How long did it take your moving dream come true? (Manchester: relocation, military)

[LoveSnow]

Like from the moment you got that idea you want to live in NH to the day you were actualy there?

I want to go to up north so badly, I can hardly think about anything else. I thought I would cool down, get over the itch, rethink it... It is not happening! I've been passionatly dreaming New Hamshire for three months now and don't see it going away.

We better stay down here for at least a couple years. TWO YEARS!!!! That's an awful long time when I want it NOW.

Anyway, how long did it take you all? How far away were you from NH?

[DareToDream]

LoveSnow - Condensed version <g>.......We had been semi-talking/thinking about moving to NH for about six months. One day the first week in April of 2006, hubby was searching the internet for jobs in NH, found a business that sounded promising, called them that Wednesday morning - Wednesday afternoon we left for 3 days in Littleton. He interviewed Thursday morning, they told him to come in and work the day on Friday, he did, and was hired. We went home Saturday, he came back up Sunday, the business put him up at Thayer's for the week, he found the only house available to rent that would accept pets and two weeks later we moved in <g>.

We moved from the Mid-Hudson region of NY - about 300 miles plus/minus from here.

[Tarastomsgirl]

I had always wanted to move up north. In 05 we went to Northern Maine to check on my husbands house he grew up in (which is nearly collapsed now) and towards the end we stopped at Hampton Beach for the night. We had soo much fun and the people were pretty friendly. We decided to come back for a visit .. So in April of 06 we drove from Naples in SW Florida (1,500 miles one way) to Danville NH near Exeter to stay with my husbands aunt while we looked around.. We stayed up for 3 weeks looking for the perfect town. We went to Manchester, Concord, and Nashua, Exeter, Fitzwilliam, Dover, and a couple other and they just did nothing for me.. They were nice but not what I pictured when I thought New England.. I had seen Keene on the travel channel for some program about Fall and the pumpkin festival.. The day before we were suppose to leave we ended up driving out here and checking it out. I knew as we entered Keene and I saw the big white steepled church at the end of Main Street that this was the town.

We drove back up to Keene about 4 more times that year . My husband applied to be Police officer in Keene and went through all this testing that we had to fly up for and drive up for, back and forth just to take one test at a time. They notified us Valentines day and 3 weeks later my husband was packed and left ,he drove up in March of this year. I stayed behind for 4 months because he was in a paramilitary academy where I couldn't have any contact with him and he lived there to become certified. I finally drove up in June with my dog and bird.

I have to say we took a chance , other than the brief visits to Keene we really didn't know too much about the town. I was not dissapointed. I'm VERY HAPPY with the move and the town is great! So overall it took about a year, but really the plans took effect after my husband was hired they wouldn't even give us a clue if he had the job or not so 3 weeks of frantic packing and moving lol..

[rmcewan]

Well, about 5 years ago I did one of those "best place in the country for you" personal surveys. Mine came up with Nashua, NH. My then GF did the same, and got Rhode Island #1, but Nashua #2!! When we got married, we did a Fall tour of New England and Quebec. Out of curiosity we we went through Nashua, and various parts of NH, and stayed at the Inn on Golden Pond up on Squam Lake. Also stayed at a great inn in York, Maine which we also loved. We didn't like Nashua too much, but loved the small towns between there and Portsmouth so much that the idea was born. That was 4 years ago (our 4th anniversary is Oct 15). The idea became a plan last year after we both got passed up on promotions. We sold our L.A. home in August and quit jobs in Sept, arriving here three weeks ago. So, all told - 4 years. Would have been less, but we got distracted having two kids!!

[rtangs]

Twenty months down, seven to go. I got the idea listening to a group of friends at work who had lived there previously. I'd lived in Virginia most of my life and I've wanted to go back north pretty much from the moment I arrived. These friends of mine spoke very highly of the place and it piqued my interest. In the interceding months I've moved once, elsewhere in Virginia, and I hadn't been here two months when I realized I wanted to move again and get out of here for good before I ended up tied down in a place I never cared much for in the first place. That's when moving to New Hampshire graduated from being an interesting curiosity to becoming a solid, realistic goal and a source of great anticipation. The timetable is to be settling in come next May, just as Virginia leaves spring behind and starts to get dog-ugly hot.

[Katlakat]

I left NH in 1993-thinking I wanted to see what was past the trees and see the world! hahah (I should have just gotten the National Geographic Channel instead.) Moved to Texas, lived unhappily and sweaty for 12 years. Got plane tickets twice to move back to NH, life happened.

Married my best friend 10-26-2002. Moved again to Michigan (so he could go home) it was a nightmare, forced to move to Illinois to seek shelter at his mom's place. Even more miserable, no jobs, and we lived in poverty. Hard lesson, but had to learn it-began writing my novel last year, and began writing my dreams.

