Work And Play Around The World

July 6, 2009 by sylvie

It's official now - after much discussion and only a few minor planing disasters we finally booked our flights this week. We'll be arriving in California on August 2nd, moving on to Auckland, NZ on October 10th, and returning to England on February 1st, after a week long stopover on Rarotonga, Cook Island. Except for the Cook Island leg, the trip is a working sabbatical for Bernd but I hope to live up to my leisure title. Yeehaw!

Before we get to go we still need to straighten out a few things, though. Let us know if you can help with any of them. Here is what we need:

1. The energy to pack up all of our shit while fishing out the things we'll need for the next six months. Actually, this one is up to me, I am afraid.
2. A moving van to get all of our shit moved into storage. That one should be easy to solve but I am still in a fight with the biggest rental company in town for keeping my deposit on my last rental. It sucks to go back to them now, before the other case is settled.
3. A few buff men to carry all of our shit down two narrow sets of stairs into the van. I wasn't around when the mattress arrived but I hear it was quite a fight to get it up on the second floor.
4. An entertainment plan for the week between vacating the apartment and taking off for the US. One of the planing disasters involved giving the notice to the landlord before finalizing the travel dates :-) (It's just for me - Bernd will be conveniently in China that week.)
5. A place to stay (sublease, corp apartment, vacation rental, guest couch, whatever) in Mountain View or SF for two months. Unfortunately, Houghton Manor is fully booked this time so craigslist is our new friend.
6. Entertainment plans for both the US and New Zealand. I am normally not too good about advance planing but I am hoping to do a few hikes that require permits and early booking of accommodation.
7. A psychic who can interpret New Zealands visa policies. Does a 4 months stay counts as less than 3 months if you are leaving the country after 2 months for a 1 week stay somewhere else? We already called the embassy but got conflicting information from two staff members. The halting problem seems trivial in comparison.

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