markjowen
6/9/2016 03:41 EST
Hi
Here's a bit of a ramble with regards our experiences. I don't want to bore anyone one, so it's not the full story. Let me know if you would like to read more.
When we moved our oldest was 3 and a half years old, and the youngest was 4 months.
We did have 2 things in our favour - 1) I am a NZer; and 2) My Dutch wife is a doctor, and the Netherlands is one of the countries where, if doctor wants to move to NZ, doesn't have to retrain/requalify.
Having said that, it was hard work. We did not know if my wife would get a permit to live and work in NZ (that was still a legal requirement), she had to get very high scores in an English Proficiency test, and we weren't at all sure where we were going to live...
We prepared our children the best way we could. Lot's of explaining, looking at the map, talking about the trip, etc. Of course you never really know if there is more you could do.
Initially we were going for good, but then, after many, many nights of poring over spreadsheets, we decided that we could only afford three years there. So then it was trying to work out what we would do with furnishings, etc:
a. Put in storage here, and then buy new in NZ, and then sell before we came back; or
b. Take with us.
If we choose a. we would save on the cost of shipping everything to NZ., but would cost us a lot in storage in the Netherland. Option b. would mean the cost of shipping, but nothing for storage in NL. We choose for b. because we also felt that it provided some stability for the kids to see familiar items.
The flight itself was challenging. Just imagine telling your kids that they need to sit still in the same seat for 23 hours. Our 4 month old went into a cot,of course, but that is also not without problems. The cots are usually the ones that attach to a wall, in front of the front row seats in a plane. Lots of leg room, you think, Which is definitely an advantage, this is also quite close to the toilets, kitchen, etc, so you get a lot of foot traffic, which can be disturbing for your child. What we did find, was that eventually our 4mo did fall asleep, but then we hit turbulence, and baby had to come out of the cot and get strapped to a parent. Then the "fasten seat belt" sign would go off, so baby went back to the cot, only to be pulled out again 4 minutes later when the "fasten seat belts" sign went back on. Not fun for baby, and not fun for the parents who had not slept for the last 17 hours. When we arrived in NZ I realised that I had never seen a baby with bags under its eyes.
That's just a short ramble. I'm not sure if that is too much detail, or not enough. If you would like me to write more, let me know.
Cheers
Cheers
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