Preparation
Dad gave me an interesting piece of news yesterday. The US imigration and 'Homeland security department', are bringing in something called ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation ) on January 12th 2009. It short, its a electronic system which you use to gain authorisation to enter the US. I presume you still have the fill out the standard Green and white landing cards when you get there.
This new system applies to Visa-waver countries (such as the UK) and if authorisation is not granted, then you need to apply for a VISA for the US. Once granted authorisation, it is valid for 2 years. To apply, use the link below
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html?_flowExecutionKey=_c7BA3E9E2-399C-D557-8A62-16546705E6FC_k7766FCAE-B2E7-CE48-600E-33F7E6EB036F
29th September
Started a job today. I needed the money but unfortunatley its 95 miles away. So its a long drive there and back each day. Thanks to the Astra Diesel, I get over 60mpg which makes it slightly easier on the pocket but its still a little under £20 a day in fuel. The money is good though and its only for 2 weeks.
6th October
It occured to me today that its only 12 (ish) weeks until we go. Looking around, there is still alot to do. I'm going to have to really move up a gear and get on with it. So much of my stuff needs to go and until it does, its difficult to move foward with the rest of the sort out.
So my goal for October is to have all my stuff either sold or 'allocated' to specific people so they can take it later. This weekend I plan to extend out my Sell list quite alot and host it online so people can see what is for sale.
15th October
Jackie received a letter today saying that her application for UK citizenship had been approved and she would be receiving another letter soon with a reference that she needs to give to have a swearing in ceromany. 11 weeks and 1 day to go. This letter can take 2 weeks to arrive and it can take 6 weeks to get the passport (only possible after attending the required interview).
19th October
I ordered the Asus 1000H, 320gb drive and 2gb of memory. I went for the 320gb over the 500gb as I found it was faster and used less power than the 500gb. That may prove to be a mistake later but I guess time will tell. It should arrive on Tuesday 21st October.
20th October
Jackie received her letter today allowing her to book the swearing in ceromany.
5th November
Jackie and I went to her swearing in ceromany. She is now a UK citizen. We went to the post office straight afterwards and applied for passports (renewl for me, new for her).
8th November
With so little time left, we are stepping up a gear to get stuff sold, stored or otherwise shifted to raise money and create space.
12th November
My Passport arrived today! Nice and shiney with a chip in it for the modern passport system. Jackie got a letter saying she needed an interview before she could get hers. She called them up and got one for tomorrow and was told after a successful interview, the passport should arrive after a few days.
13th November
This weekend, Jackie is moving out of her place and in with me. This will enable her to save a couple of months rent and as her contract is up on the 23rd November it seemed to make good sence. Alot of work has been done at my place to get it ready, either by storing or packing things away. There is still lots to do though so this weekend we will be working through both days solid to get everything done. Lots of my stuff still needs to be sold on ebay so I am hoping (as I continue to hope each week) that I will find time to do that.
6th December
The Forum has just gone live. Its quite easy to setup really but I can't take any credit for it. James did it for me in about half an hour. Now I just need to create the forums and play around with it
7th December
Play complete, forums are done and its looking good.
10th December
I think today was the first day when it actually seemed like the end was in site. So many boxes of bits have been sold, stored or thrown away that it seemed never ending. Things would be put to one side to be dealt with 'later' and then would be found again just as I thought I might be getting somewhere.
There are still a few items left to ebay and of course its all the big stuff that I don't really want to part with but there you go.
11th December
Travel insurance purchased. We were going to use InsureandGo but after reading some reviews I wasn't happy with what I was finding. In the end we have gone with American Express. Its a huge sum of money (nearly £1000) but covers us for 2 years (the longest any policy will do) and Jackie with her diabetes, and cover for skiing, bungee jumper, white water rafting and any other silly thing we can think of. Plus cover for passports and credit cards going walkies.
