Tick Tock

Roughly two and a half weeks remain before we board our flight to Zurich. In the mean time, we have to:

- Assure our visa paper work is in order with the Swiss Consulate in NYC. This is my most stressful task. My company facilitated the "permission" paperwork. It's supposed to be a snap now, but I've heard so many stories of this process not going well that my blood pressure is now through the roof on this one.
- Liquidate our belongings on craigslist. This is my wife's most stressful task. Doing this invites strangers into our home, risks danger... I will need to be around for this, which takes me away from my job responsibilities, risking the work wolves taking advantage. We feel we need to do this to reduce our storage costs.
- Pack the 1000 lbs that were so graciously allotted to us to take to Switzerland. My contract is for 1 year. We anticipate it will run longer.
- Store our belongings. On such a short contract, there is no need to move all of one's belongings to another country, thereby saving a considerable amount of money for the company, and transferring the storage expense to me. If they keep renewing for a short-term 1 year assignment, the company can avoid ever paying for such shipping costs.
- Sell or rent our house. We bought at the top of the bubble, so we will certainly lose any investment we made into the house, and likely come away owing money to our bank. Early last year, a small piece of land representing a wooded lot connected to ours went on the market because the previous owner abandoned it. The city wanted to recover back taxes on it. We bid $5K. The winner bid $7K, and we had walked away from it knowing it was useless land, couldn't build on it, just nice to have as an extension. The winner contacted our real estate agent, asked all kinds of questions, wanted to know if they or we wanted to buy this connecting property. Guess he doesn't like the extra tax and insurance he has to pay on it.
- Hope the temperature on the last day is below 85 degrees... on the last day of July. We found out that our dog can't travel with us on American Airlines if the temperature is above this, or below some freezing mark. They don't have pet-friendly travel means like other airlines. If this happens, we have a couple of options. Leave our pet with a friend, or ship him over in a pet-friendly way for an extra $5K.
- And finally, I need to shift my perspective from negative to positive. While I don't want to leave my home country, I am told again and again what a positive experience this will be for me, my wife, and especially my kids.