London Expo March 2006

Hi there,

Just thought I'd see if anyone else is planning to go down to the London Expo 25/26th March?

Mike & I are planning to go down and have a look around (a big adventure when you're from the sticks in Scotland!!) :005:

We're just about poised to send our ITA away, having gone through the medicals etc and discovered we can't find Mike's full birth certificate, so a hasty phone call to get a copy of this and then we can finally send the pack away!!!

Anyone else at this stage and bricking it as much as us!!!???

hi fingers crossed..

we've been at the last 2 expo's London in 2004 and manchester last year..

We're in Lanarkshire (for now) and we made a weekend of the London trip, iwe just drove down to manchester and back in the same day.

They can be a bit of an anti climax to be honest..
It's great meeting the kiwi's and listening to the accents and seeing all the advertising blurb.. but depending on what type of work you are looking for you may not hear what you want to hear.

My area of IT is quite a specialised (read: uncommon / not very popular) and the first IT agency I spoke to at the London expo, almost laughed at me to be honest.. he said I'd never get an As400 job in New Zealand, they had only had one such vacancy in 2 years..
As you can imagine, my bubble was burst.. My wife is a midwife so she was flavour of the month every stand we went to.. (even though at that time she was just a first year midwifery student)

I was on a real downer for the rest of the weekend.. but when we got home on the sunday night (monday morning in nz) i made a few phone calls and I soon discovered that he was talking out if his arse.(pardon the french)
Whilst As400 is not the most common IT technology around in NZ there are plenty of sites that do use it..
I haven't got a job sorted yet, but I have plenty of contacts and hopefully once we arrive (funnily enough we hope to be arriving the same weekend that the expo is on) I'll get something sorted.

But, all that said, they are a good day out.. if you see any of the stands giving away Cadbury's Fishes try one.. they are fab..
Get as many freebies as you can, and enjoy the trip..

[quote:b019496fa2="nattydread"]....and hopefully once we arrive (funnily enough we hope to be arriving the same weekend that the expo is on) [/quote:b019496fa2]

Gawd, that's not far away is it :icon_eek: ?! Must be an exciting time for you all. Will you still be going then, whether the house is sold or not?

we are planning to go. Hopefully by then we will have our house sorted and excheanged and our bags ready for our trip first for a few months before reaching NZ on spec and eager to settle in September.
Its all starting to slot into place now.but no jobs lined up and unlikly whilst we are trying to do it from the uk. :icon_biggrin:

[quote:7da1b40611="Mother Bear"][quote:7da1b40611="nattydread"]....and hopefully once we arrive (funnily enough we hope to be arriving the same weekend that the expo is on) [/quote:7da1b40611]

Gawd, that's not far away is it :icon_eek: ?! Must be an exciting time for you all. Will you still be going then, whether the house is sold or not?[/quote:7da1b40611]

that there is the 64 million dollar question isn't it..?

who knows..

Nattydread, good luck with going over, very brave!!

We haven't put our house on the market but now our ITA's about to be posted, perhaps we'd better get our finger out instead of crossed :icon_lol:

Mike is a joiner so we are hoping that jobs won't be too much of an issue and to be honest the trip to London Expo is as much of an excuse for a trip more than anything but we did hope to maybe open a bank account and generally just get some info. on which areas to go to settle as to be honest EVERYWHERE seems so nice and we are in turmoil, Tauranga, Gisborne, Northlands so many nice places to live!!

what about you? are you going to work or will you be the preverbial "home maker" as our American Cousins like to say..

Is the expo in Earls Court again?

The hotel they used in Manchester last year was well ropey..
The stairwell was stinking of stale urine..

I'm so glad we didn't elect to stay overnight.
The year before though when it was in Earls Court we had a great weekend.

It was the weekend of the London Marathon I seem to remember , and we went to the finish and watched some of them finishing.. (or maybe that was another weekend ...)
anyway.. hope you both have a good weekend..

Sadly Natty, I can't afford to be a home-maker and will have to go out and get a part-time job :icon_eek:

I was looking at the idea of getting my own wee franchise too (hence the previous link about franchises.) I looked at a BOD franchise (Beauty On Demand) which is a bit like a mobile beautician, but it's a bit pricey to start up with and dunno if I fancy waxing and tweezing for a living :icon_biggrin:

Joiners aren't too well paid, but we will manage, will get the 3 kids sweeping chimneys etc lol.

We are off to Earls Court and plan to stay in the Ibis which is where the Expo is being held, rates seem v. cheap for a night so hopefully IT won't smell of pee!!!

What about yourselves, where is it you and yours hope to settle?

the IBIS was nice.. although a word of warning..
I had steak for dinner in the hotel..

I asked for a medium one..

A good vet could have got it back on it's feet in next to no time I reckon..

You should have a good time though..

We're off to Masterton, in the Wararapa.. my wife has a job as a midwife there.. I work in IT but I had the hire a hubby fracnhise in mind.. but it's bad enough getting grief from my own wife for not doing things without having "customer wives" giving me grief too...

I think I'll stick to IT..

:icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin:

You could always do your own IT business from home? Or why not be a stay at home Dad? My pals are both nurses in Whakatane and their salaries are not too bad.

Hire a hubby, eek, dunno if you'd get many takers, most of us women have enough bother with our own hubby. lol