Thanks Marta, we hope so too!

And with that ...

our Packet 3 is finally on it's way!!!

Picked up by Fedex 24 minutes ago on should arrive at the Montreal consulate tomorrow morning at 10.30am.



Agnes, I think it's really funny you always say free hugs for everyone... I charge for my hugs.

WOW - it's been awhile. I hope all is going well and I will have to catch up on the posts again. I've just been skimming but promise to catch up.

Phil is on a bus from Chicago to Madison to spend the weekend. We are going to look at a couple more houses tomorrow. Can't wait. His interview is scheduled fro April 7th and he is going to make the Bangkok trip on the 13th. He will then book a ticket to be home for good on the 19th of April. Yipppeeeeee! Also, we have set the wedding date for May 17.

Good Luck to everyone and congratulations to anyone that I need to congratulate.

Mrs. Aly - hang in there!

Deb - Welcome to America!

CBR - it'll be soon!

Moxy - awesome news for you! Great

Sounds like fun Has Dave met your family or is that going to be his first time? Is your family coming to the wedding?

We did it

What do you need to know from me?

Dave hasn't met any of my family, no (apart from a couple of cousins), so it's going to be an interesting trip!

my parents will be at the wedding, yes, along with his - they, plus Dave's son, will be the only guests
I don't know what my parents are going to do in the States, to be honest... they can't stay all that long, because both of them have an ageing parent who needs constant attention, and there won't be all that much to do with us - Dave can't get time off work, the house won't be even NEAR finished, etc etc... guess we'll muddle through

I missed Mox's news! what happened?

*goes searching*

Ahhh! I love all you guys - you make me sooo happy and I've just been reading posts with a big grin on my face!!!



"GRanny watch" Sounds so cute!! I wouldn't know how to begin looking after and maintaining a pool - I guess if we ever get one I will have to invite you over to show me!!! So nice that you can finally do normal things though



Well my mum's been on about getting a bird (budgie or cockatiel) for ages but we have my cat - as my cat will be leaving a couple of days after her birthday we are all going to chip in and get her one - I've got her OH in on it as well so he can leave it at his mum's until the big unveiling - I just know she will love it I am such a genius



Hey - no rush!! I lose track of who I have sent mail to anyway Date sounds lovely... will have to ensure we keep dating when I move!! *If* we can afford it... or maybe we'll just go for picnics in teh park or something nice... thing is I don't know all the cool places so he will have to enlighten me - it will be cool to go exploring though... maybe I can talk him into going on magical mystery tours... it will be like a mini road trip that isn't as expensive!!!



YAY!!!!!! That is *such* good news after such a long wait!! Mine went off yesterday as well - the post office was closed at lunchtime so I worked an extra 15 minutes of my lunch and left a bit early to make it to the one near where I live - sent it recorded delivery so I might see if I can track it in a minute... ohhh... I am soooo nervous!!! The interview is looming and I don't even know when it is so I can't prepare myself!! I almost hope I have an StP scenario so I don't have time to panic!!

Also - has anyone heard from babbles yet?!?!?!?!?!



Yay!! When did you get your packet 4? I'll check your timeline in a minute but just updated the spreadsheet with your interview date!! Omg - an interview - I bet you thought you would never get there!! I bet that RFE nightmare seems a million miles away now



Yay!!! Check the spreadsheet - it's all there- it's pretty much everything that goes in your timeline anyway so if you keep that up to date I can just look there It's so exciting I can't wait til I send my stuff off!!!! Ok... interview first though!!!

wow, Jeraly; you've sprinted ahead and are on your THIRD heart! I've still got only the one

Haha - I had a period of time in work where I wasn't very busy... now I am but... eh

Sorry Aly, this is a cut and paste! If you read UK Interview thread, skip to the next post.

Hi all!

