Hello And Welcome.

As the title suggests, welcome to our first post. Ta da...(Ok imagine fireworks and a fly by featuring the Red arrows.) Yup, it's that kind of blog. Slightly crazy. the problem is, It doesn't tell you why we're here, or even why your here. So what's it all about?

Welcome to 'The Plan'

We're moving. That's the short answer. But this isn't a normal move. Nope, We're moving to another country, Austrian and the Capital no less. The problem is, there's a lack of information out there when it comes to moving to Austria. Move to Germany and there's a great book that takes you through moving out, getting there, getting housing, work and more. But look just across the border and most web searches assume you mean the land of the Kangaroo. Even with the blogs from Ex Pats out there, living in Vienna, Good details are hard to find. So we decided to keep our own blog of experiences from now until we move, and after we arrive in the hopes of improving the situation.

Why Move abroad?

The reasons are varied, but here goes. Back at the start of 2013, We decided the time was right to try and buy our first place. We run our own business, work hard, and get a pretty good quality of life, but space at home is limited. So we were really pleased to find a large, 4 bedroom property in our village here in sleepy Wales. The price was a minuscule £50000. It was well within or price range, needed a lot of work, but it would be ours. However, the recession has left the banks a little shy of lending, and after putting a bid in that was accepted, the bank said no. The story was the same all over. No one wanted to lend. It left us upset, and in the middle of the tears, tantrums and heartache we hatched a new plan. With no mortgage, threats of more cuts from the government and with work looking shaky due to the recession, we decided to leave the whole lot behind. Within one month, we were moving from Wales to Vienna. We just needed a timeframe.

Countdown to Moving Day.

As I type it is precisely 16 Months, 4 days, 9 hours and 37 minutes until we leave for Vienna. Come May 11h 2015, we'll be officially Ex-Pats. It's scary, knowing that next christmas will be our last at home. But a plan is a plan, and there's much to do. Most of this year will be prepping for packing. At the moment a mega-sort is going on. Clothes are being sorted, cupboards stripped bare and repacked with only the essentials, and more bags of rubbish have been created than we would if we stayed put. Its quite difficult to sort through 16 years of accumulated clutter, but its worth it. The less we need t take, the more we save when it comes to the moving company. At least we hope. Between now and May 2015, we've much to sort out.

Why Vienna?

Why not? Actually, It's a city we both fell in love with. To begin with though,  we found ourselves in Vienna back around Easter 2011 with little idea why we were there. We'd taken a family holiday with Lynda's mother to Vienna. We had six days there, Jess got a terrible cold, and at the end of the trip, none of us felt we'd seen the best of Vienna. Feeling Vienna was unfinished business, in the summer of 2012 we returned to Vienna for a month and by the time we were boarding the aircraft at Vienna international, we were in love. From the cultural offerings like the opera, concerts and stage plays, to the vibrant Cafe scene and I need not mention the shopping, Vienna is everything the Welsh countryside isn't. Since then, we've been back to Vienna several times, the last being just a few weeks ago for christmas.

Whist most of what we mentioned sounds great, there are other reasons for moving as well. Currently, we need a car to do our job. Covering 20000 miles a year, our average motoring bill is near £6000 and the cost of petrol isn't coming down. With that kind of milage, we also spend a large part of any day in the car, and that sucks. Late nights, screaming kids, and a complete lack of exercise are taking their toll. It's not fun. Jess works from home, but is the only driver, meaning she's in the car whist Lynda works. Lynda can't spend time making jewellery whist she's doing her day job. So it's time for a change. In Vienna, Public transport is cheap and reliable. for just €365 as year, you can travel anywhere in Vienna. Traveling by train to other cities in Austria is ridiculously cheap and with all the walking we'll be doing, we're hoping to lose some weight and feel even fitter. So for a better quality of life, we're moving.

So from here?

Well who can say. We're just hoping to muddle along and post our progress. Next post we'll look at the Basics of moving to Austria. See ya then

Jess & Lynda .

P.S. Geri says Hi.