Category: The Move

Why England?

February 19, 2021 / Tamara

Jumping Out

I clearly remember the day I first read those words. I was twenty three, in Kolkata sitting in a WiFi café, hiding from the heat, catching up on emails. Then my father’s email appeared with a simple remark “glad you jumped out of you fishbowl.” I looked at it over and over again and then it hit me. I was out of my fishbowl. I looked around the café filled with many faces, a plethora of tones. My glance drifted onto the street where cows mingled with cars and an elegant woman’s sari lifted the dust off the ground. I strive for the uncomfortableness of swimming in new waters and that is the drive for our adventures.

Since that moment I have continued to jump out of my fishbowl and now pull along with me Gary and Alvin. So why did we choose to jump out of the safety and comfort of our home? During a pandemic no less? Why England?

the sun room back home, our comfort
the place we gathered for morning coffee and long conversations with friend

Questions frequently asked by friends and strangers alike. I often answered with a nonchalant “why not?” I attempt to wipe the smugness off my reply and explain further that it fits my motto in life. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough”-Mae West. So why not live in another country, experiencing a similar yet different way of living and talking?

Nurses at work are especially intrigue as to why I left the higher wages, more autonomy, and a bigger home. And specifically how I arrived in Winchester.

Choosing England

After a year of research we chose England as our new home base. It was not our first choice. With Gary’s retirement in sight we looked at many options to fulfill our/my dream to live overseas. We considered military bases, embassies, contract positions and several locations. The main goal was to find a location that I could continue to work as a nurse. As many of you know, I am Gary’s retirement plan (just joking). After narrowing it down in order of preference (New Zealand, England, and Australia) and after additional research we decided against New Zealand for one reason, our family back home. One emergency back home would deplete our savings. A last minute flight out of New Zealand is a pretty penny. England, next in line, ticked off many of the boxes and some we did not know existed.

Winchester chose us. The international nurse agency I worked with provided us three choices of cities to work/live in: London, Cambridge or Winchester. The agency, based out of London, guided me on my nurse application process, helped me prepare for my exams and assisted in finding me a job. Winchester was the most affordable; therefore it was our only realistic choice. A blessing in disguise since it is a marvelous city.

The spring of 2019 we came to England and Winchester for the first time. As I mention to Gary, it felt like an episode of Twilight Zone. People were so kind and welcoming it felt awkward. We were not used to it but there was calmness in society. One of the main reasons I was motivated to move, even in the middle of a pandemic.

The stressors that have been lifted

Image being five years old in school in the middle of learning your letters, then stopped for a drill in which you must be silent and hide in the corner of the a dark classroom to protect yourself from a possible intruder. After staying as still as possible to protect your life, you then go back to learning your letters. For Alvin and many children this is part of their kindergarten education. Lockdown/active shooter drills are done at least quarterly along with fire and earthquake drills. Alvin was not prepared for this drill. Gary and I naively thought we would get some sort of notice letting us know prior to the first drill. I laugh now thinking of about it. The drills have been around for over 15 years. The first drill affected Alvin hard, requiring us to go to the school and console him. In a recent study it showed active shooter drills increase depression, stress, anxiety for months.

Children from a young age in the USA are taught about fear and anxiety in a place that should be a safe haven. As a student from Marjory Stoneman High School stated, it was not a case of IF but WHEN it would happen next.

Lockdown, Lockdown. Lock the door.
Shut the lights off, Say no more.
Go behind the desk and hide.
Wait unit it;s safe inside.
Lockdown, Lockdown, it’s all done.
Now it’s time to have some fun!
Seen on a poster at Arthur D. Healey School, Somerville, Massachusetts. Sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

The true cost of Healthcare

The other layer that has been washed away is the cost of healthcare. In the United States we were one of the few fortunate enough to have incredible health care coverage through work but this is not just about us. Our family and people around us are affected by the high cost of health care coverage. How many people in the USA hold on to a job just because of the health care coverage? People here do not keep a job because they require coverage for their son’s asthma; they keep the job because it suits them. An unforeseen illness or accident does not drain the family savings account. In the USA few have the liberty to follow a dream job partly because you must first look at the health coverage it provides for your family.

