Moving to France: Drayton’s Journey from the USA to Uzès | Real French Connections #2

Welcome back to “Real French Connections” by French Connections HCB!

In this heartwarming series, we bring you the real-life experiences of our clients who have successfully relocated to France with the expert assistance of French Connections HCB. Each episode dives into their unique stories, challenges, and the beauty of their new French lives.

Episode 2: Drayton’s Journey from the USA to Uzès

In our second episode, we introduce you to Drayton, who decided to embrace the charm of Uzès, France. Drayton’s story is a testament to the allure of French culture and the meticulous support provided by French Connections HCB.

Background and Motivation: Drayton, a passionate traveller and was drawn to the quaint and picturesque town of Uzès. His desire to experience the French lifestyle and immerse himself in the local culture led him to make the life-changing decision to move.

Relocation Assistance: French Connections HCB was instrumental in making Drayton’s relocation seamless. Our team handled all administrative aspects, ensuring that Drayton could focus on settling into his new home without the stress of paperwork and bureaucracy.

Love for Uzès: Drayton fell in love with the serene beauty and historical richness of Uzès. This episode showcases his favourite spots in the town and the surrounding areas, highlighting what makes Uzès a perfect place to call home.

Overcoming Challenges: Moving to a new country isn’t without its challenges. Drayton faced several obstacles, from language barriers to navigating local regulations. However, with the dedicated support of French Connections HCB, as well as his own determination and positivity, he overcame these hurdles and successfully integrated into the French way of life.

Join us as we explore Drayton’s inspiring journey and see how French Connections HCB can help turn your dreams of living in France into reality. If Drayton’s story resonates with you, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for a consultation.

Book an appointment for tailored advice, cost fully refundable against any service paid for: https://calendly.com/richard-frenchconnectionshcb

Credits:
Special thanks to Adrian Liewer Schmitz (@liewerline) for the stunning video footage of Usès. Check out his YouTube channel for more beautiful content: youtube.com/c/LiewerLine.

Stay tuned for more episodes of “Real French Connections,” where we continue to bring you closer to the heart of France, one inspiring story at a time.

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0:00 – Intro
0:47 – What drew you to France?
4:36 – Where did you decide to move to in France?
6:00 – When did you realise you needed help for your move?
10:28 – What’s your favourite thing about living in Uzès?
14:28 – Is there a specific moment when you truly felt at home in France?
20:56 – What’s your favourite place in your local area?
21:55 – If you were to restart the process of moving to France, what would you do differently?
24:51 – Any advice for people wanting to move to France from the US?
32:35 – Outro

