visa AND have to provide MLR documentation to the royal mail - I could get it all redirected a POB near to where we hope to live, or to husbands office (not a preferred option). Duh......... May end up relying on the "dad-redirection-service"........ although its quite scary just how confused an 80 year old bloke can get with letters.

finally, in reality, just how upsetting is that final party with all your mates and family members (that you actually like)... personnally, I would just go, but they all seem to want some sort of "closure???"

jumping doris

Can't help you with the mail. We bought a house before we moved, so had the address. We didn't have to prove anything to the Royal Mail though, just filled in a form for a 6 month redirection and then when we were here they sent us a reminder when the 6 months was up and we did another 6.

We had a big party at our house...no furniture, lots of booze.
Lots of friends took us out for private dinners and to be honest it got to the point of "Oh god, not another one".

We were so stressed out with all the last minute stuff that it went by in a whirl and I regret that.
I will never cease to be amazed, though, at the people who saw our last minute crises and just did stuff for us.

My advice..savour every moment (we didn't), take tons of photos of people and places (we didn't), Tell them how much they mean to you (we did do that) and don't let anyone come to the airport.

we spent the last night in a luxury airport hotel (an oxymoron, I know) and slipped quietly away early the next day.

The first week we were here, we were all together...no work for OH, no school. The second week they had all started their "new lives" and I have never felt so alone. I was completely unprepared for that. No car, so I couldn't even get off my neighbourhood.

Enjoy it all if you can.

penguinsix

Start to plan, on paper, your move. Make a master list of things to do, things pack, people to see. Cross them off. Don't play it by ear, or take it as comes--try to bring some sort of order to the move so you have time for spontaneous dinners with friends chances to do random things before you go. If you just try to wing it you are going to end up on move day in total hell, packing boxes of 'dirty dishes' to be dealt with later when you arrive.

First thing after the list is the stuff to sell. Get it out of the house now--tv, pcs, small appliances, etc. Sell it now and ease your life a bit. I'd also get any trips out of the way--i.e. some uncle 200 miles away or something. Get it over now so it doesn't come down on you later.

Another important thing to do is get your papers together. Bank statements, kids immunizations, school records. These aren't just sitting around sometime and have to be requested so get those requests in now.

I'd also make a little time to do a few things just for yourself. You and your family go to your favorite restaurant, or special touristy place. Things you're going to miss when you are gone.

NC Penguin

There's threads and posts about the visa interview in the various US visa related forums elsewhere on BE.

You make it sound like a funeral or a wake. Why call it closure? You're just a phone call away. If you or your friends and family don't like goodbyes, skip having a party. It'll just make things worse.

jumping doris

Our master list fell to pieces when the sale of our house nearly fell through on the day we were to exchange contractsWhich was a week before we moved. We completed and flew...that's how tight it was.
All our furniture had gone, we were using borrowed air beds, sheets , TV and garden furniture.

We also had to make sure that all our children did all their final things with friends....we took lots of photos of my youngests primary school, inside and out and all her teachers so that she would have something to show at her new school.
We had already taken some photos of her school here ,on a previous visit, and she had been able to show them to her UK school.

TouristTrap

You'll have so many of them all of a sudden wanting to visit California, that you might have to draw up a 'fees list' a la Ray for family and friends who want to visit

Good luck with the trip.

Jerseygirl

We secured a US rental property a few weeks before we obtained our visas. We didn't have a farewell party...said goodbye to everyone a couple of days before we actually left. No airports farewells for us...we didn't want our 11 year old daughter upset. We thought it best for everyone's sake if we didn't make a big deal of it.

DollyLlama

Like Penguinsix says, make lists.
Also take photos of people and places.
We didn't do the airport farewell thing like JG either.
Didn't want a lot of relatives at the airport getting upset and upsetting us

another bloody yank

Don't forget to shit on your cat owning neighbor's doorstep right before you leave for the airport. Just something for them to remember you by...

Bob

If you don't already, have copies of everything you might need stashed away in a couple places like birth cert, passport, visa, degree's, health record etc.

Enjoy the parks, the pubs and getting pissed up with your mates one last time.

Adnams

Sound advice on the records front Bob and dont lose then whatever you do. Even insignificant records are worth bringing and taking copies of, you never know what / when / why you'll need them. Better safe than sorry,

Good luck and welcome to BE.

Jerseygirl

Who are you welcoming?

rincewind

Don't close bank accounts or cancel credit cards. Change all the addresses to the new US one. Once you close these accounts, it will be hard to open UK accounts again and you never know when you'll need them.

cybersecretary

thanks for all the advice everyone. am trying to get organised, actually I LOVE organising - no bloody good at it mind you.

What I havent done though is any of the personal photo stuff for the kids, that is an excellent idea, pics of their mates from school to remind them.

Am now scanning all important documents to make sure they are all stored in various places just in case they get lost somewhere along the line.

wanna get the house empty and sorted and get going now, the waiting is getting on my nerves now. all i hear is how everyone wants us to stay and forget about going, which in one way is really really lovely to hear, but we have made the decision and we ARE going. I have even had to buy the office a webcam and set up a clock with my new local time set onto it (with a "dont call me until this alarm has gone off setting)

As for the "closure" comment, you would think from some of our friends that they are never going to see us again, its all a bit melodramatic, I mean, we are back again at Christmas for a visit....... I would like to declare it an off limits discussion and just have a great party. In fact, I may just do that!

Titchski

Ah yes... So many people wanted to visit us when they fond out were moving to Florida. In the 6 years we've been here, we've had 3 UK visitors (including my mum and dads neighbours who needed to excape from Disney for an evening)