What to watch out for with an International move - The hidden costs

Most guides on what to do when planning an International relocation, usually advise you to obtain 3 quotes, ensure you keep in a locked room your documents, keys, passports, wallets etc on packing day so they don't end up in the container like our son's shoes and wallet did, along with the key for the padlock for the side gate. They'll also tell you to make sure the bin is empty and you've washed up the plates before the packers arrive. All good advice, but it's the hidden costs you really need to look for and an honest time frame.

We've been fortunate with 3 International moves and 3 internal moves over the past 10 years that nothing has been broken, other than the odd bowl etc, however we haven't been lucky with the information given to us and the additional hidden costs. Although the company paid for 2 of the moves, it did not pay for the extras.

We've used 4 firms for International moves and 3 different firms for internal moving. The internal moves have gone to plan. You get up, dress, they pack, they deliver to the new address, they unpack and remove all the packaging.

Our first move from the UK to South Africa went wrong from failing to tell us they couldn't ship until we got our visas, AFTER they'd packed and removed everything from the house 2 months before the move and then added we needed to itemise everything they'd packed for insurance purposes.

On arrival in SA there were hidden customs (bribes) charges, our container was 'lost' until we paid the fees, we NEVER received the seal number so had no idea if our container had been opened or not. The UK side of the organisation stopped answering emails and despite the contract being with them directly, they said it was now the fault of the agents in SA.

From SA to Dubai, the move was handled by my husbands company this meant that NO-ONE would discuss any part of the move with me in either country, despite my husband not being present in either country when the packing was done and the container was delivered.

We had to apply for visa on arrival in Dubai, so we were on a tight timeline for the move and organised air cargo with bedding, TV, paperwork and some basic kitchen items. Due to their being a shortage of visas, our container sat in the dock for 2 months and our air cargo arrived 10 days AFTER the container was delivered to our new home. Costs were met by the company as they hadn't organised the visas.

For this last move, we had 2 shipments. The first was a shared container, it arrived on time and no one would speak to me, not the company in Dubai or the agents in the UK. After many phone calls and the threat of legal action and help from the shipping company in Dubai, the Bill of Lading was paid from the company to the shipping line, container released and goods delivered.....on a Sunday night at 6pm, they took 2 hours and dumped the sofa in the neighbours garage leaving me to unpack and remove the waste. The company in Dubai said as a 'gesture of good will, they'd waive the storage fees with the delay. They also failed to take out the Insurance on time and took 2 months to repay it, again with the threat of legal action.

The final saga is the current container, delivered last week, again storage fees wavered as a good will gesture. I picked a company that managed the whole move from door to door, turns out they sub contract and due to them not being available before the 21st July, there was going to be a charge of £1000 for UK port storage.

However, it wasn't customs charging me the fee, they cleared the container on the day it arrived in port and it was ready for collection at 20:20. So then they tried telling me it was the shipping company not having hauliers to move the container. I called them, they said it wasn't their container. Then it was the port charging me due to lack of hauliers, so I called them, they explained no one had applied for a VBS and once that was done the container would be ready for collection within the hour.

Then everyone stopped answering their phones and their emails, they'd already said my contact had ended up in junk, after they swore blind they'd never received anything from me, then it was claimed I never replied. I called them out on the email sent on June 29th, a week before my container arrived.

I have my container, it's all unpacked, fingers crossed I don't hear anything more from anyone and if you ever hear me saying that I'm thinking of moving, please stop me.

Things to do:

• Get contact details of agent in the country you're moving to
• Itemise your packing list and work out replacement value in country you're moving to (I worked off this list and updated it for all moves)
• Take photo of container with it's number, shipping company and seal details
• Track the ship for arrival date
• Register with wheresmycontainer.com
  
  
  
  
  
  

Don't be frightened to call customs, border control, the port, the shipping company directly, they were very helpful and informative and I was able to use the information given to prove the costs incurred were the responsibility of the removal company and not mine.

Packing: 

• Do the washing up
• Empty the bins
• Group items ready for unpacking at destination

Unpacking:

• Using the inventory packing list to decide where each box is going
• Label rooms according to unpacking
• Unpack to surface isn't always possible so when signing the job off add the number of boxes not unpacked and take a photo of the paperwork.

4th - 6th June Back in the UK. Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie and I 

Yep, we're here, back in the UK.

