The whole family is flying to Germany tomorrow! The kids are very excited. V and I are getting worn out with last minute arrangements. Our packing was 99% finished last night but it looks like our bags won't all fit in the car with us. I'm not sure how we will be able to carry everything on the German side. Today we are making some more last minute arrangements with the bank, backing up computer files, ... There are so many little things that keep popping up out of nowhere. Yesterday I was cleaning up the car and just before walking away I happened to notice my old work parking permit hanging from the rear view mirror. I'm so used to seeing it there that it didn't even register until just now as something that would need to be dealt with. If I don't mail it to them soon after quitting my job they will fine me, so I just now dropped it in the mail. (Just one example of a thousand little things.)
I flew back to Atlanta last Saturday after a very busy few days wrapping things up and packing. W dropped me off at the BWI airport. Upon arriving back in Atlanta V presented me with my social security card that had just arrived (record time for government work!). So the next day we drove up to NC and on Monday were able to get our NC drivers licenses and register to vote. One detail that caught us was insurance. In addition to the social security card, we needed insurance in NC to get the license (so we can vote in NC and trade it for a license in Germany, unlike MD or GA drivers liscenses), but we do not own a car in NC and it took most of the day to find an insurance company that would issue us non-owner drivers insurance. We hopped from company to company, finally got some coverage and made it back to the DMV before closing. The next day we drove back to Atlanta and have been packing and arranging since.
Also I found out that a federal government funding agency that has given me grants in the recent past is threatening to fine me a huge amount of money because I am moving to a job outside of the US! (They want me to remain in the US for two more years in the fine print.) This has largely blindsided me so I have been rushing writing appeal letters and getting documentation together.
Tomorrow we are flying from Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson) to Chicago (O'Hare) to London (Heathrow) then to Hamburg. We're going through some of the largest and busiest airports in the world! It is essentially the first time the kids have flown (T flew some when he was a baby but he doesn't remember it.) This kids are very excited. I've added our route tomorrow in red to the moving map.
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