Online Yard Sale

With a little over 70 days to go, it's about time we get this yard sale going, if we want to end up with 30 boxes instead of 30 m3. Two tabs to the right you can find the page that holds images of most of the stuff we're ditching. We might be sorry later, but for now it's yours to have and hold and it eases our mind if we know that someone else is putting our belongings to good use.

The 40+ items are available at no cost,  but we've noticed that giving stuff away is not as easy as you might think. There's feelings of embarassement, inequality, indebtedness and suspicion of returned favor expectations apparently right around the corner. Here's what we think: "When life hands you a freebie, don't be an idiot, just take it!"

If you still feel that you should pay something, make a donation to Brooke's Hospital for Animals and help the donkeys, one day they might rule the world and remember your kindness. http://www.brooke.nl/?gclid=CO_837uF_roCFUbKtAodQ0kAqg

Have fun shopping!

Leave nothing behind, take only memories.

Preparing for the big move we've come to realise that we're not what some might call materialistic. Most of our stuff gets left behind with friends, family, friends of friends or disappears into the mystifying void that is Marktplaats.
The sum of our worldly possessions will fit in less than 30 move boxes (we're selling the car and not taking the furniture)

Right now it feels like we're erasing our life bit by bit, until we're left with nothing but two cats, some cash, 4 suit cases of clothing and a paper slip that says that in 6-10 weeks, 15,000 kilometers away, there might be 30 boxes of stuff waiting for us (or not ) to build a new life on.

We've started to cancel most of the things that connect us to Holland like health care, insurance, media, subscriptions, charities, parking, utilities, taxes and so forth. The required phone conversations show an eerily similar pattern, which makes us think that there is just 1 company in Holland that trained large organisations in dealing with departing members/customers. They are always sad to see us (our money) go, although we did not particularly feel the love from most of them when we were customers (with exception for Proteq Animal Insurance and our veterinarian of whom we are sure that if there is a heaven, they've got reserved parking and free membership waiting for them). However, if we decide to realize our mistake and become customer agains, we're welcome back any time. "Thanks, but are you sure you want to provide cable/internet/insurance in Australia?" Confused silence (that was not in the script!) "Ehm, no, that won't work, but good luck anyway!" The best one so far was DELA, where the lady on the other side (trainee of the month, no doubt) was trying to assure me that they could send an 'acceptgiro' every quarter so I could mail it back and keep paying the fee until my 65th birthday. Stunned silence on my side (Booyah!). Note to family: if we get eaten by sharks, crocs, dingos or oversized hamsters, there's a 1,000 bucks for drinks in it for you, courtesy of DELA, they'll send you a check. If we live to see 65 before that fatal hamster encounter, there's 1,250 bucks (added interest, so you can order snacks as well. Really, treat yourselves, go all out!).

The rather unexpected and seriously unpleasant part is having to explain over and over that the stuff that really matters can only be carried in memories and is not in things. For example how Rotterdam smells, looks and feels at 5 in the morning when most people still sleep, but the summer sun is already up and the city belongs to the birds and weirdos. The comfortable silence of the Helmond house, the Rotterdam harbour where Gil used to work with his dad, Oostvoorne, the Zuidpleinflat, seeing our friends become parents, feeling surrounded by people who care for us, schools and universities, the walks around Poortugaal, the bond forged with the kung fu brothers and sisters, the house in Neuilly, driving to and from Paris...

The list is nearly endless and still all items on it have 1 thing in common; as soon as we leave, they are out of reach but only a thought away. We'll go by the divers creed: leave nothing behind, take only memories.

And to your left.........The point of no return

Finally, what a tremendous relief! Yesterday, the buyer called and informed Gil that the bank has agreed to the loan and will proceed with the deposit payment to the notary. Woeeeeeehoeeee!
Oh wait, we're gonna be really busy now...

Not to worry though! Now "Move to Canberra Masterplan part II" will be put into action. Time to cancel subscriptions, select a moving company, arrange a quarantine facility, book airplane tickets, rent a temporary accomodation, plan a farewell party, start getting rid of our stuff and do about a million other things.
We are sooooo looking forward to it and at the same time it makes it all very final now.

And to your right.....Exiting times!

I'm sorry, how much is that?!

When people said that our emigration would be quite expensive, we said: "Ofcourse, it can't be cheap moving to the other side of the world" and thought: "Meh, can't be that bad, right?" Wrong.

Now, in all honesty, if you are some sort of government super-special agent with a master's degree in bureaucracy and wicked skills in sign-of- approval-getting, you could probably save a few hunderd bucks. We are not that type of super agent (yet), so we hired an agency for the brainy stuff. Smart move, but for a price.

Getting a visa, will set you back about $4,500 all  costs included. Then there's the cost of the agency, another $3,500. You have cats, dogs, a mongoose or platypus? Okay, that's quarantine for you buddy. Oh, and 20 vet visits, another 50 stamps of approval, a month of quarantine, blood tests (for the cats, not us) 15 document checks and 10 checks on those checks, an import permit, airline freight cost and 5 government agencies getting involved. And before we forget, here's your bill (check please) to fork over another $3,000 bucks please, no worries, we take credit cards.

You want to take your stuff? Sure thing, here's the paperwork. No, that is not the Canberra phonebook you silly, that's much thinner! Don't want to figure it out for yourself? You already have a job, you say? Okay, then hire an agent! Okay, there goes 5m3 of our stuff for another $3,000.

Then there's your tickets (one-way is ofcourse not half-price, but only 80%) so that's another $2,000. Are we keeping up boys and girls? That's $16,000 over 2 years! Most of which we fortunately paid before the AUD started dropping in value. When we paid up, the AUD was at 80 cents to the Euro, it is now at 69 cents. Yes indeed, that means we paid about 15% more then, than we would now, but hey, who's keeping score huh, who needs money anyway?

One of Gil's nickname's is The piggy-bank and The piggy-bank says: "This is about as much as my slot can take, no more, please!!). Funny thing is, we still think it's worth it. Gil is trying hard not to think about what will happen to the piggy bank savings once we get there (ouch!)