Barcelona ex-pats

Our good friends Gary and Karen who live here in TCI, and have kids that go to school with ours, are also making plans to do a year in Europe. They have chosen Barcelona and have already been taking Spanish lessons (a step ahead of us for sure - I'm hoping my high school French will come back, and Toni's counting on using her little bit of Italian).

In his blog, Gary waxes poetically about their rationale to want to live some place very foreign and new, which to the casual observer may seem especially curious given they are leaving the comfort and apparent paradisiacal life of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Indeed, I could not have said it better myself. After 13 years here (many more for Gary and Karen), we could easily chock up our desire for a change of scenery to 'island fever.' But it's a bit more than that and I believe Gary and Karen share the same thirst for new frontiers and expanded horizons - and a memorable experience for our kids - that is driving us toward this tantalizing precipice of true international living

We had Sunday brunch with them today and compared notes.

Mostly we talked about leaving TCI and what all that entails - especially dealing with our respective houses. We discussed the pros and cons of short vs. long term rental and commiserated with each other over the current weak rental market for either here. We both plan on being able to do some work while we are in Europe (Gary runs a hotel company and Karen is an accountant) and agreed that internet access will be a major key. Mike and Nadine have assured us that we'll have high speed access at their house, but Gary and Karen haven't even selected a place to stay yet so are a bit nervous about that (never mind where they are going to live!). We assured ourselves that Europe is very "connected" and we'll have no problems, even if it means camping out at local Internet cafes.

We talked schools, our kids' attitudes about the move, traveling through, Europe, and when and if we will return to TCI...and the hours flew by.

It was good to bond with some friends who are going through much of the same thought process as us as we consider our move. And if everything works out, we know we'll have some fellow TCI'ers within a 4 hour drive of where we'll be.