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Heidi and I took a road trip on Saturday (mind you in an amazing rental.. but that is another story) and we are now the holders of authorised Nexus cards from the combined US Customs and Immigration Service and Canadian Border Patrol. For the low low price of $50 for 5 years (so really $10 a year) we get the fun of being able to quickly and easily go across the border between Canada and the USA.

Now we don’t often go up to Canada so why would we bother spending the $$$ to get quick access to the Northern part of the Commonwealth… ay? Well because for $50 you get Global Entry and also TSA Pre Check. Both of those things are the real reason to buy Nexus. Because Precheck is $85 and Global Entry is $100 so for half the price you get all three. WINNING!

We were so happy to be doing Nexus and saving money, but what they don’t explain to you is that any time you need to make an update (address, jobs, updates to your passports etc) you need to go back to a Nexus enrollment center to do that. *sigh*. They won’t allow it to be just done online, you need to go back to the physical location. That would be ok if we lived closer, or if Boeing Field and more than 1 pair of officers (Nexus center staff work in pairs, 1 american & 1 Canadian.. ay). So we could wait all day and hope that we could get it done at Boeing Field, but there’s no guarantee for that. Instead we will need to drive up north to Blaine to get the paperwork done there, because they always have staff dedicated to changes.

But it is a small price to pay for being able to clear security quickly and easily, the way it used to be. If only you didn’t need to pay for this privilege, then it would be ok. But that is the world we live in today. Guess we could always go up to Vancouver for the day right?

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Today is closing day!! All the paperwork has been signed, all the forms initialled, dated and then signed some more. It has taken us a couple of months, shorter than I expected, but we now are home owners (or as I like to call it, long term financially restricted.

The new house is pretty great, we are both very happy. I can’t wait to get in there (even though we have to wait a couple of months) but it will also mean a big part of my life continues on here. Living here in the USA is now a big part of my life, the longer I am here, the more I do over here, the less that keeps me wanting to return to Australia (although Trump as President could be one). Life over here is now normal for me, and each and every day I am away from Australia, the less I continue to miss it.

I do miss my family and friends, but I guess that is something that will never go away. Being separated from them gets a little bit easier, but there are always times where I get a little bit home sick. It is tough being an expat, even tougher being separated from your old life 100%. I guess only time can tell how long that will last.

While today is a day full of good news, it makes me think back to my old life, to the way things used to be. I am not sure if this is a new beginning, or an end.