Our move to America from the UK

Green Card Application

Live and Work in the USA!

Help finance your move

Preparing for the move to America

How it all started and the hoops we needed to jump through

Getting our Visas for America

Just in time!?

Useful links

To help move to America

A scouting visit to introduce the family

Where will we live?

Before we could move out the family needed to be introduced to America and especially the New York and south Connecticut region.

I had visited many, many times but apart from one short visit by Yvonne, the family had no idea what to expect.

So we had a great weeks holiday and scouting visit.

We started with two nights in New York itself.including an excelent day on Liberty Island. There was a long queue for the ferry but an excellent ride and the Statue was an amazing sight, the girls had great fun too.

We drove up to Danbury CT via Norwalk as we wanted to check out the college. Although we checked out many regions we settled on Wilton and Ridgefield and hoped to find a house near here.

Green card by Marriage

Sponsored link - Assistance with the interview

How to Live in New York

An Insiders Guide to Life in the Big Apple

Taking our dog, Billy, to America

Really restricting our move!

Billy is a Jack Russel cross with something like a collie, we reckon.
A perfect pet indoors although a bit of an unsociable beast outside.

Still, he is our responsibility and must come with us to America.

It is greatly restricting our choice of houses to rent as well as stopping us staying in a hotel for the first few days.

We have had to prepare him by having vaccinations and obtaining a pet passport.

