Platform 9 3/4

Friday night we arrived in London and needed a quick activity to fill some time before we went to dinner. One thing I had never done in London was anything Harry Potter related. When I left Europe in 2000, Harry Potter was big but not huge because the movies hadn't started (first one was in the summer of 2001). So there was little to no hype about it in the city. Obviously things have changed drastically since then, there are studio tours and walking tours and of course, platform 9 3/4.

Since it was pouring rain we grabbed a cab to Kings Cross station, about a 10 minute drive from the hotel. After walking around for about 10 minutes we found the short line where a few other HP fans were lined up to take photos with the famed wall.

Here are some of the photos we took:

Steve rocking a Gryffindor scarf

Steve on his way to Hogwarts 

After doing our obligatory Harry Potter fan photos we went to The Parcel Yard - the British pub right there at Kings Crossing station. They had excellent food and and fun atmosphere. The service was a little slow but the food was outstanding. From the appetizer to the dessert to the beer, it was an all around excellent meal!

Reading Abbey

The House Hunt

Yesterday Steve and I went and saw some potential flats (apartments) here in Reading. It was a bit of an eyeopener to say the least. Remember we currently live in a 4 bedroom 2.5bath house in Buford GA. Needless to say any apartment would be a big change for us, but nothing truly prepared us for what we saw.

Small. Tiny, Minuscule. I didn't know families could live in apartments as small as the ones we saw. But they do. Not organized, they could do with a few trips to the container store in my opinion - but who couldn't (my mother - she owns the whole thing as it is).

We're looking for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath furnished place here within walking distance to the Reading train station - its close to Steve''s office and town center (aka mall/shopping/drugstores and such). A property in a similar area/size city as close to major transport in the US probably would cost us about $100-$1300 depending on how nice it is. The places we looked at yesterday started at 1200GBP or the equivalent to $1800 & that's starting! We saw a place that was 1495GBP / month, which is $2300 a month! Can you imagine what that would get you in the US?! A small mansion in some cities. Maybe in NYC it would just be a run of the mill apartment, but that's NYC.

Reading isn't even a city - though they've petitioned a few times, so they just a town. With a population of 160,000 people it is growing everyday. The closest city size comparison would be Columbus, GA / Aurora, CO / Syracuse, NY / Winston - Salem, NC. They're all around the same size as Reading (I cited a variety of cities based on potential locations of readers of the blog - aka friends and family).

Our favorite place is 1295GBP which equates to $2000/month. Now that does include furnishings, aka beds, dressers, tables, chairs, things like that. But it doesn't cover council tax ($230/month) or utilities. Its available in mid march so we are hoping we can get the go ahead and speak to the landlord to try and work something out (fingers crossed!). We saw a few others for about the same amount, also really close to town but they weren't as nice.

Unfortunately if we don't get one of the ones we saw we may have to fly over again to look at places before we go or stay in a hotel when we move till we find something we like. Judging by our current hotel room we would last maybe 3 days. We would have all of our luggage (5-8 suitcases a piece) with  the things we brought over with us.

All Things UK

Its been a long time since the US split from the UK to become its own country. You would think we would have more in common with our friends across the pond then just language. This expat is here to tell you that's not really the case.

Starting with something super basic- Doors! In the US we pull open 90% of the doors we go into. Shops, super markets, salons, most of them have pull doors. Here they're all push! I stand out as is being an American but when I can't even get a door open... the looks of pity are astounding!

Starbucks is different and not in a yummy, the coffee is all fair trade (maybe it is, I haven't been to one) but here in the UK they don't pay taxes!!! What?! That's crazy! So aside from a mug or 6 we will be going elsewhere for our coffee fix - which might be hard considering in Reading alone there are 6!!!! That's more per square mile then a lot of bigger cities!

Smoking! Everyone does it, outside, on the streets. Its weird! Ive not seen this many people smoking at once since I was at the bars in college!

Walking! Everyone here walks, which is nice. Its a super walkable town center - very hard to get used to for a girl who LIVES in her car - driving everywhere. My legs are so sore from just yesterday - tho I did walk 6.3 miles! But those walkers are rude! They just bump into you, they never apologize for hitting you with their bag, nothing. That's defiantly something to get used to.

