Two Years vs. Two Weeks

Two years ago this very week, we made the final decision that we would be making Aruba our future home.  Prior to that, this island dream was already being developed, but a lot of details were being worked out.  Aruba was the place that all of the details seemed to fall easily into place, especially the one where all four of us were in love with every single thing about this island.  June 2014 was when we spent more than two weeks there looking at it through the eyes of “can we live here” instead of “this is an amazing place to take a vacation”.  All answers were YES, we definitely could and want to live here.  Then the fun began.  I can still say fun, but wow, it has been A LOT of work!  After all the research, planning, saving, selling, organizing, and finalizing what seems to be a million things, we are a little over two weeks away from our departure to Aruba.  Along the way, many people have asked if I was nervous or scared or anxious and I would always answer no.  I must admit, now that we are truly doing this, I am starting to officially freak out.  Not in a negative way, but in a “oh my goodness, this is really happening, there is no turning back, we are actually doing this” excited kind of way.  I guess we could change our mind now, but what a nightmare that would be!  So, HERE WE GO!  Operation Toes in the Sand is about to be COMPLETE!

For anyone considering a similar move, my number one piece of advice would be PLAN, PLAN, PLAN.  If you are not a planner, I wish you much luck.  If you do not have patience, you should probably just stay where you are.  Here is a shout out to a couple places that have been super helpful to us over the past few months –

Residency Information/Permitting – We have enlisted the help of a company in Aruba called ASBA.  They have been nothing but wonderful from the first conversation we had regarding taking care of everything we need to become residents in Aruba.  All of the steps were explained in great detail, every question is answered promptly, and they have kept us informed for the past nine months that we have been working with DIMAS to have our paperwork in place when we get there.  Now keep in mind, this is not over, as DIMAS is still working on their side, but ASBA has been a saving grace in what would have been a very frustrating situation.  There is a fee for their services, but it has been a very worthwhile investment!

Shipping Company – Months ago, we contacted several shipping companies about transferring our goods to Aruba from Phoenix and we chose APX in Miami, Florida.  Actually, most of the other places never even bothered to contact us after submitting requests for quotes (I will NEVER understand that business practice).  APX is another company that has walked us through this process and never seemed to be irritated by my 40,000 e-mails and 20,000 phone calls with yet another question.  Just last Friday and Saturday, our two pallets of boxes and our car were picked up at our home and are well on their way to Aruba right now.  This is a scary thing to have pretty much everything you own at this point being taken away and you must trust the ones who are handling this piece of the move.  Fingers crossed the trust and good feelings about APX continue!  Thank you, Virginie and Walter for being our new “best friends”.

There are million other details that have needed finalized before our move (what about school, the dog, a house, bank accounts, phones, car registration, insurance, on and on and on).  I am thankful to have worked with amazing people all along this journey who have been nothing but helpful.  I must say, as noted before, the people of Aruba are so very helpful in every way and we would not be able to move there if that wasn’t the case.  Every person we contact responds with complete answers and in a friendly way.  I am actually still waiting to meet or deal with someone who seems to not be happy.  When I do, I will smack them and say, “Do you realize how lucky you are to live in a place like this and how much hard work it takes to get here?  Now, look at all of your other Aruban neighbors and act like them!”  But I HIGHLY doubt that conversation will ever be necessary:)

Once we arrive, then the hard decisions will need to be made – really tough things like, what beach should we visit today?  This blog will keep you posted on island life after arrival, so please stay tuned…

Pampered Pet

We have reached our 30 day mark in the countdown!  It doesn’t seem like that long ago, we began the countdown and it was years, months, days – suddenly, it’s DAYS and not that many!

Surprisingly, one of the most difficult things about relocating out of the country seems to be pet relocation.  After learning what we know now, I am strongly considering starting a business to help others go through this process.  Plus, seeing the profitability involved, it might not be a bad idea at all!

So what does it take to move your pet to Aruba?  I will share what we know so far!  Every country has their own entry requirements, and Aruba is actually pretty easy on their side.  Not so surprisingly, it’s the part of the good ol’ USA that seems to be the difficult part!  Little Molly Sunshine has been part of our lives since she was born in November of 2006, so there is no question about whether or not she will be going with us.  When we started the process of moving, we thought it was as simple as put her on the plane, arrive with a health certificate and we are good to go.  But now that we are closer, things got a little more difficult!

Difficulty number one – as of March 1, 2016, the U.S. has a new law that says all live animals being transported as cargo to a different country must go through a service that is recognized by the IPATA (International Pet Air Transport Authority), or something like that.  Now, the first problem with this IPATA is that there is only ONE company in Phoenix that serves Sky Harbor Airport.  Therefore, if you want to use them, they can charge whatever they want!  We received a quote from that company, and it was $1,890 to fly Molly from Phoenix to Aruba.  Keep in mind, a “human” ticket cost us $212.  Seriously?  Well, if you know me at all, you know I will keep digging until I find a cheaper method if possible, so I dug and dug and dug and dug some more.