We have also contacted AirPets to arrange for him to go on the plane with us only in an AirKennel in the hold.

~~~~~

Well you will be glad to hear he travelled over well and is enjoying the New England woodland and new smells.

There was a 3 hour wait at the airport to get him out of customs but he was very good.

It cost us 1000 GBP for the airfare and lots of vet bills to get the Pet Passport,

He loves the walks around the lake and keeps us fit and gets us into the fresh air.

To see more about The Jack Russell, looking after dogs, training etc then please visit:

The Jack Russell Site

Furniture Removal from Portsmouth Uk to Ridgefield Connecticut

Cutting down to fit the budget

The 18th Birthday Saga - finding a hall for the party

Where does everybody else hold their 18th birthday party?

The move to America coincides with the eldest daughters 18th birthday.

Has anyone else had to arrange an 18th? Did you find any where that would do it?

I can only imagine that everey hall and event facility has had a bad experience of 18th birthday parties as we scoured the whole of Portsmouth for weeks for somewhere to hold the party with no luck.

We started with grand visions of weird and wonderful function rooms like the Spinaker Tower and boat hires - but were soon reduced to pleading for absolutely anywhere as we discovered that everyone was worried about being trashed or even worse, losing their licence due to under age drinkers.

Finally, finally we found somewhere even if, however, it was a full week before the birthday so she would not be able to drink!

We are very grateful to this hall which actually turned out to be reasonably priced and provide bouncers and a recommended Disco DJ (do they still call them that?).

First couple of weeks after our move to America from the UK

How to live without a Social Security Number

Our first 4 months in America

Settling into our new life in Connecticut

We arrived in New York on the 4th of August and its now the 4th of December - so its a kind of anniversary of our move to America from the UK.

I can simply describe this first period as a roller coaster of highs and lows.

As I am sure you can image the first few weeks have the feel of an extended holiday. It was hot and sunny and we were invited out by several people onto their boats. We are living by a lake that has a private beach and the girls went down there during the day.
The 'holiday hotel' (our rental property) was somewhat lacking though.

Because we didnt have a social security number we could not get TV, Phone or Internet. And the UK phone had little reception so we felt quite cut off.
We also kept running out of water.
Most properties are pretty self sufficient with cess-pit and their own well.
It would take a deep well to supply enough water in the morning for our gang.

We were finally able to lease a car.
It wasnt possible until the SSN but even then the leasing company insisted we had a Connecticut Driving Licence.
They argued with the Department of Motor Vehicles but finally agreed that I only needed a Connecticut ID.
We now have a Subaru Legacy which is a very nice drive and all wheel drive for the coming winter.

We opened a bank account at the local HSBC just a couple of days after arriving but it took 3 Months (!) to get fully up and running.
They just kept asking us for more and more proof of identity and then we had confusion over the setup of internet banking.

One thing we are amazed at is that Nowhere can you change money! The UK has immediate change facilities in every town and village and every hotel and travel agent. Absolutely nowhere in Connecticut. The bank could do it but they have to send the money away and it would take ages. Weird.

It was Kathryns 14th Birthday in November. We had a great surprise (well almost) party and then went to the top of the Empire State Building. That all actually went very well - but see separate entry for details...

And, of course, we had our first Thanksgiving.
A friend suggested joining his family at the Plimoth Plantation - which is where the original English colonists arrived and built the first village. We had a great time at the traditional Harvest meal and going round the English and Native American villages.

Finding a church in America

From Anglican to US Pentecostal

One thing that was important to us in our move to America was finding a good church we could call home.

We were attending a great church in Hampshire in the UK.

The family had some fun 'church crawling' around the local churches in Ridgefield, CT.
The churches were all quite friendly - and most of them had excellent cake!

But they were a little quiet for us.

We had seen many of the big churches on TV and were hoping for a taste of the amazing quality of the worship and preaching we had seen.
(Of course some of the stuff we had seen was awful - but there are several excellent examples too.)

Anyway we eventually extended our scope and found a church in New Milford called 'Faith Church'.

The Faith Church Website

We all warmed immediately to the Pastor - Frank Santora - who is completely open, honest, professional and personal and gives excellent profound (and funny) sermons.

We are extremely pleased with finding this church which has a regular Sunday attendance of about 1500 people in the various services through the day.

He has recently written a book, 'Turn it around' , which is an inspiring book full of hope.
Through this book he is appearing on TV and radio.

You can hear his sermons on the church website. Well worth a listen.

May 2011 - They have opened a new church much nearer to us at 'The Matrix' in Danbury. A friendly and welcoming place with a nice lunch afterwards!

Inspired in America

I finally wrote a book!

I don't know how many times I have started writing a book and not got past about 4 chapters - but my time in America inspired me to get on with it and complete it.

America is a non-nonsense country overall and this does encourage a mentality of 'go on then'.
Or perhaps it was Obama's call 'yes we can'.

So here is my first book - investigating the essence of life.
Many people dream of living forever by transferring into a younger body. But how do you think you and the people around you will react ?
Click here for a free preview:

Sum of Memories in paperback at Lulu


It is now also available as a download!
