How it started

It started in March 2022. I was isolating in the spare room like so many other people around the country, it was cold and grey....again. It felt like being in a Tupperware box with the lid on. In other words, it was England and I was feeling sorry for myself. OH was amazing as always and sent up food and drinks to keep me going but I was definitely feeling sorry for myself.

It all started as a joke. "We should move to Barbados," OH said. He had just watched a show about how Barbados had combatted the loss of income from tourism by introducing a new visa so people can work remotely on the island for a year. It sounded amazing.

I had been working remotely since the whole epidemic started so why not do it in the warm? Before the weekend was up it had changed from a joke to 'we are going to do this!'

We watched the show again to see how others had gone about the change and started doing some research. The first big question did I qualify? The only stipulation they have is that you have to be able to support yourself for the time you are there and you aren't allowed to work on the island taking work from a local. Seems fair to me. They give a suggested amount that should be earnt for the year $50,000 which is about £40,000 but they don't ask for statements to prove this.

The next big question. Can Luna come too? Luna is my cat and there was no way I could go and leave her behind, I couldn't even contemplate it. Well, the good news is, yes pets can come too. They have to meet certain criteria, of course, but there are no long quarantines that some countries have. So full steam ahead.

Monday morning came around and I asked for a meeting with my manager. "So I have a remote contract...How remote can I get?" I ask. Surprisingly nobody else had asked this question, so it had to be referred to HR, but he was fully behind me and didn't see an issue with me doing my role remotely, as long as I came back for our big Summer events.

Now, I just have to wait and see what they decide.......

Catch up with the next instalment soon.