We're Moving To...

I wrote this post ages ago when I thought signing the contract was imminent but here we are, almost into August and Joe has not received a contract to sign despite signing the offer of employment and actually being there and working the last 2 weeks!  I've been holding off telling anyone where we're moving until it was official because who knows what can happen.  So it's not officially official but Joe has started the job, Jasper is enrolled in nursery school and we're working on flights over in a couple of weeks. So I might as well put it out there.

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We have lived in Norway for four years. FOUR YEARS! I have not lived in one place this long since my childhood home. While every expatriation has it's ups and downs, both Joe and I can say it has been a wonderful, easy stay in this beautiful country.  We have really loved living here but we have also known that we needed to move on and we've been preparing to do so over the last year.

Those of you that follow me on Instagram have likely heard about the imminent move and all of the uncertainty of the last six months but for those in the dark the short story is a terrible economy has resulted in a real lack of positions all over the world and Joe's contract coming to an end in the midst of it was unfortunate, to say the least.  A few potential opportunities came up but fell through for this or that reason and there were times where we thought we might actually be moving home without a job. Time ticked away, our apartment was rented to someone else for July 1, our visas were running out and we still were uncertain about our future.

Now, with less than 2 weeks to go, I think a decision has finally been made.  It's going to be a huge change for us and despite being well practiced in expatriation, I'm feeling more nervous about this one.  Perhaps because we are tackling it with a toddler or maybe it's the last six months of stress wearing me thin but I am cautiously optimistic about the move.

Four years ago, I announced our move to Norway on this blog but not before making you all guess where we were headed.  I figured I'd carry on the tradition.

Our new home city...

**is one of the most expensive cities to live in in the world (I guess we like to hover at the top of this list.)**

**is on a continent we have never called home.**

**frequently records temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius.**

**is a capital city & home to 1.5 million people.**

**is an island, or rather, a collection of islands.**

**is home to the world's largest carpet, the world's fastest rollercoaster & the world's most expensive hotel.**

**is on the Formula 1 circuit.**

Can you guess where we're going? Bonus points for those who don't use Google. I'll confirm or deny in a couple of days.