#movetofrance #anewlifeinfrance #frenchproperty #realfrenchconnections

[Music] hi everyone welcome back to the French connections hcv YouTube channel today’s real French Connection is Drayton and he’s going to tell us all about his experience of moving to France and of his local area hope you enjoy Hi drton how are you doing I’m doing well how are you very well thank you very well your background’s rather wonderful is it going to give us a hint of what we’re going to be talking about oh absolutely abs abely this where I spend a lot of my time good to know you can tell us all about it in a minute yeah um super thank you again for joining us uh to talk about your experience of France of moving to France and with French connections HCB a little bit as well um let’s go back to the beginning I guess uh and ask you what Drew you to France in the first place so not quite specifically where you are but just France uh as a as a country well um a couple of interest of mine were wine and French wines and kotone wines are a favorite style of mine but also a cycling Enthusiast and was doing a lot of long-distance cycling so I decided to combine those two interest and I did a longdistance cycling trip through prol and it was my first time first real vacation in France and I got off the train in Avon was met by my guides hopped on a bike and it was a week of just unbelievable experience as I loved it but it was the first full day when we rode our bikes to bedw at the foot of m 2 and it was Market day and I remember just being amazed at how wonderful it was how real it was and how people really do their shopping their food shopping there it’s not just uh oneoff thing or specialty items in the whole city was just one great big outdoor market and I thought you know I could easily own a place here and use this as my vacation home and just come here several times a year to do that and when was that pardon me how long ago was that that was 2014 and then um so every year I was biking in France and we had some political developments in the US in 2016 sort like you did in the UK and oh I need to speed up the home buying process because I was going to wait till I was retired and um use that as a vacation home so in 2018 I went um decided to not do the cycling trip but instead to look for a home I love Prov I love the V Clues but I decided to start my um process in the guard Department which is just across the river in the rad still proven Sol same weather same lines beautiful P it is yes and um that was just really um a fun trip the one of the things that I did when when we came back and I thought okay it’s exactly four years after my first trip here and that experience at bedw so we went back to bedw so I could experience the market just to see if you know that feeling was still there and it was right and um looking for homes and sort of by luck I think found the right home a perfect home and boom was done then um got stuck in the US for 2 years because of covid uh lockdowns yeah and so during Co we just decided you know let’s just make the move we’ll Tel commute you know telor um if possible if not ditch everything and move over permanently so that we don’t get stuck in the US and not be able to visit our home absolutely we went for it and um jumped in so um and really enjoying it it’s it’s a great life and we’re having a blast and whereabouts did you decide to move to exactly where where have you found home we are in a village called Salon laed it’s 8 miles north of uses and it has 700 people in it um one of the things we didn’t realize when we were looking for a home um was just how valuable was to have some forms of Commerce the buery the Aerie the post office the cafe those three things have made such a difference in our lives here and we didn’t know really to look for that it was by luck that the home was in a village that has that and so in the mornings you can walk down to the bonger for your quasons and your baguettes and the Aerie has a little shaku counter with meats and prepared foods and all your Staples in a cafe that’s you know open from 9 in the morning till midnight and it’s funny they they open in the morning uh They don’t serve lunch until noon but before then you know people are drinking wine in the morning is why not it’s a Thursday and it’s owned by The Village Vineyard too so it’s oh so they have really good produ yes yes and um what was it that made you realize uh so you obviously got through your journey of coming over from the US and you’d been around before and you You’ done so much of it yourself obviously when was the point that you realize you needed a little bit of help what what what happened with that uh that’s an interesting question because to us the the things that we knew we were going to have to do our Visa work a driers licenses and who knows what else those were going to be critically important items and so in my own mind I place that with along the category of my wealth management team which manages my investments and I pay them to do that a real real estate professional that you use when you buy a home you could do it on your own but you use a real estate professional to buy and sell your home uh your tax person you pay because you want to have somebody there right making sure you’re doing it right and staying out of trouble so really we knew we wanted help from that not because we needed help we just wanted that professionalism walking side by side with us and being available to us so that we could get the process done right and done quickly um and we we had some amazing success with HCB as well um 90 days after you or once you’re living here for 90 consecutive days with the intent to live here full-time you can apply for your driver’s license and your cart FTI your health insurance card yeah and the health insurance one is very important and we got that so quickly um from the time we applied to the time we got our anastasion saying you’re on the Healthcare System just this paper was was 45 days and then the card came two weeks later and that meant we were able to cancel the health insurance we had bought to cover the first year that you need for your visa and we got back 60% of the money we paid um from our insurance plan so hb’s help in getting that really saved us a lot of money on that end and I know people who done it