Final frenzy

The movers/packers showed up bright and early this past Monday morning, and left us an empty house around 4pm. (Photos to follow in a couple of days.)

Hank and I had spent the better part of the weekend sorting things into air (5-15 days arrival), surface (4-6 weeks arrival) and storage (don't see it till 9/07) piles. We only got 250lbs of air shipment so we really had to figure out what essentials we'd need for about a month. We over-shot by only 10lbs (I had thought it'd have been a lot more, actually), so it worked out alright.

Tuesday and all this morning I've been running some last errands, packing up my desk at work, waiting for the visas to be delivered (which they just were - yay!), and so on. It's definitely been pretty crazy!

Anyway, I am really excited to finally be going! It seems strange, like it's just a very, very long vacation (except for the whole having to work thing). I'll miss everyone a lot, but I know the year will go by a lot faster than I think it will...and we look forward to having lots of visitors while we're there!

One more week

We have a flat! OK, so we sorts 'had' the flat before, but I've finally received all of the documents and lease agreements for it. It's the last really major portion of our move that hadn't been truly signed off on. We'll be living in an area called Westbourne Grove. It's a 5 minute walk from two separate tube stations on 3 different tube lines, which makes it really easy to get anywhere else in the city. There are tons of restaurants, small grocery stores and even -count'em- TWO cooking supply shops within a 2 minute walk! There isn't a very large full service grocery store within walking distance, but so many stores deliver for a low fee that we can stock up on bulky or heavy items maybe once per month and just pick up fruit, vegetables and other fresh stuff at the smaller markets near the flat.

This weekend's plans (besides celebrating Hank's bday) are a lot of sorting things into piles according to shipping method (air vs land/sea), packing and generally getting more organized. The packers show up bright and early Monday morning, and we'll de-camp to my dad and step-mom's house until we leave on Thursday.

In other news, I was officially granted the UK work permit early this week, and I shipped off the permit, marriage certificate, passports other omg-please-don't-lose-it documentation to the British consulate for our visas. We can't leave until we get those back, and the timing is a bit tight, so please think positive thoughts. (How embassies get away with working 5 hours a day is beyond my comprehension. I totally need that gig.)

T-minus 10....

So we're 10 days from leaving. The number of to-do items on my list seems to grow at exactly the same rate at which it's shrinking. We're itemizing, sorting, estimating, tossing and donating. Addresses are changed, VOIP setup (we'll still have a working 408 phone number), documents signed, checklists re-checked. And with our friends, we're dining, hugging, and saying "maybe we'll squeeze in one last visit before we go."

Reality that this really is happening is setting in. I'm excited and stressed (very close to Scary-Fun for those from early Ariba days). It is funnily like going off to college as a freshman; it's a new and bigger world where things work differently, but it's sure to be an adventure.

Hank and I will be sending out email with our new address/phone number within the next few days. Our ability to be reached via phone/cell may start to get a bit spotty next week as we transfer and close up accounts, so electronic means would probably be the best way to make sure a message gets to us. We fly out Thursday 8/31 (arriving Friday) and hopefully will be all set to move into the new flat!

Doin' the Electric Slide

One of my recent debates has been whether or not I bring my KitchenAid mixer and food processor with me to the UK and buy a step-down power transformer. The transformer converts the 220v to 110v, but European wattage runs at different cycles than US appliances. Using the power of the internet, I've found just as many "it works great for us" stories as I'm seeing "we tried it and it blew out the motor of our mixer" ones.

I've discovered Craigslist for London, but don't see any for sale right now (although it could be a great place to dispose of a 220v one before I leave?).

Are there any electrical engineers in da house?? And no, as much as I try to save electricity, a wooden spoon and a hand-whisk is *not* a viable alternative. I do knead my own bread, but hand whipping 2 cups of heavy cream is not the workout I'd choose.

Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin

So, now that I'm back in California, the bulk of the relocation work is starting to kick into high gear. I've had the moving company come buy to estimate how much we'll be air shipping and how much will go by "ground" (a 20' sea container). I'm really glad to have the flat figured out and know what furniture/cooking supplies/other miscellaneous junk we'll need to bring with us. The flat will only have the basic furniture (sofa, dining set, coffee table, beds, and typical-British-not-enough-space closets. The rest will be up to us.

Most of the rest of our belongings will go into storage for the time we're away. We're trying to divest ourselves of a couple of automobiles (anyone want a VW Jetta or bus? or both? We'll strike a really great deal if you take 'em both...) and sorting through drawers and closets for a big drop to Goodwill. I know we'll get back home next year and look through all the stuff we haven't needed for a year and wonder what to do with it, but I always have a hard time getting rid of things before moving. True that it does make more sense to get rid of things before having to lug them around, but since I'm blissfully NOT doing the packing this time, my motivation is not quite as strong.

Homes Sweet Homes

We've got a flat! We're still finalizing the paperwork with the letting agents, and I'm in a sort of weird limbo state with the US and UK bank accounts, but for the most part we're there. It's nice to have a major piece of the puzzle figured out. I've posted a couple of pictures on Flickr, but I have to say, it was definitely the kitchen that sold me. ;)

The building is still being built - the photos I posted are of the flat one floor above us. Our flat is not quite finished, but it'll be ready (fingers crossed) by the time we move around Sept 1. The landlord agreed to furnish it (a surprising number of places around here are rented with furniture), and allowed me to pick out the furniture. I spent most of yesterday dealing with pre-moving details - measuring the flat for the furniture, picking it out, and banking.

Ooh, banking.

Dealing with banks in the US is not one of my favorite activities. Trying to deal with 3 banks across 2 countries definitely counts as even lower on that list. I called the UK branch of the bank today to try and arrange for the deposit to be paid to the landlord, but since my account was setup last week, I don't have the bank card, just the account number. Every one of the three times I've called the UK bank to ask them if I can setup payment, or get online of access to see if the deposit has been made to the account, I explain I don't have the card so I can't gain access to my account online. And then each time they ask me to verify my card number. Ummmm...

I also have to say that for money to be all electronic these days, no electrons move slower than the ones belonging to banks.

I'm hopping a plane tomorrow to fly back to the States. It's been a long trip and I'm ready to be going home. But after the last three weeks here, London is also really starting to feel like home as well. I'll have to start thinking of a new definition of what I call home.