…and finding joy everywhere
Ralph and I are less than three months away from the big move to France! Finding somewhere to live was obviously a huge piece of the puzzle, but once we found the house, it was time to turn our attention to the next critical phase: visas. For long stays, France requires you to apply no […]
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Our visit is coming to an end, and as I sit at the Bordeaux airport (which, fun fact, is both tiny and surprisingly janky), I find myself reflecting on the last few days. We’ve crossed off some major milestones with this logistics-focused trip — opened a bank account, secured home insurance, and got to know […]
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A couple of months have passed, and now we are back in Castillon to see La Maison de L’Amiral！ It was a long day flying from Stuttgart to Barcelona to Bordeaux, but we made the most of it with Spanish tapas for lunch in the airport. We decided not to rent a car to force […]
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It’s been a week since we got the news from the realtor and each day it sinks in just a little more. The offre d’achat has been countersigned and we are charging along. For once, everything is clicking into place, and it’s such a relief! There have been many times in my life where I’ve […]
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I couldn’t sleep at all Wednesday night after seeing the house in Castillon-la-Bataille! I google mapped my way around the streets, taking stock of all the shops and restaurants. I learned about the town and got excited to see they’re involving the community to gather ideas for improvement (design thinking!). I found a swimming beach […]
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You don’t have to “check the box.” If I’ve learned one thing during our time in Europe, it’s that you don’t have to hit all the tourist destinations to have a memorable time. In fact, Ralph and I have the best times when we just wing it! Take today, for example – our only “full” […]
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Some people leap into the unknown, while others take a methodical approach. I fall somewhere in between. When we first started considering the possibility of living in Europe permanently, my curiosity led to dozens of questions. They ranged from straightforward ones like “Which countries could I see myself living in?” to more complex considerations like […]
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Between the two of us, Ralph and I have owned a half-dozen homes. We’ve jumped through some crazy hoops in the past to get a mortgage (paperwork! deployment! marriage!), but we’ve always been successful. However, after lurking in a few “Expats in France” types of Facebook groups, we began to realize that mortgaging a home […]
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We saw three homes on this trip to the Aisne region of France, and while there were things we loved about each one, none convinced us to make an offer. Or more specifically, none convinced ME to make an offer. One had the most beautiful exterior with an edgy blend of modern and traditional, but […]
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After the heartbreak of a failed purchase right around Thanksgiving, Ralph and I took a little break from househunting for the holidays. In reality, it lasted about all of two weeks! And now as we embark on our third trip, I figured I’d start writing a bit more about the process since I’ve had a […]
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Delightfully Disoriented 
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