on their own and people aren’t always successful on the first try yeah and so it’s time is money as they say and the driver’s to Driver’s Licenses take longer but we did get that you got there in end with our little magicians our little magicians back at the office doing what they do best problem solving like my stri exactly exactly because there are a lot of bizarre questions you could ask asked from France from the French Administration about what they want um one one thing they wanted was um a certificate including the date of when we first passed a driving test in the US really and it’s like that doesn’t exist do you have that I don’t to get a license and fortunately we had um gotten motorcycle licenses so we could drive a vesa in the US so we took it am for that and then they reissued our license on and that date was on the license so we HCB explained all of that um and and it worked out fine that’s good to know that’s really really good to know and how did you find working with the team at French connections hcv very nice very nice um we work um we’ve communicated via email by telephone call by zoom and it’s all very quickly there um very fast response typically you know we hear back in 24 to 48 hours and you’ll get a message saying here’s my schedule this is when I get back to you um if it were something urgent they can get back to you and prioritize show show good to know that’s really good to know we will certainly share that with the team they love to hear back they love to hear back all this good whom we work with is is really great brilliant really good really good okay so let’s go back to um kind of your Insider knowledge I’m gonna pick your brains a little bit about where you live so what’s your actual favorite thing about living in uses um difficult so many there are so many I I can tell you why I picked this area over going to the lual which is beautiful yeah and I just noticed when biking through the lubero um it was heavily populated by people from the UK okay and I’m like you know if I’m gonna make this move to France I want to be where there are a lot more French people I want to try to dive into the community integrated so I didn’t want to be in a a expat Enclave sure um and also to the pricing you’re getting the everything is the same except the pricing for the homes is considerably less just across the rone river and another thing too uh for this area that was um really important it was not so much usess but I set a criteria for myself and looking for a home that I wanted to be within 25 miles of a tgv station so that I could have easy access to Paris um to other places in Europe the highp speed trains are a Wonder um and we can go to Paris for as little as €19 and it’s 430 miles away and it takes two hours and minutes that’s crazy is a really good point actually because there’s something to be said for for knowing what what area you want to go to and obviously you’ve got to live there and obviously you’re going to be there for the majority of your time but France and Europe are such amazing countries it’s such an incredible region and you it’s suddenly very accessible isn’t it so you you don’t yes you’re going to live in one particular place that’s a given but actually it just opens up so much more because it is so well connected you can even do a day trip to Paris go have lunch in Paris see a museum and then come back you know in time for dinner here it’s amazing we also use the um tgv when flying from the United States or other um places and fly into Charles deal it’s actually just easier and faster to get on the train which is right below Terminal 2 at Charles deal airport and it’s 2 hours and 50 minutes sometimes with just one stop and we arrive in Avon by lunchtime have lunch get off the train go in and have lunch you know outside the papa Palace in Avon but also two things my partner my sister and I went to the Platinum Jubilee for the queen Excell and the train from Avio just drive to the station and it took 5 hours and 50 minutes and it was as fast and I think a little faster than uh driving to either melier or Marse and flying and it was so relaxing to do that a and train train travel is a joy isn’t it we sort of forget about it because we well the fastest way to get anywhere else to fly but actually there a real joy in getting on a train oh it is and the the anxiety levels and stress levels just decrease you can sit back depending on the type of train you’re on um if it’s an N we train you’re going to have a bar car and you can get food wine and beer plan ahead plan ahead no trolley coming down the the aisle exactly exactly love that love that so when did you because obviously you know you’ve been there for a little you’ve been over here for a little while now um when can is there a specific moment when you truly felt at home in France wow tricky one I think one one one moment that was really fun was um we go to our pie a lot you’re buying little staple supplies food shakuri Meats Etc and um the father and his daughter who run the place are wonderful and they had a little sign up for a um village shakuri Gad that was coming up and I asked you know what is that what is it and they’re like oh this is a really big event and you really need to be there because people want to meet you uh we want to get to know you and want you to meet other people and um that was nice knowing you’re fitting in with the village that way and another welc yeah does every January is they have a welcome reception for all the people who’ve moved to the village in the past calendar year oh that’s and we went and that was really um exciting because it was a warm welcome you get to meet the mayor and all these other you know people working with the town but they had every village committee represented there telling you exactly what they do what events they have com up and there’s an expectation in France that you get involved you help out in the community and they let you know how to do that so um we’ve really become we know that we’re liked in the Village People are nice to us very little English spoken in the village so um I’m I’m picking up uh provinal yes that’s it it’s not just French is it it’s provinal my gosh I had a cable guy over installing um um cable TV and the internet I it was just almost like pure proven soul and I was