NHS - What To Expect

Sorry Ive been MIA. I just kinda feel like I've got nothing to blog about. If you have some suggestions for blog topics let me know!

Today Steve & I went to our first doctors visits in the UK. I'm not a big fan of doctors so it took 2 days of excruciating tooth pain to get my butt to the office.

We registered with a local GP a week ago so I knew I had to call the office at 8am to make a same day appointment. They gave us back to back appointments of just 10 minutes each. Odd - but I figured they would just run over if they needed more time. The Brits aren't exactly known for being the most punctual (hello buses and trains for example).

We arrived right on time, signed in at the front desk and sat in the waiting room. Steve went first and came down right at the 10 minute mark. Then it was my turn.

The Dr was nice enough, she didn't introduce herself which I found a little odd. There was no nurse to run basic tests, see what was going on, I went strait into the doctor's office. She asked why I had come in and I explained I had a few things I wanted to talk to her about. Instead of saying "OK, what do you want to start with" she said "well we only have 10 minutes". EXCUSE ME?! Yes I get that I'm not at the ER (A&E) but in this day and age professionals not only offer their services but also customer service.

I explained about my mouth pain and my fear of being in pain when I was home for the next two weeks. I wasn't expecting her to open my mouth and examine my teeth but I figured she would ask a few questions - nope. She asked what I was taking for the pain (Advil & Tylenol PM) and she said "how about some codeine?" What??!! Codeine is what I had when I had major oral surgery. There was no discussion of follow up with a dentist or anything.

I explained the weird pains Ive been having with my feet, the big transition of driving everywhere to walking all the time. I explained I self diagnosed one issue I was having but it wasn't improving & she looked & told me to just put a topical pain reliever on it. -_- not impressed at all.

I also mentioned the depression and anxiety that Ive been dealing with since I moved here - pretty typical for an expat, and she suggested I read a website. Again -_-

I realize that I don't technically pay for the NHS as I am not working, but Steve pays a crazy amount of taxes every paycheck & when I start working I will be paying those taxes as well. I guess I was expecting more in-depth care. I realize things are handled differently here but to say I am frustrated is an understatement. Thankfully Steve's job has international insurance so I will be able to see a podiatrist back at home as well as my GP.

As far as the depression and anxiety I am going to reach out to the expat community and see if I can find someone Steve and I can talk to.

Have you ever used the NHS? Did you have a good experience?

You Don't Have What in the UK?!

Being an expat isn't easy. You miss your friends and your family, your pets, your city & the things you're used to. You do your best to pack & bring things to make your new life abroad easier, things you don't think you can live without. Thankfully Steve & I didn't move to a 3rd world country, heck they speak the same language here! But in spite of research & careful packing there are still things that we miss & then there are things we simply can't believe they don't have in the UK.

Redbox - Blockbusters are gone, I saw 2 movie rental stores in Belgium (I used to visit them when I lived there 14 years ago) yet the UK hasn't gotten Redboxs yet! It's crazy! All of these people who commute and walk to work, as busy as the city center is & the grocery stores are Redbox would make a fortune here! I now feel like we have to go see all the movies we want to see in the theatre. Since we don't have cable, just regular TV we're at a bit of a loss on how to watch new movies. Any ideas?

Baking section at the grocery store - There are plenty of food items I knew we'd be hard pressed to find once we moved across the pond, things like Crisco, pancake mix & coffee creamer to name a few. One thing I didn't think I'd have an issue finding is things like a good brownie mix, or even break & bake style cookies. They have them, but there's only one or 2 brands and they're not very good. I guess people bake from scratch here






Capers - they have bagels, onions, tomatoes and amazing smoked salmon. They serve them all together for a yummy breakfast sandwich yet they are missing that salty pickled taste of capers. Not sure why they don't have them, I'm hoping I can go to a higher end grocery store and fine them.










Dryer sheets - dryers seem to be a bit of a rarity here. Houses are small & most washing machines are located in kitchens, thankfully ours isn't. But without dryers being the norm, dryer sheets are hard to find. I think big super markets might carry them but the small local sainsburrys I go to, they don't have them.

Coupons - back at home I was a couponer & I had the stockpile to prove it. I really loved it, it was a major stress reliever for me. Obviously the money saving was awesome - I bought in bulk when stuff was on sale & therefore we simply "shopped" in our garage. A lot of people laughed at my hobby, including Steve, until he ran out of body wash one day and didnt have to use mine or go to the store, he just grabbed a bottle from the garage.

Part of my stock pile





I'm sure the longer we are here the more things we won't be able to find. Are you an expat who can't find everyday things where you live?

