AND SO THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

While we have now set forth on our journey to France and a new phase in our life, do not for one minute think that it was an easy task. To get to the steps of boarding our plane took a lot of research and hard work indeed.

Things all start with the need to make sure that we want to live in this wonderful country for the long term and this means gaining an understanding of the culture and style of the French. What will the weather be like? Will we be able to manage the language difference? Will our money last?

These and plenty of other aspects of living in France require a lot of research to ensure that we have a good understanding before taking on this adventure. Sure we have the benefit of having visited the country and the region on a number of occasions previously, but that does not prepare you for full time France. What do we do for a bank account? How do we get a driver’s licence? What about the Health system and going to the doctor’s?

Bergerac, France

All of these questions and more saw us both spend a lot of time on the internet reading blogs from other people and reading basic material on France and the country. An immediate good source of information comes from websites such as www.angloinfo.com and www.frenchentree.com These sites can provide a great insight to life in France and some of the things to expect. Clearly they can only assist in giving us a better understanding.

The really time consuming issue to start with is the need to obtain a “Long Stay Visa” which needs to be obtained from the French Consulate in Sydney (in our case anyway). The system is computer based and you need to make an appointment on line for a time to hand over all of the necessary paperwork to the Consulate. The website www.ambafrance-au.org/-Consulate-General-in-Sydney- provides all of the information required to be completed, but a quick word of warning. The earliest we could obtain our appointment was nearly 10 weeks in advance. While this may seem like a long time, it does allow you sufficient time to gather all of the information required. This includes a Federal Police Check, Private Health Insurance, Airline tickets and Statutory Declarations that you will not seek employment in France. Of course some of this may seem straightforward, but then you need to understand that you must have paid for your Health Insurance and airline tickets prior to applying for your visa, so if you are declined you may have spent the money without need!!

Then of course all of the paperwork needs to be translated into French. The entire process took us around 3 months from start to finish. Be warned however, that if you do not have all of your paperwork in order and ready at your meeting, they will send you packing and you will need to make another appointment.

So enough of all of the heavy stuff and on with the fun. Once we had lodged our application it only took about 3 weeks for the approval and from there on it has been smooth sailing so to speak. We have a Visa for 12 months and will need to “rollover” the residency about 2 months before our current Visa expires. In addition, we must register with “OFII”, which is the equivalent of the Department of Immigration in France. Here we need to undergo a medical and pay a fee in order to have our residency certified with our Visa.

The Journey forth………

And so with our new Visa’s in our possession we set off on our great adventure. While looking at relocating to France for the long term, we needed to identify what belongings and possessions we wanted to take to our new home and how best to get them there. For the most cost effective method we chose to minimise what we took and simply arranged for around 15 packing boxes (clothes, books and DVD’s – in English of course) were sent to France by sea and via the UK. This will take around 10-12 weeks and hopefully should arrive around 4-6 weeks after we do.

For immediate needs we packed essential items in one larger box and asked our son Chris to send them by air freight (he works for FedEx and has a very cheap account with them). This will only take around 3-4 days to get to us.

Unfortunately this did not seem to be the end of it, because on arrival at Sydney Airport check in, we found that we were 8Kgs over our baggage allowance (despite weighing it before we left home). Joy oh joy, this resulted in an Excess baggage cost of $530 and there really was not a lot that could be done at the airport to change it. Kerrie will be hearing about this one for a few years to come. Of course none of the problem could be put back to me!!!!

Farewell to Flyn....at our friends Kim & Rob's cottage in Bowral

After our costly extra baggage and our sad farewells to both Chris and Flyn (our children), the actual flight was not too bad with around 22 hours to Paris via Singapore and then another 4 hours TGV train ride to Bordeaux where we picked up a rental car, for a further 1.5 hour drive to Sainte Foy la Grande, our new home on the Dordogne River and around 20 minutes west of the larger town of Bergerac (Cyrano of course). It was honestly a joy to arrive, only to find that our rented house was without hot water for our first night and we could not have a hot shower. We were both appreciative that we did not have company that night for a number of reasons!

Well now we have been in Sainte Foy (known as Ste Foy from here on) for a week and we have been very busy settling in. To date we have managed to open our new French bank accounts, buy furniture (TV’s, stove, refrigerator, washing machine and not to mention 3 king sized beds) as well as get ready for the final settlement on our new house in Port Sainte Foy (Port). To do so we have had to drive to both Bergerac and Libourne to find the good shops, but driving in France is good for the soul.

While it has only been a week, we have already experienced 2 local markets and the smell of wonderful strawberries permeates the air. To our surprise, we also found out that at our new house we also have our own cherry trees (one for eating and one for making brandy), a fig tree, a Mirabelle tree as well as good strawberry patch and our own grape vines. Looks like we will be busy making confiture (jams) and eau de vie (brandy).

Ste Foy is an old bastide town (walled town built on a grid) built around 1255 and some of the medieval parts can still be found, although not all of them go back to that time. It is a town that can easily be experienced on foot and is built on the banks of the Dordogne River that was flowing with great speed on our arrival.

 Sainte Foy la Grande

At the end of a busy week we actually walked 3 minutes to the local cinema tonight and watched “ I give it a year” in the original English version. A pleasing end to a busy week.

As Kerrie has already posted, again I thank all of our friends for their support and best wishes on our adventure.

à bientôt