Peter worked his last day after 35 years on Monday. 6 years in Dubai and 4 years in South Africa as well as the UK. Final payments and refunds were made on time and once we closed the bank account down, we booked flights, quarantine hotel, PCR tests and extra baggage.

We spent our last day in Dubai at the Ritz Carlton for a beach/pool day and the evening with friends for our last ever Dubai pub quiz and Starbucks finally spelt my name right.

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14 day countdown to the end of our expat journey

We're on a 14 day one month countdown to the end of our expat journey.

It's been a bit stressful trying to relocate during a pandemic, I'll be honest, upping sticks and moving thousands of miles is very stressful regardless of where you go and when.

We've both moved a lot in our lives and since we met in 2000 we sold both our homes and purchased one together in 2002 which we still own and is the home we are returning to.

We left the UK in January 2011 for South Africa, with a 20ft container, we then relocated to Dubai in December 2014 with a 40ft container and in September 2020 we sent approximately 10ft in groupage followed by a 20ft container this morning May 2021. We will follow on in a months time. Originally it was going to be June 2nd, however there are NO direct flights from Dubai to the UK, and with both of us having experienced being prevented from travelling and in the wrong country from where we had intended to be, neither of us fancy the prospect of being stuck in a 3rd country such as Egypt, Oman, Finland etc where we are permitted to fly through currently. Either way we still have to hotel quarantine on our arrival in the UK for 10 nights, as we will have been in the UAE in the past 10 days prior to arrival.

99% of the stress of an expat move is in the build up to the packing day itself, then you sit in a trance for several months in hotels, sorting documents, applying for visas, running around to get signatures the night before you're due to submit your paperwork because someone forgot to give you something. It's the fact finding, the arranging, the booking, the handing over over money, setting up phone and utilities, trying to find internet, somewhere to live, a car, school runs, new job, how to pay for parking, navigating medical aid and dealing with HR, 3rd party agents, via your husband, through his HR department because as a 'supporting spouse' you are given no consideration from your spouses company, despite being the one person who is jumping through all the hoops and digging up long lost relatives to obtain a DNA sample to prove who you are. 

Lots of people tell me to write a book, it's entertaining, that I'm good at stuff like this and I love a challenge. Well this is all you're getting a blog and trust me, I'm not good at stuff like this, I don't enjoy it and I'm really looking forward to a simple life with Peter, our adult kids and grandkids and time to cook, garden, walk the dog up the Malvern Hills and take up new hobbies and maybe return to the workplace.

Week 18 - One Daily Positive Organising shipping and a paddle in the sea.

I'm having a crap week, just hanging around again, it's all I seem to do, there has been a flurry of activity then it all comes to a stand still. I've got no motivation and coupled with the heat which is slowing me down and the constant aches and pains and breathlessness, I'm bored. 

Shipping costs have increased but the removal companies have taken the opportunity to almost double the cost of packing, loading and delivering. One company quoted via email and sent documents. Another company came out to quote, but didn't leave any literature and were quite defensive when I asked questions. The final company came out, quoted, left literature but I had to chase them up for the written quote. 

121 Saturday Child 3 celebrates his 29th birthday in Australia, he's also been in hospital for surgery on a poorly foot, so not a lot of fun for him out there at the moment. We spent the day moving furniture from the balconies to the car port and finished clearing out the cupboards.

122 Sunday Final quote for shipping, will make a decision once the quote is in.

The walk to the train station

123 Monday Doctors at 9am for blood test results. Oh the joys. I now have high cholesterol levels and needed a repeat test in 6 months, just diet for the time being.

Started sorting UAE paperwork, will miss this space when we leave.

124 Tuesday Did absolutely nothing all morning then took myself off for a walk to take photos of the neighbourhood to document the changes, then to the supermarket for my new diet.

Our street.

125 Wednesday I headed out to Dubai Mall for the day, I walked 20,000 steps. It's 1km from the metro station to the actual Mall itself in air con corridors with travelators, almost like T2 at Heathrow. Been getting some really random head pains, that make it difficult for me to speak and coordinate.

Inside Dubai Mall.

