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I begin my American journey tomorrow...

Veronice said:
My friend... ALL THE LUCK IN THE WORLD to you and your family in this new step and new home.
I have a question... what do you mean you thought you were traveling light... YOU ARE!!! your wife is a genius!!! Only 12 suitcases for 10 weeks? I don't think I can do that... I use 2 big suitcases for a 1 week trip!!! She is my hero!!! :p
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Yeah agreed - but we are going to America - they have shops with everything you need! I won't suggest a camping trip - we will need 100 donkeys to carry the essential equipment we need.
 
britsimon said:
Business on Virgin (Premier economy). I'll still have to pay for extra luggage because when she got to the hotel she sent me out to buy another bloody suitcase! 13!
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If you haven't left yet - and you have miles - I discovered last time virgin are much better than others with upgrades... They gave me a last minute upgrade to Upper using miles and paying in just £61 tax despite the fact that my ticket had been lowest fare... So ask!!
 
britsimon said:
Yeah agreed - but we are going to America - they have shops with everything you need! I won't suggest a camping trip - we will need 100 donkeys to carry the essential equipment we need.
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Don't worry too much about the suitcases, Simon! Your wife was created to help you around... she has a good reason as to why she thinks you need 13 suitcases and not less; she also knows that there are shops in the US! Stick to her decision and you will tell us later on, how the 13 (or even more!!) suitcases played a good game in settling in. I promise you! Cheers!!
 
SusieQQQ said:
If you haven't left yet - and you have miles - I discovered last time virgin are much better than others with upgrades... They gave me a last minute upgrade to Upper using miles and paying in just £61 tax despite the fact that my ticket had been lowest fare... So ask!!
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Hello sussie
How's life in USA lekker ? You also just began your adventure, what about costs of living,did you get a place to stay quickly like simon?..workwise ..?
Thanks
 
vladek15425 said:
Hello sussie
How's life in USA lekker ? You also just began your adventure, what about costs of living,did you get a place to stay quickly like simon?..workwise ..?
Thanks
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We're back home at the moment. I'm still working on my husband to get him to agree to make the move permanent :/. Made a little bit of headway. I'd like to do a move in July or August, so the kids can start the new school year there. CA is our first choice if we do, probably San Francisco and like Simon probably east Bay Area, for the schools. It's expensive though, but like Simon we have assets etc and it's not somewhere I would move if I didn't think we had a good chance of getting good jobs to be honest.
 
SusieQQQ said:
We're back home at the moment. I'm still working on my husband to get him to agree to make the move permanent :/. Made a little bit of headway. I'd like to do a move in July or August, so the kids can start the new school year there. CA is our first choice if we do, probably San Francisco and like Simon probably east Bay Area, for the schools. It's expensive though, but like Simon we have assets etc and it's not somewhere I would move if I didn't think we had a good chance of getting good jobs to be honest.
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Great to see that everything is planed already, hopefully your hubby will decide soon to make the final move,
Sf is quite expensive I had a pal that ived there but he moved to kansas....
I also want to prepare my departure from now! And look for tips and advices...but with my high CN
I'd rather wait to be processed at the end of the FY and than start searching... lol
Thanks for sharing..
 
Morning all. 2:45am and my body clock thinks I had plenty of sleep.

Final suitcase count - 15. There is no standard car able to carry that so luckily I booked a 7 passenger van (Dodge Grand Caravan) which is amazing. Third row of seats folded down and swallowed all 15 cases easily. Wife noticed we could have bought more suitcases!

Virgin Atlantic is nice as a tourist airline, but their premium economy is not the same level as BA/AA/United. couldn't get the seats flat enough to have a nice sleep, so that was a challenge for our daughter who stayed awake about 22 hours. Too much for a 5 year old, although she was (as usual) very well behaved.

Been out and bought some essentials (who knew that 15 cases didn't have room for "essentials"). Also bought a pre paid sim card so we have a phone until we get new plans etc.

My American bank account debit card is expired, and my replacement is doing the tours of the Atlantic ocean at the moment, so I am having a frustrating time paying for stuff with UK credit cards when my US bank has a huge amount of cash - unavailable to me! Need to sort that out today...

I'll post some practical guide stuff as I go over the next few weeks. I have chosen an expensive area and I am not on a typical budget, but nevertheless my experiences will give some an idea...
 
britsimon said:
Morning all. 2:45am and my body clock thinks I had plenty of sleep.

Final suitcase count - 15. There is no standard car able to carry that so luckily I booked a 7 passenger van (Dodge Grand Caravan) which is amazing. Third row of seats folded down and swallowed all 15 cases easily. Wife noticed we could have bought more suitcases!

Virgin Atlantic is nice as a tourist airline, but their premium economy is not the same level as BA/AA/United. couldn't get the seats flat enough to have a nice sleep, so that was a challenge for our daughter who stayed awake about 22 hours. Too much for a 5 year old, although she was (as usual) very well behaved.

Been out and bought some essentials (who knew that 15 cases didn't have room for "essentials"). Also bought a pre paid sim card so we have a phone until we get new plans etc.

My American bank account debit card is expired, and my replacement is doing the tours of the Atlantic ocean at the moment, so I am having a frustrating time paying for stuff with UK credit cards when my US bank has a huge amount of cash - unavailable to me! Need to sort that out today...

