And so it begins...
 

I'm not long back from dropping my OH off at the airport for his flight to MCO for his Beer Summit (I've checked and it does seem like it's legitimate work!) and then onto Louisville and Chicago. Our plans have been coming along nicely since I joined you all back in July last year.

Where are we up to now? Well, up until last week, OH was going out to Chicago this weekend, we were going to join him at Feb half term to get the house sorted and complete the move by the end of March. This has been turned on its head slightly over the Christmas period. Project timelines, office politics and what my OH sees as general lethargy on the US side has meant slippages in launch and delivery.

Top and bottom is that we could have still all followed the original timeframe, but so much of what should have been done in the US hasn't been so OH will be spending the next 3 months minimum travelling throughout the US and back to the UK. He's actually only scheduled to be in Chicago for a max of 3 weeks (spread over several 3-4 day mtgs) up to the end of April so we've decided that he can do the mad travelling himself and I'll remain here with the children until after their exams.

I have to admit, I'm feeling slightly in limbo as I've worked hard over the past 4 months to get everything into place for the move.

Positives - kids can finish their school year without having to just come back for A levels, GCSEs; house is the tidiest and most decluttered it has ever been; we miss the Chicago winter (-25c today)
Negatives - we were mentally ready to go

5+ months to wait around now (and clutter up the house again!)

Re: And so it begins...
 

I have noticed this, in general. Despite promises, you end up doing stuff yourself eventually. :thumbdown:

Anyway, chin up and all that. A few months will fly by, and the school thing sounds like a better plan than before so maybe it's meant to be? :thumbup:

Re: And so it begins...
 

Wow, this sounds far preferable to the original plan. Their exam results will undoubtedly be better without the all upset and distractions of moving country to contend with....

If patience is all that's required for an all-round more satisfactory outcome, as in this case, you can call it a lesson in delayed gratification.

Re: And so it begins...
 

Yup, what GeoffM said...

Delays from HR has hindered my move a bit even if everyone else involved has been brilliant. I don't necessarily think it's intentional but rather the whole machine is not set up for country moves despite there being a few every year. Sooner or later you just have to push yourself and get things moving.

It does sound like it's all working out better though from a timing point of view so try to be thankful for that. The wait is hard though, I had to wait 6 months from getting the job to actually moving and motivation gets tricky.

Re: And so it begins...
 

My chin is always up, the double chin look is so last year ;)

Que sera and all that. Not really known for my patience though!

To be fair to HR, they've been great, no issues with their efficiency. This is a global co with circa 40k employees in 100+ countries so they're well geared to international moves. The hold up has been in the US team not delivering what they should have.

It's also helped my employer massively not to lose me for another 5 month, but again mentally I was already gone.

Re: And so it begins...
 

It looks like we'll be moving around the same time after son number 2 has finished GCSEs and I've completed, probably, my last year of teaching.

Whilst OH should start work with his new company around April, they have agreed for him to work from the UK and relocate us altogether. That's thrown up a number of questions which I'm sure will be posted on here at some point soon!

Re: And so it begins...
 

Last exam is 11 June for us and Prom a week after that, so looks like we'll be moving just before Independence Day.

Only working in the UK is not an option for us as my OH is setting up a new service in the US. Some of the technical stuff can be done remotely, but it's a case of feet on the ground and get his face known asap.

Ask away if you need any advice, I've found that most contributors are helpful and knowledgeable.

Re: And so it begins...
 

This. :nod:

Re: And so it begins...
 

You're better off waiting until Summer anyway. We have 20 inches of snow on the ground in Chicago right now. :)

Re: And so it begins...
 

:goodpost:

Meanwhile back in good old Blightie...

In Pictures: Snow Chaos Hits London

Couldn't bring myself to paste the source articles from the Daily M**l and the Torygraph as I'm not sure you'd cope with the media hysteria :rofl: