Moving Overseas: A Process

When Doug took the job, we knew we weren't going to have time to get our home in Virginia ready to sell or even ready to rent, so we decided in order to make things less complicated that we would either leave the house vacant or get a house sitter that we could trust.

I happened to know that the mother of a friend of mine in the neighborhood was looking to move to the area to be closer to her grand kids...  and her daughter too. We had probably talked briefly about her mom wanting to move nearby over a year ago, so it was a LONG shot. In mine and Doug's minds, she was the perfect match for a house sitter - no kids, no pets, neat, independent, and on top of all of that, she would be able to go stay in her daughter's house nearby whenever we came home to visit. Now all we needed to do was break the news that we were moving to Abu Dhabi to my friend and see if her mom might be interested. It was a LONG shot, but somehow it ended up working out.

We would leave some furniture, our cars, and other odds and ends, but our house sitter would take over paying any utilities, mow the lawn, and basically keep an eye on the place. We made arrangements with our home and car insurance and everything went smoothly into place.

House sitter... CHECK!

Next on the list - pets. Doug had a saltwater aquarium that he needed to take down and rehome several fish. We also have two cats, Darwin and Lucky. We knew that Lucky would never be able to come with us because he was an outdoor cat. We weren't sure of our future living situation at the time and knew that Lucky would want to be able to roam freely in the woods behind our house. We briefly discussed finding another home for him, but in the end, our house sitter said that she would be more than happy to take care of him.

Lucky's personal romping grounds behind our house.

We figured Darwin would be able to live anywhere with us, even if we ended up in some small city apartment. The next part would be to research relocating a cat to Abu Dhabi. We called around and got some quotes for a professional pet relocation company to do it and our best quote after calling several companies was $4500. Yep... and that didn't include any vet costs. We were devastated. There was no way that we were going to pay that much to move our cat. We had a moving stipend that would cover the costs, but it was only one way and any costs for furnishing our home in Abu Dhabi would be coming out of the same pot.

I was determined to find a cheaper way. I had done my research and decided that I was going to do it all myself. I called the vet and arranged to get him all the required shots that the UAE required. It was going to take multiple appointments and cost several hundred dollars because of ridiculous requirements like a $180 blood test to check for rabies. Once we had our tickets, I called our airline KLM to make reservations for Darwin in manifest cargo since all pets are required to go into the UAE this way. Darwin's ticket was going to be $250, but that included a stay in a "pet hotel" in Amsterdam, so I figured I was still saving a ton. I purchased a special "airline kennel" for $50 that would meet all of the strict IATA requirements. We ended up having to hire a company in Abu Dhabi to handle the import since we couldn't handle translating certain documents into Arabic. The import service was going to be $950... still not $4500, so we figured it was the best we could do.

Leah checking out the sky kennel for Darwin.

We added up all of the expenses and it looked like we were going to be able to do it all for just under $1800... which is STILL A LOT, but a lot less than $5100 it would have been with vet costs included. I had called the airline at least a half a dozen times to confirm Darwin's booking and all seemed to be going smoothly. We were patting ourselves on the back for being able to save so much money.

Pet relocation... CHECK! (or so we thought...more on this later.)

The company that had hired Doug in Abu Dhabi had provided a nice moving package and we were given an allowance of 9000 pounds to move our stuff overseas. We were warned that it would take around 6 weeks for our stuff to reach Abu Dhabi and then it would need to go through customs. An appointment was made shortly after Doug left and a surveyor from the moving company was supposed to come through our house and estimate the weight and how big of a shipping crate they would need to bring to our house. I read all the fine print and decided that I would type up 8 pages in 12 point font of what we wanted to bring with us as well as calculate replacement costs for insurance. This took several hours and was an interesting way to spend my sleepless nights prior to the move. Deciding what to bring was particularly difficult because we had no clue what kind of place we would be able to get. Doug had been in Abu Dhabi for a couple of weeks at this point and he was having a terribly difficult time finding a place to live within our living allowance provided by the company.  Here is my "Move Inventory." Doesn't it look pretty?

SOOO the day of the move survey came. A guy came to my house and I pointed at what we would be bringing. I asked him if he needed a list of items.. holding my neatly type and categorized inventory proudly in my hands. And NOPE, it wasn't necessary at all. But, at least I knew what we were bringing. So yeah, that was sort of a waste of time, but my OCD self was still somewhat pleased with my 8 pages of spreadsheets, so it was going to be okay. :)

The moving company would be there June 1 to load everything into boxes and into a shipping crate. As it was explained to me by the move surveyor, our stuff would be loaded into a big metal 20 foot shipping crate that would be sealed with a special lock. Then it would be taken to Baltimore and put on a ship that would arrive 5-6 weeks later at a port in the Middle East. The next time my crate would be opened would be at customs clearance in Abu Dhabi. We were given a very non-specific list on what we could and could not bring with us. If we had any questions, we could ask our "personal move coordinator" April. Unfortunately, she was not much help and told me to "refer to the move paperwork" to answer questions which was very frustrating.

Moving day came on June 1st. Our move was different that others that the company does in that we weren't bringing all of our stuff with us. I had spent my time preparing and sorting every inch of my house so that I could clearly show the movers exactly what we would be bringing and NOT bringing. Three moving guys came in a truck and I searched up and down my street for the big 20 foot crate that I was told would be coming. The guys told me that the crate was on it's way from Baltimore harbor and that they were just going to start packing everything up. IT HAPPENED FAST! They carefully wrapped every cup and plate and even emptied my pantry (to my complete surprise). Before I knew it about 80% of home was wrapped or packed in boxes,

Then the head of the moving crew came and casually explained to me that the shipping crate would not be making it to my house that day and that they would just be loading all of our stuff into their truck and then bringing it to a warehouse where it would then be packed into the shipping crate (without me there). I WAS NOT OKAY WITH THAT.

Each time our stuff was moved, there was the possibility of things being dented or broken or lost. Not cool. The moving crew had been fantastic and hardworking and when I kind of freaked out, he mentioned that I may want to call our move coordinator. I called and explained to her that I was not going to let them take a single box out of my house unless it was going into a 20 foot shipping container that was parked directly in front of my home AS PROMISED. She told me that I was mistaken and that no such thing had been told to me. I explained to her that I had been told by the move surveyor, the packing crew, AND BY HER. She denied everything, but I still refused to let the crew move a single box onto their truck, so they went ahead and left for lunch. She said she would work on it, but there were no guarantees.

About 30 to 45 minutes of nail biting later, I received a call back from her with an apology because she reread the email that SHE sent me that told me about the shipping crate. Then magically, she was able to make the shipping crate get to my house. The move was back on.

It was tight, but the packers were able to get everything into the shipping crate. It took some mad Tetris skills, but we got everything in! All in all, we only used about 4500 lbs of our shipping allotment, so we should be able to bring lots of souvenirs home!

Furniture and household goods in shipping crate... CHECK!

Leah and I had 6 weeks of living in our house with basically NO STUFF. It was interesting, but we have great friends and family nearby, so the time flew by!

Yeah. It was empty.

We filled the next 6 weeks with tons of playdates..yes, there was even a baby goat involved!  We took trips to the lake, went swimming almost daily, traveled to Skyline Caverns, went hiking, did fireworks, Leah rode a horse at a birthday party, we went to the carnival... you name it. We stayed BUSY! Now I will assault you with a million pictures. :)

Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly. I even decided to take upon a home improvement project that I had been thinking about doing. I used gel stain on my builder grade oak bathroom cabinets to make them a dark espresso and I finally got around to painting my white bathroom after living in our house for 7 years. I was going to frame the mirror too, but never got around to it.

THEN 9 DAYS BEFORE mine and Leah's flight was to leave, the crap hit the fan. We just just had our last appointment with the vet to get the health certificate, a document required for you pet to travel. In everywhere else in the world, you are required to have it completed within 10 days of travel. Once the vet checks over your cat, you must send the documents express mail to the nearest USDA office in your state for a stamp and then have it sent back express mail to reach you prior to flying. The import company in Abu Dhabi informed us (just 9 days before leaving) that the UAE requires health certificates to be completed 6 days within flying.. oh and the USDA endorsement would need to be less than 48 hours old. WHAT?! I was almost at my wits end at this point, but I rescheduled with the vet to come again to redo the health certificate in a few days so that it would be within the proper window and then Leah and I would drive 3 hours down to Richmond the day before we flew in order to get the USDA endorsement. Everything was going to work out.

THEN 3 DAYS BEFORE we were supposed to fly, we found out that Darwin was booked improperly on the flight to Abu Dhabi. He was supposed to be booked as "manifest cargo" as I had requested, but apparently he was booked as "in the hold." (Fun Fact: The ONLY difference between flying manifest cargo and in the hold is basically some paperwork.) We were told by the import company that there would be at least a $1000 fine if he came to the UAE this way. I was told to call KLM cargo in order to book him. I called KLM cargo to find out that it was against policy for any "private person" to arrange booking for a pet and that we were REQUIRED to hire a company to oversee the process. I about lost it here, but calmly asked for numbers of such companies in the area, I called and found out that it would be an additional $1500... not $250 to fly Darwin. I called Doug in tears. He said that we would have to leave Darwin behind and eat the $1800 that we had already spent because we were at the breaking point.

I was stressed. I sobbed. I was done.

During this whole process, Doug had been working on getting an increased allotment for housing since we were having such trouble finding a place that would fit our stuff in the shipping crate which was already in route... so no going back. In this process, it came to Doug's attention that HR somehow had a old version of his resume that had left off over 10 years of work experience. Doug was able to get the housing allowance plus other allowances adjusted. This included an increase in the allowance for pet relocation and literally last minute... Darwin was able to come!

So on July 15th, Leah and I were finally able to get on a plane to Abu Dhabi to join Doug!

We're Moving to Abu Dhabi

So we've been here in Abu Dhabi a little over a month and I now have my computer set up so it's time to start blogging again! I'll start at the beginning... the VERY beginning. How we got here...

Doug's government job back in Virginia had always involved a lot of travel. While traveling Doug was frequently given offers of employment, so he decided to start shopping around a little. This started probably back in November of 2014. We were seriously considering a job in Florida and I had even started researching the real estate market there finding the best schools and such. I even went as far as to invite a realtor on a walk through of our house to get started in the process. Gossip spread and Doug started getting other job offers that he was looking into. I believe he was traveling at the time when I received the following text message.

It really surprised me. I didn't even know where Abu Dhabi was. I quickly Googled it and found out that it was smack dab in the middle of the Middle East! There was NO WAY that I was going to wear some burka wherever I went. That was about as much research as I did and figured it wasn't ACTUALLY going to happen. 

Then, Doug started talking more and more about the job opportunity and that the guy that was recruiting him really actually liked it there and it was safe and... and... SO I decided to actually do some REAL research and what I found actually excited me.

• I wouldn't need to wear any kind of special dress or coverings as a woman.
• The city of Abu Dhabi is incredibly safe. 
• Everything is modern in city of Abu Dhabi... it's just an hour from Dubai which I had heard of.
• The people there speak English.
• Abu Dhabi is very family-centric.

The more I read, the better I felt about it. I told Doug that night before bed that I would be okay with moving to Abu Dhabi. He seemed very surprised and said okay, but that he had a lot of other job opportunities to consider before moving our family all the way to the Middle East. I told him I thought it would be an adventure and that Leah and I were up for it!! He chuckled. We went to bed.

Over the space of several months of looking, we had decided that the job offer in Florida that we had been seriously considering was not the right fit for Doug at the time. Several other job offers came and went, but none of them promised the salary and benefits of the one in Abu Dhabi. 

Fast forward to April 2015, Doug came home and said that he filled out the paperwork and was going to mail it and accept the job. He only needed to mail it!

A part of me still didn't believe he was actually going to mail it and it actually sat on the couch for probably 2-3 days. It was Thursday, April 21st and I was driving when I got the call. He mailed it.

We were moving... to ABU DHABI!! 

...and his start date was supposed to be in TWO WEEKS.

We were able to get his start date pushed back another week and a half. Whew! We called family and close friends and then we made it "Facebook Official."

In one very short month, Doug was headed to Abu Dhabi to start his new job and Leah and I would follow less than two months later.

Foreign Hospital Trip BTW We moved to Abu Dhabi

So I've been a little bad about blogging, but now that we have moved into our new place and settled in a little I should be a little better. We've moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for my husband's job. More on that in another post.

We've been living in the UAE for almost a month now. About a week ago Leah started coming down with a congested cough. I'm not a person to freak out about a little cough, but it got progressively worse. I had been putting off going go the doctor because our residency visas are still in process and insurance can be tricky without them.

She woke up twice last night crying (not a normal thing at all) and then this morning started clutching her chest saying, "Hurt!" each time that she coughed. She was feverish, lethargic, and wouldn't even eat her breakfast, so I made the decision to leave right then. I called a new local friend from church that gave me directions to the nearest clinic (only about 5-7 minutes of walking) and we headed off with Leah in the jogging stroller.

There's the medical center in the distance.. just a few minutes away from our villa. Sooo sandy here!

I arrived at the clinic quickly and easily after navigating the sandy terrain here, but had no clue what to do upon arrival. As I came up to the building, I noticed that there were separate labeled entrances for women and men. I went in the correct entrance and then just stood in the lobby in complete confusion for a few moments. I was approached by a very kind woman in traditional clothing (a niqab in this instance) and given directions on how to take a number from a little computer on my left. I sat in the chair waiting and worrying about our lack of visas and lack of passports (because they are being used to process of our residency visas)... and of course worrying about Leah who was clutching her chest and coughing.

After a short wait, we were seen by the receptionist who asked to see passports (of course) and then Leah's insurance card which I actually had! It turns out that our private insurance was not taken at that particular clinic and we were told to go elsewhere. I almost panicked and started crying (but was able to stay calm) and told them I didn't know any other places to go. They told me to call taxi and they would help tell the driver where to take us. I explained that if was my first time calling a taxi and they were very helpful. 

A new friend out here had given me the number of a taxi company which I had programmed into my phone. She also had explained the weird system where you will get a call afterwards from the driver but sometimes they will just hang up without talking and then you should call the number back. The reason they do that is because cell phone minutes here are only charged to the originator of the call. 

So I called the taxi company and they got me a driver who then immediately called me and hung up. I called back and was able to tell him where to come get us.

While we waited in the lobby for the taxi, Leah started a huge coughing fit and was crying. They had a nurse there take her temperature which was told to me in Celsius...and I was like, "Is that high? I only know Fahrenheit." It was high so they wiped her down with a cold washcloth to try to bring down her fever.

The taxi arrived moments later and they helped explain our destination to the driver and helped me get the stroller into the trunk. As we drove off, all three women that had helped me stood there on the sidewalk and wished us well. As soon as we pulled away, the driver asked me if that was the hospital I really wanted to go to. I figured it was because the hospital was in Mussafah which is basically the ghetto here... completely safe, but ghetto. I just told him to take me where the nurses and receptionist told him to take us. I was nervous about the cost because I only had 55 dirhams on me which I'd the equivalent of about $15 USD. I was also nervous because there was no car seat in the taxi. (They don't really use them here.)

Leah in the taxi on the way to the hospital. She's ticked and a little wet after our visit to the first clinic.

We arrived safely at the Al Noor Hospital in Mussafah and the ride was only 10.75 dirhams. The taxi driver was nice and actually gave me change. When we arrived, someone at the hospital took the stroller out for us. The hospital was about 5 stories high and there was a dirt road in front of it. I was assisted into the door and up the ramp by three guys. I didn't even have to push the elevator button. We arrived in pediatrics and we're seen within five minutes of coming through the door. Leah was seen by a nurse and had her temperature, weight, and height taken... all in units that I was unfamiliar with. 

We were then seen immediately by a doctor across the hall. Her desk was in the room where she examined Leah. She asked me some simple questions about the symptoms and then ordered a chest x-ray. 

We were seen immediately at x-ray which was outside the building and next door. Leah was terrified, but stayed pretty still for her x-rays. It only took a few moments and then we were back in the doctor's office next door. The x-rays confirmed that Leah has bronchitis. She needs to get nebulizer treatments at the hospital twice a day for at least the next three days. 

We started the first treatment right there. Leah let the nurse put on the mask, but panicked as soon as the nurse left. I got her to sit still and soon she was sleeping in her stroller through the whole treatment.  We were also given four prescriptions to pick up at the pharmacy which was outside and next door to xray. We only waited about 2 minutes for the pharmacist to get all the medicines together and then he explained very clearly in good English about doses and frequency by marking the boxes.

Poor baby fell asleep during he nebulizer treatment; she was so tired after sleeping so poorly last night.

After getting Leah's prescriptions, we called a taxi and waited for the driver to arrive. There were a few taxis that came at the same, but the one that I talked to matched the name od the driver I was supposed to take. (The taxi company sends you a text with the phone and id of the taxi driver that will be picking you up.) He was there within 5 minutes or so. I explained where we lived and he looked confused, but just started driving. I explained that we lived near a certain mosque and he seemed more sure. I pulled up Google Maps on my phone to see where we were driving. We neared our villa compound, but then he stopped (MID ROUNDABOUT!) and asked where he should go. I tried to show him the map on my phone and it didn't help at all so I just ended up giving him directions. We made it home and the taxi ride was 14.75 dirhams. I gave the driver 15 and he actually gave me change back.

Leah actually ate a little bit of scrambled eggs and cereal and then took all four of her medicines. She didn't want to swallow, but did do when I bribed her with M&Ms. She tried to sleep in her crib for a while, but woke up coughing and crying. I took her out of her crib and gave her a bath to try to cool her down. She just laid in the tub and fell asleep as I poured water over her for about 30 minutes. She wanted to get back into bed with me so we're here now and she's laying on my chest trying to get some sleep.

Poor kid! I love her! I hope all these meds help her lungs heal quickly.