Life in 9 suitcases

On my personal Facebook page last year I shared our journey of leaving North America but I didn't share a lot of it here. Not sure why, we were just so busy I didn't really have the time to dedicate to writing the appropriate posts, I guess. So, I figure with our one year anniversary two days ago, I will share this with you now.

After we decided on where we should live and learning what our budget would be we knew this would be unlike any other move as now we had two choices: take our stuff or leave our stuff. 

Our friends who moved to Ireland a few months prior to us leaving sold everything. They said it was too expensive to ship and just wasn't worth the hassle. But, I figured I'd look into it anyway and agreed-for 10 year old furniture-the cost to get this stuff overseas was not even close to what I would describe as worth it. Plus, we were faced with the panic of 'what if we get it all there and it doesn't fit'...so we decided our best course of action was to sell just about everything.

But, before we could start selling, we had to decide what we were keeping. So, we looked at the costs associated with checking luggage and over weight fees and felt we could afford 6 large suitcases and 3 carry-on bags. This meant we would pay $150 extra for our luggage, but if it contained basically our entire lives it was worth it, plus it was less than the some 10,000+\- dollars a shipping container would have cost. 

About two months before we left Canada we started selling items. We started with items that weren't must haves or big items that would sell for the most money and we put a pick up date on them if it was stuff like beds or couches.

During this time I did take a 2 week vacation to Hawaii..which was wonderful, yet stressful. When we got home I had exactly one month before our fly out date. My days were spent on Craigslist and Amazon listing anything and everything that could be sold. In the last week I priced stuff to ridiculously low amounts, on the day before we were supposed to leave I was literally giving stuff away. I have pretty much my entire kitchen to a young girl who was moving in to her first apartment.

I did have 4 boxes 2 very large wardrobe type boxes and two regular medium size boxes that I packed with all our snowboarding gear and memory items and mailed that to my mother. I put some stuff in there for her and she still hasn't opened it. Maybe after this post she will {haha}. 

I will say deducting our lives down to 9 suitcases and four boxes made me feel lighter. Today, one year later I am careful about what I buy wanting to make sure I am surrounded by possessions I truly appreciate and that bring me joy.

Sure we sometimes miss the mindless shopping and buying because we want it in that moment, but know being conscious consumers during this time has only helped to serve our minds better and has let us focus on sharing memories instead of possessions.

Giving up everything for a dream was the best decision we ever made as a family and definitely don't regret it, it has been the most enriching experience for every single one of us. 

Why we chose Amsterdam

In celebration of our one year expat journey I thought I would do a few posts about our expat journey, there was so much I didn't say that I wanted to!

Today I want to tell you why we chose Amsterdam as the country that would host our expat adventure.

In the grand scheme of things (over a 6 month period of trying to make this happen) we had a total of four prospects: Warsaw, Cambridge, Prague, and Amsterdam. It really came down to 1) wanting a completely different cultural experience and 2) a place where a majority of the population spoke English.

I am not a linguist. My husband is not a linguist. Our daughter is okay at linguistics. She is young enough that she can catch on fairly quickly if she uses it enough. But the hubby and I were going to need some serious support.

Through research we decided England was too familar, Poland wasn't it because pay wasn't even close to what we had been making, location wasn't central, and we'd pretty much be stuck there, hubby wasn't sold on Prague because he didn't encounter a single person in his travels that spoke enough English to get by for us, so we finally settled on Holland. Through much research we learned that 90% of the population of Holland can carry on a conversation in English, coupled with a drastic culture change..it was just what we wanted.

But, in addition to having a well educated population that spoke English we chose Amsterdam for the following reasons:

• Culture: they have an open and supportive culture. Everyone looks out for one another and we wanted our daugther to experience that.
• Freedom: to be yourself and accepted by others regardless of sexual orientation, religion, or background.
• Outspoken truth: this is a very outspoken society, they always tell the truth even though you may not want to hear it. They are never mean, just truthful, I felt that was an important virtue for the teenager to learn at this point in life.
• Location: central Europe with an airport and train station where you can get anywhere in the world at the blink of an eye. 
• Language: the home language of the country was Dutch so we knew that over time and in school she would learn Dutch and it would add a little flair to our everyday experiences, yet everyone within the city is educated enough that they can speak English quite well so if we get stuck we ask, "uw sprek Engles" and they switch over to English for us (although within the city when they hear our accent usually they will automatically switch to English, a bit frustrating)
• Easy to get around...we knew when we moved to Europe we wouldn't be investing in a car so a place that uses bikes and mass transportation as their main mode of getting around was right up our ally. I will say with all the extra exercise from riding our bikes everyday we are happier people.

All-in-all moving to Amsterdam has truly been everything we thought it would be. We have seen a lot of Europe and really enjoy all the people we've met throughout our travels. We've met people from all over the world and have learned so much about their backgrounds. Every day I am so thankful for this experience and that it has been everything we thought it would be. 

I know my teenagers view on the world-understanding her friends home culture, learning about different political systems, and hands on history-has made an impact and broadened her personal knowledge and made her a deep thinker. Which is actually everything I wanted her to get out of this experience to carry with her in the future. 

I'm not sure what the next year will bring but given that it has started with a trip to Berlin and then London, I can only imagine how it shall pan out. 

One Year European Anniversary!

Well, we have officially been expats in Amsterdam for one year, folks! Can you believe it?! I can't.

I will admit, I had to look back through all my emails to find out our actual date of arrival in Amsterdam. So much has happened this year that I honestly could not remember for the life of me the actual date we got here. But, I found it and it was today, May 1-May Day. Gawd, we were exhausted! But, give me a minute to go down memory lane.

When 2014 started all I dreamed of was visiting somewhere I hadn't been before...Seattle (which was going in be in conjunction with my daugther's cheerleading competition.) I quite honestly had no bigger expectations for the year. However, since we are dream chasers, we had someone schedule an interview with my hubby in Cambridge, so I had my first trip overseas and the opportunity to visit London. Hubby then flew on to Amsterdam, which I sadly could not make. However, it is the destination we wound up choosing. Stay tuned because next week I will be telling you why we chose Amsterdam to be the city that hosted our expat adventure.

I'll admit, I was very worried that horse was gonna kick me! haha

Prior to making the decision to move, my best friend moved to Hawaii, within weeks of her moving, my husband surprised me by booking the kiddo and me tickets to visit her. A place I'd always desired to visit came true, Honolulu, Hawaii was on my list of places to check off my bucket list.

Once we made our decision to vacate North America, I wasn't sure what the future held. We took a major paycut, but knew if we were clever with our money the experience would be worth it. ..and it has been, let's take a visit to the cities we've been to:

• Brussels....this was our first European adventure as a couple. The kiddo was off in Germany, at a theme park much like Universal Studios, called Movie Park, where the European National Cheerleading Championships are held. It was a grand adventure I will never forget.
• Paris...this was our first European adventure as a family. It was to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary. An adventure none of us will forget, I know the teenager knows why we went, but I wonder if today she'd remember it was our anniversary, she was totally in her element and really enjoyed the city.
• Rome...It was fun to tell our friends, while they were on their honeymoon, "sure, we will meet you in Rome for the weekend-no problem!" ...and then actually go and spend an entire weekend wandering through the streets of an Italian city we've always dreamed of wandering. No real plan and just enjoying the time exploring.
• Zandvoort aan Zee...this is an amazing place...totally catering to tourists though...which is probably why we love it haha for more see our Day at the Beach in Holland Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
• Otterlo, Holland...visited the Kroller-Muller museum. Such a unique and lovely place. I have a post coming soon...but there are several Vincent Van Gogh works that if you are a fan you should not miss.
• Muiden, Holland...this was one of the first day trips within Holland the kiddo and I took...we had a really great time and if you have any extended period of time in Amsterdam I really recommend you visit this place.
• Berlin...this one barely made it to the one year cut off haha But, the kiddo and I had a lovely time exploring the uniqueness that is Berlin. Check out Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 for a full recap...if you have an extended period of time in Europe and you area  history buff...particularly if you can put up with the horrors of WWII, I definitely recommend you check this place out.

I feel as though our year has been very productive and I couldn't be more pleased. 

So, happy Anniversary to us!! If you are considering a move, please overseas and have questions ease don't hesitate to contact me, I am happy to share our experience with anyone who may want more info. This was the best thing we ever did for our family and I would love to share it with you. ☺️