The Greatest Adventure of Our Lives: Pre-Departure

This whole crazy idea began in April 2014. At the time we were working for the US Geologic Survey in Santa Cruz, and had grandiose plans for the future in graduate school. Perhaps a little naïve, we assumed that applying to PhD programs in America with our current qualifications would be a simple measure. When it came down to it, we didn't find the opportunities we were looking for, and other (at the time unforeseen) doors would soon open up a pathway to a much more grand adventure. At the USGS, I had subscribed to a coastal scientist email group, at the behest of some of my superiors, to stay updated on new developments in the community. This email list would frequently pass around new research ideas, technological developments, a scientist asking for paper reviews, and the odd job listing. Most of the time I didn't think much of these emails, as they served mainly to take up the space between when I arrived at work and when I actually wanted to begin working. Lo and behold, one day came along where the email subject header caught my attention: Subject: [Coastal_list] Funded PhD opportunity in at the University of Waikato, New Zealand

I suppose it was on a whim that I sent off that inquiry email. With American PhD opportunities at my choice schools dwindling, there was nothing to lose by following a pipe dream of moving to New Zealand... a land that, to my knowledge, is known for its incomparable beauty, it's quantity of sheep, and the friendliness of it's people. Other than that, I had little else to go on. No matter, a fully funded PhD program is what I wanted to find, much less one that would take me to the other (conceivable) end of the Earth. This program promised not only a stay in New Zealand, but the opportunity to conduct research in the south of Vietnam in the Mekong Delta. Wow, what a deal!

Weeks later, I received an email congratulating me on my acceptance to the program. What a rush! Despite being excited about the program and the location, I must confess I had no idea what difficulties we would have to endure to even get to the country, which is what this post is really about. True, a lot of the requirements were spelled out online by the New Zealand immigration office, but in between those instructions lay a host of pitfalls in governmental bureaucracy, forms in triplicate, doctor's appointments and the US Postal Service.

When applying for a foreign visa, the process is fairly simple. If you're traveling to a country for a short period of time, the applicant needs to fill out a few forms and send their passports off to the nearest consulate for a nominal fee. Travelers with the intent to stay over 12 months require a number of authenticated forms, plus a full medical exam, plus a qualification of good character, called a criminal history report. Francesca and I, knowing the urgency of our departure, set about getting together all of the forms. It didn't take long to fill out the visa applications and print out all of the other official documents the University had sent, but it did take quite a lot of time getting the medical examinations and the criminal history report. Between the two of us, we probably went back into the doctor's office 7 or 8 times... once to explain to the general practitioner what we were trying to achieve, twice to get a basic physical, thrice to get blood work and xrays, back again to get forms signed off by doctors and doctor's assistants, and a few other times for travel immunizations.

To complicate things, we had heard nothing about the official request form we had sent off to the FBI in early May... now in late June. Given that our departure time was slated for mid-August, we had to find a way to expedite those forms. Multiple calls to the FBI help center gave little indication of whether or not the forms would be on the way. Eventually, one of us did hear that they had sent the forms, only to find out after a few frustrating weeks of daily mailbox checks that these forms had been lost in the mail. With time running short, Francesca worked some magic with one of the FBI's customer service personnel, and had our forms expedited via overnight FedEX. Phew. In total, it took about 10.5 weeks for the criminal history reports to be returned to us, and by the time we received them, we had only another three weeks until our departure date.

Fortunately for us, the New Zealand Visa Application Center had significantly better customer service than our federal government did. Upon receiving our overnighted application, they swiftly sent us emails asking for more information. Considering that Francesca would be traveling with me under the legality of my acceptance to a foreign university, we had to provide some (further) concrete evidence that we were indeed a loving couple, and to dispel any ideas that I might be attempting to smuggle her into New Zealand. Fortunately for us, a rather complete record of our Facebook profiles seemed to do the trick.

A few days later, we had our New Zealand visas (and I my Vietnamese visa as well) in hand, and set about making the final preparations for our departure. I'll forego describing packing, and moving. Suffice to say, it was really sad seeing all of our worldly belongings steadily disappear out of our room. The excitement of the trip to come, now more palpable than ever, was competing the anxiety that comes with moving, exacerbated by the fact that we knew it was going to take us away from all of our friends and family. We took some time after finishing our jobs to see as many people as we could before our departure. I'm impressed at all those we did get to see in the end- it really showed us the great group of friends and family we're blessed to be a part of.

After many, many goodbyes, we spent one last day at the Francesca's dad's before being driven to the airport. The moment of stepping out onto the sidewalk surrounded by a huge amount of luggage- all that our most valued belongings had been reduced into- felt, oddly enough, a little calm. At this point, all of the labor directed at getting us to New Zealand had been completed, and we were finally ready to leave. Our friends, Rory and Sarah, met us at the international terminal for one last goodbye, which was really sweet. We gave them long hugs at the gateway to security, and left teary-eyed into the portal. The combination of nerves, anxiety and excitement melted together into a mental cocktail of giddiness... and we were off, on the greatest adventure of our lives.