126 Thursday I just had no will to do anything, after a morning of sitting on the sofa, I baked banana bread and had a mad half hour clean up, showered, dressed and got the metro to the Mall to meet Peter for a coffee. Another evening of weird pain, brain fog and general confusion. We went for a walk around the estate where we live at sunset, it was still quite hot out. Managed to stay up till midnight to sleep.

Sunset walk around the neighbourhood.

127 Friday Took a drive to Masafi and the Friday Market, it actually runs every day of the week, along street on the way to Fujairah. We took a paddle in the Indian Ocean, it'll be a long time before we visit anywhere other than the British coastline soon.

Too hot.

On the blog this week:

Construction Photography 

Shipping costs

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Preparing to leave Dubai.

I arrived back in Dubai 2 weeks ago. Peter has been off work while we've planned our exit. We sold his car, made a claim to cancel the Insurance which can take up to 3 weeks. We've had quotes for shipping the rest of our furniture, advertised the garden for sale and made arrangements to have broken and old furniture removed. We've now hired a car until the end of May.

I sold my car and closed my bank account back in September, so we're confident of how that all works.

There's still quite a bit of stuff to do, unlike a move within the country in which you live, when you leave a country you have to close everything down before your current visa expires. However it's a lot easier this move as we don't need a visa to move to the UK. When we moved from South Africa to Dubai, we had to return to the UK to get our documents certified and get our cat and dog out to Dubai before our current visa expired, but we couldn't ship the furniture or air freight until our new visas were in place. 

We have two more payments due out on the credit card in the next 10 days then we can cancel the credit card, but need to keep the main account open to pay in cheques from the deposits for the house, utility bills and an investment that matures soon. Once that has all cleared we have to withdraw/transfer the account to a zero balance then apply for a completion certificate to close the account.

We had to get the UK credit card activated so we could use it to hire the car

I keep getting informed that we can of course pay someone to do all this for us, but from personal experience having been told this in the past and actually following the advice we have discovered that 9/10 these people aren't qualified experts and that actually they don't make the job any easier as basically you still do all the ground work and they just basically queue on your behalf to submit that paperwork that you still need to sign and sorry but there is no way we're giving ANYONE a signed letter to deal with our finances on our behalf.

We're vacating the Villa on May 24th, we don't have a hotel booked yet as we're waiting for confirmation from the UK Government in regards to our isolation/quarantine on our return. 

At the moment we're required to spend 11 days in a UK hotel at the cost of £1700 each, we've looked into flying home via Germany where we'd need to stay for 11 days before we would be allowed back into the UK and the isolate at home for 11 days. We're allowed to travel between the UK and Dubai as we have Citizenship and Residency. We've both had the full vaccine and are happy with regular PCR testing.

Dubai is a hub, but we're hopeful after May 17th it'll be off the red list, Dubai have currently suspended flights from India.

Thankfully this time we're not leaving one place and arriving into the unknown. We are returning to our former family home that I've spent the past 18 months restoring after tenants and setting up utilities, buying a car and sorting phones and internet which hasn't been as easy as it sounds because we've not lived in the UK for so long, have no 'no claims' for driving, need insurance that allows us to leave the house empty for more than 30 days and has involved changing all the landlord cover back into personal use, getting new quotes and at one point had me measuring the outside area of the house and working out the square footage for the top two floors for buildings insurance purposes (since when did that become a thing?) We moved the cat and dog back in February.

We're registered with the Dr's in the UK but need to find a new dentist and I need to add Peter to the council tax and change our voting options.

We need to close everything here in Dubai rather than risk letting it just expire when our visas run out. We plan to travel through Dubai in future years to visit one of our sons in Australia and don't want to risk arrest should we have anything outstanding. 

I'm not looking for help, guidance or advice on any of this, there is a time scale to follow for all of it, just not all the same time. We've done it many times before, we'll do it now as well. I just don't have the brain space to do anything else for myself, let alone anyone else right now. An International move is nothing like an internal move, trust me, I did both last year. We're not planning on doing any further moves, internal or external for a long time to come.

Travels around the world on the sofa

We've spent the last 10 years abroad with our sofa, we left the UK with it in January 2010, we also took 2 of our 5 children with us. When we left South Africa in December 2014 we no longer had children living at home, we now had a cat and a dog and along with our sofa we moved to Dubai.

The sofa is now back in the UK along with the cat and the dog.

