move to france Archives - Ashwin Travel

Paris – ETA October 14, 2018

It has been a roller-coaster 48 hours. First, the elementary school with which we had a Skype interview at 5am EST accepted our girls! We didn’t think that the interview went so well because at the end of the interview, they suddenly weren’t sure if they had 2 spots available. This school was our first choice, because we really liked the person that interviewed us, and although it is bilingual, most of the classes are in French only.

Next, LODGIS (the real estate agency we are using) confirmed that the apartment we wanted was available! We had read that finding an apartment in Paris was difficult, and until now it had been quite a frustrating experience. The agency had requested copies of our passports, paychecks, tax returns, and more. Before sending all of this sensitive information I read plenty of reviews about the agency and they all sounded good, so we proceeded. Although the apartment is a little more expensive than what we had budgeted, it is within five minutes walking distance from the girls’ new school.

Last, the girls’ current school informed us that they weren’t going to make us pay the penalty for taking the girls out of school early. What a relief! They didn’t have to do that and we really appreciated their kind gesture since our kids have been there for 5 years.

The only problem is that the apartment isn’t available until October 14th. So now what do we do? We have tickets to leave on October 1st, should we change them? On one hand, the girls would miss 2 weeks of school in Paris if we were to go later. I feel like the sooner we get there the better, so they don’t get too far left behind. On the other hand, we would have to rent an AirBnB from the 2nd to the 14th, when our apartment becomes available. That’s a pretty major expense.

Not to mention… we don’t exactly travel light. Sina’s passion for fashion means that we will be taking full advantage of our elite status on United which allows us to take 3 bags per person and up to 70 lbs each bag! This factor must always be taken into consideration in our travel plans. Leaving on the 1st means getting all 12 bags to another apartment somewhere just outside the city (there is nothing available within our price range in the city center), and then moving all 12 bags to the apartment again once it becomes available.

Traveling with 12 large bags can also put a crimp in our summer plans. What if we plan to spend July and August in Italy or Greece? We certainly can’t take the bags with us. Maybe we will have to find a storage unit in Paris and come back for them before returning to the US in August. Most people would think we’re insane for traveling with so many bags but it is a burden we have accepted as part of our lives. We absolutely love dressing up as a family, and so traveling with 12 bags it is.

I wonder what the future holds for us after this year. It was a struggle to come back to Charlottesville after spending three months in Spain this summer. Imagine how we will feel coming back after a year in Paris! It gives us a bit of an uneasy feeling that we have a house in Charlottesville with our menagerie of pets that we love so much, and that we really don’t know where we will want to be as of August 2019. Hopefully we will have some kind of epiphany before then and the future will become clear.

For the moment, we have decided to change our ticket to leave Saturday October 13th. Even though the school in Paris will be less expensive than our school in Charlottesville, we will be spending significantly more money over the next year, so we need to save wherever possible. Spending thousands of dollars to go 2 weeks earlier just doesn’t make sense. So we have one more month to go to get our lives in order before we head to Paris. Today I spent the morning running around from store to store, stocking up on a year of cat food (for our 6 cats) tick and flea medicine, air conditioning filters, batteries, light bulbs, and other supplies so that the house-sitters can easily take care of the house while we are gone.

It’s amazing. 2 weeks ago we had no idea we were going anywhere. Now we have 4 tickets to Paris, a school, an apartment and house-sitters, and we can’t wait to get there!

Paris – It’s about to get real

It was about 2 weeks ago now that Sina and I started toying with the idea of living in Paris for a year. We had just spent the summer in Mallorca and found ourselves longing to spend some more time in Europe. The stars all seemed to align very quickly. The house sitters from the summer are able to stay and take care of our pets while we are gone. It works out quite positively professionally and I was able to get the green light from the powers that be to go. We now have plane tickets for early October and are in the process of finding a school for our 2 girls and a place to live. Not so easy…

AiBnB’s options are extremely limited given the last minute nature of our move. We have been dealing with one agency called LODGIS which has some good reviews in Tripadvisor but so far they seem extremely busy and it is difficult to get someone on the phone. We were finally able to submit an application today for an apartment. There is another agency called VINGT in Paris which has some pretty scary reviews. This morning I spoke briefly with the owner Susie Hollands and her curt demeanor matched the reviews. She literally said “I am not in a position to spend any more time on the phone with you.” I’m thinking maybe she should not be having conversations with customers. A few moments later though I received a call from Tycen in their office and he was extremely nice and helpful.