I'll post some practical guide stuff as I go over the next few weeks. I have chosen an expensive area and I am not on a typical budget, but nevertheless my experiences will give some an idea...
Click to expand...

Hahaha now its 15 !
Nice to hear from you mate :)
 
britsimon said:
Morning all. 2:45am and my body clock thinks I had plenty of sleep.

Final suitcase count - 15. There is no standard car able to carry that so luckily I booked a 7 passenger van (Dodge Grand Caravan) which is amazing. Third row of seats folded down and swallowed all 15 cases easily. Wife noticed we could have bought more suitcases!

Virgin Atlantic is nice as a tourist airline, but their premium economy is not the same level as BA/AA/United. couldn't get the seats flat enough to have a nice sleep, so that was a challenge for our daughter who stayed awake about 22 hours. Too much for a 5 year old, although she was (as usual) very well behaved.

Been out and bought some essentials (who knew that 15 cases didn't have room for "essentials"). Also bought a pre paid sim card so we have a phone until we get new plans etc.

My American bank account debit card is expired, and my replacement is doing the tours of the Atlantic ocean at the moment, so I am having a frustrating time paying for stuff with UK credit cards when my US bank has a huge amount of cash - unavailable to me! Need to sort that out today...

I'll post some practical guide stuff as I go over the next few weeks. I have chosen an expensive area and I am not on a typical budget, but nevertheless my experiences will give some an idea...
Click to expand...

Glad to see you are doing OK, Simon.

BTW, use personal checks. Most any business in the US accept personal checks.
 
britsimon said:
Morning all. 2:45am and my body clock thinks I had plenty of sleep.

Final suitcase count - 15. There is no standard car able to carry that so luckily I booked a 7 passenger van (Dodge Grand Caravan) which is amazing. Third row of seats folded down and swallowed all 15 cases easily. Wife noticed we could have bought more suitcases!

Virgin Atlantic is nice as a tourist airline, but their premium economy is not the same level as BA/AA/United. couldn't get the seats flat enough to have a nice sleep, so that was a challenge for our daughter who stayed awake about 22 hours. Too much for a 5 year old, although she was (as usual) very well behaved.

Been out and bought some essentials (who knew that 15 cases didn't have room for "essentials"). Also bought a pre paid sim card so we have a phone until we get new plans etc.

My American bank account debit card is expired, and my replacement is doing the tours of the Atlantic ocean at the moment, so I am having a frustrating time paying for stuff with UK credit cards when my US bank has a huge amount of cash - unavailable to me! Need to sort that out today...

I'll post some practical guide stuff as I go over the next few weeks. I have chosen an expensive area and I am not on a typical budget, but nevertheless my experiences will give some an idea...
Click to expand...

Hope you get over the jet lag soon!

Btw current processing times for green cards seem to be 45-60 days. Ours have just gone into production. So don't worry if it takes a while. Your SSN cards should arrive pretty quickly though, ours took about 10 days.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Hope you get over the jet lag soon!

Btw current processing times for green cards seem to be 45-60 days. Ours have just gone into production. So don't worry if it takes a while. Your SSN cards should arrive pretty quickly though, ours took about 10 days.
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I have to get the visa first - I'm gonna switch to AOS in San Francisco - so I'll be watching the next VB to see if my some miracle I go current in May. Starting in June will be a bit more risky - and starting in July would make me switch back to CP.
 
c1984 said:
Glad to see you are doing OK, Simon.

BTW, use personal checks. Most any business in the US accept personal checks.
Click to expand...

Yeah that is probably a good idea if we need to make any big purchases for furniture etc (if we choose a house today we will need some furniture immediately). I sorted the UK card thing - they were blocking my cards because they noticed some activity in America just a few hours after using the cards in the UK. I had to explain what a aeroplane is. Sheesh.
 
britsimon said:
I have to get the visa first - I'm gonna switch to AOS in San Francisco - so I'll be watching the next VB to see if my some miracle I go current in May. Starting in June will be a bit more risky - and starting in July would make me switch back to CP.
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Oh yeah lol, I forgot about that bit :D

britsimon said:
Yeah that is probably a good idea if we need to make any big purchases for furniture etc (if we choose a house today we will need some furniture immediately). I sorted the UK card thing - they were blocking my cards because they noticed some activity in America just a few hours after using the cards in the UK. I had to explain what a aeroplane is. Sheesh.
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Lol!!!!
 
britsimon said:
I have to get the visa first - I'm gonna switch to AOS in San Francisco - so I'll be watching the next VB to see if my some miracle I go current in May. Starting in June will be a bit more risky - and starting in July would make me switch back to CP.
Click to expand...

Quack, quack, quack .......... don't be a chicken Simon! :p. You will be fine doing AOS if your CN doesn't get to be current before July.

Yeah that is probably a good idea if we need to make any big purchases for furniture etc (if we choose a house today we will need some furniture immediately). I sorted the UK card thing - they were blocking my cards because they noticed some activity in America just a few hours after using the cards in the UK. I had to explain what a aeroplane is. Sheesh.
Click to expand...

lol..... I guess their thinking is one can never be too careful.

I swear we use checks for almost anything here in the US, even for grocery bills. So you don't have to use yours for making big payments only :)
 
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