UK - Morning after New Years Eve

South Africa 1st House

South Africa 2nd House

Dubai 1st House

Dubai 2nd House

UK Back where it started

That's 5 moves in 10 years and 3 countries and one well travelled sofa.

5th - 7th February 2021 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie and I and who would've thought February would ever arrive?

Sorry I was late with the commenting and post sharing the past two weeks. As is typical for me, it's all or nothing with my life. I've had a busy week with the golf in Abu Dhabi, then back in the UK unpacking 99 boxes of our life back into our family home.

It's so very strange putting things back in the same place they came from 10 years ago having moved to South Africa then back again via Dubai.

I've obviously been isolating for the past 10 days. I'm allowed out tomorrow, but will only be going dog walking. I may try an actual shop next week, but I suspect I'll be doing click and collect from now on.

I've got to sort out pet/house sitters for mid April till end of June so I can return to Dubai to sort an internal move and spend time with my husband. No idea if I'll be allowed back in or out again and now we have to be prepared for a 2 week hotel stay (at our expense) if required. Fingers crossed it's still PCR on arrival otherwise I have to drive to Bristol for private testing.

Nothing runs smoothly for us, EVER. I've linked up this week with the unpacking saga and share with you some tips on how to move your furniture abroad. You should know me by now that it won't be a practical step by step guide like the 'experts' regularly share.

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What can go wrong with an international move? Things you don't get told.

From experience anything that involves sub contracting around the world is doomed from the start. It doesn't matter if you have 3 quotes, get everything in writing, have a personal consultation, take a personal recommendation, if something can go wrong it will.

There's also an element of 'How do I know what I need to know?' which is my biggest issue when trying to do anything.

Moving between countries means forget how everything works where you are now and start again. And know what you don't know such as in general where the local council in the UK is called a Municipality in other countries and things like electricity and water are government run and to get a sim card you're required to have an attested copy of all your documents or a physical entry stamp on your visa or buy from the airport on arrival and the breakdown you've been having wasn't necessary.

I will say if you cut out the middle man, HR and a relocation company who just refuse to deal with the spouse, despite it being the spouse that orchestrates practically the whole move, then things do go a bit smoother. The issues still happen, but the timescale of resolving the issues is reduced greatly as is some of the stress, by being able to yell at people directly, rather than yelling at your spouse to yell at HR and Relocation company to find out a delivery date.

So despite having done 3 International moves, here's what I've learnt I needed to know after the packing had been done and invoice paid.

UK to South Africa - Insurance is an additional 3-5% of the value of your goods. The value of replacing those goods in a new country and must be itemised.

Not only are you responsible for costs if your container is picked at customs for a check but you'll pay the storage costs for the delay.

If custom checked you'll need to know your container number, which you'll be asked to confirm on delivery also.

You can't ship your container ahead of you until you have a visa, either in place before you move as in South Africa. However moving to Dubai, your container can be shipped but not released until your visa is in place. This also means any air freight will arrive after your shipping container so don't bother and save your money.

Check yourself exactly what you can and can't take. For example food, alcohol and tobacco is a NO. You'll also be told you can't take certain items such as bikes and out door equipment to South Africa and into Dubai you can't take Christmas Decorations or your family bible, you of course can.

Ask for the contact details of the receiving agent in the UK. Contact them and ask for their time scale from when the container arrives to their delivery times.

A new one for us with this move of things we needed to know that we didn't know about are......

How to obtain a BoL from the shipping company. What is a BoL? Bill of Lading. It is one of 3 crucial documents used in International Trade to ensure that exporters receive payment and importers receive the merchandise. In other words, along with proof of insurance and and invoice, these documents should be handed to the shipping company ( you'll need to know who they are also) who should, in theory, pass this on to the receiving agent to get your container released from the port, after customs clearance.

To obtain the BoL you'll need remarkable detective skills and the help of total strangers off of Twitter to make calls on your behalf and do the job you've paid someone else to do. Whilst doing this your packing agents, receiving agents and shipping company will all tell you it's not their fault or problem, stop answering their phones and replying to emails.

You'll get the money back from the Insurance after threatening the company with legal action and the police.

Your boxes will be delivered at 6pm on a Sunday night, your sofa left in the neighbours garage and no one wants to take responsibility for the fact you've paid the agent for a full unpacking and rubbish removal service and for the first time ever the packing is done so badly you actually have lots of things broken and no insurance to make a claim from.