I joined this forum early this year, can't remember the month, spring maybe? We were looking at St louis, N. Illinois, larger areas for work to move to, but it just didn't feel good.

Got homesick one day and started shopping this thread for comfort. Met eveyone here and probed about-started feeling a lot happier. The real magic began when I ordered the free NH guidebook and placed the free Map of NH on my door.

In August of 2007-just a few short months ago-Hubby and I decided to set ourselves one year-to work a few jobs and save money. Went next door to mum in law's-she looked at my guide book and said,

"Can I come? Can we leave in 30 days?" All three of us cashed out some of our IRA retirement money, had 4 garage sales, I sold my entire doll collection on Ebay, carried over $10K with us, and said goodbye to our miserable lives.

Actual dream, 2 months. in 30 days, roughly we made it a reality. After selling all our stuff, packing was awesome. Just when we started running low on funds (it cost us $4500 just to move into the house-1st last month's rent +deposit) we began receiving deposits back on our old place, plus old utility deposits. So we are still holding strong and I begin work Monday. It was the most incredible vacation-relocation I've ever had. We camped along Lake Erie and enjoyed our move. No stress, just lots of excited gypsies.

Pictures & Stuff - Home

[dinalkulp]

It's only been a month but sure feels longer than that! Kids and I are still sitting here waiting for the house to sell with no bites yet. Meanwhile, hubby is miserable down in NC waiting for us all to get there and resume our lives together as a family.

[Green Man]

Originally Posted by Katlakat

I left NH in 1993-thinking I wanted to see what was past the trees and see the world! hahah (I should have just gotten the National Geographic Channel instead.) Moved to Texas, lived unhappily and sweaty for 12 years. Got plane tickets twice to move back to NH, life happened.

Married my best friend 10-26-2002. Moved again to Michigan (so he could go home) it was a nightmare, forced to move to Illinois to seek shelter at his mom's place. Even more miserable, no jobs, and we lived in poverty. Hard lesson, but had to learn it-began writing my novel last year, and began writing my dreams.

I joined this forum early this year, can't remember the month, spring maybe? We were looking at St louis, N. Illinois, larger areas for work to move to, but it just didn't feel good.

Got homesick one day and started shopping this thread for comfort. Met eveyone here and probed about-started feeling a lot happier. The real magic began when I ordered the free NH guidebook and placed the free Map of NH on my door.

In August of 2007-just a few short months ago-Hubby and I decided to set ourselves one year-to work a few jobs and save money. Went next door to mum in law's-she looked at my guide book and said,

"Can I come? Can we leave in 30 days?" All three of us cashed out some of our IRA retirement money, had 4 garage sales, I sold my entire doll collection on Ebay, carried over $10K with us, and said goodbye to our miserable lives.

Actual dream, 2 months. in 30 days, roughly we made it a reality. After selling all our stuff, packing was awesome. Just when we started running low on funds (it cost us $4500 just to move into the house-1st last month's rent +deposit) we began receiving deposits back on our old place, plus old utility deposits. So we are still holding strong and I begin work Monday. It was the most incredible vacation-relocation I've ever had. We camped along Lake Erie and enjoyed our move. No stress, just lots of excited gypsies.

Pictures & Stuff - Home

Awesome story and pics Kat. I knew you would do it!

[Katlakat]

Thank you Green Man. I read somewhere that you should never regret. Looking back and feeling regret is a burden that weigh heavy on your soul. You should purge that and move forward in a positive way. When you make huge life changing descisions, its hard not to regret the bad luck that tortures your family and your well being. I have to find the life lessons inside, so that I don't carry that with me the rest of my life.

It feels incredible to look back and realize what a great decision this was. I even got a full time job (even though its a temp one) doing exactly what I asked. No customers, filling in data for a while. I get to bring my zune Ipod thingy with me today and churn out 646 entries to my favorite songs. All three of us have jobs. Mum in law got a PT job decorating cakes, Mike starts his contract job (making really good money) next week, and I have 6 weeks before having to find a permanent job.

It feels good to be some place where there are jobs. Hopefully it continues to go well, and the communities up here accept our home based business. Wish us luck. and thanks again for checking out our trip pictures. We had a blast.

[s2bmanchy]

I started wanting to move to NH about 2 years ago. The jobs for my field are much better in the Boston area than North of Boston. So I stayed put here. 4 months ago I got a job in Northern, MA minutes from the NH border. My commute is 1.5 hours but I was going to endure for a while then my wife and I were planning on moving to NH. Well we decided the time was now for us to leave so we put our house on the market and I am planning on moving to NH sometime soon. We have been to NH many times and we have done some research and looked at a bunch of houses and communities of Southern NH and decided that Manchester provides all that we are looking for. Now we wait until our house sells and then we move.