Around five months ago I left Seattle which had been my home for eleven years to move with my husband of nearly near ten months. I've wanted to travel since I was young and for many years I've wondered and wished I could live a broad but due to a variety of circumstances it appeared to be an impossible option. Here am I today living in New Zealand for three months with my wonderful husband.
Moving your entire life to a different hemisphere isn't a decision one makes lightly for most people. We'd agreed before marriage we'd return to his home in New Zealand but the dream seemed to be moving further away as we settled into life in Seattle. Simon, my husband, had managed to take on a remote work opportunity with his company. We found an incredible house across from the water in Magnolia. Nestled against Discovery Park it had the privacy of the woods yet the convenience of a ten minute drive to the city. I was working at Amazon in a comfortable position and life from the outside looked very comfortable.
Simon's work caused bigger issues in the relationship because working from home meant him work during most waking hours. He worked during our holidays in Napa and during visits with family and friends. I had other things to do in my life with many friends and a big family, hobbies and my own work but it just felt as my husband's life was consumed with work.
There was also an ongoing issue with leaks in the home which the property management group and owner managed to do an equal mix of ignoring and sending people out to the point of annoyance. The leaks didn't get fixed during our year lease instead our lease wasn't renewed and we had to move. We decided to buy a home and moved into an apartment which offered a month to month agreement. It was an adorable place handy to my work and knowing it was temporary we stored most of our things. About six weeks after we moved in I learned I would be required to take a 90-day break after two years on my contract. The rules with consultants had changed due to the Microsoft court case and I was out on my ass in one week's time.
I went home a little early the day I found out because I was disappointed it put a big hole in our plans. When I arrived home I found a notice on our door letting us know we had 90-days to move because the building was set to be demolished. It occurred to me now would be the time to leave if ever there was a time to leave. Simon was a little resistant to returning so early but I felt like it was just the gap we needed. If I took another job I would need to stay for three or four years and eventually it would turn to 10, 20, 30, 40 years and we'd still be in Seattle. He agreed and I began the first steps in the visa process.
I found a role which I believed would end in six months and we put together an aggressive savings plan to allow us to travel for a couple of months before landing in New Zealand. I looked at Google Flights daily to plot our path and reviewed our input/output every few days to ensure we were staying on path. We moved in with a dear friend with an agreement to split bills so we were able to put more money back. The visa process required background and medical checks which took longer than I'd anticipated so from the time the decision was made to visa approval took about six months and then we took one month to finish the final pieces.
I was very fortunate as when I notified my client I would be leaving they offered me remote work. I took three weeks off during travel and worked the remaining six weeks of our trip. I'd also arranged another ten days off while we transitioned to New Zealand to get things in order.
We left in late September to begin our travels proceeded our time Auckland. I'm settling in slowly but enjoying the culture of a different home.
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