Such a pain - I have tried to post here the last few days, but the page kept "hanging" as soon as I hit reply. Any ideas? This has happened a few times in the past too

Well, on monday I had my interview, and got APPROVED! Woohoo! I was convinced my lack of Austtralian police certificate was going to be a problem (very expensive phone line told me I needed one if I was there 6 months or more), but it didn't arrive in time). I had the nice chinese lady at window 1, and the American man at 15. After a few easy questions (how and when did you meet, how many times have you been to USA etc), the american man went through my dates on my gap year travelling, and said

"so, you entered Australia in October, and left in January?"
"Um, no" said I. "I left in April".
"So that's October, November..." counting on his fingers
"6 months and 10 days" I said defeatedly, waiting for him to ask for the police certificate I didn't have.
"OK, well your file is now complete, your visa is appoved, please don't forget to pay the courier."
"Thank-you!" (Tears of relief and happiness are now streaming down my face)

I then had to queue for the longest 45 minutes of my life to pay the courier, when I really wanted to leave, and call everyone!

The visa arrived two days later, on wednesday, and yesterday, thanks to Miss Toshtishtash pointing me in the right direction, I booked a one-way flight direct to JFK with Virgin for £239. Bargain! We are staying one night in Manhattan (I feel a trip to Macy's to finish our wedding registry will be in order...), and then making the 3 hr journey back to Baltimore and my lovely house and lovely cat, and I can finally see my wedding dress, which has been camping out at Marty's sister's house since it arrived. I will have 7 weeks before our wedding, which is May 31st, so Weedebz and I are date twins!

Um, life is pretty good at the moment!

Is anyone else a bit like me? I feel like I know everyone here, because I lurk ALL the time. I love to hear how everyone is getting on, I cried when I read about Aly's wedding, and I have read Weedebz's posts with glee, I am so happy her flights went well. And actually a little jealous that she got upgraded. The thing is, I very rarely post. I've come to realise it's a bit greedy! If you guys hadn't posted all that reading material, what would I have done with all these months? I am a waitress, so I get up at 11am, and before I start work at 5pm, I can usually be found at the computer. I really must make more of an effort to contribute...

Yay! That's great news!!! Haven't read the UK thread yet so I will let you off!!! Fantastic about the police certificate as well!!!

Also if anyone has any genius ideas of getting cheap flights to LAX on 30th June then that would be awesome... everything is looking so expensive right now and it makes me want to cry - especially as we will have Jeremy to pay for as well...

Cheap flights in summer? Is there such a thing??? We've been looking into a trip to England in late July, taking my 2 sons with us. griff has a return ticket already, so I checked around for me and the boys and the best I could find was $1,925, whcih actually isn't too bad, but still more that I hoped to spend. Plus it means I have to fly with the boys (10 & 13) on different flights than Griff. Ugh! Not sure about that.

On a positive note, I am very pleased to see that Audrey's man finally has an interview date! I will add him to our UK list!

Its so great to finally see all of this K1 journey coming to fruition for the July filers!!

I know! It is kinda scary though - I am really nervous now that I have sent off my packet 3 because I know the next thing I hear will be my interview date - part of me is dreading it being soon and the other part wants it to be asap - then I have to book my medical as well so I can try and get it all in one trip to London!!

And yeah - cheap flights in the summer are elusive at best... it's a nightmare

I tracked our P3 and it's at the consulate. I feel incredibly relieved to have that done. Now I just need Scott to book his medical, get his police certificate, and get a long-form birth certificate (I think it's a Canadian thing, not sure). Interview, here we come... I hope it will be in May!

Aly: I am really not a fan of Priceline, but perhaps they're worth a shot? Other than that, I'd say just watch the fares like a hawk. I did when I was planning a trip to the UK and I ended up getting tickets for late July/early August for only $450. Course, that was in 2001 and to NY, not CA. Oh and I just read about this new website, might be worth a shot to check out: www.insidetrip.com It compares lots of different variables besides just price to find the "best" flight. If you do a search for it on nytimes.com you can read the accompanying article too, which I found interesting.

How is £390 for your flight, direct lon-lax with virgin? I don't know what West Coast prices are normally like... Jeremy's would be $1250 with virgin though. Ouch...

