The Flaw is Exposed

We have reached the end of our scheduled US trip.

The plan was to continue the adventure by flying from here to New Zealand where I have a job lined up for the next year.  Said job is in the process of finding us housing and a car, we have packed everything we need for the next year, we all have passports (even Pax).  And I have my work visa, I'm all set.  But Benjamin and the kids do not have their visas.

Today we learned that Benjamin's visa has been flagged for medical review.  We are told this process can add 30-60 days to the application process.  My job orientation starts in 18 days.  The kids visas are tied to Benjamin's.  Did I mention that Pax is exclusively breast-fed?  It's very possible that we will need to split up.

It's like the gods heard my prayers for alone time and decided to call my bluff.

There are a million unknown variables that make it impossible to make a reasonable plan.  It could very well be the case that it would be more fiscally responsible to fly back to Maryland to await visas, but we can't know that unless we know exactly how long this may take, which no one can tell us.

We're looking into getting Pax's visa linked to mine rather than Benjamin's so that at least she and I can stay together (and so Benjamin doesn't have to fly 19 hours alone with both children). The bottom line is that it is out of our hands.

So for the time being we are staying in the general vicinity of LAX and waiting for good news.  Money continues to flow through our fingers like water the same way it did when we were officially on vacation since we continue to require housing, food, and a rental car.  This is slightly more stressful when there is no definitive end in sight of this level of spending.  Extending our US stay into June also means another full month of health insurance premiums.

But really, we are doing ok.  And as we keep reminding ourselves - money exists to finance experiences.  You can't take it with you, etc.  Plus, once I return to a US job I will never have this much time off again in my life.

So for now, we are going to keep this party train rolling.  It will just be rolling a bit more spontaneously.  Stay tuned.