What I finally found after all of my digging, e-mailing, calling, begging, pleading, was that most airlines also do not fly live animals once the temperature has gone above 85 degrees.  The problem with this is that we are flying out of Phoenix and we have less than 85 degrees about two weeks out of the entire year!  More digging and we did find that United Airlines will fly Molly from Phoenix to Miami through their company called PetSafe.  They will not take her all the way to Miami (back to the whole IPATA scam).  So now she’s made it as far as Miami.  What next?  There is a pet transportation airline in Miami called WestJet, but they can’t pick her up from United (I guess they aren’t friends), so we are using a service called Pet Limousine who will pick her up from United Airlines, and take her to their facility for a walk, a meal, and a nap.  The next day, she will be carried on the jet down to Aruba to be happily reunited with all of us.  (Limos and jets, really?!?)

Sounds easy, right?  Well, there’s more!  WestJet only does these handy-dandy pet flights one time per week and she needs to arrive in Miami the day before, so now we have the issue of timing with our flights.  In steps our dog-loving friend, Kim, who would do just about anything for any animal she ever comes into contact with.  Kim has graciously accepted the challenge of being Molly’s interim mommy from the day we leave until the day Molly’s flight will leave for Miami.  Thank you, Kim!

Flights are now sort of, kind of figured out – not booked, but we are close to getting all of this scheduled.  The next loophole is getting Molly’s health certificate.  This is also a timing nightmare as everything has to be dated within two weeks of her arrival in Aruba.  I contacted Aruba’s vet association and received a very simple e-mail stating all she needs is a current rabies vaccination and her health certificate.  We made the initial vet appointment to start the process and found out the USDA has PAGES of requirements for this certification.  Our vet at Gilbert Veterinary Hospital has been so accommodating, helpful, and carefully completing all the steps to get the health certificate.  So right now, on Friday, July 8 we have her final health certification appointment.  We will run (literally) to the post office to overnight the documents to the USDA who will (supposedly and hopefully) sign and stamp the certification and overnight it right back to us before we leave on the July 15.  Whew!

I know this is a lot of information, but again, if this helps one other person who is considering moving out of the country, this blog has served its purpose.  If you need more information and what to budget for taking a pet with you, just let me know and the amount of money you were planning to spend, probably just quadruple it and you will be good!  But she’s worth it:)

One Step Closer…

Our time in the US is dwindling away quickly and things are really coming together for our move.  They kind of have to be at this point!  As I am writing this, it is Saturday morning, and we have only five more Saturday mornings left.  This time on July 16, we will be there- SIX MORE WEEKS!  So what is happening now?  Well, there is a lot completed and still a lot to go.  Seems to be the normal, huh?

One huge hurdle was that we found a place to live!  Not only did we find a place, we found a fabulous place that is beyond what we anticipated.  There is quite the story leading up to it, so I will share what I can.  We were in touch with several realtors in Aruba, but were learning that long-term rentals are hard to come by.  There were a few that were “okay”, but there would always be a glitch – no dogs, no furniture included, WAY over our budget.  A couple weeks ago, Maddie had the suggestion to look on VRBO, which is normally where we book our vacation rentals.  We decided to find houses we like on there and just take the chance and ask if they would consider a long-term lease.  The worst thing that can happen is they will say no, right?  We narrowed our choices to six different houses, had no idea what the cost of a long-term lease would be, but liked the photos, had great reviews, and included everything we needed (yes, we NEED a pool!).  We received four no’s, one no reply, and one person replied with some additional questions, follow-up phone call, and we have a lease!  This house is amazing (well, we really hope it is since we are renting based on photos and previous rental reviews!)  In talking more with the owners, we found out that they found Aruba while on a cruise (like us). got engaged on that cruise, loved Aruba so much they returned and got married there, loved it even more and decided they should live there one day (like us), and bought this house to use as a vacation rental until they “retire” there in about five years.  They shared their story with House Hunters International and they actually filmed with them in April and the episode will be airing in July.  So all of you will be able to see the house we are living in!  Back to our landlords – through more conversations, we found out they live in Niagara Falls, NY, so we mentioned that we used to live in Erie, which isn’t far away.  Then come to find out that our landlord actually attended Gannon University and was in Erie the SAME YEARS we were!!!  What?  If we could watch our lives in a movie, chances are our paths had crossed at some point because frat parties were something both of us participated in.  Crazy – that’s what it is!

The other major accomplishment in the past few weeks has been finalizing the shipment of our car and goods.  We now know when it will go away, and when it will be arriving in Aruba.  Because of the shipping schedules, we are going to be sending it off about three weeks before we leave Arizona, but it will arrive to us about three days after we get to Aruba.  So the last three weeks of our stay here will consist of paper plates, plastic forks and literally living out of suitcases.

As for selling things, our final moving sale is scheduled for the weekend of June 24-25.  Anything that hasn’t been shipped will be sold.  What could possibly be left, you ask?  Lamps, dishes, rugs, TV, grill, more clothes.  There is just so much STUFF!!!

So in closing, things continue to be nutty, but are coming together quite nicely at this point.  The next six weeks will be turbo mode as we finalize the moving details, continue to spend as much time with friends as possible, and look forward to our island life!