London

So you want to move to another country Part 1: Being Eligible For a Visa

by

Pretty much everyone that we tell or finds out we are moving to London says “wow that is so cool”. The main exception is for immediate family who will miss us, and are not so pleased.  They say they are “happy for us”. On top of that anyone I know who has been an  Expat in London has said we will love it and its going to be a great experience.  I believe those who have done it.  I am super excited for this move. I have been passively and actively trying to make this happen for a while, so yes we are all excited including the kids.

With all of that out of the way this post is about the monumental amount of effort that is required to make a move like this happen. Some things you think about and others you just can’t imagine. I am writing this before half of the actually moving happens and it is extremely stressful and mind bending what you have to do. I want to write this post or what is ending up being a series of posts to outline the effort and stress involved. This move is not something we decided to do on a whim. It is not without its risks, challenges or stress. So here goes.

So you want to relocate to another country. That’s great. It is easier said than done.  We knew that MC was eligible for citizenship in an EU country for years. It was something we talked about even before we were married however didn’t really do much with it. After our girls were  born MC mentioned that if she had gotten her citizenship before they were born they too would’ve gotten it. We were lazy about it however not the end of the world. What must’ve been about a year and 1/2 ago we were talking to a friend who had gotten the documents to get her Irish citizenship. To sum it up I think she said something like it’s simple but not easy.

Somewhere around the summer time of 2016 MC and I started talking about it more. I had always been interested in an overseas assignment. Up until that time nothing seemed to have presented itself. I am not sure what was the motivator however I realized life is too short to wait for something to drop in your lap. So the more MC & I talked about it the more I decided I wanted to see what opportunities there were and seek them out. At the same time MC was going to gather all the documents she needed to finally get the citizenship done. MC’s parents were great help with this. They had either originals or photocopies of original documents that we would need. Some stuff going back over 100 years ago. It was her parents that had enabled MC to have the claim.

It wasn’t until the fall of 2016 that we really started getting the paperwork together to submit an application. Around the same time there was rumblings about whether or not my office in New York would remain or if other locations would become more prominent.

The friend we spoke to previously was right about the application process. What you needed was very straightforward. Getting it and having it certified in the right way to be used was time-consuming and in some cases costly. The fact that we lived in New York City and enabled MC to go to the courthouse was very helpful. It took almost 3 months of part-time document gathering before we had a bundle ready to submit to the Irish government.

We sent our application out in mid-January 2017. They said it could take up to six months to give us a reply. We were pleasantly surprised four months later to get MC’s foreign birth registry document. Then we used that document along with a lot of the other ones we had gathered to apply for MC’s passport. We had that done sometime around late June or early July 2017.

This long drawn out timeline of what we had to do to get MC her Irish passport is important. Without that our family had much more limited options. With a passport from an EU country any opportunity within any EU country was open to both of us. Since as a spouse of an EU national I have the right to work also. Without that it’s not impossible however significantly more difficult to be able to do what where undertaking now.

In Part 2 I will talk more about the opportunity that made use of all this work.

My First Free Day By Myself In London

by

Since having kids it has been rare that I have not had to get up to do anything. With that in mind and the fact that I was up really early most days this past week I slept till almost 10 today. To pack light I didn’t bring my small messenger bag to carry my iPad. I didn’t want to carry my big laptop bag with me for just my iPad so I was happy to find out that my iPad Mini fits perfectly in the pocket of my North Face Jacket. With my book/research tool/all around time waster in hand I headed out for the day. I had breakfast at an Italian coffee house near the hotel while I planned my day. I had lots of ideas but generally I was going to wing it.

I started off by hopped the tube for Westminster to do a walk from the Rick Steve guide book. I saw Big Ben, London eye, Westminster, Downing Street and then off to Trafalgar Square. It was interesting and a great day for a walk.

After that I headed over to Baker Street to see Sherlock Holmes’ place but didn’t go into the museum since the line was huge. I may try again tomorrow but I am not sure. I was a bit disappointed by not getting in but i really didn’t want to waste what looked like at least an hour or more waiting on line. While on line I got a FaceTime call from MC and Teagan. I was happy to talk to them, and impressed that the video call worked pretty well over 3G.

Instead I headed over to Fortnum and Mason. I wanted to do afternoon Tea. MC and several others suggested it as the best place to go for Tea. I didn’t have a reservation and they couldn’t seat me. My backup location Brown’s Hotel was only a 5 minute walk so I headed over to there. They were able to seat me after a short wait. I like the fact that they brought seconds of the sandwiches. Otherwise I had a good time but was generally underwealmed by the pastry and the service. I don’t regret going but would try to find a new location or get reservations at Fortnum & Mason’s if I ever did Tea in London again.

After tea I walked around all the shops near Piccadilly Circus. I got the girls cuddly gifts at at Hamley’s Toy Store. Was able to do another FaceTime with MC to confer about what to get. I am pretty pleased with what I got!