We have narrowed it down to 2 schools, but the idea of sending our girls to a school without seeing it, without meeting the teachers and knowing how we will get to school everyday from our apartment is just a little too much risk for my level of tolerance. So today I booked a ticket to head to Paris on Sunday. Luckily United Airlines had a ticket available using miles that wasn’t terrible. Finding a place to stay was a bit more challenging. The hotels are quite pricey and I did not want to spend over $1,000 for a hotel room for 5 nights. I found a decent apartment in AirBnB for $60 per night but as I was booking it someone snatched it out from under me! So I had to spring for an apartment for $109 per night. About $600 for the 5 nights.

I’ll arrive early Monday morning and have the week to visit the schools, meet the teachers, look at neighborhoods and hopefully secure an apartment. Given that we are going until next summer, I don’t feel confident signing contracts for schools and apartments without seeing them first.

Stay tuned for more updates next week, where I will be on location in Paris scoping out our life for the next year.

Next Stop: Paris?

After spending the summer in Mallorca, coming back to the United States was not easy. While we missed the comfort of being in our own home and of course we missed all of our pets, we suddenly found ourselves feeling like we no longer belong in Charlottesville. During a conversation with Sina last week, I mentioned that Peter (the founder of Kognitiv) and Mergim (a friend within my company) are both moving to London and she said “Maybe we should be moving to London too.” I don’t know how serious she was, but it stuck with me. Maybe we SHOULD be moving to London. Why the hell not?

We started to seriously think about the possibility of moving to London. We looked for Montessori schools and there were a few options. The first problem was that almost every school had a uniform. What gives? Is that just a British thing? Montessori is all about celebrating individuality. How can you have a school uniform? Given our family’s love of fashion, that just wasn’t going to happen. Neither Sina nor I have ever been excited about the prospect of living in London. Both of us believe that our happiness has a direct correlation to the amount of sunlight exposure we have, and Sina correctly pointed out that constant rain puts a damper (pardon the pun) on one’s wardrobe options. Most importantly, as we are focused on exposing Luka and Taj to new cultures and languages, London probably isn’t the best option. It is a very diverse, multi-cultural city, but the girls would not learn a new language.

Maybe we should go to Paris? It’s a 2 hour train ride from London, so I could easily go meet with Peter and Mergim… It’s quite central and I can easily get anywhere in Europe for work, we could all learn French, and well, it’s PARIS. As we started to think more about it, the uneasy feeling that we both had about London quickly disappeared and was replaced with a feeling of excitement. For the last several days we have been writing to Montessori schools and AirBnB renters to check out our options.

As luck would have it, the house sitters that took care of our house and pets over the summer while we were in Mallorca fell in love with Charlottesville and decided to move there! They do not have a place to live yet, and after speaking with them it appears they would be more than happy to stay in our house for a year.

This week in Toronto I ran the idea by Peter and one or two others to ensure there were no objections, and it appears I have the green light from work. So all of the pieces now appear to be falling into place. The only concern that remains now is a financial one. We really cannot afford to pay our mortgage in Charlottesville and rent an apartment in Paris at the same time. Not to mention, it is a given that we will spend more money, on clothes, food, traveling, etc. Plus, we would lose 40% of the tuition on the girls’ current school. It’s going to add up fast.

But the girls are not getting any younger and it has always been our dream to take them and live in different countries, and learn new languages. If we put it off, it will never happen. After selling my company 2 years ago, it feels like it’s time to start achieving more of our personal goals. Best of all, we can do that while still making significant contributions to the company and growing professionally. As of now, I think it’s a gamble worth taking. Sina and I are going to discuss it this weekend and hopefully we will have a decision by Monday.