having difficulty understanding him I was having him write things down in French yeah and then the housekeeper came over she only speaks French unexpectedly um and I’m like help and so he spoke to her with his heavy Pro accent and then she spoke to me in French more standard French was funny we had this little translation thing going on um but but yeah we’re really adjusting to Village Life it it’s a great way to dive into the language and learning all these little um the way people speak catch myself when I got to Paris yes yeah of course yeah yeah so you’ve you’ve had a really lovely integration into your community you can really you can really feel that from your experience you found it a real joy to do like I said there’s always going to be challenges but you found it a good a good a good process and and that’s a good point that there are always going to be challenges uh to me you’re not going to taking Little Footsteps isn’t going to get you there you’ve got to take some jumps and you’re constantly doing these jumps it’s not a leap it’s just a jump and you feel kind of like a little anxiety there for a moment and you just do it and then you’re rewarded yeah um for that and it works out so I think that’s what I’d sort of um invite people to do is it’s okay to feel uncomfortable as you’re about to take a jump it happens yeah all of us feel that way just do it you get the reward from the people afterwards and they really appreciate it when you when you take those steps to integrate with them speak the language um try to get something done and there are all these humorous moments that you have too I’m sure it’s a two-way street isn’t it it really is it’s like the epitome of the the more you put out there the more you give you get it back in spad don’t you yes you do and I’m becoming really good at pool talk as in swimming pool talk with the pool guy who comes every week he might come any moment there was a funny moment where he was telling me the p and I’m like P rout like the toll plaza on the off the highway and he’s like what and he was and I asked him to spell it and he goes pay hush and I’m like oh P he was talking about the pH level the and I was hearing it’s funny how your brain kind of goes to certain things isn’t it when you’re used to tried to figure it out and then we both laughed um they’re just funny moments like that and you sort of get those mistakes are remembered but they’re endearing to the people who live here Absolut and then they they laugh and it becomes like a village joke um in the nicest possible way yeah with you not at you situation yeah that’s a good thing that’s a great thing um so onto your local knowledge then do you have a favorite Insider tip for a bar a restaurant I don’t know a lake that you would always go to or you would always take a visitor to to go this is where this is why we love it this is this is the epitome of where we live that’s a good question because a place that we go to often in usess that we take people who come and stay with us when they’re here is Cafe deal in the plos herb in uses which it’s right there that’s where it’s located and what you don’t see is in the evening uh in warm weather such as this the whole square is filled with dining tables and they’re divided up you know to all the different restaurants around there but the the staff are wonderful the food is really good um there are a lot of other restaurants too I I’d recommend a newas that’s one that we go to a lot and um spend a lot of time at one thing we we’ve really stayed away from though is reading restaurant reviews online because so many times it’s people who really don’t understand the French restaurant process the French dining etiquette Etc and um we do really really well just picking out a restaurant and going and ordering and we’re never disappointed you know they’re all good so don’t read a review don’t leave a review just go don’t read reviews go and make your own mind yeah wise words wise words Jon that’s excellent I’m gonna put it on my list I’m because I’m doing all these interviews I’m definitely going to write down all of the wonderful restaurants I’m I’m basically doing my own little tour around at some point I’m GNA go to all these amazing places that people recommended I will of course of course um and if you were on a practical sense if you were to restart the process of moving to France now it’s I guess it’s difficult because you can’t unlearn everything you’ve learned but is there anything that you would do differently if you were to do it again we I mean some good things that we did in preparing for the move um we really studed up on French etiquette so that we would know how to better bit in because what I found is that although the French have a reputation for being rude I what I’ve discovered is if they’re rude it’s because you were did something really rude or offensive first learn that first and it’s basic stuff suddenly you know everybody is so nice and no matter where we go in France it’s like that so it’s not just down here we can go to Paris and you get the same nice helpful um people as long as you follow the basic etiquette um but things wow I think we did everything well we had our process 25 miles from a tgv station making sure we knew how to sort of start fitting in but the moving things we ship two pallets over of home stuff because we um gave up our home in the US and probably while it was halfway across the Atlantic I said you know if that ship sank we’d get like an insurance payout and I don’t think I’d miss anything it’s funny what we hold on to sad I I mean I’m really pleased with how we did the move um it was very easy we just shipped a lot of stuff over that we’re having to get rid of so um that was it maybe it’s like a we got yeah yeah we got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved over and before it got um packed up and shipped but we could have gotten rid of a lot more interesting interesting so you need to do a a firmer audit next time well there won’t be next time because this is forever home right right yeah but but firmer audit that’s it it’s like packing a suit take too much in their suitcase just get rid of it all yeah I try I I I either pack last last minute so I only take exactly what I need what this at the top of my head or a week in advance and then start