I'm left with a room full of boxes and packing materials to get rid of.

This is how items were packed.

These glasses were wedged together and could not be separated.

Placed at the bottom of a box without any packaging under neath to protect it.

I have sent an invoice to the company in Dubai I had the contract with for 6 hours work by 2 people to unpack to surfaces, the cost of removing the uPVC door to put the sofa back inside the house from the neighbours garage and the cost of removing the packaging totalling £624/AED 3,130. I've also informed them they are clearly in breach of contract and as advised by Consumer Law in Dubai that I will make this a matter for the courts on my return.

2021 Week 4 - Back in the UK and fully vaccinated

I flew back in to the UK on Tuesday. The flight and arrival in Birmingham went really well, there was an incident in the lift at New Street where I stood my ground and refused to allow the lift doors to close until a couple got out as they were either unable to read or process why I wouldn't let them in until I told them to fuck off, firmly. It was lovely seeing the snow on the ground. I'll be able to leave the house on February 6th. Technically I can now as I have an exemption letter, which I may use to walk Bob in the early hours of the morning, but I've no real desire to go anywhere. 

I'm grateful I have the room to move boxes around and decide what I want to unpack and in which order. I've placed an Ikea order for some display cabinets and started my quest for another house sitter for March. I've also ordered another food delivery for next week and once I'm out of quarantine I'll use the click and collect service.

23 Saturday Child 4's birthday, he turned 26. WTAH? I can't be old enough for this? The cut was made at the golf today and I went out with the penultimate group, a couple of players had a bad round and yes, I knew about it. Only walked 17.500 steps today as opposed to almost 30,000 on Thursday. Had a bath, down to the bar for a drink then had room service dinner. I packed ready for check out in the morning.

The club house at Abu Dhabi.

24 Sunday Last day of the golf, I have a lovely 'golfers' tan. White feet, V neck shirt and short sleeves. Started the day with a PCR test to comply with the rules in the UAE for this event and ready for my flight on Tuesday.

Winner Tyrell Hatton and Caddy with 3rd placed Rory McIlroy. There was a pot of $8 million up for grabs.

25 Monday 2nd covid vaccination today, took around 2 hours. Rest of the day spent tidying and packing and just chilling out. When Peter finished work we popped to the local mall for dinner and had an early night.

26 Tuesday Up and out the house by 4am. The airport and flight was good, arrival in Birmingham was excellent with all the communication, checks and social distancing, caught a train home, had a minor confrontation with a couple until they got out of the lift. Met the house sitters on the drive at 3pm, they left straight away. Cat and dog were pleased to see me, house looks ok. In bed at 6pm.

My travel clothing.

27 Wednesday Woke at 3am, cleaned the kitchen cupboards, surfaces and walls/doors. The downstairs loo and hallway. I unpacked my suitcase, sorted out some bills, made a list of jobs that need doing. The food shop arrived and I unpacked a small chest of drawers so I could put a few things away. In the evening I just chilled out in the evening on the sofa in front of the TV.

I keep forgetting I'm owned by a cat and it just keeps appearing without warning.

28 Thursday Another early morning, drank tea, did some blogging and forced myself to stay in bed till 6am, then showered and got properly dressed for the day. Spent the day unpacking boxes, moving things, discovering broken items, cussing, sleeping, eating and repeat. 

Every box is labelled, glass or books and either kitchen or living room, nothing makes sense and stuff from the shed has ended up in the same box as stuff from the spare bedroom upstairs.

29 Friday A similar day to yesterday and progress is being made. Had a phone call from Public Health England, very friendly bubbly voice telling me to isolate and what to do if I have any symptoms. Would be more effective if they just said 'stay in or get fined'. 

These books were my dad's from his childhood, they were upside down in a box in the shed marked steel. Hopefully I've rescued them from the damp in time.

On the blog this week:

Further developments in Uptown Dubai and the Super Tall Tower with #MySundayPhoto

#PoCoLo Post Comment Love - a weekly linky I co host

My Winter COVID Vacation in Dubai

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Week 35 - One Daily Positive. UK vs Dubai during Covid

Although I've spent large chunks of time in the UK over the past 4 years and am from the UK, I still consider Dubai my home at the moment. I've not really been settled here though as I find making friends here difficult and the heat means I spend large amounts of time in the home or when I do go out I'm in malls. I was grateful to have been in the UK for the first part of lockdown as I was able to go out and walk Bob for an hour a day and just sit in the garden. However I wish I was able to stay in Dubai now and am making plans for the winter to come back out here. I'm just struggling to find someone to look after the dog for more than a few weeks and I'd really like to reduce the amount of flying I do.