After walking and shopping I headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading out for dinner. At my friend Tony’s suggestion I went to a burger place called Meat Liquor. It was very loud, but I got a seat right away. The drinks were good and the food was also good. I was in the mood for a greasy burger and this place delivered. After dinner I headed back to the hotel hoping to find a desert place nearby. The desk clerk had some ideas so I walked over to Covent Garden. It is about a train station away or 5 minute walk. I checked out the square there. There were tons of shops and restaurants and live entertainment. It was fun, but all the live events just made me a bit home sick since i thought how cool it would have been to have MC and Teagan there. Amelia is of course too young to appreciate it. I didn’t find anywhere i wanted to stop at so i walked back to around my hotel and ended up at the same cafe I started the day off in to have a piece of cake and a cappuccino. Now i am unwinding at the hotel writing and thinking about plans for tomorrow. It was a very active day for me. My Jawbone UP is saying I did 252% of my activity target or 20,161 steps. Not a record. That goes to the day my friend Jenn and I walked around Manhattan. This takes 2nd place for most active day since I started tracking my activity!

Finally a reason to use FaceTime

by

Loving the ability to send and receive FaceTime calls over the mobile network anywhere since I am in London and missing MC and the girls. MC just rung me up twice and I rang them once to check on a gift I wanted to get. That it works so easily is fantastic. This is why I love apple products they just work.

Spent the Day at a CIA Listening Post, Well Sort Of

by

Today I am in London and I spent my entire day at a CIA listening post. Well that is partly true. It was depicted as a CIA listening post in a James Bond film but in reality it is just a Thomson Reuters Data Center in London. I am not sure of what movie but several people have confirmed it. I can talk about it only because when I pull the area up on a public map the building is labeled.

I was in a workshop all day, but the views from half the building are of the river overlooking the Millennium Dome. I would have loved to take some pictures but I am pretty sure they frown on that. The workshop was very interesting. I have two more days of it but the next two are a bit different than the first one so we shall see how they go. I was just thankful that we got to the office and back without too much drama. The trip was already planned before we found out about the Tube strike. Thankfully we left early enough this morning to get a cab directly to the office. We were able to take the DLR halfway back to the hotel and then got lucky finding a cab. The down side of the morning cab was I went to bed at 11:30 and got up at 5:30 to be out early. Tonight I am aiming to goto bed a bit earlier to get up tomorrow at the same time.  Thankfully the strike is over tomorrow, but I have to deal with it next week if they keep to their plans to strike again

After work I got drinks and dinner with one of the trainers who is staying at my hotel. I was also able to get a pre-pay SIM card so i am a bit more connected for the long trip. WIFI at the hotel is great. Work is more limiting so having additional freedom is nice. Even after all the suggestions from MC, Cathy (thanks Cathy but I am not spending 50 pounds on a Doctor Who tour) and others I still don’t know what to do this weekend while in the city by myself. On that note I am off to bed. I will try to read some travel guides tomorrow night.

Off to London (Aka if this gets posted to my blog I am already there)

by

Today I am off to London for a bit for work. My boss is hosting a workshop and then I have a two day training. The trip is longer than originally planned because i am combining the two events.

On one hand I love London and both functions seem very interesting but on the other it is the first trip I have taken since having kids. I started missing T & A while at the airport going through my photostream. I am hoping to catch them and M on Facetime as much as possible but I am not holding out hope i can do that everyday.

The flight has given me the opportunity to at least get in some writing i have wanted to do. This post included.

My Alone Day in London

by

Since I headed to London early to get a weekend in seeing the city I had a full day to kill Sunday.  I was originally going to possibly see Tony and hang out a bit but he had to cancel.  I thought about my options and then opted to see the Tower of London.  I slept in a little since i was tired from the flight over Friday night.  I then got advise from the hotel on a place for lunch and found a row of pubs not too far from the hotel.  I picked one and had some fish and chips.  While eating i planned my day and route to the tower.

I headed over to the light rail station and took the DLR to goto the tower.  I paid for the audio tour.  After doing that with MC at Moma i am totally getting those when i can.  so much easier to see historic sights and museums with the audio tour.  The Tower was fun and interesting.  I got some good photos.  i wasn’t however that impressed with the crown jewels.  Sorry England.  I had heard i wouldn’t be by a few people and their expectations were spot on.  Overall it was a good choice for my one day free.

First Day in London

by

I spent the morning getting from the airport to the hotel. And I unwound a little. I walked over to Canary wharf mall near where the office is. I need to get a SIM card for my Galaxy Nexus phone and iPad. I was impressed at how easy it was to get, and the price was not that bad either.  I wasn’t happy I couldn’t use my AT&T iPhone 4S because it was locked to AT&T, but I was glad I had an unlocked Galaxy Nexus that i could use.

I tried to have some breakfast at Starbucks but ended up just having a Danish because he did not have the sandwich I wanted.  After that i headed out to meet Colin by the London bridge station.  Well first it was at another station and i didn’t see my text until i was already at the location i was originally going to.  I then turned around and headed to the London bridge station.  It was only a 15 minute detour.  Once there Colin was running late.  I walked around a bit, then just goofed off on the internet and read a bit in the sun until he arrived.

We checked out an open air market.  had some food.  I got some fudge.  We then walked and had a drink at a pub.  After that we walked all the way down towards were we were going to eat dinner.  it was right near the London Eye.  We walked along the river.  it was fun.  We were early meeting his wife so we had a drink outside by the river.  i tried Pims for the first time.  Colin insisted.  it was good.  We then meet his wife and had dinner, and then they had to rush off to get a delivery.  We parted ways at the tube station.  I made my way back to the hotel.

It was a good finally meeting Colin.  I considered him a friend for a quite some time since I start working at Reuters, however other than Skype video chat’s we have never met in person.