The Interview - Great Big Plan

512: Good morning and thank you for agreeing to this interview.
Me: Hello and its my pleasure to be here.

512: Hope you’re very well, though you look slightly under the weather there.
Me: Yea, been having this flu for a couple of days now.

512: Alrighty then. Now, you know that you’ve been invited to this interview to explain this “Great Big Plan” that you’ve been mentioning a lot in your blog.
Me: Yea, yea, the “Great Big Plan”.

512: Would you mind giving us a brief explaination of what it is?
Me: The “Great Big Plan”, otherwise known as the GBP is something that Des and I are planning to do for the year 2008. It is a working holiday visa to UK that Des and I applied sometime mid Dec. It’s a two year visa with a max of a one year working visa.

512: UK? You mean the United Kingdom?
Me: That’s right!

512: Wow! What is going to happen next?
Me: Well, tentatively, we’ve booked flights to fly to London on the 2nd March 2008. That’s where we will be going since Des’s sister in law is currently working there.

512: That’s about two months away! Why the sudden urge to move?
Me: Well, Des and I had just finished serving our service bond with our current company for three years now back in Nov 2007. It’s a bond, not a contract, so we still can keep our job. Problem is, after three years being up the hill, we were making plans to come back down KL. Frankly speaking, the prospect weren’t that great either. And at that time, a couple of our friends were already on the visa and in UK, so that’s where we got the information and the prospect looked good. And so we applied for the visa and with fingers crossed, we got it!

512: That’s great! What are the processes that you need to do to prepare for the visa application?
Me: Well, it is quite a straightforward application, considering the amount of information available over the internet. The visa application alone cost us RM1440 EACH! But thank God we got it, so it wasn’t money wasted!

512: Good for you. I’d figured it must be nerve wreaking waiting for the results?
Me: Exactly! In fact, I think I drove Des up the wall with my antics. And I remember going around telling everyone that I’m gonna commit suicide if I don’t get it. But luckily everything went smoothly. We don’t even have to attend an interview with them!

512: How is everyone in your family taking the news?
Me: Well, basically, it did come off as a surprised to them. Afterall, I’ve been telling them initially that we had planned to move back to KL and then suddenly hears me say about the London plan. I guess at certain points they are sad, afterall, I’ve not been home for the past three years, but I figured it’ll be just an extended holidaymoon I guess.

512: Oh, does that means you’re getting married?
Me: Hopefully! *wink* well, we plan to register our marriage before we fly in March. No dates has yet to be set, cause I’m still waiting for him to propose! Hahaha!

512: Congratulations then! How about your current job?
Me: Well, I would have to tender my resignation soon. I am sad to leave the company, considering the opportunities that I had with it and the learning curve that I’ve experienced. I credit the person that I am today to the company, as I believe I will leave the company a better and far more matured person that I first am the day I started working.

512: So what will happen from today onwards?
Me: Well, it is of course to prepare to move back down to KL first. Certainly, dreading the move cause there’s quite a bit of stuff that we accumulated from the three years uphill!

We planned to be back by Chinese New Year, as Des hasn’t been able to celebrate CNY properly ever since working uphill. That’s what happens when you work in the service industry I guess.

512: What will happen after you’re there in London?
Me: We’ll need to figure out our accommodation in London and also to look for jobs as well. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford anything!

512: What will happen AFTER the visa expires?
Me: Well, the visa only allows us to work for a maximum of 12 months. God willing, we may do a bit of traveling there. Of course, once the money ran out or the visa expires in two years time, whichever comes first, haha, we’ll be back in KL hopefully to prepare for our wedding ceremony and to settled down to start a family *wink*.

512: Anything else that you need to prepare?
Me: Well, certainly there’s a long list of shopping list! Hahaha I’ve brought two jackets so far, much to Des’s chagrin. Planning to get my passport renewed, buy charger and batteries for my camera, send my obsolete handphone to repair, and say my goodbyes to my friends!

512: Well, thank you very much for spending time with us for this interview. I’m sure this will shed light to the readers on what this “Great Big Plan” is all about. Any last words?
Me: Thank YOU for having me here. It is my pleasure to talk to you. If any of you had contacts in London or in UK, please extend us the contact so that we could have someone to ask in terms on how to go about and where to eat while in London! *wink*