The beginning of the paperwork

So today.....

We sat down at the computer and started going through the emails properly. We began gathering the documents we need for the visas. I dug out our marriage certificate, the boys birth certificates, Paul's university degree. It states he needs details of his thesis/final year project but he only has his course module results. We hope that this will be sufficient. All these documents need to be scanned along with EVERY page of all 5 passports! Paul also needs to gather work info ( job descriptions, organisation structures etc). Will hopefully be able to send all these details on Monday or Tuesday to start the visa process.

We filled in an online questionnaire for the relocation company. We have put in our requests for dates of our look and see trip (25 August - 1st September). We had to fill in details about required property - 4 bedrooms, fenced in back yard, furnished, near other ex-pats and with access to a pool and facilities. We also had to fill in details about the cat, looks like she may be travelling with us (as if having 3 children is not enough), really hope the relocation company use a pet shipper, otherwise it will just add to our hassle.

We filled in details of the school we want Oliver to go to. We also rearranged our holiday to France from the beginning of August to 24th July-7th August. Cost us £10! Our visa interview will hopefully be the week after. It is quite sad in a way though, as grandad Lee is not due to fly out to France until 8th August, which means he probably will not holiday with us. He will be sorely missed. Hoping he might be able to change his dates, but we will see...

We then took a trip to Tesco to look at the suitcases they have on offer. We thought they would not be big enough. We got home and had a look online as to sizes and prices. Turns out the Tesco deal is actually very cheap, and bigger than it looks, so I think we will be investing in at least one of these, to go with the big suitcase we have upstairs. Would also like to get some kind of take on cases for the boys. Not sure we want to go down the trunki route, but will investigate nearer the time. I was also looking at flights for our look see today. The company likes to use Delta, but the details we have are for flights out of Munich. Delta do fly out of Heathrow on the days we require, with a very short stop over in Detroit. We will see what the relocation company comes back to us with. Last thing we need is a long lay over. Paul is quite keep for us to fly with American Airlines as they fly out of Gatwick directly to Charlotte. From there it is only about a 2 hour drive to Greenville.

I am seeing my good friend Philippa on monday night to tell her the news. Have not seen her properly for a while so that will be nice. Must decide when I am going to link this blog to my Facebook, might wait till after my next Netmums night out.... Enjoying the music of the Isle of Wight festival and Radio 1's Hackney weekend. Not sure we will get this kind of coverage in the states.....