People here have an ease to them. I believe it has to do with their ability to choose a job that they want or love. Lorraine, a Canadian nurse I work with in Washington, once told me when you allow the artist to be artist, society smiles back at you. Having a “free health” care system, one which you pay into with taxes, allows people grow into who they are meant to be. I do know the argument “why should I pay the taxes for other people to stay home and not work” or be that artist. In my humble opinion, it is because health care is a human right. Not to mention the world is a bit sweeter when you are not forced to hold on to a job just for the health care coverage it may provided. It is our way of holding our community up, giving each other space to grow into whom we are meant to be.

Two gentlemen playing music in the town center mid week

Learning about Socialized Medicine

I also wanted to jump into socialized medicine. I wanted to experience it firsthand, not only as patient but as provider. Most of the site revolves around my experience in healthcare; therefore I will let you read more about this topic by strolling through the site. But I will say it has been nice seeing patients get treated for what they need and not necessarily what they want. I am no longer hunting for an admitting diagnosis that will be covered by Medicare or the insurance company. We are admitting because of the patients’ needs, even if it as simple as a social admission due to an elder living alone with increase falls.

We hope to keep swimming in different waters and travel around the neighboring countries. On my bike ride home I am no longer seeing it as new. I have become accustomed to the whistle of the train and the brick lined homes. The land is becoming familiar and comfortable, as Bruce Cockburn sings “it’s my beat, in my new town.”

Soon it will be time to find a new bowl to swim in…

The Mountains we climbed to get to England

October 17, 2020 / Tamara

Certain dreams materialize with ease, like booking a trip to Hawaii. Soon after your toes are sinking into the warm sand of a utopian beach as you snack on poke. But other dreams, the ones that define you, the ones that are at the cores of who you become, you fight for those dreams. We climbed mountains with every step of this journey; it challenged our goals, our beliefs, and confirmed once again that this dream is worth the fight.

For us, and especially me, England is that dream. It represents my desire to live overseas, travel the world with greater ease, gun violence at bay, and experience socialized medicine first hand. We did not have the comfort of “the company” moving our things. We had to save, make cutback, and work overtime to be able to afford this dream. I am making half, yes half, of what I made as veteran nurse in the USA. Why you ask? That will follow on another post but just know it has all been worth it.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson wisely said “To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.”

The mountains we climb that led us to our Dream

March

Gary is proactive (for the first time in his life, his own words) and sends off for his passport renewal, so in two years he doesn’t have to it in England
Pandemic=lock down
Remote Learning/Homeschooling starts
Passport offices close. Gary’s passport is lost in the system. Online says to call. When he gets a hold of a representative on the phone, they tell him he has to check online.

April

I get contacted by the hospital stating they would like to move forward with hiring process, if I am still interested. Gary and I have a heart to heart whether it is good idea we move in the middle of a pandemic.
Waiting for the manager to interview me for the position

May

Now waiting for the hospital to issue my certificate of sponsorship
Waiting for Gary’s passport

June

Got my certificate of sponsorship and applied for my visa. Waited again for 3 weeks for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field office to open and schedule my biometrics (fingerprinting and face photo, confirming that you are who you say you are) appointment.
Original month of departure prior to pandemic has come and gone

July

On the 9^th Gary’s online passport status changes from “received” to “in process”.
July 29^th at 1pm was my biometrics appointment. I attend and it went smoothly. The lady that took my photo and my fingerprint liked my mask made by my good friend Adrienne. While at the UPS office, about to send off my paperwork to New York to the UK visa office, I notice #1 I had made an error on the application in my haste stating I had never been to England and #2 there was a page that needs to be sign at my “appointment.” I quickly got into my car, drove back during rush hour traffic to the USCIS office and made sure I was not supposed to sign it front of them. They kindly told me, “no, you just have to sign it and send it off.” As in regards to error #1 I Googled and emailed the UK visa office (every question you send them cost £5), Learned I needed to write a letter explaining the error, cross it out on the visa application and cross my fingers. A high anxiety day.

