Steyn Family, Pretoria
"Relocating, and that to a different country, is not an easy process (understatement).
I dare compare it to preparing for a new baby in the family. There is literally no one in life that can completely prepare you for your new baby, mostly because all of us are different and all babies are different, thus no two experiences would ever be remotely the same.
The same as when you prepare for a baby, you will get a lot of people wanting to help you and tell you what to expect and how to prepare yourself, how freezing it would be, how depressing the rain will be, how expensive everything is, where to live, what schools your child should be in and the list will go on. Though insightful to have all this “help” it is sometimes daunting as these are all based on other people’s experience and that will most likely not be yours, as we are different people with different wants and needs.
Juniper Shores, no, more personal than that, Rozanna and Samantha were our saving grace.
When we arrived in front of our beautiful house that they have secured for us, my husband said, it will be awkward not to hug, as they felt like long last family that we were reuniting with!
From assisting us over a weekend in the final hours to get our quarantine hotel secured so that we can make our flight that is supposed to take off in 6 hours. Being on multiple calls simultaneously on our behalf backwards and forwards with banks, hotels. There is no way that we could have done that on our own. Making payments in the UK from South African bank accounts is another challenge people will be telling you about! It only took one call to Sam and Roz.
Juniper Shores is your survival pack, they will tell you what you need to know, what is practical, what can work and what not. It is not as easy as picking a spot, finding a house and off you go. There are endless things that will be impacted with a “simple” choice, i.e., travel time to work, methods of transport available, schools available in the area, and if you spotted a great school in a great area, it is not even a given that the school will have space for your child.
What was really great about this experience was that Sam and Roz took the time to understand our family dynamics and what was important for us as a family, and the level of importance, as you will learn some sacrifices will need to be made along the way.
They viewed properties on our behalf, met with agents, sent us the most fabulous videos with commentary. They corresponded with the schools in the area to find a place for our daughter (she got into a great school!). They were 24/7 available for any of our crazy, borderline hysterical queries. Gave advice on buying a car (again not as one would imagine it to be), going grocery shopping with your Pound “token”.
There are things that you just don’t know! Practical things that you will need as part of your survival pack (including the umbrella in our welcome bag).
If I had to make a list of all the things that Sam and Roz did for us, this will become a short story, the list is endless, and our gratitude more.
The arrangements around relocating is insanely time-consuming, me and my husband both have full time occupations. I have no idea where we would have found time to do what Sam and Roz did on our behalf."