taking things out three days beforehand don’t need that don’t need that don’t need that we need to do that Panic packing brilliant and uh do you have any advice that you would give anybody if they were doing it outside of the whole packing thing um who’s actually specifically relocating from America to France any advice for that process um from America to [Music] France for Americans I think [Music] um things are done very differently but but we found a lot of processes we found the real estate process buying a home actually so much more enjoyable and pleasant than the same in the US and we were kind of amazed at how well everybody takes care of you but I think for Americans it would be be slow in responding Americans can be very much and sometimes I have to hold myself back from this is to well I need this I need you to do that and sort of almost giving orders and sit back simply describe what you’re doing what challenge you’re looking at and let people offer but the French people don’t if you were ask an American in America I need to open a bank account where should I do that oh each person will have very specific thing you have to go to this Bank you have to do that and on and on and the French don’t do that so just they’ll say you could go to this bank or you could go to that bank it’s up to you H they’re not giving an opinion on it but another thing too I’m just now remembering this is that in the US we encountered so much information from people living over here that we’re talking about how hard it was how hard it was to get a bank account how hard it was to get utilities how hard it was was to do all these things and we realized that might not be correct because we showed up before closing on the home and in 45 minutes opened two bank accounts and got two credit cards we thought hm okay and then we went to get utilities Electric utilities that took five minutes um we went and got the our telephones and cable and internet service again quite a breeze and really it’s attitude and self-confidence is very important sure and I have to say it’s it’s not hard yeah so kind of Shuffle to the side all those comments where people are telling you it’s so hard it’s so hard jump in do it pay attention for us getting a bank account we mentioned to our real estate um agent here we understand it’s hard to get a bank account and she goes don’t worry when the time comes we can provide you with assistance so as we got closer she did and she said there’s this person you can contact at this bank or you can go to this person at that bank it’s your choice so we picked one that did all the insurance uh services contacted him in advance set up a phone call so he could tell us what we needed to have and all the documents and so we showed up with each with our dosier of all the documents they needed so you walk in we had our appointment it’s all set and I said so how much money do you need and they go well you don’t need to give us any money you can just open the bank account that’s a very foreign Concept in the US to open account without money in it yeah um but that was fun um and another advice to Americans I would give oh this is good we uh to help our friends in the us when we were moving so they’ know where we lived we got business cards calling cards made up with our name and address where we are how to contact us over here um I’ve got an example here you can get these made up and I cover up the personal information but it’s got my name this is a a hoop Bird come from a family of ornithologist and the hoop are in our front Y and they’re like cartoon cares they’re great fun and on the back i c a picture of the home from the front yard beautiful um these came in handy in the US for giving to people so they had you know a way to it’s a nice way to share our information information o does that come in handy over here though when you arrive if you’re getting a cart def Fidelity your loyalty card at the grocery store the hardware store the winery oh every Winery has a loyalty program I still cannot I still have trouble saying a phone number in French because they do it completely different from in the yeah and and when you give your phone number it’s like 336 and then their eyes start to glaze over and they go just give me your phone let me look at it on your phone the my mobile over before you’re constantly to give your information with your name address telephone number email address and so when you have this little card there in front of me this little card oh they love it and then they give it back to you sure you got it um and that saves you a lot of inconvenience of not getting your phone number right do you say zero or not um how do you say all the numbers um that’s a great tip the numbers the numbers are tricky for a non-native I asked at a museum they want to know what your postal code is and I’m like I know my code but I’m not sure how you say it how would you say that code and she told me so it’s a five-digit code uh my ZIP code in the US was 02138 here my ZIP code my postal code is 3,330 yes they yes we’re not so can sort of save you um a little bit of time people really appreciate that I think that’s a great because it Mak them more comfortable because they don’t feel like they’re being mean to you saying I don’t understand what you’re saying and it’s it’s actually it breaks down one of those barriers doesn’t it we also use them a lot because you meet people all over the place you meet Americans Brits French people whom you want to stay in contact with and you can give them your card and it’s a great way to give information um out so we’ve met a lot of people at the grocery store the hardware store the wine store you name it you run into people everywhere um and it’s nice to have that there that you can give uh so that they can keep track of it and contact you and exchange information it’s brilliant well drton I think that’s a really good a really good spot for us to stop and some brilliant information you’re clearly very happy where you are and that’s a real that’s a real joy to hear thank you so much for your time oh you’re welcome thank you so much for watching if you would like to hear more from French connections HCB like I said before you can like uh And subscribe to the channel which will be great or get in touch at French Connection hcp.com