In late 2014 my family started the serious discussion of moving to London. 1.75 years later we’ve made a lot of changes and started a new chapter in our lives. What an amazing ride.
In late 2014 my family started the serious discussion of moving to London. Actually it started a long time before that because I always promised my British wife Alice we’d move back some day.
Alice put plans in motion. After spending the summer of 2015 roaming around England, France and Spain, my son Harry started high school in the London area and Alice started looking for work.
I ‘held down the fort’ in California. My daughter Sophie started at Willamette University in Salem Oregon. My oldest Emma continued her art studies at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
In early 2016 I got serious about managing the ‘full on’ move. I spent 10 weeks in April to January emptying our house we lived in for 25 years. I found a great tenant who moved in the first week in April. A few weeks before that Emma and I shipped Grady and Rumo, our two precious Labradoodles. Emma traveled, then I came to London after a stop with my mother in New York City.
Along the way, Sophie decided she wanted to be with all of us in London and she arrived in early June.
On July 9, Harry and I came back to California for a visit. Harry did his annual month at Cheley Colorado camp. He’s now back in ACS International School in Cobham, Surrey. Sophie just started studying at University of Bristol. Emma has a good job and is enjoying city life in London. Alice has a very full complement of consulting work, as ‘hired gun’ Chief Marketer for a startup and some other smaller assignments.
In late June I was offered a retirement package from my employer Intel Corporation. I accepted and my last day at Intel was July 31, 2016. I’m experimenting with retirement but I don’t expect that to last very long.
I applied for my Settlement Visa with the UK government in late August. While I wait for the visa to issue, I am in NYC. The UK government has my passport so I’m bound to the States. Two months in NYC so far and it’s been a blast! With my mom Eve, we’re doing lots of sight-seeing, catching up with friends, movies, museums, jazz clubs. And eating. I’m becoming a world class expert on baba ganoush and baklava. Also loving the chaos of NYC and anxious about zany American politics.
I spent the first 20 years of my life growing up in NYC. Most of my adulthood in the Bay Area of California. This is chapter 3!