What basic preparations did you make?
Basic preparations
Most will agree that to move from one's native country to another which is more than a thousand miles away from your roots and family is a decision not to be taken lightly. To do so is to invite all sorts of problems. Add to this the fact that your intended new country of residence has a different language, alphabet and culture and the problem is magnified.
Our guide sets out how we went about it, what we did and sources of information that we found useful. It is by no means exhaustive and may not cover areas pertinent to others wishing to embark upon such an adventure. We use the word adventure deliberately as that is how we have viewed it from the time we first seriously considered the move. Although it is early days for us, we still do!
We cannot emphasise enough that this guide is based upon our personal circumstances and experiences of moving to Corfu from the UK. If your native country is other than the UK, we suggest that you may have different or additional considerations.
This IS basic! However, we make no apologies for saying it. Three pieces of advice when starting out - 1) Be organised, 2) Be organised and 3) Be organised!
Information is much more available now than it was when we first started planning our move. The fact that you are reading this is an indication of some of that which is available. Remember! Google is your friend!
Those that know us will know that one half of us is heavily into information technology - therefore we used box files! Don't laugh! It worked for us and was based upon advice from those that went before us. Imagine having all those really useful emails and contacts on computer only to have the hard disk crash. We do dutifully back up our important information, don't we? NOT!
You will end up with lots of information. It is easy to dispose of it once you are sure that it is not needed but it is sometimes difficult to remember the source of that really useful information once it is gone. This is particulary true if, like us, you carry out a lot of research on the internet.
The extent to which you file the results of all your labours will depend upon the individual. We did no more than retain everything in the box files. Knowing that it was there was sufficient for us. I won't dwell upon this further.