Covid is being managed much better here, I'm happy to attend medical appointments and even had my hair cut and nails done. Indoors here is much bigger, more space, temperature checks, social distancing and EVERYONE is wearing a mask, people respect requests from security guards to put a mask on, knowing it is punishable by law for failing to follow the rules. The only time I struggle with wearing a mask is when I'm outdoors in busy areas, such as the mall car parks and walking to the train as it's just so hot here.

Dubai's 'to do' list is for me to sell my car, close my bank account, tidy and sell the garden and sort through and organise packers to get some stuff shipped back to the UK. 

236 Sunday Off to Dragon Mart to purchase some outdoor lights, we had coffee out and spent the rest of the day in front of the TV.

Usually lifts are a free for all, as is any doorway in Dubai, typically as you try to get out, 20+ people are piling in. So much more civilised during covid, although facing the wall seems a bit weird.

237 Monday Up early and off to the dentist for a check up on my implants and a deep clean, scale and polish. I called in at Mall fo the Emirates for lunch, then had a manicure and pedicure and then took my car for a valuation after having it cleaned. We watched TV in the evening.

This is the view from the dentist, although my 90 min view was of the ceiling.

238 Tuesday Peter went into the office and I had a virtual phone consultation with a moving company. I did have a tidy up first. I sold my car for £800, it was purchased for £5,000 4 years ago. Cars are cheaper here than the UAE and the deprecation is the same as I would've had in the UK. I then walked and caught the train to Ibn Battuta for an opticians appointment. Peter met me for a coffee and a lift home. 

239 Wednesday Up at 6am to continue cutting back the plants and tidying the garden. Off to the bank to close my account. Stopped at The Souk Madinat but it was closed till midday, so visited Mall of the Emirates for a coffee and some shopping. Evening spent mowing the lawn and power washing the patio.

One of my favourite views of Dubai.

240 Thursday Up early to finish the garden, shame I won't get too much time to enjoy just sitting out there. Packers booked and arranged for Sunday, container will be shipped on Sept 10th. I spent the day applying for my tax relief in the UK, organising the shipping insurance and cancelling car insurance. We went out in the evening to visit a friend for dinner.

I have to itemise our belongings and list a replacement price for destination. There's no where to add things like throws or cushions so you have to be creative with where you write things down.

241 Friday Collected my new glasses from the Mall, bought a couple of cards, had a coffee and then off to visit colleagues of Peter's for the afternoon, didn't get home till after 10pm, straight to bed.

3 years ago when we moved here, this view was just sand. The building I took this photo from didn't exist either.

242 Saturday Met up with our friends for breakfast at Mall of the Emirates, did some shopping, went to the cinema to see Tenet and home to get ready for the packers tomorrow and to watch the football.

My to do list in the UK is to repaint the doors that Peter had to shorten and rehang after having new carpets fitted, finish painting the shed and restore my old dolls house.

After our belongings are packed tomorrow, I just have to clean, rearrange the remaining furniture, then I have a full week of doing nothing before I return to the UK, so I'll be doing some serious shopping now I don't have to take things I need back in my suitcase for winter as the container will arrive mid October.

Eating out in Dubai - Sponsored Post

Keeping the romance alive during covid - Sponsored Post

The Road to nowhere - My Sunday Photo

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Maintaining a long distance relationship

Well here goes.

After 20 years together last month, our semi separate lives began in January 2020.

During the past 20 years we've been used to spending time apart with Peter's job, but for 2-3 nights a week in the UK or Europe.

In January 2011 we left the UK and moved to South Africa, for 4 years I was only away for 2-3 weeks once or twice a year, apart from 2013 when I was in the UK for 4 months evicting tenants through the courts. Peter travelled further afield and for longer periods of time.

In December 2014 we moved to Dubai, Peter's travelling was similar to the first 10 years in the UK and I was the one away for longer periods of time. In fact for the past 3 years, I've spent half the year on and off in the UK and he has travelled during these periods.

