The Beginning

This is the start of our wonderful adventure across the pond.

April 17, 2015

Leanne found out that she got the job transfer in April while on family vacation in New Orleans. She has two nieces that live there, so it was a good place for every one to meet. A fun time was had by all and more to party about when everyone found out we were going to London.  

A month later we were heading to London to find a place to live.

Can you tell someone is excited about the new job.

House hunting:

MAY 24

Busy day on the first day of our week house hunting visit. As we approached London I looked down and could see an expressway. What was strange was the cars were going the opposite direction. I knew they drove on the opposite side as they do in the U.S. It just doesn't sink in until you see it from the air.

We Landed at 11:15 am went thru customs, rode the express train to the tube (subway) station and then on to our hotel. From our hotel room we have a view of Kensington park,Kensington palace and a street of embassy's of foreign  countries.

Unloaded our stuff at the hotel and then explored the park. Kensington park is connected to Hyde park with a waterway separating them. The two of them combined are over 500 acres and we plan on doing a lot of walking there. After the park we had lunch at an outside Resturant and then walked back to the hotel for a much needed break. That night we had dinner with Leanne's new boss and his wife. They have been here since October and gave us a lot of info on the in's and out about living in London.

MAY 25

Today we walked around one of the neighborhoods we may be living in.  We then took the tube to see where Leanne will work. It's a half mile from the Tower of London and a shorter walk to London bridge. Lots of narrow streets with small shops, most were closed because today is a bank holiday. We felt very comfortable wherever we walked, although there were a lot of people there was not a presence of police. 

Next we went to the theater district and picked up tickets for a show on Wednesday. More walking, more people and still I have yet to see police, I wonder if they had the day off also. To get ready for the move we checked out a grocery store, department, appliance, and pharmacy. They all had things you would not find in the states, one item being canned rhubarb in its own sauce. 

After another long day we were walking to the tube to catch a ride back to the hotel. The street was crowded with people and we started hearing a tinging sound like cymbals but not as loud. Then singing, first just a faint sound but then louder-----"Krishna, krishna" a group of Hara Krishna were walking by. 

I can now mark that off our list of things to see.

Things I forgot to tell you about how the previous day's. For lunch we shared a sampler   plater, two sliders a beef pie that was fantastic and fish and chips. So having fish and chips knocked another thing off my things to see, do or eat.

The other thing was a girl that was about 10 we met that was from Germany. When she said she was from Germany and spoke perfect English I asked how many languages she spoke. She said she spoke German, French and English, and that English was her worst.

MAY 26

Today was our tour day, the bank pays for a service to find us a place to live. They drive us around and show us a few homes in suggested area, places to see and answer questions.

Today we saw Abbey Road from the Beatles album, the houses of Tony Blair,Jimmy Page,David Beckham a couple of other famous soccer players and the house where Margret Thatcher lived. 

We saw about 10 homes or what they call flats today. Most of these were what we would call apartments or condos. Some were nice and a few were terrible.  One the tenet was still there so we had to look at it while we were there. This wouldn't have been bad except he was smoking and working on his computer----- in his bed. He never got up so it was difficult to really look at the bedroom.

After the women that gave us the tour and house /flat viewing dropped us off at the hotel Leanne and I went back to the areas we liked. This was to check out the area closer and to see where we could shop and catch the subway. 

We called the house finding service and told them the area we picked. They will find 10 to 12 places in this area for us to look at on Thursday.

MAY 27
Today was a day where we did a lot of exploring in the area we picked. They are the Kensington, Notting Hill area, close to a couple of parks and tube (subway). It was hard not to notice that there were not a lot of over weight people. I am sure that is because everyone walks everywhere. Getting our bearing riding the tube and and changing from one line to another. We also rode one of the double decker busses today (check off list). We got back to the hotel around 4:00 and the service sent us a list of houses/flats we would see the following day. Of the places we will look at one was 5 houses from Jimmy Page the other was about a block from David Beckham's.

Tonight we went to the theater district and had dinner and saw a play. Long day and my feet are sore.

MAY 28

Today was looking at houses, there were a lot of different ones to choose from.

There were walk ups, single floors, higher floors with elevators and flats that were on three floors. Here is a short breakdown of what we saw. The very first one we walked up three floors to the door of the apartment. We then walked up another floor ( we were all out of breath by now)  to the kitchen and living area. The bed rooms were another floor up. I'd have to use my hiking poles to get up all those steps everyday, we passed on this one. 

Next is what would be called a 3 story condo, close to the tube and had every thing we wanted. There were two units in the same block, same basic layout. One was a mess, had a Asian women that lived there and what looked like someone that was taking in laundry.  As bad as you could think it was, it was worse. 

Another place was across the street from one of the houses Elton John owns. We were told he spent a lot of money on it adding a pool and others rich people stuff. This place was also very ruff looking, and if sir Elton was playing music with Benny and the Jets all night long we wouldn't get any sleep.

At the end of the day we did pick three that would work for us. Our first choice was near Jimmy Page's house, a 3 story condo. Second was a second story apartment, with an elevator, and the third was also a 3 story condo. 

After the house hunting we went out again (walking) to look at the house's we picked and the area around them. Our first choice is a block away from Holland Park. The park has wild peacocks and other wild birds. The other 2 places are a bit farther from that park. If you look on a map Kensington Gardens would be a 15 min walk for us.

For dinner we went to a Thai Restaurant that was in the back of a British pub. 

One thing for sure we will get our walking legs while we live here.

MAY 29

Walked back over to our first pick house to have another look and also measure the rooms and take a few pictures.

 After that we walked back towards Kensington gardens, checked out some more of the stores we will be shopping at while we live here. We also checked out the bus line in case we would have to take it. Most stores and restaurants are an easy 10 min walk from where our house will be. If need be the bus is a few min from our house. If the first house doesn't work out, we will move on to our second or third choices. All three have there own charm.

The tube (subway) and the bus take the same travel card. We each bought a card that was good for the week while we are here. Once we move here Leanne will have to buy one for her to get to work. I on the other hand will get a free one (once I get my visa) because I'm over 60--- its good to be old. 

Another long walk and then dinner, tomorrow we head back to Charlotte.

June 23, 2015
It has been a busy few months leading up to our move. Sell the house, both cars, get our visa's in order, find a place to live, pack and more things to numerous to mention.

Leanne is heading over on June 25 and starting work on July 1st. We already had a family vacation planned for Lake Michigan the week of July 19 so Coach (the dog), 25 (the cat) and I (fiancé, cook and all around nice guy) will arrive on  July 28th.