Alhamdul'Allah!

The Gnomads' Final Exit Visas materialised today!

Huzzah!

We can now exit the Magic Kingdom. The visas have arrived just five days before we are due to depart, which is actually a reasonably comfortable time frame. Some of the Gnomad's colleagues have had theirs delivered on the day of scheduled departure! In the past the Gnomads exit and return visas have actually taken so long to arrive that the Gnomad received them after the intended date of return, so the Gnomads are very much relieved.

Things are now picking up speed in the Gnomads' preparations to leave. Flights are booked, destination visas are secured, currency has been purchased and almost the entirety of Gnomad-dom is packed into boxes. The shipping agent was at the Gnomads' apartment and will quote tomorrow. The agent is the same one who dealt with the Gnomad's last two moves (reasonably efficiently, which is very good for the Middle East) and so will almost certainly get the contract to relocate the Gnome habitat to the Mundane Kingdom.

A second shipping agent will call later today (Insh'allah). The second carrier, recommended by a colleague as very cheap, is by way of insurance to make sure that the Gnomads get the best price. The first agent knows that there is competition (but not who the competition actually is) and has already agreed to beat whatever price is offered by them. All in all, a win-win situation, which is about as rare as rocking horse droppings, or even porcine aviation.