August

We came home from camping trip to find Gary’s passport had finally arrived.
August 17 2020 at 10am I got my UK visa and started working on Gary’s and Alvin’s visa application. Was told “no appointments available”.
On the 30^thbroke a toe on my right foot and was not able to run for six weeks, my primary method of stress relief. Wore a boot for the first week and could not work at the hospital.

For three weeks, everyday I checked for an appointment. My spirit were momentarily lifted as the spinning wheel turned then crushed with image above. After three weeks of my spirits getting weathered, I decided to go to the (VSF) Visa Facilitation Services Global offices in The Columbia Tower in Seattle without an appointment.
August 31, 2020 our day and experience at VSF office. We got Alvin’s and Gary’s biometrics completed and their visas applications sent off. Time to start planning our departure. Another 3 weeks of wait and see.

September

Looking for Renters: Blaine and Summer planned to live in our house the two year that we lived in England. We had been sharing a house since June a hidden blessing in the chaos of moving. Intrigued by the housing marking Summer and Blaine started looking for a small investment property. They fell in love with a cute house in a great neighborhood and we of course we relinquished them of any obligation they felt staying at our home. So we were on the hunt for renters and a property manager.
3 interviews later we found Deric, a great straight forward property manager. He told to depersonalize the house and paint Alvin’s bedroom.
Now we needed to empty the house of everything (rags, collection of mason jars, excess cloths, toiletries never used). Our things had two futures: it was either worth staying and went into the attic or garage; or it came to England with us. Anything that it did not fall into one of those categories left our possession.

Gary went hard to work in getting the house ready for renters
- the deck rail off our bedroom had rotted wood and need to be replace so the nail gun broke
- the back yard needed weed whacking so the weed whacker broke
- Repainting Alvin’s bedroom after the property manager pointed out the dirty the walls. Well it had been 9 years since we paint the room and a Alvin had lived in it for the last 6…
- Taking down our photos, filling the holes and painting. Realizing the paint is 10 years old and 10 year old pain clump up
- Building a temporary wall down the middle of the garage so we have a storage for our furniture.

Housing

Winchester housing. Called multiple “letting offices”, many of which told me (insert stern British accent) “oh no, oh no, you must see the property yourself” or “no, it must be you, you cannot have a proxy” or “there is a cold feet clause and that is why you must view the property yourself.”
Did the math for the cost ($$) to stay at an AirBnB that accepts dogs for the first month. But after multiple calls at 5am we found a realtor that would work with us stating (insert kind British accent) “Oh yes we did this for another family living abroad last month, not a problem.”
With the help of Charters Estate Agents and Wendy Harrison we found a lovely semi-detached home but they could not confirm Gary’s income and we had to pay a full year in advance pulling the money from our nest egg. Ouch, to say the least!
September 21, 2020 Gary and Alvin got their visas!

October

We booked our tickets for October 9^th and called British Airways to add Jasper to our ticket
Jasper, the world traveling dog, has his own story. But in summary he caused us to change our flights twice, chase after a UPS truck, and his crate caused me to have an epic melt down in front of a stranger. One word of advice, if you are moving overseas with a pet during a pandemic, just don’t, or pay the big bucks for a private carrier.

A blessing in disguise on October 4^th Yoshiko (step-mom) leaves for Japan since her mother is very ill and I get to spend a week with my sister Anna. Anna sleeps in Alvin’s room, consisting of only a mattress. The spare room bare since Blaine & Summer moved out. Alvin relishing the chance to sleep with us for the week.
Oct 5^th I noticed redness to my right eye which worsened even with ophthalmic antibiotic ointment. This led me to the ED, my first contrast CT and being diagnosed with periorbital cellulitis. I was placed on three different antibiotics. In the following week, the week we are scheduled to leave, I had three appointments with Dr. Deem an amazing, patient, caring ophthalmologist. The kind of provider that takes the time to listen to his patients. He treated me well and by the time I arrived in England I was almost healed.

October 14 mercury in retrograde
2 flight reservation changes later we are schedule to leave on October 16, 2020
17 October we touch down at Heathrow.
Things have been going much, much more smoothly! Not sure if it has anything to do with the fact we are in quarantine, but I will take it.

The journey to England was made bearable because of our hidden angels. They gave us hope in our moments of despair.

Wendy Harrison, our eyes in Winchester, taking time from her busy schedule as a mom and with two new puppies to give us a first hand glimpse at our house. She also picked up the keys, hid them so we could come straight home from the airport, stock the frig and brought over her own plates and cups realizing we had an empty house. And to top we found a bouquet of flowers with a welcome card. A woman we only met once as guest of her AirBnB. She is a true angel.

Blaine and Summer for helping us move furniture, giving us an excuse to buy ice cream, and being faithful Bananagrams partners.

Stuart for moving the heavy furniture when he should have been studying and taking most of our food off our hands.

Yoshiko for letting us live with her invading every corner of the house during our last week in Tacoma.

Rick and Lynn for hosting us at Seabrook during the peak of the stress, for letting us spy on potential renters from their house, for caravanning to the airport with our 17 bags, and for being great neighbors.

Sil Underwood Wong, for using her buddy pass and accompanying me to drop Jasper off in LA. This is after she was up ALL night at the emergency veterinarian office with a sick kitty cat. And for being my voice of reason during the epic meltdown.

Kelly Melton, for bringing me a killer lunch and keeping me company the day I was in the emergency department.

To Manny, for writing one of the most thoughtful good bye notes I have ever received. A ray of sunshine during the stresses of moving.

Dr.Deem, for being a great ophthalmologist and helping my eyes heal.

And to the many unnamed rallying for us along the way. You are not forgotten, you are the reason we made it.

Jasper the World Traveling Dog

October 16, 2020 / Tamara

A simple plan or we thought….

Oh Jasper the world traveling dog! With the visas squared away we booked our tickets using miles for October 9. Two weeks to wrap up our life in Tacoma. I call British Airways to add Jasper to our ticket. I thought he might be in the cabin with us or they would guide me on how to get him on the cargo side, still on the same flight. We learn that British Airways partners with IAG cargo to transport animals to England. And, is the only airline transporting animals during the pandemic.

Not so simple plan…

All other airlines require you to use a private pet transport company. The only IAG office on the west coast accepting animals during this time is in Los Angele. Great, not only need to travel to LA to get Jasper to England he will not be on our flight!

The IAG customer service representatives are working remotely from home and the method of correspondence is via email. They do not accept phone calls or provide you with a phone number. Therefore a quick 5 minute phone call took over two hours of back and forth emails in which I learned that Jasper’s processing time is 8-10 hours after arrival. We must now schedule our flight 8-10 hours after his since upon arrival we go into quarantine and cannot leave to pick up Jasper. We also learn he MUST travel cargo and cannot ride in the cabin on an international flight. Only service animals allowed to travel in the cabin. And Heathrow Animal Reception Centre (HARC) only accepts animals during the week. Our original departure date is now out the window.

The first change in our flight reservations: October 9th flight to Oct 14th. We request to book for Jasper to leave on the 13^th from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) arriving on the 14^th, crickets. The HARC is fully booked on Oct 14^th. Second change to our reservations: October 14^th to October 16. Jasper is now scheduled to leave out of LAX on a direct flight to Heathrow London Oct 15^th allowing for the 8-10 hour processing time.