In October 2019 we started having issues with our current tenants and as we had plans for Peter's retirement in 2023, it was easy to make the decision for me to return to the UK and reoccupy our family home. Peter was now spending more time and for longer periods in South Africa with work and with me escaping the summer heat for 3 months, it was decided I'd be based in the UK and we'd both travel to visit one another as often as we could.

I moved back into our family home in January 2020 with the cat and dog, back in Dubai for March and again in May to supervise the packing and moving of our furniture, half to the UK, half to a new apartment in Dubai.

Peter will then come to visit for a fortnight for a wedding in June.I will be going out next in October, when the weather has cooled. Inbetween if Peter is travelling to Turkey or Egypt the p[lan is I can fly out to meet him.

So far, we've not really noticed a difference, he can concentrate more on his job, not worry about the cat and dog when he has to work late or travel and I am making friends and enjoying life in a community, something that was lacking for me in Dubai.

I'm not working and I won't be looking for work until 6 months before Peter retires, so I have the freedom to travel out to Dubai whenever I feel like it. While Peter is working it makes sense to get the house sorted while he still has an income coming in.

We have an app in Dubai that allows us to make and receive voice over internet and video calls, which means we can talk freely and openly, something we haven't been able to do when travelling since January 2018 when all voice over internet was blocked. It also means that Peter has more contact with the family as we can video call more often when I visit Child 1 who is unable to verbally communicate and to watch our grandchild grow and not feel left out of the milestones in her life. Last week Peter was able to watch the baby roll from back to front and share the experience with us all in real time.

I'd love to hear from you if you're in a similar situation. How long has it been going on for? What's the best/worse thing abiout being married and living in different countries? How do you manage/cope?

Post Comment Love 21st - 23rd February

Well the cat and dog and myself are settling into our new lives in the UK. It's been 9 years since we've lived here full time. Having spent 4 years in South Africa and 5 years in Dubai. Although we've visited often and had a flat we could stay in when we visited for the past 3 years.

Since I arrived I've not had 5 minutes to myself. Our youngest child of 5 travelled with me and we visited our eldest child, the oldest boy and his wife and baby, as well as my mum and niece and her family. The the second youngest child arrived with his wife, and the following day my husband arrived and we did the rounds of visiting again. Our middle child lives in Australia, so just catching up with him with video calls.

Child 1

Child 4

Child 2, hubby, child 4, me, 4's wife, 2's wife and grandchild's hand.

With hubby and our Great Nephew Thing 3

Child 2's wife and baby, hubby and child 1

I've been doing all the driving as I'd hired a car when I arrived, I returned it last week after dropping my husband at the airport. Since then I've been going everywhere on foot, accompanied by Bob who is loving the UK, despite the rain.

We've also worked flat out with the cleaning, redecorating and repairs to our family home, my back aches, my chronic pain has flared up, but so far, I've avoided a migraine.

This relocation business is hard work, I've forgotten how the UK works and there are so many new things for me to discover. I get blank looks when I ask questions about how things work. People look at me and must think I've lost the plot.

The cat and dog are both puzzled by things coming through the front door and run to greet the postman, expecting me to open the door as there is someone there. Post in SA and Dubai is to a PO Box number.

Stephanie and I would love to hear what you've been up to this week.

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Bob and Pushkins arrive in the UK from South Africa, via Dubai

We were adopted by Pushkins in 2012

We adopted Bob in 2013

6 months later

In December 2014 we moved to Dubai taking them both with us.

Last week they completed their journey after 5 years in Dubai with their arrival in the UK, which will be their final home.

We're having a lot of fun so far, lots of walks, new sounds, smells and places. I'll update you on their experiences next week



You can read more of our Repatriation story below:

Some of these links aren't yet live and will be updated.

Repatriation or Operation Relocation

Part 1 Things we have to do

Part 2 Starting to get organised

Part 3 Transfer of Residence

Part 4 Relocating pets. Dubai to UK

Part 5 Sorting out our new home in the UK

Part 6 Bob and Pushkins arrive in the UK. What do they think of it? February 2020

Part 7 Renting an apartment in Dubai May 2020

Part 8 Vacating a Villa in Dubai May 2020

Part 9 Moving Day May 2020

Part 10 Relocation