So we have moved

November last year, about the time I was finishing my studies, I got an excited call from my husband.  He had been approached by Amazon to interview for a position.  Something we had not been expecting or had planned for.  (They had discovered his cv through LinkedIn.)  After a long process of interviews, he was offered a job in Seattle (yeah, the USA, way on the other side of the world).  Thanks to some wonderful friends who jumped in to help, we managed to get everything organised to move by the end of March.  On a beautiful Saturday morning, we said goodbye to our home and our friends.

With everything happening so fast, (job offer only came in end of January), there weren’t many flights available.  Lets just say that having 2 hours between connecting flights were not nearly enough.  We were sprinting between domestic and international lounges.  Thank goodness for my ThinkTank International camera roller bag.   It turns into a backpack, which made running a lot easier.  Somehow they never weighed it.  I suspect they couldn’t believe someone would be running with 20kgs on their back.  Sorry I never got a photo of how I packed it.  I had stuffed all our valuables in there as well as all my gear  (3 bodies, lots of lenses, flash, etc.).  The straps they use are brilliant, for once I didn’t end up with sore shoulders or back.  (It also fit easily as carry-on for all three different airlines we flew with.)  Thanks to Simon who helped me find the bag in time for our flight!

 

The flight to San Francisco wasn’t the most pleasant, but we survived.  Grateful that we landed early as the flights behind us were all sent to LAX due to computer problems at emigration, as well as  fog.  We spent three hours waiting in line before the systems were up and running again.  The kids spent the time sleeping on our bags.  Ironically, due to time differences, at that point it was earlier in the day than when we had left Melbourne.  The staff were really friendly and helpful, trying to make the best of an unpleasant situation.  The waiting passengers, not so much…

The flight for the last leg to Seattle had thankfully been delayed, otherwise we would probably have missed it and had to have stayed over as the flights were so fully booked.  Somehow, at this point, we also misplaced one of the kids’ jackets.  I don’t think we were very good company any more.  The pilot from Alaskan Airlines was really good, compared our previous two landings on this trip, the kids didn’t even realise we had touched down.

 

We arrived to a quiet airport, got our bags and our rental car and found our way to the corporate housing. (Yeah, it wasn’t quite that easy, but will blog about that part later.)

We arrived at the start of spring, with beautiful weather and bright colours everywhere.  This place is really gorgeous, adjusting is just taking some time.  If you have school-age kids, moving across in April is not ideal.