I'm headed off to explore more of the city today. Wish me luck!

So Much Travel

It's 9.30am here in the UK. That means in GA its 4.30am.... It's also 10.30 in Belgium and 1.30am in AZ. Hello jet lag! It actually wasn't that bad now that we survived it. So from being up at 8am Saturday, our 8 hour flight here and staying awake all of yesterday we were going for 31 hours with no real rest and only 1 cup of coffee. Just call me super woman! Just don't tell my dentist or my optometrist - yuck!

Now that we've had a walk around town, Steve has found his office & 4 Starbucks within a 5 minute walk from the hotel we're starting to feel normal. Mind you we did go to bed last night at 8.30 our time, 3.30 GA time!

Can I just tell y'all how small our hotel room is! Its MAYBE 30 sq ft! The toilet is separate from the shower/bath and the closet is maybe 2 ft wide! The bed is like a rock and the two measly pillows they gave us are awful. I typically don't complain about hotels but I am kicking myself because it has terrible YELP reviews & now I know why. Hopefully my back won't kill me after a week of staying here.

Last night Steve wanted a beet so we popped into a local pub. Now I don't mean like the Americanized "British pub". I'm talking low ceilings, mismatched chairs, 5 beers on tap and no menu. As soon as we walked in everyone was sating at us & not in a friendly way. In a "who the hell...?" kinda way. Well Steve sauntered up to the bar and ordered himself a cider and myself a beer. Then he handed the guy an American Express. Que face palm! D'oh! The guy had no idea what it even was! And of course we didn't have cash. So we trudged to a nearby ATM and got cash. Not sure Ive ever drank a pint that fast! Plus we paid $17 for 2 beers!

Planning

When you're moving you have to plan a lot. When you're moving 4,000+ miles you have to plan a million times more. From yard sales to seeing family before we leave there is so much to plan. And in my world planning means panic.

Sometimes I walk into a room and the panic just washes over me as I realize 99% of the things I see must be sold, donated or packed into a box in the next 2 months.

There are the things I'm working on right now:

• Finding the time to fly us to Arizona to see Steve's family
• Finding time to fly to Michigan to see my grandmother
• Working on on a date for our yard sale
• Working on a date for our "estate" sale
• Finding time to visit Steve's parents in Florida
• Who's going to take Steve's dog Gwen
• Making time to spend time with local friends before we leave
• Packing for our house hunting trip in a week
• Sorting what we're gonna sell/save/donate

I'm sure there are more things that I have forgotten but these are the things on the top of my head. What makes all of these things harder is I work two jobs. I am full time at Carters Oshkosh & two nights a week I work at World Market. Which means two nights a week I work 8-4.45 and 6-10. On top of that Steve is spending three of four weeks a month in Boston training for his new position - meaning I'm home alone to manage everything. To stay its stressful is an understatement. 

Topping off all of this I am trying to get in better shape, which so far, isn't going very well. I've lost about 5 lbs so I have quite a bit left to go. I want to join a local gym but with the move around the corner it seems like a waste of money and I don't want to get stuck in a contract. Plus I'm severely lacking in motivation so I don't want to waste the money if I won't even go. 

That's my brain spill for today. As we work through all these plans, I'll keep you posted. 

Super Bowl 49

Quick update here.

Watching the Super Bowl with Steve. Made some epic spicy chili. Boston is expected to get 18-24 inches of snow tomorrow so his flight were cancelled and he's home with me! Its really nice since next weekend we are flying to England for him to meet his new team and for us to find a house/apartment.

STRESS!

But at least he's home this week so that should help some stress levels- at least lets hope so.

This week I am focusing on me - that means wax (not bikini but everything else) mani & pedi. I wish a massage was in the budget but its not :( I'll post photos (of the mani pedi of course) when I get it down. Not sure of what colors to get, something fun but not too loud I think.

Diet update... ya.... Not going so well. I'm thinking of trying weight watchers because "no gluten no dairy" isn't working :( Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?