Grimas

My wife loved her trashy US shows like the Bachelor, etc while we were overseas and I needed to see my Horns football... You will need to know how to setup things like a VPN (and possibly a DVR or a direct VPN into a friends router in the States) to be able to either stream or record US shows. Or you can dive into the "dark" world of streaming world of shows available online or getting a local to install a unblocked satellite box... (I've heard it's much easier now than a few years ago if you aren't technically inclined...)

So what's the rent for a 3-6 month deal in the same area? That's where I run the numbers and think - is it worth buying something when I can rent something similar for that time frame and if I don't like it at the end of the rental, I find another town/city/country and don't have to deal with maintenance and upkeep and can go somewhere else...

I've purposely kept a few bucks in both a Danish and Norwegian bank account to keep them open in case we ever have to return. It's a PITA because you have to report all accounts to the Treasury (FICA) yearly if you have over $10K combined in overseas accounts. But at least if needed, I can transfer US funds into a European bank if we ever move there (So if you are ever in a corporate relo where they help you setup a local account, never close it...)

One option to chase is to see if you can get "birthright citizenship" by proving your ancestors are citizens. I got an EU citizenship (as did my kids) because I could show my grandparents were expelled from one of the Baltic countries during WW2. See the following article: https://www.westernunion.com/blog/birthright-citizenship-countries/ (Ireland on the list). Get a citizenship of any EU country gives to access and rights to live/work in any of the EU countries... I got mine specifically so I could buy property in the EU, my kids could go to universities in the EU at local cost and in a worse case scenario of losing my job and needing "socialized healthcare", you can pay a "fine" (for not having contributed to the "system") and get onto their national system... From experience, it's difficult to get a visa to work/live in Denmark without a company sponsor as they are seen as being one of the most socialist nations in the EU 9and the most "free" benefits. You basically need to get a special visa that designates you as a "specialized" worker that can't be done by a Dane. You get the tax rate lowered from 57% to 48% for up to 5 years (in addition to paying a 25% VAT on anything you buy so nothing is really "free" there...) Regardless what you read, they Danes are NOT the happiest people on earth... (I can start a whole other tread on this topic...)

