Every so often someone will ask if I miss America and surprisingly the answer is no.  The friendships that have been relegated to long distance ones have been replaced with more time spent with my old friends from college and with more time enjoying family events, holy communions, spa days, milestone birthdays,  weekend visits to my parents and sisters' nights out.  And I've made new friends through Indoor Rowing,  Swimming, Reformer Pilates and the Toastmasters Club.  I've had way more fun in the last year than I've had in a long time.

There are many advantages to having dual citizenship.  With both US and Irish citizenships, my son and I can choose to live and work anywhere in the European Union or the US.  What wonderful possibilities!  With this unique opportunity comes many challenges though.  For instance, if my son chooses not to live and work in the US, he will still be obliged to file annual taxes with the US when he starts earning income abroad.  Unlike most countries, the US doesn't tax based on residence but instead taxes based on citizenship.  So US citizens spread across the world must check in once a year and file taxes with the IRS related to income earned abroad.  

When I arrived in Ireland I was burned out from Corporate America.  Too many hours spent at work - not enough time spent at home.  In many American companies, there is no such thing as work-life balance.  You live to work not the other way round.  This was the state in which I had found myself for the last 10 years of my life in New York.  In 2009,  my husband, newborn son and I moved from Queens to Long Island for a home with a back garden.  I had romantic notions of spending my free time in that very beautiful garden.  It never happened.  We all know the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting something to change.  That was me and work.  Every year I hoped my  quality of life would improve - and unfortunately it never did.  Therein lies one of the reasons I left the US - to get out of the endless rut, to escape the rat race.

One of the most complex activities you will encounter when you leave a country with a different currency to where you're moving, is the transferring of assets.  Timing is everything.  The US dollar to Euro exchange rate can vary quite a bit from year to year.   On 19 November, 2018, one USD was worth  0.9032 Euros.  On 25 September 2022, a US dollar  was equal to 1.0320 Euros and as of 18 November 2024, a US dollar was worth 0.9435.  So if you are transferring large sums as we do when we sell property and set up shop in a new country; the currency exchange difference can mean quite a lot.

Stay on the left side of the road - not the right!  Some people choose to bring cars from the US because they're much cheaper or the brand or model is not available in Ireland.  But remember - you have a right hand drive for driving on the left.  And if you pay cash at toll booths or need to pull a ticket to enter a parking garage, you're on the wrong side of the car so you better have some long arms!!  Apparently you can get the steering wheel changed over though.  Seems like a lot of hassle.

When I set about making plans to bring home my adorable cat Molly, someone close to me suggested we make her part and parcel of the house sale! Well we were selling to someone we knew and maybe the new owner might be amenable to the idea??  Needless to say that was never an option put on the table!!  I was going to jump through whatever hoops necessary to take my 17 year old tuxedo cat from the US to Ireland.  There were some family members who doubted she would survive the journey over the Atlantic and I'm happy to report that there were no issues and a year later she is thriving in her new home.

 April 16, 1994 was the day I emigrated to the United States.   That year was one of the few occasions that Ireland qualified for the World Cup.  It was also the year OJ Simpson got in his white Bronco and the LA cops gave chase after he was alleged to have murdered his wife and her boyfriend.  Those are probably the two major news events I remember from my first year in NYC.