EEA Health Certificate

EEA Health Certificate: The EEA (European Economic Area) pet certificate aka “doggy passport” for Jasper required another juggling act of dates and appointment. First the EEA certificate needs to be completed by a FDA veterinarian (vet). Then it needs to be mail overnight to the FDA for their stamp, a literal stamp, of approval making it legit and sent back to us all within 10 days of traveling. To top it off Jasper needs to take a tape worm medicine in front of the FDA vet within 5 days of arriving which needs to be documented on the certificate. The catch…the only FDA vet at our veterinary’s office works part time on Tuesday/Wednesday.

October 7th she fills the health certificate it get sent electronically to FDA for their stamp of approval. Time is now ticking we have to be in England by the 17^th or at least Jasper does.

October 13 Jasper’s vet appointment for tape worm medicine. Still no update from FDA with the certificate which now needs to be amended stating Jasper received his medication. This is two days before Jasper departure date from Los Angeles.

The night of October 13 we receive a UPS notification that our package, the doggy passport, will arrive the following day by 9pm. The passport still needs to be amended by the vet. The vet kindly gave us her personal cell phone number and stated we could go to her house if the paperwork did not arrive prior to vet offices closing at 5pm. Since the following day I am scheduled to fly out at 6am to drop off Jasper in Los Angeles for his flight.

Jasper’s response when I asked him to get into his soft crate

Chasing the UPS Truck

October 14^th I took action. I called UPS to get the package delivered prior to the vet office closing for the day. The UPS phone representative indirectly state I could look for the truck by driving around my neighborhood, saying “well you could drive around and look for it if you wanted.” desperate I took it literally. Frazzled he wanted to take his words back but I was already turning my phone off. I started driving around the neighborhood using the UPS app that tracks the location of your package. I stopped and asked three UPS trucks driving till I found the sacred driver with my package. He asked what was so important that I was driving around looking for it. I told him an abbreviate version and by coincidence he said had lived in England for six months after the army. He loved it there. A small happenstance but one that made me feel I was on the right path even if it meant driving around stopping random UPS trucks.

Los Angeles

On October 15 one day before we are scheduled to leave to England I head to LAX with Sil a dear friend. She is a flight attendant and offered her buddy pass, her company and her to make sure things went smoothly, I gratefully said yes. We departed Seattle on the first flight of the day leaving behind misty cold fall weather and landing on a hot 93 degree LA day.

We walked around LAX dripping in sweat still wearing our layers from the Pacific Northwest looking the for the Uber parking lot and the shuttle to take us there, a mysterious invisible shuttle that is nowhere to be found. After an hour and multiple unsuccessful Uber requests I gave up and rented a car for the day. We took a random LAX bus to a bus stop where a van waited to take us the rental car office, a bit sketchy. In my haste I rented the car for the following day, not that day. The rental company kindly corrected my error. The hidden angels around us that give me hope.

After a quick jaunt to the dusty pee saturated off leach dog park near we LAX we attempted to drop of Jasper but the IAG cargo office but they stated we could not drop him off till 4pm. It as noon, we decided to get lunch and take a breather at the beach.

The Crate

We arrive at the IAG cargo offices promptly at 4pm. Sil and I planning to catch a 5:40pm flight back to Seattle. I filled out the paperwork, simple. I am about to send off Jasper when the attendant starts measuring the crate, then Jasper, then the crate over and over again. He notifies me that the crate is too small and Jasper cannot be accepted. He will be denied entry at Heathrow with his current crate.

The Meltdown

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Remember, I am simultaneously dealing with a bilateral eye infection. I start SOBBING, loud ugly crying, mad as hell at Gary for incorrectly measuring the crate and Jasper. The male care attendant fidgets visibly uncomfortable say “let me see if I have another one” and scatters away. 15 minutes later he comes back with a wooden crate big enough for Jasper. Jasper hesitant to go in but I entice him some treats and guide him in.

