How is the packing going? And medical matters

I have two pieces of advice for anyone wanting to follow in my footsteps today.

Advice nugget 1: Don't buy things. Or rather, don't keep them.

Um, whose crazy idea was it to move house at the end of Aug again? ^^; One car load of my stuff has already zoomed off up to yorkshire, with my folks...

...now the rest awaits them. Reckon it will all fit?

I completely filled my wheelie bin today after hitting on the idea of throwing away my old bedding instead of washing it. Saves me some packing space. But I know that's not very green, so I stuffed my recycling bin full of paper to counter it. Sorry planet. And I've got at least another 2 loads of paper recycling already! And the amount of storage shelves and that I have is ridiculous. The good news of today is, a few things I've advertised for free on facebook have already been snapped up by friends. Hurrah!

Advice nugget 2: Save money. A lot of money. And patience!

I went for a chest xray today which ECC requires me to do, as part of a medical record the Japanese labour law requires them to have. Here's how it works:

1. I book medical. Doctor gives me check up and fills out ECC form. ('This lady is medically fit and well') <-- hurrah. I give Doctor £89 for his 45 minutes.

2. Doctor gives me a separate form to request I have a chest xray. I book xray appointment.

3. I go to xray, hand over the doctor's form and pay £75. The report from it now goes back to my doctor.

SO.

Tomorrow I need to 4. Call the doctor and get them to give me a copy of the report (you can bet they'll charge me for it) so I can

5. Send ECC form and xray back to ECC. (Registered post to Japan...) 

6. Wait for ECC to send me a certificate of eligibility so I can then

7. Go get my Visa. (Travelling down to London £_£)

With me so far? The only good thing is, I believe this is the most faffy part of the process. It's not the most expensive though, I've already done that... the flight.

Oh yes. The flight.

I had to get a flight which arrives 4-6 days before my training begins. But it had to be early, and not on a Sunday. So me and my folks spent a good hour pouring over flight comparison sites, and plumped for the best one we found: 13 hours with KLM, flying from Birmingham to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Kansai. Arriving Saturday 9.30am Japanese time. 4 days before my training. The cost = £715.

So lets do a quick reccy... £715 flight plus £164 medical costs =My new job is costing me £879 so far! This is not a money-making career move people. But as some keep saying to me, I'm sure it will all be worth it! ^__^