The Big Move: France Here We Come

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There is an unimaginable amount of planning, work and expense that goes into an international move.  I mean, moving in general is not an easy feat, but traveling to a new continent takes the move to an entirely different level.

My stomach hurts just thinking about it!

So how did it all get started?

During the summer of 2014, we took a trip to France.  We visited Paris, Bordeaux and Nice to get a taste of the different regions of the Country.   We enjoyed Paris immensely, preferred the quiet area of Saint-Émilion over Bordeaux and absolutely feel in love with Nice.

While in Nice, we just knew we wanted to live there. But how could we make this happen? Could we really move to Europe from the United States? Could we leave our family and friends?

I had always REFUSED to live anywhere but Virginia.  Derrick grew up in California and always wanted go back. “Sorry, you married the wrong women for that” I told him. While I didn’t feel a special connection to the Hampton Roads area of VA itself, it was home. My family lived in Virginia. How could I ever live somewhere without my Mom close by?

The more we talked about it, the more we wanted to make the move. The kids were on board, so it was time to start planning.

First up was to research if we could actually afford to live in Nice.

As it turns out, the prices are quite reasonable. Now, I said reasonable – not cheap.  It is a major tourist destination after all.

We are spending about $700 less per month on a 2 bedroom apartment near the center of town than we spent on a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs. The rent does include all utilities, cable and Wifi so that adds up to a big savings.   Food is also reasonable, if you don’t eat out daily & like to cook with fresh ingredients.

We also sold our home, one of our cars and a majority of our possessions to fund the move. Scary right?

I work from home, so that was pretty easy. We eventually decided that Derrick would work for me for the year on my websites, and we would use savings to pad anything extra needed. Since we were debt free except for our house, we had a nice cushion to help fund our desire to move internationally.

Schooling was a major concern. We wanted the kids to experience the French lifestyle, but we also didn’t want to overwhelm them by throwing them in a new school halfway through the year where they didn’t even speak the language. I’ll let you know how homeschooling goes….

Now I am sitting here typing, 2 days away from our big move. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been asked if I’m nervous or excited. I’m not really either. I feel more overwhelmed than anything else. I’m pretty sure we will arrive in France, and I will sleep for an entire week.

More to come on the trials of getting a Visa and how we packed up our lives in single storage unit.

Have you moved internationally?