Hi everyone.
Sorry to be gone for so long (since December). While on my recce, I got swamped with lining up meetings (a long story I'll have to see if I explained before I disappeared), and fell behind on posts and even reading others. Meant to catch up after return to US, and thought, "Gee I need to catch up on all the posts I missed".
Well, every day, that list got longer and longer until it was overwhelming, so I slunk off to the shadows for a bit. The job hunt was on hiatus since everyone I spoke to would not be ready to hire until AT LEAST March.
In the mean time, my family and I have settled on a strategy.
- I will travel (to Auckland) this Sunday . This is a pseudo-permanent move.
- I will continue my job hunt for 4 months or so while they stay in the US to finish the school year, prep the house for selling, etc.
- That will allow me to get established even if it is via contract work initially
- If all goes well (as I expect), they will join me around mid-July or so. If I don't have a great position lined up, but prospects are good, I may extend that time.
- If not, I may have to finally cut bait and head back to US (that will NOT happen though)
So I am dashing about like mad getting ready as I leave Sunday afternoon
So far:
- Have my Blue Stickers
- Have my flight arranged (flying coach this time. Oh well)
- Have a 4 month apartment arranged in Campbells Bay (furnished and with water, electric, broadband, and Sky included which should simplify things a lot in the short term)
- Have a 4 day car rental to bridge me until I can buy a used car
- Have a BNZ account set up
- Have a Currency Online account set up for transfer of $$$ once RBNZ OCR decision made on Thursday
- Arguing with my wife over what we should bring versus sell
I'm taking as little as possible since I don't want to move things until I'm sure we are permanent.
- Clothes
- Computer (speakers? back-up drive)
- Toiletries
- Books
After looking into USPS, FedEx, UPS, and DHL, it seems the extra baggage route on Air NZ may be the best way to go. It seems the bag limit is 50 lbs each, due to the US carrier leg of the flight. I get 1 50lb bag included. 2nd bag is $50, 3rd is $175, 4th and subsequent $250 each
It won't be cheap in any event. But that still seems cheaper than any option I have found other than surface ship. Any other ideas?
Books are the hardest things for me. Since I don't know what type of job I will get (other than it is in the financial services world), I want to bring a few reference books for different areas. Plus one or two for fun. Makes me wonder if it is time to go the Kindle route (though Amazon does have a PC version now). I assume Kindle is available in NZ, yes?
That said, all must be kept to a minimum, so I guess I'll be injecting NZ$ into the economy right away.
- Monitor
- Keyboard
- Printer
- Bicycle
My agenda on arrival:
- IRD
- Find a job
- Car
- Find a job
- Basics of life
- Find a better job
- Auto Insurance
- Health Insurance (still clueless on that one)
- Get Doctors lined up
- Investigate schools
- Find a job (if time allows)
Anyway, this is way too long as I try to cram 3 months worth of posts into one. I am sorry to have been gone so long, and I hope all of you are well, especially those in Christchurch.
All that said, I am excited.
Why?
I'M MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND!