I'm sure everyone who reads this blog, all 7 of you, are on the edge of your seat waiting to read the next installment of the moving saga.
The truth is there isn't much else to say, we had one last meal with my parents and brother and took a car to the airport on a Tuesday afternoon with all 8 of our bags - that's 2 suitcase each, 2 carry-ons and 2 personal items... If you haven't figured it out yet - that's a lot of luggage! It all barely fit in the town car. After spending $300 on luggage fees (thanks delta amex) we got into the airport. The best part about flying on a Tuesday night in the international terminal is that we got through security in 10 min tops. After making a beeline to the delta lounge, where we each had one more much needed drink, we got called to our flight & boarded.
Steve would know exactly what plane we flew, but since I'm guessing non of you care, ill skip over the 9 hours flight (read couldn't sleep, watched a few OK movies and wished it would go by faster) we landed at Heathrow. Thankfully Steve had ordered a car service for us, so our 8 bags and ourselves got into a nice air conditioned mini van and drove the 35 min to Reading. We stayed at a hotel the first night because a) it was easier & b) we didn't get our apartment keys till later.
If all of this doesn't sound exhausting, both physically and mentally then I am not adequately conveying the stress this sort of move puts you through. Just before we left, sitting at my parents home in Atlanta, I just held onto my mom and cried and asked her if it was worth all the stress & second guessing & anxiety of the unknown. As she held me and reminded me of the grand adventure we were about to embark on, all I could do was cry. I don't mean a few tears, I mean a deep, heaving sobs - the kind of crying when your world has been turned on its side and all out can do is ride the wave & hope you survive. Yes - that might seem melodramatic to some of you, but I can tell you, unless you've done this, its very hard for you to even have an idea of how hard it is. Yes, we're around the corner from some of the greatest cities in the world. Yes, this is a once in a lifetime experience, but that's doesn't mean its not hard. Hard on your mind, body and soul.
That's enough soul pouring out for right now - trust me, there will be more. I haven't mentioned the washing machine or the oven yet, but there is also lots of good and funny to come as well - hot British men in my apartment carrying groceries. Need I say more?
Showing posts with label apartment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apartment. Show all posts
Friday, May 1, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
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.
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.
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