We’re moving countries again. Here’s why…

At the tail end of last year,
I was fed up!!!

I hesitate to use the word “burnt out”. Because I don’t think that was it.
It was more a case of my hopes and dreams had been crushed, and I felt “stuck”…
And really reaaallly frustrated!

You see, four years ago my husband and I sold our house.
It had been a really hard few years leading up to that point, with my Dad having terminal cancer, and Neil having multiple concussions, and we wanted to give ourselves some breathing space by not having a big mortgage.

We moved in with Mum at the end of 2017, and midway through 2018 we took the kids out of school and went travelling.

We saw 10 countries in 10 weeks and it was the highlight of our lives!
(This is a photo of us in Paris back in 2018 that seemed to sum up our news well) 

During our trip, I decided I wanted to do it again. Only this time I wanted to go back to Europe to live for a bit, near my husband’s side of the family. I figured that this way our girls could learn more about their heritage and form a relationship with their UK cousins.
(And I could travel to my hearts content!)

So, after our 2018 trip we planned go back in 2020.
And then along came Covid
(And concussion!)

So I thought “oh well, maybe in 2021”.
But apparently Covid wasn’t finished mucking up the world as we knew it yet and I wasn’t back to myself yet after my concussion

In the meantime the property market doubled and by the middle of last year I was just beside myself at the fact we
a) couldn’t achieve our travel dream because of the closed borders and risk to our health and
b) couldn’t get back into the property market now either

By the end of last year I was deeply frustrated with our circumstances.
When we moved in with Mum, we hadn’t planned on being here 4 years later under the same arrangement!
But my dreams had started to feel impossible.

I was left wondering “what the hell are my dreams now!” 

To shake off my “funk” I decided to take a month off over the summer, (despite the fact I’d just had most of November off for surgical leave), insert some fun back into my life, and work out what the heck I wanted to do with my life now.

Over the summer we looked at sooooo many options and places to move, or options to buy houses in more affordable towns, but really, my heart’s desire was still to travel and nothing else felt right.

By the end of my break I got to the point where I was like

“f*** it, we are all vaccinated now and can’t live in fear anymore. If our borders close they close and we’ll be ok!”

So, I worked on my husband (who doesn’t like change very much poor guy ) and convinced him we could still go with our original plan.

We spoke to our kids and not only were they on board but they LIT UP with excitement! So that gave us the confirmation we needed that it was the right thing to do.

Here are some frequently asked questions I’m getting:

When are we going?

When considering timeframes we realised that with our eldest starting exams next year it was basically now or never…

Over the last few weeks we got brave
Finally made a decision
Made a plan
And started to put the plan into action!

We haven’t been able to book tickets just yet, because we are waiting for a more certain timeframe on our UK passport applications. But we are working to the beginning of May 2022.

Where are we going?

We are going to settle in the city of Nottingham, UK. This is where my husband’s two brothers and their families live. Our kids have four cousins there of similar ages. One is even in the same year as Abbie at school!

Where will we live?

We are going to try to rent a furnished apartment. But, if that fails, we’ll rent an unfurnished apartment and just acquire what we need in the way of furniture etc.

How long are we going for?

That is a really good question, and one we don’t yet know the answer to…

Part of why I deliberated over this decision so long is because deciding anything permanent, or making any big financial commitments right now felt too scary. Since neither of us have lived in the UK for 20 years.

So, at this stage we are only going with suitcases, and we’re only going to book one-way tickets.

We’ll be going with enough money to live on for 3-4 months (if we’re careful), so if any of us decide we hate it there in that time, or Neil struggles to find a job he likes, then we will come back to NZ and pick up where we left off here.

What will I do for work?

Part of my reason for setting up The Helpful Academy was so that I could pull something like this off. So, I plan to carry on pretty much as normal after I leave the country.
I reckon that being on the ground in Europe will provide really great growth potential!

There will really only be one major compromise. And that is, the challenge of the timezone difference will mean I have very limited capacity for NZ based one-to-one clients.

So, if you’ve been considering working with me then now is the time.
You can book a getting started strategy session here to get the ball rolling. Because there are only a few spots left to work with me 1:1 and I’ll soon be full until 2023!!!

My group programs and courses will remain unaffected in terms of their availability and deliverability.
However, I’ve made the decision to move to USD at the end of March 2022. 

So, if you’ve got Flight Club, or any of our helpful courses on your 2022 vision board then there are 6 weeks left to grab those in NZD before their price rises when they move to USD.

Just drop me an email if you have any questions. I’m here to help.

What will my husband do for work?

That’s a little less certain. My husband is an electrician, so he’s in the process of trying to transfer his licence across to the UK. He will need to do several different “units of learning” and sit the various different assessments. This will become much easier for him to organise once we’re “on the ground” in the UK. So that’s why we are preparing for the fact it might take him a little while to get a job.

Although, he’s also looking at what else he can do for work.

Phew, feels good to share my news!

I am beyond excited and I know this will be the opportunity of a lifetime!!!

And, I’m especially grateful that we have the means to make it happen!

Now please excuse me while I go and plan all the places in Europe that I want to visit but gave up believing I still could.

Kat xx