After months of sorting, packing, donating, second-guessing, and discovering that we apparently owned enough stuff to stock a small regional museum, we have begun phase two of our transition to France.
For now, that means a long road trip west with the dogs who, honestly, have handled the whole thing better than most humans would and a temporary move to Oregon while we wait for our French visas. It feels strange to be between chapters: no longer fully rooted in the life we just left, but not yet standing in the one we’re heading toward.
Leaving the house has been emotional. It held a lot of years, a lot of work, and a lot of life. But it also feels like the right time to let go and step into whatever comes next.
So here we are: a couple of humans, two dogs, a pile of paperwork, and an unreasonable number of moving parts, slowly making our way toward France.
Major stage completed! You will miss many things but if the move feels right then don’t let them become sad memories, but good ones of a chapter of life well lived.
Good luck. We moved from Portland to the NW of France 2 1/2 years ago. Any questions, please ask. And don’t be surprised if the French Douane don’t even look at any of the paperwork you may have for the fur babies. When we moved, we went from Portland to Seattle in a massive SUV and then flew direct from SEA to CDG,. It was hard to find an airline that would take 3 cats and a dog, and we had to fly direct, no layovers. We flew AF. I hope you have all the paperwork, immunizations , vet health certificates and microchips in order…. That was a lot of money for 4 animals.
Thanks for that. We have relocated to Dallas, OR near Eugene so will be making the exact journey you did. We are just now starting to put that together, with a tenative date for departure around Oct. 1st
Did you use a company to ship the animals or do it yourselves?
Very true.
Having left France for our native England after 18 years of french residence, our move feels right with great memories and no sadness.
It was indeed a chapter of our lives well lived, as the current chapter will be. Positivity in life is good for the soul.
We looked into pet relocation companies, but honestly, they were all stupefyingly expensive and didn’t seem to do very much beyond asking us for all the information anyways. So, we ended up doing it ourselves and buying IATA approved pet carriers for the trip . 4 pets were $800 each and they travelled in the hold. AF told us they only allow 4 animals per flight, as they have a special section for pets… We had to book way in advance. The pets were all traumatized by the long plane journey and took a couple of weeks to recover….
There’s a very specific set of certifications, microchips and paperwork needed before you can bring your pets, and they will check very carefully at your departure airport. So please make sure you have all of that arranged and in-order, you don’t want any more stress at the airport! The biggest issue we had was finding a vet in Portland who actually knew what they needed to do with the paperwork. As I said upthread, the arrival in CDG was a non-event, the douane didn’t want to see any paperwork and just waved us through. I’ll be keeping an eye on your updates so good luck and please ask if you have questions.
Congrats! We sold our UK house in 24 hours before we had even viewed any properties in the flesh!
Thankfully my wife loved my 1st choice and we love it to bits. Even our 17yo Yorkie gets in the pool with us
10 months later, huge new kitchen, bathrooms, floors replaced, electrics, plumbing and landscaping all done, we feel blessed, we keep pinching ourselves that this is a holiday that will never end.
Yes the paperwork is a bit crazy, but very efficient once done, healthcare is amazing and our village has welcomed us with open arms - despite our French being really poor, but slowly improving.
The locals like to try and speak English while we try to speak French so we both learn - the UK is now a distant fond memory, but we would never go back!
