Lindor no more; leaving Switzerland in 7 weeks

[MmeLindor.]

Countdown starts now.

Thought I would start a thread where I could whinge and moan to save my husband having to listen to me.

Sorted:
Flights, ferry, hotel (still need one in Metz), movers,

Still to do:
insurances, cars, mail forwarding, sale of furniture, clean house (dear GOD, the Swiss are fussy), cancel utilities and phones, check dog's vaxs and pet travel stuff.

What else do I need to think of?

Moving to Scotland till summer, then to Germany.

MmeLindor, I love your name as it is but FrauPralinen would be great! :)

Good luck with all the stuff you have to do before your move. Whereabouts in Scotland will you be moving to?

Kokodan
I believe that the relocation company are taking care of that, but will ask to be sure.

No health insurance, as we are insured via DH's German insurance company. Must make sure I send off the bills for the xray I had recently. Thanks for that reminder.

Kreeper
I just cannot spend that kind of money on cleaning company. Not with the added cost of me and the kids going to Scotland. And the friends who have used cleaning companies have been unhappy with the results.

SweetestThing
To Dundee. Will be weird being back home.

It must be weird returning to your parents' home when you have been used to living independently with your own family, and with the added 'grown-upness' of living in another country! And seeing how Dundee -and you yourself - have changed since you last lived there.

I am going up to my home town of Glasgow next weekend, as my mum is going into a care home this week, and I find it strange even just visiting, as the city has changed so much ( for the better, mostly).

Yes, Dundee has changed a lot in the past (eek) 20 years since I have been gone.

Looking forward to the new V&A, and the waterfront development. Think it will bring a lot of tourists to the city.

Am not sure how I will cope, living at home. I did think about renting a house there, but it would be such a hassle getting our stuff over there and finding a 2 or 3 bed furnished house not easy. At least I will have help with the kids, and built in babysitters. I may not want to leave.

I spotted this earlier when I was on my way out somewhere - blimey, exciting times for you! It will be hard having your DH in Germany - will he get over most weekends? My DH works away during the week - you do adapt, and then get very possessive over the TV hand control when they're back :o. But in many ways it's good for us - we never take each other for granted, we always have things to talk about.

Are the DCs going to be going to school in Dundee?

How exciting for you - and you'll be in time for Scottish Springtime. It will certainly give you more topics for your blog.

Gosh you sound very calm about it all.

We are considering the possibility of moving to the UK (in France with French DH, children born here) and just the thought of all we would have to do is keeping us awake at night!

We are undecided for the moment - I miss home and feel our lives not going anywhere here. Am worried about change of schools/language for the DCs though. DH worried about jobs/cost of housing.

We would be going to Scotland too (Glasgow). How brave for you to then go on to Germany.

Good luck with it all - especially the cleaning. We have friends in Lausanne who have told us of the horrors of Swiss property inspections.

Hassled
Yes, DH will be popping over several times a month.

Kids will go to school in Dundee.

Beachcomber
My only worry is whether I will want to leave once we get home. Jobs/Cost of housing is the only reason DH is not going with us. If he could get a job in UK, we would certainly go.

Yes our main concern is jobs/housing. We are quite happy to live in a flat and Glasgow is not too expensive. I think we feel we have a window of opportunity just now - we have a fair bit of equity on our French house, the pound is weak and the housing market pretty low in the UK. The children are young enough to not have their education too disturbed.

We are just back from a 3 week visit and I found it so hard to leave. I love Scotland and France just doesn't feel like home, even after 15 years.

Enjoy the time you spend in Dundee, make the most of it. Not easy being separated from your DH though. I don't know Germany apart from Berlin and Bremen but quality of life looks pretty good there.

Surely if it is Dundee it needs to be MawTablet, or at least MawLindor.

Good luck with the move. The V&A are already doing stuff with the McManus, it all looks very exciting. Not to mention getting rid of that eye sore Tayside House all the other lovely re-building.

Wow. A complicated move!

Good luck with it all. Especially the leaving Switzerland bit - sounds tricky.

I have been happy in Germany / Switzerland but would love to live in Scotland again. Maybe something will turn up.

Hope you realize your dream, Beachcomber. It is true, right now is a good time to move back home.

MawLindor is good, I like that.

CiderwithBuda
Is that you, Buda, in a wintry namechange?

Thank you MmeLindor - we will see...

I swing from being confident that things will work out, to feeling afraid of the change. I do have a bit of a 'now or never' felling about it though.

We are doing a 'feasibility study' at the moment - looking in to mortgages/jobs/etc. Once we have that done we need to decide if we really want the upheaval/stress. I'm also worried that I might be doing a 'grass is greener' - it is all very well loving being in Scotland for holidays but living/working is different.

I hope things work out for you too - maybe your DH will find something in Scotland. I don't think the job market is so very bad just now, but it depends what you are looking for.

Tis indeed me in my new name. Picked a newish name when we moved to Somerset. This seemed to be still me but with a reference to Somerset cider!

He would love to do something in general management, is in finance at the moment. It is something to think about for the next few months.

This short-term move is kind of a test to see if I can see myself living back home permanently.

And are you drinking lots of cider, Buda?

No. Am sticking to my normal wine.

DH likes his cider though.

Am searching for a flat in Munich now. God help me.

If anyone has tips, let me know.

It is so expensive, and reasonably priced flats so sought after.

Ok. Advice needed.

Gorgeous old flat near centre of Munich or sensible more modern flat on outskirts.

It is the Jimmy Choos vs Crocs of the real estate world.

Old flat is more expensive but we may not be in Munich long anyway, so thinking we shoudl make most of.

Have you decided which school you want to send the dc to in Munich? Do they have Ganztagschulen already there? It could be a long and exhausting day for the dc if you have to drive them miles through Berufsverkehr or change bus and and train if you don't live near the school.

Good luck with the cleaning and I hope the Schlüsselübergabe goes smoothly, I know I dread that part every time we've moved house.

Hello, I've been lurking since I'm reading all I can find about Geneva at the moment, but just wanted to say...
Definitely Old Flat in the centre!
Not that the tone of your questions suggests you prefer that one anyway....

I´d definitely go for the old flat near the centre especially as you might not br there for long. Will your dh be working in the centre or do you have to think about commuting times for him?
Hope the move goes well. I don´t envy you having to get it all sorted, but I´m sure it will be great in the end.

Admylin
If we go for the flat in the centre, then I don't think our budget will stretch to European school or Ecole Francaise. Think we shall be working on the German, and putting them into German schools. I might see if DD can repeat the 4th year. She is small for her age so would hardly be noticeable.

hupa
He is working outside centre, but on a sbahn line.