Coynes leaving Paris

Dear friends,

The Coyne family has been in France for over five years now and finally the almost-inevitable is happening: it’s time to move on. This spring, Mollie, Maya, Rory, Savannah and I will be moving to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Our French experience has afforded us some extraordinary opportunities that we simply could not have had elsewhere – the children have had a wonderful experience in school (each starting at the age of two), we have had exciting travels around the region (Ireland, Scotland, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden…and we’re not done yet) and we’ve enjoyed being active in the expat community in Paris (mainly through Expats Paris, AARO, InterNations and Hobo In Paris). We have taken full advantage of all that Paris has to offer, one of the best parts of which isn’t even French – with five annual passes, we treated Disneyland Paris as our own family backyard, something every American kid like Mollie and myself grows up dreaming of. Our Paris years have been good ones.

Our move to Riyadh will offer us some great new opportunities, especially for professional purposes (I will be leaving Crédit Agricole to practice law with Baker & McKenzie) and for travel throughout several regions that we have yet to discover (Africa, the Middle East and Asia). Being the hobos that we are, we relish the chance to keep moving, discover more and constantly broaden our horizons. We will also no doubt remain active in the expat community, both globally and specifically in the GCC region. I will continue volunteering my time to work on non-partisan political issues for the overseas American community and Mollie and I will both undoubtedly continue to be active in things like Expats Paris, InterNations and Hobo In Paris. Here in Paris, we leave those of you who are active in Expats Paris and InterNations in good hands – our good friend Alison Reynolds will be taking over the reins of both shortly.

You’ll hear more from me between now and my actual departure, but before I leave, let me hear from you, especially if you have friends, colleagues or other contacts in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the GCC region, where I am about to start this whole adventure over from square one.

I hope to see you at our monthly event this Tuesday. As usual, we will be at Carr’s Irish Pub (1 rue Mont Thabor) starting at 8 pm, downstairs in the “cave.” Alison will be hosting the event (I will be with the US Ambassador at the event organized by Mayor Delanoe at the Hotel de Ville to watch Obama’s presidential inauguration in Washington), but hopefully I will be with you at Carr’s later in the evening. Also, Carr’s asked me to let all of you know that they will also be showing the inauguration live on their large screens – coverage starts at 4 pm.

See you soon,

Andy