Hardest Part of an International Move

An international move is extremely stressful.  For the most part, we had to close everything in the USA before leaving for the UK.

Prior to leaving the USA

• cancel utilities, bank accounts, and set up mail forwarding
• sell/donate unneeded furniture, clothing, and home goods
• pack up items to store with family until our return
• sell the house
• pack the remaining household items
• get medical records for all family members
• leave family, friends, and jobs

After arrival in the UK

• tour with a relocation person for a house
• live in limbo in a corporate apartment while the homeowner has a mid-life crisis
• tour again with a relocation person for a house when the first place falls through
• apply for schools in the area
• secure furniture to replace what was sold or would not fit
• unpack the boxes from the US, and figure out we brought way too much
• find doctors and secure private health insurance
• get utilities set up*

In it's most basic form, that's what we had to do.  You'll notice the asterisk on the last bullet point.  Our relocation consultant set up our electric, water, and gas service.  She was unable to set up our telephone and internet. The telecom company is persnickety about having the resident calling.  No problem, it can't be that hard can it?

<insert foreboding background music here>

I'll try to make this as simple as I can, but it's messy....

• Matt called the big telecom company the day our tenancy agreement (lease) was signed in mid-December.  The first possible date for them to install was January 2, 2014.  No problem as they gave us proper access to the city-wide internet access.  We had to be near the window, but it was better than nothing.  They sent the hardware to the house in anticipation of the technician's arrival. 
• Technician arrived on January 2, 2014 only to tell us that we had no live line to the house.  He had to put in a repair ticket back at the ranch.  It will take "a while" to get sorted out.
• Still not a problem since we had the cloud wi-fi to use.
• Telecom Co rescheduled us for Monday January, 20 to resume the install
• On Friday, January 17 our cloud wi-fi stopped working
• Telecom Co emailed to say our order was cancelled, several calls cannot uncover the reason for the cancellation
• Since Matt works all day, I was given the job of trying to get the service reinstated
• Was told that the original order could not be reinstated because the service was terminated and have to start all over with a brand new order.

<insert yoga breathing and choice words for Telecom Co here>

• The first possible date for install was Monday, February 3.  She'd make a note on our account so they did not resend all of the hardware.
• A new set of hardware arrived at the house on January 30.
• On February 3, the Telecom Co technician arrived and installed the internet router, and we were online!
• Later on February 3 another set of Telecom Co technicians visited not knowing that their compadre had left an hour prior.  One guy checked the former technician's work while the other guy made small talk.  
• We relish in the wi-fi and the corresponding DVR for the television that needed the wi-fi signal

Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would take 8 1/2 weeks to get internet installed.  Gracious.