Hehe...shows how out of things I am...*I'm* not even sure what my news was.

However...found out our interview date this morning...May 14. I feel like I should be jumping with joy or something, but I'm feeling more relieved than anything else. Just glad I can finally see the finish line from here.

well day 2 dawns. Went out for a nice chinese meal with Nick last night. Think I've managed to shift my body clock over here now so actually feels like the time it is. Currently sitting at Nick's rents place and starting to shift more stuff to the appartment this afternoon. It will be ready tomorrow but we can start moving our stuff in this afternoon between 4.30pm and 8pm so should get alot of it done. Will be spending my weekend un-packing. Will be gratful not to have to live out of my cases anymore.

Mox, that *is* really good news! I am so pleased things are moving forward! I hope time flies by for you both the next two months!

Yeah - I think we have issues with Virgin because of my cat though... I can't remember!! I need to find a flight that will let me take her into the Cabin with me during the heat embargo so that realyl helps to restrict things!! Jeremy's flight is really expensive though - I don't think we will get much better than that



YYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! That is so great!! Now you can start making plans for the flights (tentatively anyway )!! How did Nadya take it!?



Awww - I know that feeling - when we were in Hawaii it was awesome because we could put our cases away and our clothes in wardrobes and things... we'd been living out of cases for almost a week at that point and it was rather annoying!!!!!

How are you settling down? Do you still feel like you are on holiday? It must be soooo nice to be with Nick forever at long last!!! Still jealous though

Thank you! I'm hoping it goes by fast too, although the last 2 hours since I found out have seemed like 3 1/2 hours, so it's not looking good.


Thanks! Haven't told her yet, she's still at work. I'm calling her in a few hours. Kinda hoping she'll take it well.

Great news Mox on interview date.

It does still kinda feel like a holiday. Will probably feel less like that though once we are in the appartment. I'm fairly bored just now as not much to do. Nick should be home at 3 today but no idea what I'll do between now and then. We don't have internet in the appartment yet so once I'm there I'll be on here even less and have even less to do until we get that sorted. It is a really good feeling to at last be here but I know it's going to take a while before I really feel like this is home now.

Hahah - but wasn't she hoping for something a bit earlier? I think it is awesome - it means we can come up and visit!! Woohoo!!! How did you find out before her if she gets packet 4 sent to her...?!

I have just spent the last 2 hours reattaching 4 keys to my laptop. Went to the loo and came back to find the puppy eating it!

That sounds lovely Congratulations You wanna know what a bargain plane ticket I got? $200 from LAX to Dublin (That was last year )

Congrats to your interview date You might be relieved now but as the time will come closer you might start getting nervous Well maybe not you that much cuz you don´t have to go there but your other half

when I lived in London one day I went to explore...walked from Kent to the Thames Barriers...I loved it...when I think about it now, I don´t know if I would do the whole thing again alone walking through the forests alone seems kinda spooky unless there´s Robin Hood that wants to save u


I am sure you will have lotsa fun

I can´t find the spreadsheet

I am sure your adaptation Debz won´t take too long...I have been here on K1 for more than 2 months already and I definately feel like at home and settled

Oh btw...is everybody else´s marriage automatically valid in their home country? We have to do other papework for that. Already received the stamps and certificates that we need for that so will be doing some more paperwork soon Never ending paperwork for us

Do you remember EverPatient Alane&Ramzis? They are getting married tomorrow (It´s also my birthday tomorrow )

Moscow only sends one packet out. So they schedule the interview the same day they send the packet out. The beneficiary doesn't have to send anything back, they just have to bring the paperwork with them. I think it's because the postal system is so crappy in RU that too many packet 3's would just never make it.

Just got off the phone with her by the way, and she's really happy. You're right that we really wanted an earlier date (who doesn't I guess, huh?) but she wasn't disappointed. Like me, I think she's just glad to actually have a date. She said "what is temperature in June?"


