The excitement was unbearable, it's what we had been waiting for for the past 18 months, but the reality was quite different. I literally had no idea what this move would be like. Although we have been expats for 7 years, I had always been an expat in the same country. I had watched and listened and seen other people do it and always assumed that it was just part of the expat life and that's what you do. To a certain extent, it is what you do, but I hadn't taken into account that Qatar was actually my home. It was where I had lived and felt I belonged for such a long time. The actual logistics of leaving and moving was a lot different to what I thought too. This was the first time I had to move not only myself, but the little expats too.
The trip back to the UK was essentially a holiday and although we had left and cancelled visas in Qatar, it still felt like we were going back. Our container didn't come to England and we lived in a nice safe little bubble with my parents. Olly enjoyed English school, Lucy was in nursery and I was just home from home.
Then it was time, and off we went to Jakarta....
