Travel confirmed: Leaving NZ start of September, arrive UK mid November

Marie's skilled migrant visa came through, so travel is now 100% confirmed. We are leaving NZ 4 September, and hit the UK Sunday 11 November. The intervening 9 weeks will be in SE Asia, specifically Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

We had previously planned to leave early August, but there were some initial delays in the visa application process which meant that this departure date was looking a little ambitious in terms of visa approval. However Marie's skilled migrant visa came back in only three weeks (it was 6 days between them receiving application and approval, nice), so now we are all good to go.

Speaking of UK bureaucracy, I have been most impressed with the efficiency of UK immigration. My UK passport (thanks Dad) took a week to process, and Marie's visa took six days to approve. I am sure I will change my mind once I try to open a UK bank account...