Im err late but here all the same,
all this going abroad looks like a hell of a lot of hassle an emptying
of your purse.
Eh eh, it speaks!
Good to see you are still wiv us!
Thankfully most of the purse emptying will only happen the once. Like once over there we will get French pet passports and never have to do the AHC thing again, and they will be a tenth of the cost of the Brit ones we got in the past. Ferry prices are what they are, normally we go in cheaper times cos we go for longer, once we get long term visas that will be the situation again. The new medical insurance looks to be actually cheaper than usual, so, again, a bonus.
The cost of visas should only be high the first time, about £100 each, from then on renewal is supposed to be easier.
What is more of a pain is all the hassle at border control over what you can and can't bring into France. No meat and dairy means we can't bring in loads of sausages, bacon and gammon steaks, as we normally do, and clotted cream. But now we have the recipe we could make our own over there.
Also the fact that we cannot import stuff over the value of £300 without being stung for VAT and then a further percentage, on a sliding scale. This being cos they want people who buy houses over there to pay French prices for furniture, white goods etc. So glad we have done all that and got the jump on them, with out realising Brexit would ever happen.
It is what it is, and we are so glad we have the place and it's nearly finished.
And anyway I have my state pension now, got to spend it on something!!