So if you prefer to read on your laptop or have a Kindle type book reader then this is for you!

Sum of Memories for download

I have already learned a lot from writing this and I know for sure now I can write more books.
I will learn from each individual experience but I hope that each one will pass on a little (or a lot!) of the enjoyment I have in writing them.

You can publish your book on Lulu too! Come to:

Come and create your book on Lulu

Getting a work permit for America

Visas, forms and greencards

Kathryns 14th Birthday

Kathryns first American Birthday

Hey, Kat is 14.

We had a party at our house the evening before and then on the day went off to New York City for a meal and a trip up to the top of the Empire State Building.

The gang that came to the house were typical teenagers and pretty hyper but actually well behaved. They actually made up party games out on the grass in the dark.

The Empire State Building is well worth a trip. The views are incredible.

Thanksgiving at Plimoth Plantation

Our first Thanksgiving and at the place it all started

We were invited to spend Thanksgiving in Plimoth.

This is where the first colonists arrived and built the first 'English Village'.

The site has an excellent centre with an authentic reconstruction of the original village inhabited by actors playing characters from the time. There is also a Native American village with real members of the local Indian Nation showing how they dressed and lived 400 years ago.

The main fact I learned that shocked me was that the vast majority of the population were wiped out by our European diseases.
Dreadful.

We had a great time including a 400 year old traditional Harvest meal at the center and then a contemporary Thanksgiving dinner at a local hotel.

Social Security Number Form

Application for a social security number card

Fall (Autumn) in New England

Beauty and hard work in Connecticut

There is no doubt that the colours are much more vivid and even florescent in New England.

Its hard to describe but there are more bright reds and golds than we have ever seen in the English countryside.

You have about 3 or 4 weeks of gasps when you turn a corner in the road....

and then you spend every weekend for the next 4 weeks raking up the blooming things!

Update Oct 2011: Some amazing colors again this year but it did not last long here in Fairfield county. The tree pictured above lost its leaves before it was able to shine.

Casino Action

The first real snow fall

Winter has started

The snow came pretty suddenly and we woke up to a beautiful foot thick layer of untouched covering.

Amazing to look at ... but school was cancelled and I still had to get to work.

No more raking of leaves but the morning and evening exercise is now shoveling snow!

Update 2011: Lots more snow this year. Yesterday got down to minus 10 F (-25 C). Ultra freezing.

3rd April - all the snow has gone! Still a chill in the air but now very spring like. Gosh I found the winter a little depressing!

Snow from December to March and everyone saying it was one of the worst winters they have seen in years.
Got up to 73 degrees yesterday (18th March) but still a few piles of snow around.

At least all the ice has gone and life is beginning to come back to normal.

Getting cars and driving in America

As with everything else since we arrived in America in August 2009, getting cars and driving has been extremely difficult.
We started by having to keep a hire car for several weeks due to only being able to lease or buy a car if you have a Social Security Number.

Then we had the stupid argument between the Leasing company (Subaru) and the Department of Motor Vehicles over whether I had to have a Connecticut driving license to lease a car. Subaru said you did and the DMV said you didn't.
Finally it came down to me just needing a Connecticut Non-Driver ID to get the lease (paradoxically!).

Getting insurance was painful too. No US driving license and no credit cards and no insurance history.
So we ended up paying nearly $2000 for just six months!!! We were paying just $1000 for a whole year in the UK.

Anyway at least we were finally able to have our own car and give back the hire car. Phew.

This Subaru has been wonderful. I tell you, I was a bit anxious about the approaching winter. I had an bad experience the winter before when I visited on a business trip and had to be rescued by the company president and production director.
However, we had several occasions during the winter when the fresh snow was several inches thick and the snowploughs were yet to get to it - and the Subaru Legacy just did not care. We had incredible grip whatever the conditions.

Of course when we leased it we said - 15,000 miles per year. After just 7 months we were at 12,000 and we had only been on one small road trip. Just lots of little taxi runs to the school and college.

So we were forced to get a second car.

Thankfully for us (not for Toyota) there were some great deals around.
We went to Toyota and drove off with a brand new car for nothing down and nothing for the first month! We drive it for a full month without paying a single dollar.
Its a great little Scion TC. Very nice to drive although it is a womans car. (Dare I say!) I only say that because it is small inside and looks 'pretty'. It has 2.5 litres of quite powerful engine and gets driven gently at 25mph most of the time. But I am only average height and my head touches the ceiling unless I lean the seat back.

Of course what we didn't plan for was Charlotte passing her test! Wahoo.
However at 18 the insurance is even more ridiculous.
We had quotes of $1000 per MONTH.

We finally found one for $400 per month (ugghh) and so a total of $1400 per month just for the cars!!
Makes me feel ill just thinking about it.

Bernard's Restaurant and Sarah's Wine Bar

Review of the Ridgefield, Connecticut Restaurant

In August 2009 we relocated as a family from England to Ridgefield in Connecticut. One of our families great pleasures especially at the weekend is to go out to a good restaurant for a meal and so one of our first tasks was to try all the local restaurants. Although we found that most of the food is of quite reasonable quality and value for money, the majority of eating establishments are providing the same food from a very limited menu of fried chicken, burgers and steak. This must be what some survey decided was what every American family wants.

