Category Archives: Canada

Canada, Spain

ARGH…..

Well today was an interesting and frustrating day to put it mildly.  We were up early today full of excitement to attend Toronto and  finally pick up our Visas. We rented a car (sold our car awhile back) and were on the road at 7:30 am. We left early because the consulate is only open until 12:30.  We had gathered up our required documents as indicated in the email “Your visa application has now been approved, and you have now 30 days in which to pick it up. Kindly bring your passport and airline ticket to this Consulate for its issue.”

We drove through heavy traffic to arrive at the consulate around 10:45 am and took a number (#45) and waited for our turn. There were numerous people there and the consulate was very busy. After about 15 minutes our number was called and a very friendly consulate staff member asked us what she do could do for us. We told her that we were there to pick up our approved visas. She said, ok that will be easy and asked us for our flight info.  We provided her with our flight itinerary and our passports and that’s when we knew something was wrong. She looked at our passports and said you won’t be able to get them back today. They need to put the visa into our passports and they won’t have time today. We offered to wait all day if needed to get them, but to no avail. She said that we needed to get a prepaid postal envelope and they would mail the passports back to us sometime next week, when they had time to affix the Visa to our passports. She told us that Tuesday next week is a Spanish holiday and the consulate is closed. Not what we wanted to hear, but at least it was a step forward towards our goal of getting the Visas.  So we headed off to find a post office in order to get a prepaid Xpresspost envelope that they wanted. Of course the consulate is only open until 12:30 and time was quickly going by….  we found a post office nearby and bought a prepaid Xpresspost envelope (total cost about $13.00). We returned to the consulate and took another number and waited for our turn. We noticed the staff member was out in the waiting area and we were able to speak to her.  We provided her with the Xpresspost envelope and she reviewed it and all was good.  Of course we had to ask….. (because you just never know)  did we need two envelopes? one for each  passport?  She looked at us, smiled and said no one will do.

cropped postal envelope

We left the consulate shortly before noon upset, frustrated and not completely surprised. We knew there would be setbacks and bureaucracy, throughout the process. Today we thought we were at end of the process for the Visas. On the up side we are approved and the Visas should be “in the mail” next week.

We left downtown Toronto in heavy traffic and drove home. It was a long day with lots of emotions, but the good news is that the Visas will eventually arrive.

Canada, Spain

Our Visa’s are approved (yahoo!!)

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Well today is an exciting day for us. We have received an email notification from the Spanish Embassy that our Visas are approved.  The email today simply stated “Your visa application has now been approved, and you have now 30 days in which to pick it up. Kindly bring your passport and airline ticket to this Consulate for its issue.”

It is interesting that a simple short email could evoke so many different emotions. We are relieved that it is approved of course. The fact that we sold most of our stuff already, we are glad it wasn’t  in vain. The realization that the Visas are secured also is exciting and invigorating knowing that in one month from today we will be heading to Spain not to visit but to live there.  We are nervous about the adventure and moving to a country where we have never been to.  We are also sad leaving friends and family but know that social media will help us to stay in touch.

To sum up how we feel I guess you could say we are standing at the edge of a cliff looking down and getting ready to bungee jump. We know we have a cord tied to us, but it still scary as heck. The only thing left is to take a leap of faith and jump.

So tomorrow we go to the Spanish consulate and pick up our Visas.

Canada

Less than 3 weeks before we move to Pembroke

It is less than 3 weeks before we move from our Kingston residence back to our home town of Pembroke before heading to Spain.  Our friends in Kingston and area have been meeting with us and wanting to spend time before we head out. We find ourselves meeting with  our friends, enjoying our limited time together. This is both a happy and sad time for us. It is always  sad when you are saying good-bye and not sure how long before you may see them again.

The fermented Friday group of friends we have, took us out for a going away dinner at the Sakura Japanese Restaurant. It was very heartfelt with lots of laughs. We had lots of fun. We have been deeply moved by the show of support and caring by everyone. The offer of use of their vehicles, help with furniture and overall willingness to help us with anything has been very humbling.

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Sakura Japanese Restaurant

 

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Canada

Six weeks to go….

Six weeks to go….
Six weeks to go….

Time is flying by and we are feeling the crunch of getting ready for the biggest adventure of our retirement.  There is only 6 weeks left before we fly to Spain and our preparations are well under way. As you know, our plan is to sell off our  furniture, car etc before we leave.  We have tried kijiji for the first time last week. It has been surprisingly easy to use and more effective than we anticipated. We have posted ads on kijiji  and within a few days the items have been sold. The challenge has been timing the sale of key pieces of furniture and our vehicle. We did not want to sell our items of convenience, such as washer, dryer and car too early, but we did not want to leave it too late either. Timing in this case is everything. So we decided that listing the car after the first week of November would probably provide us with the best timing. Well we were slightly wrong on the timing, we have now sold our car. The new owners take possession of our car Friday which means we will be without a vehicle on Saturday.  The selling of the car was a bit harder (emotionally) than we anticipated. Not having the convenience of a car makes planning for groceries and travel more challenging. We have lost the convenience of owning a car, something that we took somewhat for granted. Our washer and dryer has also been sold. We are now without the convenience of  a laundry facility within our apartment. There is a laundry facility in the apartment building, so that makes it relatively easy to do laundry until we leave Kingston.

It is somewhat disheartening to sell all our belongings when we still have not received confirmation that we have a visa.  We continue to wait patiently for word from the Spanish consulate as to the status of our Visa application. We don’t anticipate any problems, however it would be nice to know that the Visa is in place prior to selling all of our stuff.

We have a “Plan B” in case we are not granted a long-term visa for Spain. We are looking at a year of travel, with stops in several countries and areas we have always wanted to see. On the list are Australia, New Zealand and South America to name a few.

Canada, Spain

Moving Forward Update

We continue to move forward with our plans, although we have not heard from the Spain Consulate regarding our visa application yet. There is only two months left before we leave and it is getting busy for us.  We have started selling our furniture and have sold numerous items so far. The apartment is starting to look a little bare. The artwork and decorative items on the walls have been removed and given away to family or sold. We have sold our dinning room set and  we are now eating at the coffee table in the den. The computer desk has been sold and now the filling cabinet is our new computer desk.   Adaptation and a positive attitude are important as we move forward.

Our new dinning room table
Our new dinning Table

We have given our notice and plan on leaving Kingston in Mid December to move back home with our parents for a few weeks before we leave for Spain. We have secured a mover for the few belonging we will be keeping in Pembroke. We have also started the task of closing off our accounts related to the apartment. We have notified, gas, electrical, internet and TV companies that we are leaving and closing the accounts.

 

The challenge now is selling the car. We would ideally like to keep  the car until we leave, but that is simply not feasible. We are trying to sell our car now and if it sells quickly we will be renting a vehicle when we need a car in the interim.

We are updating  our wills and preparing for the final pieces to be in place before the move to Spain. There are lots more things to do, we need to finalize our taxes with CRA, change our mailing address, obtain international drivers licences etc. and of course we are still awaiting our Visas.