 Welcome back. Today I'd like to talk about going back to the states. I don't know if you guys know, but I am heading back in a couple of days and I'm getting excited and a little bit of nervousness is happening. So I wanted to overview some of my thoughts going back to the U.S. as I have not been there since 2019 and very excited to go back. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the things I'm worried about and also the things that I'm excited about. So here we go. Before we jump in, I have a big announcement for everybody on my YouTube channel. This is the first time I am announcing this, but if you check out my new website, it's brand new. I've designed it myself called KiwiAmericans.com. I have designed a training hub and this is brand new. It's a subscription and it's awesome. And I think it is. So I've started to create a little bit under 20 videos and these videos train you. If you are moving or traveling short-term to New Zealand, they train you on everything New Zealand, how to get set up for your life here in New Zealand and how to thrive here. And so what I'm doing is taking all of my knowledge. I have, if you don't know, I'm an American that lives in New Zealand. I've been here for seven years and I'm sharing all of my knowledge and in-depth insight on this training hub through short form video and I will be updating it every month. In addition to that, you get a Q&A session with me live every month where you can just ask all your questions. You can submit your questions. You can be there. It will be recorded and uploaded onto the training hub. If you missed it, that's a great option. And one of the best features is it'll have an exclusive community so that you guys can all connect. So you're going to connect with people on the same journey as you that are going and moving to New Zealand or have been here for a short term or whatever. I mean, you're just going to connect with people on the same journey. And I think some of you might find a best friend. Best friends. Yep. And so it's going to be great. And so you're going to want to get into this community. You can go to kiwiamericans.com and check it out. I am very excited about you seeing it. And then you can also like, if you want a training video on a particular topic, just submit a request and we can do that. This is your platform. This is your area where you can learn everything that you need to know. And it's going to be great. So go check it out. All right, let's talk about going back to the States. Okay, of course I'm excited. Okay, I'm excited to see family and friends, people I haven't seen what feels like a really, really long time. I feel like my kids are going to look so much bigger and so much older. And I think everybody else is going to look like that to me. And so I'm so very, very excited about that. In addition to that, I am very excited about the food, I think. I'm kind of debating this when I was preparing for this video and like, am I, I am very excited about the food. But I remember last time that I went back in 2019, I was quite disappointed. I was like, oh, this isn't as good as I remember. And now that it's been so long, I feel like my tastes have really changed. And so I'm just not totally sure if I'm going to love it. So if you don't know, we are from Wisconsin. So we are flying into Chicago, spending some time in Wisconsin, some time in Michigan, some time in Ohio, going to Cedar Point. It's an amazing, you know, like roller coaster park and then a little bit of Indiana. And so really the Midwest, that's what we're doing. Because we're just really there to catch up with everybody and some do some fun things while we're there. So and I will be seeing Christie. So if you don't know who Christie is, she's often someone on my channel. And so we have a couple of dates booked together. And so I'm excited about that. So definitely comment below what kind of videos you'd like us to do together. I think we'll go live when we're together. And I'm just going to record everything because she's the kind of person that's so funny that you don't want to miss it. Like even when I'm doing those zoom calls with her, she's down like, what are you doing? You're being hysterical and I haven't even pushed record yet. So I think I'm just going to walk around with a GoPro on and just be like, just record everything she does. And that'll be fun. And so a lot of people on my TikTok channel have actually given me lots of things they want me to record and pictures they want me to take. So definitely comment below and let me know what you'd like me to record and things you want me to definitely capture while I'm there. All right, let's talk about a few things I'm a little bit nervous about. First one being the big one is like I can already feel the anxiety that I'm going to have on the day before my trip where I have to take that COVID test and make sure that everybody is negative because I have a family of six. We are all going. What are the chances that one of them are going to come out positive and like ruin my trip? Like as soon as we get to the US, we are hitting the ground running. So like it is devastating to me to think about the fact that I might miss something because I have to stay an extra five days because of COVID or whatever. Whatever the rules are, like I'm not even looking at it, like I'm so stressed out about it. Now I have the paperwork I think figured out. We have a supervised rat test booked for the day before, but I'm like, I already know I'm going to be so nervous about it. And you know, there's nothing I can do. So I'm trying to be like, there's something I can do. So there's no reason to be nervous, but here I am nervous. And so yeah, I have to do that. I'm nervous about that. I'm also nervous about me adjusting mentally to the US. And these are a couple of things that I mean by that. So for example, when I flew back in 2019, I just had my youngest son with me who would have been, you know, I would say six or seven at the time, six. And I was walking through Chicago, just got there. And I was walking and he was like one little step behind me. And I got like the police officer was like, ma'am, you can't do that. Someone's going to take your kid and I'm like, I'm not in Kansas anymore. You know, like I not, you know, like your mental state is very different. Like I'm very relaxed. I'm not worried about all the things that could happen. I'm not used to thinking like that. And so I need to put on that brain again. So I don't know if you guys have had that experience where you're getting off of like your Air New Zealand flight and you're getting into LAX and you're going through, you know, it's nice and calm in Air New Zealand. And then you're walking through and then all of a sudden you get to where you get your luggage and the heavy doors open up and it's like screaming and chaos and pushing. And you're like, I'm back home again. And so yeah, so that's always been my and my son was like, Oh my gosh, because he's lived most of his life in New Zealand. And so I think it'll be a big shock. So I'm interested to see what's going to shock us. I'm interested to see what travel is going to be like. And I'm really interested to hear the conversations like so many people that have moved to New Zealand recently that are Americans that I've caught up with like, we're really interested to see what you think, because apparently things have changed. And so, and of course I've changed. And so it should be interesting. So I will try to be very reflective and thoughtful about all of the things that I'm experiencing and trying to put words to what I think about something. I think it'll be interesting to have certain conversations. I think that I am quite different and I'm not used to talking about politics all the time. And I'm, you know, just, I just haven't been there and I haven't been in the American mentality for quite some time. And so I think that should be interesting. So I'll let you guys know what it's like catching up with people back home. So make sure that you take a moment and comment below and let me know what your travels look like this year. Have you gone somewhere? Are you going somewhere? What are you nervous about? What are your friends saying that have come back from other places? Let me know because I'm very curious. We're kind of all entering the world again. And I think the world looks a little bit different and I would love to have conversations around that. So that's all I wanted to share with us with you guys today and make sure that you check out my trading hub. I'm really excited for you to check it out because this was built for this community and help anybody that's moving to New Zealand. I'll see you next week.