Author: Thomas

Yesterday, we learned the USDA paperwork for our cats would arrive at the animal hospital on Tuesday. I spent the morning going back to the house, cleaning the garage and repacking the ski bag with gardening tools. Throughout the morning, I kept checking the tracking, but the paperwork remained out for delivery. Knowing our 7:30 pm flight required a 6 pm check-in, my stress mounted as the afternoon approached.

After lunch with a former colleague at the Southern Sun, I went to the animal hospital to check for the paperwork. By 1:30 pm, it hadn’t arrived, so I decided to charge my car and have an espresso. At 2 pm, I returned to wait and spent the time learning Italian. Around 3 pm, my hopes were high when a FedEx truck pulled in; however, it was only delivering packages. Growing nervous about returning our leased EV before going to the airport, I called Karina, who was packing our things at the hotel. She considered reaching out to a friend to see if they could return the car if time ran short. At 3:10 pm, another FedEx truck pulled into the parking lot across the street. I approached the driver, hoping it was our delivery, but she started to drive away. Desperate, I flagged her down and after providing all the package details she was convinced that the package was for us and retrieved it. I brought it to the vet, who confirmed everything was in order.

Relieved after securing the paperwork, I promptly returned the car to the Hyundai dealership, which took just 15 minutes. It was 4 pm by the time I got into an Uber for the ride to the airport hotel, feeling glad we were back on schedule before our evening flight.

At the hotel, we arranged luggage service for 6 pm to move our nine bags to the United check-in. When no one came by 6:05, I felt a little anxious and called. Five minutes after I called, assistance arrived, which was a relief.

Checking in took time because we had a total of nine bags, and the airline also had to verify our cats’ paperwork. Once we finally received our boarding passes and the cats’ tags, we proceeded to security. There, we requested a private screening so we could remove the cats from their carriers in a secure location and have TSA screen  the carriers. After we cleared security, we reached the boarding area about 10 minutes before departure. Karina and I were both relieved that we made it just on time. 

After living in the US for 30 years, Karina and I are starting a new chapter near Lake Maggiore in Italy.

We’ll use this site to share our experiences.

Friends from all over have asked, “How do we keep up with what you’re doing?” We’re still working out the details, but we’d rather share updates as they happen rather than send the same email over and over or let these moments slip by.

This is our first post, and there will be more from both of us. You’ll probably notice two different voices, since both Karina and Thomas will be writing here and sharing our own perspectives.

If you’ve found your way here, here are a few things to know.

• We’ll leave the US on May 19 and spend a few weeks near Munich with my parents. In early June, we plan to move to Ranco, near Lake Maggiore.
• We don’t have a set posting schedule. Some weeks might have several updates, while others could be quieter. We’ll post when we have something meaningful to share, so timing depends on what’s going on with us. If you want to check for new updates, looking once a week is a good idea.
• Comments are open, and we’d love to hear from you. But if you’d prefer to just read along, that’s fine.

We’ll share more updates soon.

Karina and Thomas