I feel like I’ve been talking about this plan forever. It’s
been 3 years in the making. Ever since our last trip to Europe in 2013 we
always knew we wanted to go back – for much longer.
We decided 2018 was going
to be the year. Cat would have finished Year 12 so this could be her gap year
before Uni, Bee would be in Year 9 – not a critical high school year, Mig would be
in Year 4. If we didn’t do it in 2018 as a family, it was unlikely we’d ever be
able to do it once the kids started going their own way.
To kick start that plan many things were put in place. For
starters, I sold my business and went back to permanent part-time work so we
could start saving. So you could say that this plan (although sometimes it felt
like a pipe dream) has been bubbling under the surface for quite some time.
We’re now in July, 5 months before our planned departure of
December 2017 and I’m starting to freak out. Just typing that sentence puts
butterflies in my stomach. The last 12 months has been nothing short of an
emotional roller coaster with us finding out Hubby's mum was sick, then losing her
a few months later to cancer. I’ve never had any experience dealing with
someone so sick, let alone a parent, so this is something that I felt pulled
the rug from under our feet a bit. So much so we were suddenly uncertain if we
could still go ahead as planned. As it turns out, going away has now become a need rather than a want.
By the time we returned to our routines after Hubby’s mum’s
passing, it was already May. And to help Hubby heal from the loss, I felt like we
needed to focus on what was ahead of us. It was time to get things into gear
for our year away. So while we’ve technically been planning this for 3 years, I
feel like we’re behind the 8-ball a bit when it comes to logistically pulling
it off.
And as with all great plans, there are always a few good
curve balls that test your resilience. And as if we needed another one thrown our way, we got one anyway - when just over a week ago we found out that Hubby had lost his Spanish citizenship in
2006. Yup! In 2006! Heaven knows what we were even doing or thinking in 2006!
So 6 months out from a trip we have been planning for the past 3 years and we
find out that the very foundation that would enable our entire trip does not
exist.
How could we not have known this before, I hear you ask.
Don’t worry. I asked myself the same thing. You see, Hubby renewed his Spanish
passport in 2010. Then in 2011, our marriage was registered with the Spanish
Consulate in Sydney and a Libro de Familia was issued – an official document
that registers the marriage and births of children to a Spanish citizen. In
2012, all 3 kids were issued their Spanish passports. To us, everything looked
normal. We knew the kids’ passports needed to be renewed so I started the
process a few weeks ago with the Spanish Consulate in Sydney. Plenty of time I
thought. It was only June, we are planning to leave in December.
I’ll never forget the moment I read the email from the
Consulate advising us that Hubby was no longer a Spanish citizen – and neither was
Mig. I was in Melbourne for work and was shaking. I couldn’t concentrate for the
rest of the day. How could this happen?? They both had Spanish passports. J’s
was still valid. M’s had expired so they wouldn’t renew it. Luckily Cat and Bee have managed to retain their citizenship so renewal will be allowed.
This is still an open dilemma with no clear solution. In
what is almost a comical twist of events (if I don’t laugh I could cry), the
Spanish Consulate in Sydney went on an indefinite strike 2 days after
delivering us the blow leaving us in limbo. They are still closed and the
Spanish Embassy in Canberra has advised they’re unable to assist with citizenship
enquiries as Sydney is outside their jurisdiction. Watch this space!
