A Cariad Life

Today…everything became more real…we bought our one-way plane tickets to France. In 77 days, on December 6, 2022, we will board our flight to Paris from JFK in New York City and land the next morning at 8am. We’ll then take a connecting flight (AirFrance) to Bordeaux and from there we will rent a car and drive 90 minutes northeast to Riberac–our new home. (more to come in a later post on the car in France situation…)

Why are we flying out of JFK when we live in Seattle? Don’t we need a visa to fly to France, especially one-way? There are so many moving parts happening in the next 77 days (and no doubt, so many after we land in France)…

One moving part is the visa and passport situation. Next Friday, Darrell and I will be in San Francisco for our appointment with the French consulate to formally request a long-stay working visa. We have submitted the application, but now we present it formally along with all of our other supporting documentation to include the long-awaited and finally obtained signed Compromis de Venti (purchase sales agreement), a criminal background check for each of us, a business plan for our B & B, and a few other items. When we get there, they will take our photos and fingerprints and documentation (all in a 15 minute meeting, conducted in English thankfully), and then we surrender our passports as they review our documents. Hopefully, we will receive them back with an approved visa in the next month. Because our Compromis de Venti shows a December 9 close date, we also want to show that we have purchased plane tickets to get us to that closing–we’ve read that having those may be helpful. (It’s a bit of a gamble, but we’ll see).

So, why are we flying out of JFK? This is another moving part. As you may remember, Darrell and I need to get a residence in South Carolina and get a driver’s license there before we move to France. It is one of about 6 states that has reciprocity with France for a driver’s license–no test in French! Today, we bought our one-way tickets from Seattle to Raleigh for November 5, where we will see my my mom before heading to SC to live in a short term rental (like 2.5 weeks short), but long enough to have a lease and have a forwarding address with the US postal service, all so we can get a SC driver’s license. We’ll be able to spend Thanksgiving with our families in NC and SC, celebrate my mom’s BIG birthday and Darrell’s dad’s birthday 2 days later before flying to NYC to see my brother and sister in law in New York–kind of like a Martin farewell (for now) tour! Also, flights from NYC to Paris are direct and fairly reasonable.

I realized today that beginning November 5, we really will be down to just 6 suitcases, which we will lug onto four flights. Other than shipping our summer clothes to France and the few items in storage here, there is nothing else left. Our beautiful temporary home has a few things we brought and plan to leave for them. It’s been a slow and gradual shedding of layer after layer. Someone asked me on Sunday if it was freeing to not have the weight of those possessions anymore…yes, it really is.

When I have free time, I read, reflect, write, or just bask in the last lingering days of summer sun on the deck overlooking the sound…I don’t shop. When I do have to go to the store, it is for consumables only. I wonder now what life might have been like before if that is what I had done, or at the very least, if I only bought those things I truly needed or were very special. The other day, I saw a woman buy 4 or 5 glass and cloth large pumpkin decor items; they were beautiful, but I caught myself thinking…I am so glad I don’t have to store things like that anymore. It all just felt like “stuff.” I guess I am changing. . . Darrell is just hoping that this mindset sticks once we move to France:) I hope it does…