Most of our readers probably know that we just started a new adventure. But in for everyone who doesn’t I (Sander) got a new job opportunity within Siemens which happens to be an opportunity in Canada, Toronto to be a bit more precise. And on the 23rd of September we catched a plane towards Canada for the start of the adventure.

A lot has happened over the last months before we left Germany: we found a new tenant for our apartment, sold our furniture, sold our car, cleaned out our stuff, had some over stuff sold by my sister, threw stuff away, went on a goodbye trip to the Netherlands and more. We also said goodbye to our friends and colleagues here in Germany which were a very important part of the 6 amazing years which we lived in Germany so far. We really enjoyed the party and the diners we had the last week in Altdorf as much as we did living here.

On thursday the 18th of September the moving company came to Altdorf to pack our belongings into a sea container. They arrived early in the morning and in the afternoon everything was packaged, put into boxes and loaded into the container which was sealed on the spot and send towards Canada. If everything goes well we’ll see the container back in Toronto in 4-6 weeks.

That night and the night after we slept in the Holiday Inn Express in Schwabach because it was the only affordable option for a hotel (there was a fair in Nürnberg which means high hotel prices). That 2 days we finished some things in our apartment and had a goodbye brunch with our neighbors and a nice bbq dish at our friends.

The saturday we started in Altdorf finalizing the last things in the apartment (throwing a way garbage, getting some laundry) and had a last FaceTime call from German ground with little nephew Jop! We also moved to the Holiday Inn City Center hotel to spend the last days in Nürnberg which was a bit more convenient for us and we didn’t need the rental car anymore.

On sunday the 20th we handed over the key. Late that afternoon my mother & Ronald arrived in Nürnberg to spent the last 2 days with us in Nürnberg. After having dinner at O-Sha, a Thai restaurant, we went back to our hotel to enjoy some drinks in the bar.

Danielle used the very last day in Germany for a visit to the hairdresser so she can look for a new one without being in a hurry when we are abroad. In the meantime I checked us in for our flights from Nürnberg to Amsterdam & Amsterdam to Toronto and we got a cheap upgrade to business class for the flight from Amsterdam to Toronto.

On Tuesday 4:30 in the morning we took a taxi together with my mother and her friend o the Airport Nürnberg. After waving goodbye it was time to go through customs and visit the lounge.

From here we took the first plane towards Amsterdam where we had a short lay-over before we took the last plane of this trip towards Toronto Pearson International Airport.


The business class flight was amazing, we both slept, saw some movies and had great food and lots of drinks before we arrived in Toronto.

After we left the plane we rushed towards customs where there was a short line. After 15 minutes we entered the immigration office and without any questions asked and paying the necessary fee we both got our working permit. Our suitcases were already on the baggage belt when we arrived there.

Only 20 minutes later we left the airport in a Dodge Journey towards the Holiday Inn at Yorkdale. The afternoon we filled with dropping of my company laptop to get my new one prepared, get my Canadian company phone number, chat with some of my colleagues and we went to the bank to apply for credit cards and get the right bank account.

Then we went back to the hotel where we could join the loyalty event which meant free dinner and drinks for members. And after dinner we got Danielle her Canadian cellphone account setup with Rogers.

And now we are watching the seasons premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in our hotel room.

I think we can say that we had a long and busy day but we already achieved some important things. I hope tomorrow will be equally good…