Thanks! Yeah, I'm sure as it gets closer I'll get more nervous. Especially considering what happened to Kevin and Natasha. Not sure if you guys know, but after her visa was approved, it went into some kind of administrative review for 2 weeks. At one point Kevin thought he was going to have to go back to the states by himself and try to figure out why the consulate were holding on to the visas (the consulate was completely uncooperative in explaining what was going on), and then all of a sudden the passports just showed up at DHL. It's stories like his that make me nervous, and it really does underscore the importance of not buying airline tickets until after the visa is physically in hand.

Yeah I guess it will - it must be weirder though because Nick isn't around in the day as well but it must be nice to finally be able to snuggle up together at night and know that it isn't just one day closer to being apart



Marta - how the hell did you get such a good deal?!?!?!? I would LOVE that price



Check my siggie



I don't know how it works in terms of being a valid marriage in our home country - I don't even know how I would check!!

I am SO glad to hear about Alane and Ramzis - they were waiting SO long and I am really happy for them Oh - and happy birthday for tomorrow!!!



Haha - good girl - she has her priorities right!! I am sure the temperature up there will be nicer than where I am

Did Kevin make it back with Natasha and Vika in the end? I know he was going to wait but Natasha was saying he should go back anyway...

That one was US Airways


I did Multiple times But I only saw the K1 spreadsheet

Well I guess you better check You don´t wanna be married in USA and single in UK Besides they won´t give you your UK stuff (passport, ID or whatever you have) in your new name if they won´t recognize your marriage there too...

I'm not even sure where I would find out... any other UK-ers know? *watches them lurking...*

PERFECTLY put, Aly

weird to think I've gotten so maudlin in my old age, but that's pretty much all I want

I don't think they've left Moscow yet, but if I understand his last post correctly they will all be traveling back together after all. It was a complete day and night situation. One day he was going to have to fly back by himself and send the ladies back home until the visa situation could be sorted out, and then the next day the visas were delivered. It had to have been a horrible, gut-wrenching situation, but I do believe they'll all be flying home together. Talk about your happy endings.


That...and pie...and you've pretty much nailed my goal in life too.

Ahhh - I'm not much of a pie lover.... I found out I *love* Kalua pig though when I was in Hawaii... Mmmmm

In fact when I move over and we have ourselves settled a bit, we are going to have a house warming luau

Dave's second favourite thing in life is Boston Cream Pie

what IS it with you blokes?

It's a guy thing I'm pretty sure. Or at least a 'merkin guy thing. And yeah..."second favourite" goes without saying.

A guy thing for sure, but not necessarily American. Griff loves Lemon Meringue Pie.

too right it goes without saying!! his first favourite thing is me

You might be disappointed then to find out he has a zeroth favorite thing.

*fingers in ears*

lalalaaaaa, I can't hear you

you all make me laugh.

And want pie. It's not just a guy thing ya know.

his favorite thing is mozarella cheese. my favorite thing is lindt chocolate.
we really like food.

Hi guys!! Just having a quick read over stuff I missed. I got approved by the way! YAY!
Mox, congrats on the interview date. So pleased to see things moving forward for you. What happened with KG?? Glad to see whatever it was resolved anyway.

Debz...congrats on making it over to the US safely! So pleased to see you are settling in well. Must be good to be back with Nick again.

Congratulations on your approval babblesgirl Want some pie?

Thank you, and CONGRATS to you too!!!!!!

Short story is that KG ran into a bureaucratic snag shortly after they approved her visa. He spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out what was going on (he's in Moscow with them), and was looking at having to go home without the ladies. Then at the last minute their visas showed up at DHL. I'm sure when he gets back he'll elaborate more, but that's it in a nutshell. A harrowing story, but with a happy ending.

Marty is a chef, and his favourite food is pizza (kind of a pie isn't it?). I work in a restaurant with Key Lime Pie on the menu. It is goooood. Sometimes we ring one through "by mistake" and then we have to eat it...

oh ... key lime is my *favorite*.

i want some now!

and yes, pizza counts too. i love it when people say "pizza pie".