Moving to Sweden

The opportunity to come to Sweden first presented itself in February of this year. Tina and I thought about it for 5 minutes before deciding that for ourselves and our daughter Ana, the opportunity was too good to let pass us by. It may work out, it may not, but we knew that if we didn’t give it a go, we would regret not making the plunge.

Since then, the last 3 months has been a bit of blur as the realities of moving a family to the other side of the planet set in. Where do we start? Well, as soon as we knew we were going (or were very likely too); the furniture and a huge assortment of bits and pieces stared going up on Trademe (New Zealand’s version of EBay / Blocket for those non Kiwis amongst you). As we slowly went through the garage, the spare rooms, the lost cupboards and stacks of boxes we barely remembered existed, saleable items were listed, junk was thrown. It was handy being next door to the red zone (http://cera.govt.nz/land-information/red-zone), as we liberally borrowed red and yellow rubbish and recycling bins, putting out double and sometimes triple our allowed weekly quota in an effort to get rid of a mass of unwanted ‘stuff’. In a way it was some small recompense for being adjacent the red zone and putting up with the array of issues that came with it over the last two years since the earth shook and turned our lives sideways. Into the recycling went my undergraduate university notes (1994-1996). These notes have been transported from Christchurch to Tauranga to Christchurch, to Dunedin, finally back to Christchurch as well as multiple different addresses within Christchurch itself. Why? I guess one day I thought they would be useful. They were not! Once I was able to get started throwing away my hoards of next to useless stuff, it felt very liberating. In fact, we both actually kind of enjoyed it, unburdening our lives of things that were not really all that important, and at times, utterly useless.

Between Tina, Ana and I (I mention Ana purely to make the following a little less embarrassing), of our 12 bicycles (that’s really not too many!), we sold three, I gave one away, we put four in storage, and four more are on a ship on there way to us in Sweden. Once everything had been sold, given away, thrown or packed, our sole life possessions fit into the following:

·         In transit via boat on the way to Sweden (11 boxes totalling 2 m³). This includes the 4 bikes and bike trailer.

·         In storage in Christchurch (16 boxes totalling approximately 3 m³). I wouldn’t be surprised if this includes approximately 1 m³ of my photos and slides.

·         On the plane with us we took pretty much the maximum available allowance. This included 1 large suitcase, 1 large backpack, 2 small backpacks, 1 duffle bag, 2 laptop bags, 1 stroller and 1 child’s car seat. We were slightly over the allowed weight limits (approximately 70 kg all up), but having a small child seems to work wonders. A big thumbs up to Singapore Airlines for not caring.

We also have our house in Christchurch of course, which we tried to sell. We even had a buyer, but were stymied by the insurance company at the last minute. Their cash offer for our earthquake broken house acceptable by us (even though it was far less that the total cost of the damage), but their terms and conditions that went with receiving the cash offer, completely unacceptable. For that, AA Insurance gets a big thumb’s down and we look forward to them coughing up even more money when it comes to actually rebuilding our house. Anyway, we won’t go there (too much). We are lucky in that we have the house rented out long term to people we know.

If it was just the packing and sorting the house out, that would have been easy. However, on top of these onerous tasks, Tina had the herculean mission of finishing her PhD. We were both very pleased (not too sure who was the most relieved) when this was submitted 2 weeks prior to departure. And of course there was work (that annoying chore that always gets in the way and takes up way too much time), trying to fit in some riding, an extended Easter holiday to Wanaka and Dunedin to say goodbye to friends, and the hoards of paper work to sort out which seems to become more and more cumbersome with the ageing process!

However, of course, it all got done. On the 5^th of May we checked in at Christchurch International Airport, and as the plane gained altitude over the Southern Alps, we looked at each other with relief and amazement. There wasn’t a single thing to do, and the last three months of preparation was over.

In this blog I hope to share some insights into our new life in Sweden. There is no theme (apart from the Swedish one) and it may (or may not) end up being dominated by cycling adventures. I really don’t know? I simply want to get back into writing and starting a new life somewhere definitely gives us all a chance to clear the slate blank(ish), and to refocus on the things that we have left by the way side for a few years or wish to start anew. My aim is not to have a huge audience reading this, but simply to write.

The team all checked in and ready to go - Christchurch Airport

Ana scoping her Mt. Cook ascent
route - Christchurch Airport