100% agreed. Little things suck like needing to get a drivers license and having to take the written test in a foreign language (A Texas DL means nothing in most places...). Many foreign banks don't want to set up accounts for Americans - they don't like to deal with the reporting hassles the US requires... Make sure the country you are going to has a tax reciprocation agreement with the US as the US requires you to file a 1040 regardless of where you live and without the agreement in place, you could get taxed in both locations. What we found is that expats tend to hang out together and that can be good and bad. The community - and I'm talking about the expats across the ocean/10+ hour flight and not those in Central/South America as I have no experience living there - is usually pretty small so the groups form into cliques... You get the Fortune 500 group of expats that are on the full ride package and are making and spending like the 1%ers - big houses, house keepers, drivers, etc,; the non-American but English speaking group of expats, the "teacher" group (expats there as teachers or embassy staff but not many of the expat perks) and then the mixed group - an expat married to a local and living like a local. Got kids in the international school - you'll probably get exposed/involved with people in all of these groups. You'll probably gravitate to one of these groups depending on your situation. It can get very "high school-ish" especially amongst the wives (most can't work because the work permits are usually for the husband...) A great phrase I heard many years ago: "When I die, I want to come back as an expat wife..." I went back and forth to the US pretty often on the company dime and with business class and you get 2 bag allowance at 70 pounds a bag. You get used travelling to the US as light as possible in one suitcase so you can load up on stuff to bring back with you (BTW - those Northface waterproof duffel bags are great for this). Little things like asprin, other over-the-counter meds, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, "Cajun" spices, corn tortillas, Velveeta (note: Velveeta and C-4 look very similar on x-ray...), wife's makeup remover, ranch dressing mix, "pig-ears" for the dog, spray-and-wash just to name a few. You could order Amazon things and have sent to a parent or friends house a week or two before a trip and have them store it for you to haul back as well. (Pro-tip: interoffice mail can be used for smaller items if you have someone who will forward stuff to you... Also, if you know people are coming over for a work visit, ask them to pick up and carry stuff for you as well... Other things to consider if the company is paying - what happens to your current home and belongings? Assuming you own your home - will they help you sell your home and will they pay to ship your stuff? Or if you want to keep your place in the US, will they pay the management fees if you want to rent your place while you are gone? Will they pay to store your stuff if you want to leave it in storage? If you are thinking of keeping your place in the US and not renting it out and just leaving it "empty" until you return, make sure your insurance will cover the property as some policies will become void as they don't cover unoccupied properties... If you are bringing your stuff with you, things like lights, most electronics and kitchen appliances won't work in most foreign countries (220V) so buy 220to110v transformers and put them in your shipment as they are cheaper here. European light bulb sockets have a different bulb thread and won't safely screw into US light fixtures so also pack US bulbs. On the positive side, if the company does pay for furniture relo on return to the US, you can pick up some fantastic stuff while you are there for much lower than buying stuff here. We had custom furniture made for us in Asia and got some great French antiques at in Europe that we shipped back. There are stories of people actually buying slabs of marble/quartzite/granite slabs to put in their container that they then used to redo their countertops in the US... Same with cars and motorcycles... (Anyone interested in buying a restored 1968 Vespa - PM me...) Got a pet you want to bring? Will the relo package cover your pets? My lab cost me $3-5K out of pocket for each international flight... (Most airlines won't let you bring your pet as "checked luggage" if you are flying into warmer climates between June 1 and October 1... So the only option is custom cargo flights...) Is the US rabies shot for fido recognized by the country you are moving to? In some cases, you have to start the certification process 6 months before you ship the beast... Another plus in the travel once you are "living there". In both Europe and Asia, cheap flights - like $19 each way - were (pre-Covid) available. Flying for a weekend to Phuket/Chang Mai or Prague/Barcelona/Venice was cheaper than flying from Houston to Vegas/Orlando... Much easier to get to the "smaller places" directly once you are living in the area.

Just blow and go! Unless you have a shallow water table where the pool might "float" because of the loss of weight, you should be fine to drain and then refill right away. As Poolflood said, you don't have to totally drain it - just enough to get the CYA down. If it's at 100 and want it at 50, just drain half. You don't want it at zero as you need some to keep the chlorine from burning off... You want it in the 20-50 range... If you can find liquid chlorine, its much better than just tablets... (I second using trouble free pools site and the pool math app...)

Moved from Houston to Kuala Lumpur with all furniture in tow and was easily able to find a place larger than we left for less than what I was paying for in Houston and the company paid most of that... Then moved to Oslo where finding something more than 2000 sq feet was a challenge and had to pay quite a bit out of pocket. 2000 sq. ft for a nice house in suburbs of Copenhagen was easily $4500/month. Very difficult to live in Scandinavia without work sponsoring it (and expensive as hell without the tax breaks and subsidies work provided...) Lived in Perth, Bangkok, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona as well but as shorter assignments (furnished housing). Living in Asia, no need for a kitchen as its too cheap to just eat out. In Norway, DK, Australia, you better have a kitchen as its too expensive to go out to eat often... Wife and I plan to eventually down scale house in the US and then rent a place overseas for 6 months at a time once kids are gone. 1000-1500/ month for a 2 bedroom flat in Southern Europe or Asia is easy but not so much in Northern Europe or the larger cities. 6 months is ideal as you don't usually have to deal with visa issues. (I also have a EU passport so the EU is an easy option) Top of our list is Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Spain, Italy, Croatia and multiple locations in Central America.

What's the reason for the move and who is paying? (10 years and 5 countries as an expat but had a company paying and sponsoring the paperwork...) I've only seen one episode of the show but going as a retiree is a totally different experience than going and hoping to get a job as a local... (Our plan is to live overseas part time once the kids go to college/I retire...)

I wish... My golden goes from pool to then roll in the flower beds...

Next episode is on...

They make wireless ones that send an alert to your phone... It would suck to be out for the night and get the alert...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JOK11K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Put one of these in the pan under the water heater and under your sinks... Dripping/leaking water will set off the alarm...

