Expensive errand-running

It's our second weekend here in the great county of Buckinghamshire (also known as Bucks) and we are starting to have experiences worth blogging about! I was beginning to get worried about this for a while, guys. I mean, who lives in England for over a week and doesn't have any good stories to share in a blog for pete's sake?? Well, we do, and part of it is because I don't like to live out of a suitcase in a boring hotel and wake up to walk down a busy and smelly street to work every day.

Well, despite my tendencies of crabbiness we have been pushing forward and chiseling away at our big To-Do list:
- Find a place to live
- Buy a car
- Experience the Rail
- Experience the Tube
- Get to London, already!

I am pleased to inform you all that we can cross off two things off that list! Yesterday we bought a car and today we took the Chiltern Rail into Marylebone Station in London*.

*Does not count as "going to London" because we didn't even walk 30 yards past the rail station. We have to do more than that in order to cross it off the list!

Anyway... the car! Bryant test drove a Honda Accord yesterday and we bought it! It has British specs! This is the first thing we have done since arriving that actually feels like we are here to stay and we aren't just visiting.

So weird being on the right side!

The guy who sold it to us called it a "boring, reliable car." Perfect! :)

We are so excited about this little car. Unfortunately, in GB you absolutely must have car insurance in order for it to be driven on the road. We are geting insurance through GEICO international sales, and wouldn't you know it, they close at 5PM on Fridays. I got my quote request in to their office at 4:30 to the agent and even though she stayed late to get my quote to me (5:30), we had left the office by then and didn't get the payment information processed. We will have to wait through the weekend and, did I mention that Monday is a US Holiday? It's Columbus day. So now the poor little Honda has been quarantined to the hotel parking lot until Tuesday. :(

Once we get everything taken care of with the insurance it will be really nice to be able to drive around and tour the neighbourhoods. That will help with the house hunting, too! Bryant has toured 3 homes and on Monday I will be able to join him on a tour of a different place. Even though we couldn't go for a joy ride today we took the bus to the city centre in High Wycombe for lunch at Zizzi's Italian and thought we could bum around on public transit. After lunch we walked to the rail station and bought a ticket to and from the Marylebone station. I don't know if you knew this, but in Minneapolis, a light rail ticket costs $2.25 for two hours, you can use it on any bus and take it to any stop you like (and it's only $1.75 for non peak hours). Here, even on non-peak hours it cost us £16,50 for just one person on one train, so £33 = $51.33. AH!

It was unfortunate because we just wanted to experience the rail and didn't have any plans to go anywhere except pick up an Oyster Card at the Tube station at Marylebone. An Oyster Card is the pay-as-you-go card for the Tube so it was just a fun errand to pick up for a future trip to London.

Just outside the Marylebone (pronounced MAR-la-bone) station

The story of our rail experience continues as we got back on the train and headed to High Wycombe ... We are on the 17:33 train and it was to arrive at Wycombe at 18:19; we were going to walk to the bus station, take the bus to our neighbourhood and walk to the hotel, arriving back home no later than 19:30 (7:30PM). The English pride themselves on having very punctual trains so this really should have happened. While on our train around 17:45 we unexpectedly stopped at a station we were supposed to bypass and the driver made an announcement to that there was a fatality reported at one of the stops along the way. We were told to sit tight while they found out if the fatality was true and it was likely that we would continue as planned, just delayed a bit. We stayed on the train and hung out while we waited; by 18:40 we were told that the train we were on was going to go in reverse back to Marylebone and we should all get out and wait for the next train that was going to High Wycombe. This next train was due to arrive at 19:25 and the status board said it was running on time. By 19:10, however, the status board changed. It said that the next train was on time, but it was now the 20:00 train to arrive next. I mentioned something out loud and all of the other passengers looked up at the board in disbelief... only to see it be updated again and the next train that would be "on time" was the 21:28 (that's 9:28PM)! We were beginning to panic because buses don't just run all night around here on the weekends. It was now dark and we had no idea how to call a cab (missing the iPhone right about now), or how much it would cost for a 14 mile fare. We called a coworker and asked him to come pick us up, and fortunately he agreed to drive out our way to help us out.

It all worked out in the end, and I am sure we would still be at the train station if it wasn't for my coworker's generosity. The super sweet thing is, we spent all evening with them yesterday. He and his wife invited us over for tea after work, bought us dinner and offered to bring us to church with them on Sunday. We owe them big time!!

Our poor, unused return fare card from the rail.

move week.

Wow! I am not sure if it's because we are married now and have a house worth of stuff for two instead of one, but I am not sure I expected this whole operation.

SUNDAY
We have moved into a hotel! We actually packed up our suitcases and left the apartment (we had to wash the sheets before packing them!). For some reason I was expecting the hotel clerk to ask my why I was checking into a hotel when I had a perfectly good apartment in Saint Paul and then proceed to refuse us a room. Fortunately that didn't happen.