My eyes still weeping now for Jasper, being forced to travel in an unfamiliar crate. The care attendant tells me he needs to find go out the cost of the crate asking me to wait in the lobby. I let Sil know about the delay. Now unsure if will make our flight I start to plan for the possibility of spending. Still weeping, I walk to lobby carrying the unused crate. I am slowly letting go of all the stress, the grief of leaving my home, and bitter sweetness of it all. Allowing the emotions drain out of me. The universe gave me those twenty minutes to gather myself. The attendant updated me stating they were waiting to hear from Heathrow to find out the cost of the crate. Another ten minute after that they come back with the new total that includes the wooden crate. I pay. We return the rental car. Take the shuttle back to the airport. Grateful that is no lines at TSA. We walk on the flight, the last two people on the last flight to Seattle.

on our way to our new home in Winchester England

Just in case, the Visa Facilitation Services Global office

October 10, 2020 / Tamara

Written the day of the appointment

I woke up wobbly and grumpy in pain this morning due to my broken toe. I poured second cup of tea and started calling my doctor to get a work release note. Then I called the orthopedic doctor to get an appropriate follow up. Both appointments would be tomorrow, Tuesday, the first at 9 am and the second at 4:30pm. The same day I had calculatingly planned to go to Visa Facilitation Service (VSF) offices in Seattle to complete Gary’s and Alvin’s visas applications.

The VFS Global office is the UK Immigration third party visa processing center. To complete the application we needed the biometrics (fingerprints and a formal head shot) both of which were done at VSF. I thought Tuesdays are better than Mondays. Monday everyone wants to get seen, you are catching up on emails, phone calls and so on. Tuesday they will ready for us. But as we know, things never go as planned. So at 10am I resolved we had to head there today, on a Monday.

Columbia Tower

We arrived at the tall striking Columbia Tower and take an elevator to the lobby. From the lobby we took another elevator to the 40^th floor, made a right turn and to another elevator to the 42^nd floor. But we could not push the button to select the 42^nd floor. A badge was required; the only button we were able to select was back to the 40^th floor and then to the lobby.

At the main entrance, we asked the security guard about getting to the VSF office. The guard stated “their security comes every 15 or 20 minutes to take anyone up that is waiting, we have no phone number for them or any way of contacting them. That’s the way they want it.” So we hunkered down and waited.

We wait…

Alvin played on Gary’s phone. Gary played on mine. I sat stiff, heart pounding, palms sweaty. Determined, hopeful that this crazy plan to show up with no appointment would work. I could no longer keep checking multiple times a day to see if there were appointments. Every time it said no, my dream moved further away. The website did say they were accepting walk-ins but we were unable to get into their office or even a way to let them know we were there. I sat I hoped I had enough karma points to cash in this time. There was a changing of the guards and after 45 minutes I checked in the new security guard that stated the same information but he added “they are only doing scheduled appointments right now because of COVID so if you don’t have one let’s just hope someone else has an appointment and then they might see you waiting.”

Gutted once again but attempting to stay hopeful. My mantra, positive energy, good thoughts, positive energy this will happen. I sat with my uneasiness and breathed, in and out, over and over again. After another lapse of time, I saw a slender man with a button up white shirt and black slacks. He was speaking with the lobby security guard then started walking towards us! He was the one, Ben.

Hope

We explained the predicament we were in, unable to get fingerprint appointments for Gary and Alvin, and my visa vignette only good for 90 days 30 of which have passed. He confirms there are no walk appointment but tells us to go with him to see if we can figure something out. We follow him to the coveted 42^nd floor and wait while he gets his manager. I am holding my breath. We meet Tim, the manager, he asks us to follow him to his office. Unsure if this will work. I desperately explain again with all the details, he says he can help us today. I breathe. Since they are not taking walk-ins he creates an appointment for “right now.” So after talking, hoping, breathing, and fingerprinting. Gary pays the fees and their passports are in the hands of VFS Global. And according to them and we should back in 3 weeks with the UK visa!

I asked Ben why he checked the lobby this morning. He said he just wanted to see if anyone was waiting, just in case, since they were ahead of schedule. Grateful to have listened to my own gut and grateful to Ben for checking, just in case.