Sometimes it is just better and easier to employee someone to do it for you like you mentioned. I've often thought about doing that with travel. I know that travel agents aren't as necessary as they used to be before the Internet, but someone who specializes in a field is usually always going to have a leg up on you no matter how good your Google-Fu is. If I ever become an ex-pat (doubtful!), I'll keep all of this in mind!