When signing-off my email to Srinath (see: Srinath Stepping Down), I was going to write something like “Hope to join you soon in the actual world”, yet then I saw that this wouldn’t be accurate.
Instead it was: “Planning on joining you soon in the actual world” 
The “hope to” would indicate a not really gonna do it but sort of putting it off into the future. The “planning to” seemed more apt although now it, too, seems like a bit of the not actually doing it. “Joining you now in the actual world” seems not exactly right though since as I understand that part takes just a second.
“Doing now the process that will lead to joining you in the actual world” may be the most apt