Moving Part 2

Now that everything we we're going to be taking or storing wasn't sold (well almost - we have 2 large loads to take to the local goodwill & a donation of 150 lbs of food to the local food bank) we were ready to pack. Sounds easy enough - everything else is going to one of 4 places - suitcases to fly with us, storage - to sit and wait for us to return, goodwill - there's lots of little stuff left & shipping. Steve found a company which ships personal home items overseas for a reasonable price (read $1200 for 100 sq ft) which is pretty reasonable compared to some other shipping companies.

So 100 sq ft is about the equivalent of 33 medium home depot moving boxes, sounds easy enough right? Fit everything you need for the next any number of years into 33 boxes, and put them on a boat and wait 5 to 8 weeks to get them.... yes I am being super sarcastic.

So in an ideal world the house would be super organized and we would know exactly what to bring and what to leave behind. Unfortunately that's now how this went. It was more like a tornado, stuff everywhere, no origination, no going back and double checking to see if we packed what we really needed and not just stuff we thought we might like to have. It just all went into boxes, until we had way more then 33 boxes. We had golf clubs and shelves and art and computers and more clothes then we could ever where or wash and it all went into boxes. It took 3 days (not full days, but still 3 days) of packing to get it all in boxes. And after the dust settled and everything was in a box we had 2 full pallets.

Pallet 1

Pallet 2

After packing all this stuff in boxes, we loaded it all into a big box truck - that's everything we own fit in a box truck U Haul. If that's not a life altering experience I don't know what is. 

Now we were left with the task of getting the rest of our stuff into 4 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons & 2 personal items for the flight to the UK - let me tell you sir this kinda packing is an art! We even bought a scale. In the end we had one overweight bag (65 lbs for $100) and 3 50 lbs bags. Plus carry-ons weighing about 30 lbs a piece and personal items (backpack and a purse) coming in at about 35 lbs and 20 lbs respectively. 

Moving Part 1

So in full disclosure style we are actually already here in Reading, but the last 2 weeks have been CRAZY so I haven't had much time for anything, let alone blog posts. So I figured I'll just go back in time and write each step of the moving process, and at the end Ill do a final moving post about advice and "20 20 hindsight" kinda thing! Who's ready to relive the craziness? Cause you know I am :)

Lets take a look at the real basics of moving - IT SUCKS! Its one of the most stressful things you will ever do in your life. So if you think moving down the road or to the next city is stressful, think about moving to the other side of the country? Ya, you pack up all your stuff, sell the small "extra stuff" and drive across country. Sounds scary huh? Ya that's what I used to think, then I agreed to move to another country. Holy Cow! Hello STRESS!!

We started by deciding that moving overseas was a great idea! Right before thanksgiving we told our folks Steve had taken a job in the UK and we were moving! It all sounded so exciting! Moving to another country, me leaving my job. Let the madness begin!

I worked until April 3, so my health insurance would carry over until we left - that was important for last minute doctors appointments etc. I took the weekend to relax and let it sink in that we were moving to another country later that month. Monday I started to sort through the stuff as we were having a huge 3 day yard sale! I need to interject major props and kudos to our house keeper Amanda who came and helped me sort, label, tag and price (reasonably). She was amazing and I owe her a bottle of wine (I left her a few in the house so I hope that covers that debt ;) ).

Tuesday mom thought it would be fun to go and look at potential wedding venues - The Fox, The Piedmont Room, Ansley Golf Club & Rhodes Hall.

More on the venues later - I will have lots of free time to blog about wedding planning or lack there of while we are here :)

So the yard sale - sounds simple enough right? Put all the stuff you want to sell out in your garage/ yard and wait for people to stop by. Not so much - I posted everywhere, 10+ Facebook groups, craigslist and we put signs up around the neighborhood advertising this huge yard sale, starting at 9am Friday.  We opened the garage door at about 8.30 to start putting things out and low and behold we had customers wheeling and dealing at 8.40. Talk about being unprepared! We had maybe half the things out that we wanted to sell and people were bombarding us with questions.

Its a real eye opening experience - having things you spent years buying, on display in your garage with price tags for maybe 1/3 of what you paid for them - some even brand new. Its a lot harder then you would think, when someone takes a pair of shoes you remember wearing just a few times and tells you your $10 price is too high and offers you $2, when you know you spent $75+ on them. Or when someone offers you $5 on the dress you spent hour finding and picking out and haven't gotten a chance to wear because its too small and the price tag on it shows $45, its hard. It almost feels like a personal assault on you & your things. Thankfully I had my parent there to help as well as Steve & Amanda and Rachel. I know I couldn't have done it without them!

That concludes Part 1 of the Moving saga! Hopefully you enjoyed the read :)