Time to make a move…

We’ve been sitting in London long enough now to see it turn from full summer bloom to this drizzly confused end of season thing it’s got going on now. I got used to it again; just in time to say goodbye. Again.

We expected we’d be leaving, but didn’t know entirely when. Initially we planned to stay for three weeks, then six. Three months later, we’re actually making a move. It’s hard to get comfortable somewhere when it feels temporary but without definite edges. That’s how we’ve been for the last few months; in limbo. Since we had quite a long stretch of time, that pressing desire to see all the people and do all the things never reached its full capacity. Until now, when we’ve only got one week left in London.

This time next week’s time we’ll be on a plane heading to Chicago.

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“Why are you going to Chicago?” you ask (you might not, but it would be awfully convenient for the rest of this post if you did…)

We’re off to Chicago because, generally, it’s a good idea to check out the next city you’re going to live in before you move there.

Yep, that’s right. The Brit and the Kiwi are moving to the USA!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know that was never one of our ‘options’. We had all of Europe and Australia and New Zealand to choose from, and after living in France for a year we were pretty much decided on Sydney as our next move, although we dilly dallied over London and Auckland too, occasionally throwing in the odd: ‘what about Berlin?’ for fun. We’d also toyed with the idea of taking advantage of the ‘year in Canada’ visa which we can still get till we’re 35 but decided the next move had to be a proper one, where we could get settled, for a while at least, if not for good.

But then, in an unexpected turn of events, Jono went and got offered a job in Chicago and boom, we had to very quickly decide whether or not we wanted to give the USA a go, something that had never been on the cards. Could we forego the Sydney sunshine for a city we’ve never been to and, in all honestly, know very little about apart from its fame for wind, deep dish pizza and Al Capone?

Well, duh!

We’re both very much of the only-live-once mentality and an opportunity to move to the US doesn’t come around every corner. There were a lot of reasons why it might be not the most sensible idea but well, who ever got to the end of their life and thought: ‘ah well, you know what, I’m just really glad I was sensible and never took any risks?’ Nobody, that’s who.

We’re in Chicago for two weeks then we’re going to New Zealand and Australia for around six weeks before heading back to Chicago to start the whole moving thing. We may stay one year, we may stay two, we may stay forever. Who knows?

With France I thought I knew what to expect, even if it was a romanticised idea but with Chicago, I really have no idea what it will be like. I know it’s going to be very different; less of the roman structures, more of the big modern shiny buildings.

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All I know is there’ll be a lot of eating, seeing and doing; mostly eating though. Other that that I have no idea.

Have you been to Chicago? What would you recommend we do there?

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