What did we think about?

Perhaps this should really be called, what didn't we think about!

Being married to a banker meant that the number of things we evaluated and considered was huge.

We started off by looking at what was happening around the world during the six months before the posting was due for renewal. We looked more seriously at what was happening in Asia and in Europe on a country by country basis. The banker called the HR departments in a number of countries where he had good solid relationships to suss out what was happening and he also started to think about contacts and connections - everything in this world is always about contacts!

Then we started having country specific discussions along the lines of "What do you think about Vietnam? India? China?"

"Sure, wherever" was usually my response.

As the time got closer the banker had to make more serious contact with the various HR departments, and he polished up his CV and sent it to various contacts in the bank. He worked out what the market was paying in different countries and evaluated what our package was worth: in English pounds, Aussie dollars, Hong Kong dollars and a variety of other currencies.

How much money could we bank is we rented a 4 bedroom house in Hong Kong and the kids went to an international school as opposed to renting in the UK and sending them to a public school? Was it a valid comparison? Which was the more likely or more favoured option in terms of accommodation, education, employment opportunities for me, tax rates, interest rates? How do we factor in health risks in Asia such as SARs and bird flu? Was it important? How would I fare in these countries (as an asthmatic) and would I breathe easier in one country or another?

I did comprehensive allergy testing.

Where did the kids want to go? Should we consider their opinion? Or not? Was the information that they offered valid or too emotional?

How would we handle moving them to another country? How much would airfares be back to Australia? And how often would we want to go? What was the impact of ageing parents on this?

Should we ship over all of our goods that are scattered all over the world to one central location? Do we leave stuff in Australia? Should we buy or rent? What was our long term retirement plan? Which country did we think we would be living in? How long would the banker have left in a traditional corporate environment? How could he best place himself in the future? What areas of the bank were more lucrative? Growing? Declining? In demand?

If we moved what would we do with the dog? The guinea pigs? The fish?

I worked out a 76 day exit strategy and planned it all out on Entourage - I worked out how long it would take to get visas, immunisations, letters from the school. I stopped buying large jars of coffee and started purchasing itty bitty sized jars.

We ate our way through the pantry and had car boot sales culling down all sorts of odd things even though we tend to travel fairly lightly.

And now?

Some of it has been for no use at all. Some of it has been very valuable and most of it has helped in making a decision that stands up on its own two feet - in terms of the banker's long term career, in terms of the children's education and in terms of our future.

Right now though all I feel is a sense of absolutely blessed relief that this whole muddied, complicated, stressful process is behind us now. For another two or three years.

And this time I am keeping all my files, all my plans and all my inventories reasonably up t date so I can just dust them off again and do it again.

See you in 2009!