Each member of our family have different tastes and we were looking for somewhere where we could enjoy a variety of food in a good atmosphere that made the event a special occasion. We have found this at Bernard's Restaurant.

The food is excellently prepared and presented and the friendly staff make us feel special and very welcome. It is, of course, more expensive than the diners and steak houses that most people frequent - but if you are looking for an evening to remember in every visit then this is well worth the extra cost.

More than this though, is that sometimes we are just looking for somewhere to sit and drink with smaller meal to relax in the evening after a hard week at work. The upper floor at Bernards is Sarah's Wine Bar. Here we have discovered a place where we can relax back with a large glass of Merlot and listen to gentle and soulful live music. We still have the benefit of the quality of the food from Bernard's Restaurant as it is prepared by the same staff in the same kitchen.

The restaurant website is: Bernards Restaurant and Sarah's Wine Bar in Ridgefield

If you are in the area then I could not recommend this establishment more highly.

What do Americans do at the weekends?

Work hard and play hard

We have been in America for nearly 10 months now and so have seen the local tribes at play at the weekends.

As you may have read above, certain times of the year don't leave much time for play.

Autumn (oops Fall) is time to rake up those leaves!
Winter time then clear away all that snow!

Well not quite. When there is snow there is Skiing and Sledging.
The family had a good go at getting freezing cold and thrown off sledges down slopes. I am far too sensible for that - but they seemed to enjoy it!

The lakes froze over so there was some BBQs on the ice. And ice fishing. But there were stories of people falling through the ice (not in our lake I might add) - so another thing to leave to the locals.

Its Spring at the moment and the temperatures are going up. 93F already which is near 90 degrees higher than it was in the winter.
The weather is much more extreme her than in England - which makes it fun actually.
I believe England benefits from the warm ocean currents - which basically means it rains a lot!

Spring is time to get out the boats on the lakes. The bigger the lake then the bigger the boat.
Don't get wet just yet though as the water is freezing!

Football; Softball and basketball. Even Lacross which was a little surprising. And some soccer.
Golf too.

Summer is lazy weekends on the water and in the water. Picnics; Jet skis and rubber rings.

Summer is really play time. It gets incredibly hot and there are many more sunny days than England.

England vs America Soccer (Football)

Oooooohh dear

England versus America in South Africa. 12th June 2010.

A good game overall with America playing very well.

England won and then lost the game. A great goal for England in the first 4 minutes and then a dreadful loose ball with the goalie catching the ball and then dropping it such that it ran over the line.

We enjoyed it even if we can't go into work with the expected 'easy...easy...!'

Next time...

The American early start

Still not used to it

The Tag Sale

Americas sub-economy

Columbus Day

The man who discovered America - right?

Most people think of Columbus sailing across the Atlantic and accidentally hitting America and opening up trade links.
(I did)

Perhaps the truth is weirder than the myth.

Did you know that the Vikings and possibly Irish fishermen got there well before Columbus?
Did you know he never set foot on North America? That he was a tyrant? That he is responsible for hundreds of years of slave trade?
That he started the genocide of most of the native nations?

Read: Columbus Day - Celebration of Myth, Torture and Genocide

Buying a house in America

A non-immigrant, non-resident attempt to purchase

What do we miss from England?

It is hard to pin down what we miss from England but the picture is beginning to get clearer.

Of course we miss our family and friends. We were not good at visiting before but it was only an hour or two on the road when we wanted to.

So looking at life in America there have been a few things that have come up regularly.

The first is the kind of social life in England. England is much more like the European model of meeting people in town or at village centres in the evening. The services are much closer together than in the USA and so people walk more and bump into each other more.
Americans are either in their house or their car. Everything here is spread out so walking is less of an option - so you have to plan every meeting.

American towns tend to be pretty quiet in the evening. No masses of people just wandering for the sake of it.

So walking down to services is another thing we miss. Just walk out of your house to the local store or one of the three pubs or Indian restaurants or Chinese or just to the little local Post Office. Most homes have something nearby.

Yes the pubs. Where in America can you walk to a homely place just for a quiet drink? Play cards or a board game (without sport blasting into your ears). Sit in a beer garden and watch the kids play on the swings?
A bar just isn't the same - there is always sport and food. Pubs sometimes do 'the big game' but often don't do food! Oh my goodness eh?

Back to walking... when we visited England last I walked across fields and valleys on the South Downs. We have thousands of foot paths across land due to the 'right of way' laws. Just walk out for 10 miles and see beautiful countryside.
Americans dont walk, generally, but it must be partly due to having to drive 100 miles to find somewhere you are allowed to walk. Unless you want to walk the roads which just is not the same.

Community. Let me say clearly that we have been overwhelmed to find that Americans are very friendly and welcoming - but it is a country full of individuals. Maybe we need to live here for longer to find community but every meeting is specific and arranged and at the house, hmm its hard to describe the feeling. English towns and villages have a warmer feeling of people living together. American towns tend to be cold spread out places to drive to and then drive on past.

More as we discover the life further....

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