MONDAY
The household goods move. We expected the movers to arrive between 8-9AM and in our anxiousness we called inquiring about their ETA at 9:15 (er, 0915 for you Europeans). Did they not realize that we were a couple of excited kids trying to prepare themselves to have ev.er.y.thing they own packed up and shipped over the ocean?! Apparently not. Well, timeliness would have been appreciated. Besides, Bryant got coffee for them and it was getting cold (he didn't want it to go to waste!) :)

0925: Joe and Dana arrive. Two 20-somethings who are here to touch all our stuff and box it all up while they're at it.
"Hi, I'm Hannah, this is Bryant."
"Hi. Joe, Dana. What do you not want packed?"
"Uh, just this here."
"Ok, thanks. We'll pack everything but that."
"Uh, ok. We'll just... I guess... stay out of the way as best as we can. Here is some coffee. And doughnuts."
"Sweet! Thanks!"

0927: It begins.

More than anything, it was harder to sit there and watch them do all of the work while we just stayed out of their way.

Two guys worked 2-3 rooms each and they packed and listened to their iPod or, like Joe here, talked to us about his European travels and how he was supposed to be in England right now playing Rugby. Lots of cardboard made its way into every open space and nine hours later everything that wasn't furniture was boxed up.

1200: Papa John's Pizza for everyone: brought to you by the ones who want to make sure their stuff is being treated well.

1600: A realization pops into Bryant's head.
"Oh, did you know we have a storage unit downstairs, too?"
"No. No, we didn't."
"Oh, yeah, that's down there."
"Oh, I guess we'll have to do that tomorrow."

1645: Dana and Joe leave.

TUESDAY


0830: Dana, Joe and Kevin arrive in a big truck.

0831: Kevin and Joe pack up the storage unit downstairs and Dana begins wrapping up all the furniture.

Storage Room Stuff

1000: The truck starts getting loaded. We are thanking God that it isn't raining!

1230: Lunch again, this time Jimmy John's. Seems to hit the spot for everyone. (success!)

1330: It's beginning to feel like we're watching a human-sized Tetris game without Korobeiniki playing in the background. 

1630: All done! The truck drives away... I had to get a video.

1845: Twins Game! Our final one for a while. It's depressing, but we prepared for cold weather and for a Twin's loss... which happened. It's ok, though, because we had fun and great seats! Bryant won these tickets, too. :)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got my hair cut! Maybe I'll post about that later...

WEDNESDAY

I went to work in the morning and the ladies from work took us out to a farewell lunch. After saying some sad goodbyes :( we had to go back to the apartment and wait for a new set of guys to come and pack up our second shipment (yes, there were two of them). This one is called "unaccompanied baggage" because it will go on a plane to England instead of a ship. We sent our clothes, bicycles and computer because it should get there next month.

1400: They're here!

1500: They're done!

That was easy.

THURSDAY
Bryant cleaned the apartment and checked out of the apartment while I was at work... and we sold our car.

So Empty.

Bye, car! 

FRIDAY (today)
I went to work and we realize that we are homeless, car-less, and stuff-less. Strange...

We said a lot of goodbyes at my office today and this weekend it's the family's turn for farewells.

My sister is giving birth to her twins as I type (she is in Washington) and my mom is flying out to see her tomorrow morning. I am SO jealous!!

Three more days before liftoff!

Sincerely,
the nomads

July is almost over!

Today is the "We've been married for 2-months" day! Wow, time has certainly gone by quickly. I cannot believe that July is almost over. We have so many things yet to do, people to see, places to visit! This may sound kind of depressing, but we have kind of created a "bucket list" of things to do before we move.

See Family in WI
See Family in IA
Go to a Twins Game in MN
Go to a Brewers Game in WI
Fly to Seattle to see Dave Matthews Band in Concert
Visit my sister in Washington state
Go to Wisconsin Dells
Make a headboard for our bed
Go to the MN State Fair
Visit Friends in Cook one more time
Visit a dozen other friends we will miss a TON

Not to mention all of the necessary things that have to get done before we leave:

Apply for a visa
Arrange a contract with the movers
Close cell phone account
Cancel internet (and other) services
Sell two cars
Forward our mail
Clean and store my wedding gown

... and we leave in less than two months! I am not overwhelmed (yet) but just looking at the long list of things, and I know this is not exhaustive, does make me a bit sad. A trip to the Dells and a DIY headboard is probably not going to happen.

We continue to have fun and take each day as it comes. Tonight we utilized a free appetizer from Buca di Beppo for joining their eClub! We got the cheesy bread florentine which normally costs $12.95 and we also received a free lunch-sized slice of lasagna for National Lasagna Day! All of that with the small pasta dish means TONS of leftovers for the next two meals, as Bryant showcased here:

In other news, the ceiling in the sunroom is all fixed! The painter was in last week and fixed her right up:

 

The weather is still really warm and we are excited to see my little sister this weekend! Garage Sale shopping? Mall of America? Como Zoo? So many possibilities (that aren't even on the bucket list!)