I have been busy over the past few weeks preparing for the move to Taiwan. The physical move will take place in two steps; I will leave next week to spend one month there, returning home for one month during the holidays, followed by the permanent move in mid-January. The physical move requires that I plan what clothes and personal items I need to take in my luggage on each trip. I could pay significant money to have more items shipped from the U.S. to Taiwan; however I like to believe that I have simplified my life enough to make the move with only several suite cases filled with my stuff. Also, I need to take my golf clubs, camera equipment, computer and wine enjoyment apparatus. These things make me happy.
My Fiancée’s neighbors own their businesses and appear to have ample free time to golf. They are anxious to get me out to their clubs and gamble. The Chinese love to gamble. I enjoy their company and wine cellars, and look forward to reciprocating the hospitality they have shown so far. However, gambling on my golf game will not be part of the reciprocation. The only thing in golf that is important to me, is hitting my drives as far as I can. Nothing else matters and nothing else should. I will bring the golf clubs on my first trip over. On my second trip, I am meeting my Fiancée in Kyoto Japan for a vacation, before going to Taiwan. Hauling my clubs around the air and train terminals of Japan won’t work out too well, so the clubs definitely go on the first trip. The only problem is my flight from Hong Kong to Taiwan is on a small regional carrier that doesn’t appear to provide any concessions to their baggage rules for golf clubs. I am choosing to take my chances and pull out my platinum frequent flyer card for a sister airline, if a problem arises.
My camera equipment goes wherever I do. I purchased my Nikon SLR more than 5 years ago, adding lenses as I went. Admittedly I am not a very good photographer, compared to the serious hobbyists, however I am getting better and it provides enjoyment for me. I will write more on my photography in the future.
My latest computer was purchased with the move and extensive travel in mind. It is a very small netbook, with beefed up memory, hard drive and a full 64 bit operating system, which is hard to get on netbooks. It is so small and light, yet fully useful; I don’t understand why someone prefers a tablet over this product. At my Fiancée’s urging, I have purchased Slingbox. I setup the hardware at the U.S. home utilizing a standard HD cable box with DVR, and download the software on my netbook. I can watch my full array of cable channels anywhere in the world that I have internet access. I can upstream to a large HDTV with HDMI and utilize the DVR function. I have been testing it for a week and it really works out great. This was one of the most concerning challenges I faced; how do I watch my beloved football team in real time.
In addition to the physical move of stuff, there are many other considerations. While I don’t have many bills to pay, and I pay everything I can electronically, remaining in touch with all service providers while my U.S. mail is held at the post office was a concern. I have all of the providers setup in my netbook Outlook with usernames and encrypted passwords. I believe I can manage the U.S. house from the other side of the world. I have a very good lawn care provider that has been cutting my grass since July and he will also take care of snow removal. He sends his invoices via e-mail and I trigger my bank to pay him. Various other services will be handled the same way.
Obtaining all of the documents to prepare our income taxes early next year, without the benefit of the U.S. mail had to be thought through. Most everything is available on line.
I had a security system installed to detect entry, low temperature and smoke. In addition, I have neighbors and family watching the house when we are not there. I was concerned about my cleaning lady accessing the house and correctly disarming and arming the system as she came and went. She struggled to open the garage door with the four digit pin on the keypad. This has resolved itself; she had been charging me for more hours than she worked, and we agreed to end her service. I need to get someone in occasionally to clean and I will work to figure that out when I return next month.
I have been dumping houseplants, though the best ones are available to good homes. I have a friend coming over to hopefully take a few. The vegetable garden has been rototilled and replaced with wildflowers that should provide color next summer.
Many people deal with having multiple houses and the issues I described. There are many other things that I have managed recently to make the move effective. I believe I am ready and have found some level of liberation that I am able to travel the world, live anywhere and yet still run my life. Simplicity, a good netbook computer, and my wine enjoyment apparatus are important to this liberation.
No comments:
Post a Comment