See ya later, London

After 13 years, 9 of which in the same flat - the flat I leave today - I am saying see ya later to London.

London.  A place which has been home since 2000, when I moved here straight after university, within a few days of my final exam, to start working at Cisco as a part of their graduate scheme. 13 years and countless (and not enough) adventures later I am saying see ya later to London.

Today I move home and (temporarily) leave London - as I type this the car is loaded and read-to-go; there is just time for another cup of tea and chocolate Hobnob, which is what I've been living on for the last couple of days. I then get to spend the next 5-6 hours having a slow and steady drive down to Cornwall; slow if for no other reason than my car is very very full - for all the dejunking, it turns out I just have too much stuff for a car this size.

I'm as certain as I can be that post walkabout London will be my UK home again; my life is very much here. The good (the people, my people; the places; the memories), the bad (the sodding tourists walking slowing in front of me and who can't understand 'stand on the right, walk on the left'), and the uniquely London (night bus adventure and the shared moments of laughter on the tube when the drunk nutter who has been entertaining us all for the last dozen stops leaves) make it a place I want to return to.  As much as I like going to other places, London is very much home.

See ya later, London.

The last week of London

By this time next week I shall no longer live in London. Add that to the fact that I no longer have a job and all this stuff is starting to get real - although it probably won't be properly real until I'm the backpackers somewhere in Istanbul drinking a Turkish coffee.

See ya later, niece

As "see ya laters" go, having to tell your nearly 5 year old niece* that you won't see her until she is nearly 6 sucks and sucks more than I thought it could.  I'm thankful for the Harry Potter game that she was more interested in for distracted her - it made what was really really shitty for me easy for her.

The bright spark that she is suggests "we can Skype" (yes, a 4 year old told me this) and we can and will.  It doesn't quite make up for the whole year of her life I won't be around for though.  This is a very high price to pay for the trip - although one I knew I'd have to pay. And I know higher costs are coming.

See ya later, Amelia.

* For the benefits of the family... AJ has not had kids.  Uncle Robert is an honorary title, although one I'm as attached to as if it were AJ's kids.

The first of the visa wobbles

Call from Travcour today - the Chinese embassy rejected my application as I asked for a double-entry visa but they didn't think I needed one.  I'd already provided the evidence saying that I do (two sets of travel in and out of China), but this had been missed; hopefully this will all get fixed quickly on Monday when my application is resubmitted.

A combination of Travcour and Dragoman are trying to speed-up the process for Uzbekistan, the one major unknown in all the visas.  If this happens it'll all be good.  If not... it'll get interesting.

A bit of a "argh" moment, but not enough to take away from an otherwise really good day.

See ya later, work

Of all the things about leaving work that I've enjoyed the surprising winner was listening (and occasionally feeding) the rumours about where I was working next. Worldpay was a strong contender (with no small thanks to me on that), several big name banks had been mentioned, another insurer or at least someone on the industry, the MoD (bit of an outsider, although given some of my recent training...) and a very late entry of Qualys. By a very clear margin my absolute favourite was that I was going to move to Australia, a move my old boss has just made.

As the the people at work now know - it is none of the above. As a friend of mine described it, "it's not that they are barking up the wrong tree, they're in the wrong forest".

The folks at the company I've just left now know as I've just sent my "see ya later" email, an email which contained one line - a link to the So I've Just Quit My Job post. As departure emails go I'm hoping that it's up there with the best - if nothing else I'm sure it will be remembered.

To those who've remain at the company I've just left...
I thank you all for the amusement over the last 3 months, it has kept me entertained through some otherwise quite dull days. I wish you all nothing but the best for the future and all it brings - I've got no idea what yours will involve, but lots of change and interesting times are ahead of all of us. Enjoy it.

As for Australia... This trip doesn't currently have that as a part of the plan, but plans can change. ;-)

Visas (Part 2b)

The Turkmenistan Letter of Invitation has just arrived.  A relief.

Visas (part 2a)

That nagging feeling in the back of your head that says you've forgotten something very important visa related and/or you've made a huge mistake with the paperwork which is going to cause no end of hassles. That.

As I said only a few hours ago, the visa stress will only be over once I've got my passport in my hands again and can see that I've got all the visas needed and that the dates are correct.