I do it now (and put the hot water heaters on "vacation" settings) whenever I am gone for more than a weekend... I also have alarms at each of my hot water heaters and sinks that will go off if any water leaks while I'm at home - just replaced my hardwoods downstairs and don't want to replace them even if I have insurance...

Agreed other than the smell of the leather tanning pits... The Roman ruins at Volubilis west of there are pretty cool as well.

We stayed at this place outside of town : Sirayane Boutique Hotel https://www.sirayane.com/en/ a few years ago with the kids and we loved it. It wasn't in town but they had a shuttle when you wanted to go in to the Medina and het hassled to buy crap... Took the train to Casablanca to visit friends living there after a few days in Marrakech which was pretty cool as well...

Depends on your policy - neighbors down the street had pipes bust in the freeze and were out of town. Whole downstairs wiped out and everything was stripped down to the slab and studs including all the custom cabinets. They have been in an apartment (3 kids, 2 dogs) since then because they had issues with insurance getting settled. Finally moved in to a larger home last month and hope to get all work completed and move back in by end of September. He told me he's at least $30k out of pocket to date but I don't know if that's related to covering costs until insurance finally settled with or if he's SOL... It sucks but good luck! (And for those of you who this hasn't happened to, check your policy - I purposely got a policy to cover for this (thanks C-man!) as I didn't want to come home from a long trip only to find a hot water heater busted on the day I left and was in the same situation...)

A few years ago I boarded my first BA international flight and when I boarded, I remember thinking "Wow- this seat/bed is huge and I'm going to fly BU business from now on!" (I had just moved back from Asia and the business class seats and flights I was used to out there blew away anything LH, KLM or United offered in comparison.) At bedtime, the waitress - er stewardess - offered me pajama's and actually up made my lie-flat seat with sheets and a comforter. Damn - this was going to be my new go-to airline! Well, it turns out that I had actually gotten bumped to first class as my selected business seat had an issue with the A/V system... (Not sure why I got the upgrade as this was my first BA flight and I'm sure there were others in business who had status higher than mine at the time...) MANY BA flights later and I've never been upgraded since... The business class seats are ok but I'm an inch taller than the bed then it's flat so that always sucks. Luckily, the seats on AA for the same route on the 787 have slightly longer beds so I tend to take AA instead as the schedule/route is better than BA's...

3.5' - 5' - 3.5'. Can string volleyball net across the deeper middle section so adults can stand by the net and kids can stand on the shallower sides. Run fountains at night to drop the temp.

I asked a Cuban at the office for his thoughts and he said what's surprising to him is that protests also happening in small towns where everyone knows each other so everyone knows who is out protesting (including the secret police). No anonymity that you might get in the larger cities...

Looking at what was the route on that map (and avoiding tolls), go a bit further north. Take 90 to 1960 to get on 59 at Humble. Head north past the 99 tollway to 242 (Patton Village) and head west to 1488 (just north of the Woodlands). Take this west thru Magnolia and then to Hempstead where you can get on 290. Mix of 2 and 4 lane roads but not many lights and speed limits are at least 60 mph or more most of the way. That I-10 stretch of construction from Katy to Sealy can be brutal especially during late afternoons... Do not use 1960 between 59 and 290 as the amount of stoplights is brutal... (I read the original post backwards so the directions above are from east to west)

Wait, wut? There was actual gin in those houses??? I've gotten dozens over the years and have always always just gone "yea, neat. Whatever..." when I've gotten one... I've probably got 3 sitting in my office drawers right now...

I read somewhere that the flies are so bad this year because a lot of bats died in the freeze. Sounds logical but who knows...

I've done the same seating config with my family. If I was in the same situation and she hadn't asked the waitress, er, flight attendant to get involved, I probably would have gotten up on my own and moved to an open pair of seats further back for the space. But because she made a stink about it, I would have stayed put just to be an ass back to her...

Hooked!

Wife has a friend from high school that lived on the 8th floor and is missing. We were in Miami earlier this week and were supposed to meet up with him but couldn't coordinate a meet and now wife is taking it hard we didn't meet up while we were there...