The call came through to the local office. Corporate wanted me to handle their new account in Europe. I was very excited, I had been there a few times and loved it. Then it sank in. This was not going to be an extended trip and come home. They had offered me the chance of a lifetime but it requires moving to Europe. I would need to pack my family and life and ship them to not just another state but another country. My employer offered me the full service of a residential relocation company. They would handle many of the necessary arrangements.



I went home and made the announcement to my family. I was delighted when they felt it was an excellent opportunity. So we contacted the residential relocation company in the morning. They sent us a packet of information about our new community. Including a set of CDs to help us learn a new language. We filled out all of the required passport information. Luckily we had already had our passports done, from previous trips and we kept them current. The hardest part of all of this would be living so far away from friends and family.

We were going down the checklist of things we needed to do. We needed not only our passports but wedding certificates, birth certificates, copies of degrees and other certificates. Current health check ups, school records for the children needed to be obtained.

Once all paper work was taken care of we began the process of going through our belongings. Since my employer was covering the cost of the residential relocation company we were able to use their services to their full extent. We were taking personal items and those that we valued with us. We did not need to worry about transportation we would be provided with a company vehicle.

Our biggest obstacle appeared to be transferring bank accounts, credit cards and other finances. We consulted with the companys foreign finance department to find a way to make the transition easier. Once that was done we were set and ready to go. Many of the things we needed to do would have been done even if we were moving to another state not just another country.

Moving day arrived. The residential relocation company had hired a moving company to pack all of our boxes and put them in a shipping container so that they could arrive at once, instead of shipping the boxes individually and hoping they made it. We double checked and made that all of our utilities were turned off and that the final bills were being forwarded to us. We got in a cab and arrived at the airport. Many of our friends and family were there to see us off. A mixtures of sad and happy tears and we boarded the plane to begin our new life.