Last week I shared our first Countdown update. Now that we’re within 90 days of our planned move to Panama, I’ll post regular updates on what we’ve accomplished (or attempted) during the week to be ready for the actual move in February. I hope it provides some ideas and encouragement to those of you getting ready for your own big expat move.
This has been a week of cleaning out, throwing out, organizing and waiting.
Week of November 13
House Repair
Sadly, we’ve had to postpone listing the house for rent. We’ve had to wait for the bathroom tiles to come in, which finally happened yesterday. With Thanksgiving coming up this week my husband will have less time to work on it than he would during a normal week. Nevertheless, we plan to have it finished by the end of next weekend, and we’ll list the house for rent then. Our rental agent assures us this won’t be a problem.
Packing and Organizing
I didn’t get any actual packing done this week, but I’ve done a lot of sorting and throwing out, mostly clothes. All the worn tee shirts I save for exercise, gone. Mismatched socks, gone. Clothes that are too big or too small, gone. We’re donating what we can, tossing the rest.
I’ve been putting together a list of documents that we’ll need to have with us for pensionado visa application, starting a local bank account, etc.
I ordered a paper copy of the title to the car we own free and clear. In Florida, they keep titles electronically. If you sell at a dealership, or close the sale at a bank, it works just fine. If you’re planning on a private, cash sale you still need the paper title.
I cancelled subscriptions to the publications we get in the mail. Over the past few years, I’ve converted most of them to electronic subscriptions, so these are the last to deal with.
Selling Stuff
Not much happening here. Little response to the Craigslist ads, not very surprising, but sad.
Moving the Pets
Purchased travel kennels this week. Our dogs are used to sharing a large wire crate, so the longer they have to get used to being separated in crates where they have less visibility, the easier their trip will be.
Maintaining Our Lives
Planned for Thanksgiving with friends. It’ll be our first ever without any of our kids. Once we move, we’ll probably come back to the States to visit in the summer, so it’s likely to be our last Thanksgiving here for a very long time. Sad and exciting at the same time.
Stay tuned for next week’s update!
If you missed the first installment of Countdown!, you can find it here.
If you’ve already done the moving overseas thing, I’d love to hear some of your experiences with planning the actual move. What part of the preparation did you enjoy the most? What did you enjoy the least? Leave a comment.