We're moving to India!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

:eek:

My wife took on a new role at her firm that will be based in Bangalore, so we’re moving there! Of course, I have no idea when, given the current global weirdness, but that’s the plan. I’m actually really excited. We’ve made numerous trips there in the past, and we have a number of friends there (probably more than we have here in Miami). We will likely be tin Bangalore for 3-4 years, which will take my wife to her mandatory retirement date. Her firm has a pretty good relocation office, so while there will be a lot of moving parts to this, I feel like we’ve got some good resources at our disposal. The firm will fly us back home twice a year, and I suspect I’ll be back more often than that.

We’re both in our mid-50s, and while we’ve never lived overseas before, we’re both kind of adventurous in this way. “Why not,” was what we both said. Our girls are grown and out on their own, it’s a great opportunity for my wife, we’ll have a chance to experience a completely new place, and we’ll for sure have some tales to tell.

We’re both SCUBA divers, so one of the things I’m looking forward to is being so much closer to great Asian diving. Maldives, Thailand, Andaman Islands…all kinds of places I’ve wanted to go but we didn’t have the time to travel to.

I’ll be the non-working spouse (although, I prefer the title, “Chief of Staff” :D) so I’ll handle all of the day-to-day stuff. When I’m not doing that job, I plan to take some cooking lessons, some Kannada classes, and start doing whatever e-learning and training I can do to get my Divemaster certification, and eventually my instructor cert.

So, I am certain I will have many more posts in IMHO looking for advice as to how to move and live overseas (and keep our house here), but for now I’m just super-stoked to be starting this new phase of our lives for a few years. I just wish I could get moving on everything right now.

2

What a great opportunity!

I see you are looking forward to traveling to other nearby countries (Don’t miss Pagan, Myanmar (Burma), but there are some places you should see that aren’t too far from Bengaluru (Bangalore). Ellora Caves and the ruins of Hampi to your North, the hill station Ooty to the southwest is (a great place to escape the heat) and the the temple complex in Madarai to your south are all must see places.

Had a great time diving at Umma Gumma Reef when I was in Goa to your north west.

3

Oh, Calcutta! :eek:

4

:rolleyes:Watch out for the Torpedoes!

5

Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!

6

don’t drink the water

7

Bangalore is pretty good as far as India is concerned. My company has locations in Chennai and Sanand, and they’d have to pay me a heck of a lot more to consider anything there (and keep in mind they were already paying me a lot to live in China).

Bangaluru is where I had the best microbrew in Asia, and the best Lebanese food. I’d take a job there pretty readily. Everywhere else I’ve spent time, yeah, not going to happen.

You guys are brave. Good luck.

8

Ooty has definitely been on the list of places to visit. I don’t think I’d seen anything regarding your other recommendations, but I’ll definitely look into them. A few years ago we spent a long weekend in the hills outside Coorg and it was stunningly beautiful. I think in most peoples’ minds India is nothing but densely packed cities, but there really are some gorgeous landscapes to experience.

And, for sure, Goa will be another weekend trip. I’ve been wanting to go there for years. I’ve heard there’s good diving down south out of Kovalam, and it just so happens my wife’s firm is building a large office down there, so hopefully we’ll get to check that out as well.

9

Yeah, there’s quite a growing microbrew scene in Bangalore. I’ve been cutting down on my beer intake of late in favor of wine, but I think I’m going to have to reverse that in India. Wine is relatively expensive, and the selections aren’t always great.

10

Three to four years is enough to learn a language if you’re immersed in it. Have you thought about learning the language somewhat fluently?

11

Yeah, I’m already looking into places or apps to learn Kannada. I’m pretty good at picking up the sounds of languages, but I haven’t tried to learn a new language in earnest in over 30 years. It’ll be a challenge, I’m sure, but I’m not going to spend a few years in another country and not try to pick up some of the local language; that just seems rude.

12

In the 10 years I’ve been going to Bangalore the brewing scene has really blossomed, most in the past 5 years. Wonderful food is all around, but also a lot of real crap. Ask your wife’s coworkers for recommendations.

Do you know where her office is located? Commuting in BGLR is a beast so knowing where to look and when to head to/from the office can impact your day a lot. I assume she’ll have a driver?

I’ve been to Mysore and Coorg but haven’t had the opportunity to explore much else beyond Bangalore. Hopefully on the next trip I’ll take a jaunt up to Delhi and Agra.

13

Mr VOW and I lived in Germany twice. We both knew “some” German.

But we tried. And the German people we encountered appreciated our trying.

Too many GIs and their families don’t bother learning German, and yes, they are very rude. Some stay only on post, never bothering to travel and experience their incredible opportunity. Others ventured out only to the dives closest to post, and drank themselves into oblivion. They usually expressed their disdain for Germany and the German people in loud voices.

And they didn’t care that many many Germans speak English.
~VOW

14

We will definitely have a driver. I am not driving in Bangalore.

Her firm has multiple offices, although she’ll primarily be working out of the one in Whitefield. I assume that is where we’ll start looking for a place to live, although she’s got an expat colleague who is living near the Oberoi, and she really likes that area; she just reads or answers e-mails in the car on the way to and from the office. I do like the idea of being somewhere where I can walk to at least some places. I don’t think I want to be completely removed from the city in one of those expansive “communities,” but who knows?

15

We used to stay on Whitefield in the Taj Vivanta. At the time, there was little else in the area that you could walk to but I understand that it has improved a lot in the past decade. The Taj hotel has two excellent restaurants that even the locals visit.

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Spent a couple of weeks there once. Nice place, especially since it’s not “top-of-the-line” in the Taj portfolio. Excellent bartenders. :slight_smile: