And the rain begins.....

We arrived in London last Monday morning (15 March 2010), England. The flight did not take as long as we both thought. But first, let me summarize how our last six months have been.

Thanksgiving week, Beth is approached by HR about her level of interest in a position at the London office. We have only two days to let them know.

Mid-December, we are still waiting to hear from HR if London is a possibility or not. HR informs Beth that they have drafted an offer but waiting for approval from the big boys (and girls).

Mid-January, finally a frickin' offer. And it's go time. By the time we left, we found a home for Snoop and Dakota, made a reservation for our short term housing (story is next),cleaned out the house, and sold our cars. Last day of work for both of us was March 12th. Where did the last couple months go???

For those of you that have viewed the video our room know that it is less than 200 square feet. If you didn't know before, now you do. Let me tell you how this came about. Beth tells me that we need to check out this website that has a short term housing link. I go along with it and start my detective work to be sure that it's legit. My indicator that it was a bit fishy was that it was ".....dotnet.' (.net) and usually that's not a good sign. But I stayed positive because Beth was excited. As I continue to view the website, I notice that the pictures look as if they are generic. You know what I mean by generic. The photos that businesses use to make it seem as though their customers or employers are happy, but they have no connection to the business. I told Beth that I wasn't sure about this, but she said that we would be fine because of the person that made the recommendation. The website asks for our credit card information and we provide it. We sat at the computer for a few more minutes waiting for a message giving us information pertaining to where we are staying. Instead the message is that we will receive a confirmation email in the next 24 hours. 24 hours later, confirmation email states " Thank you for choosing us to meet your accomodation needs. Once you have arrived in London, please take the tube to Willesden Green and give us a call once you arrive. We will have someone from the office pick you up." Luckily our credit card wasn't charged, and I immediately think "Lifetime movie!" But it was cheap, and for those that know Beth, that's what its all about. I'm about comfort, high standards, king size bed, my own shower and bath..... Obviously, our short term housing is not a Lifetime movie, yet, cause we are creating this blog.

So our flight to London was great. Each seat had their own screen to watch movies or tv series. Don't ask why, but I chose District 9 while Beth chose Blindside. I wish I would've chosen The Blindside. Oh well.

As make our way to the Willesden Green Tube Station, we meet a couple guys from Canada and the U.S who are visiting for business. I guess it's not proper to talk on the tube because we were the only ones talking. Neither had ever been here before and asked Beth many questions bout the hood. It was cute listening to Beth give them advice as if she was a local. That's my wife!

We arrive to our tube station and make the call. The short term housing office tells us that we can't check in for another hour and will need to hang out at a cafe. What a treat. Some of the items on the menu include coffee, cappuccino, toast and jam, eggs, and beans. Yes that's right, baked beans for breakfast. I'm not so sure about this.

After an hour and a half of waiting, a 23 year old kid picks us up in his personalized vehicle. One would think that if this company is constantly having to pick up their tenants, that they would at least mark the vehicle somehow. But there was none of that and we still hopped in the car! I sat in the front while Beth sat in the back. It was very odd for me not be driving. Riding in the front seemed so backwards. At least our housing was only a 5 minute drive.

As we arrived at our new temporary home, from the outside everything looked in tact. Keep in mind, we are thinking that we are going to be staying in an apartment due to the amount of time. We walk up three flights of stairs and arrive to our room. We walk into a room that appears to be less than 200 square feet with a double bed, fridge, sink, 12 inch tv, table, and two chairs. Oh yes I can't forget about the wonderfully small closet that mostly fits only Beth's clothes. I guess that's what I get for taking up most of our walk in closet back home. The final cost of this wonderful accomodation is $1500 for three weeks. Did I mention that this is NOT an apartment it's a hostel?! And it to make matters worse, we have to share a bathroom and shower.

With that, we couldn't stay in our room any longer. We headed out to Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and a few other historical landmarks. It was more of a quick walk by, but well worth it.

Day 2

Getting a cell phone was not an easy task. What plan, what phone, what charge for what!?! UGH - finally we get a phone and find out that pay as you go is actually cheaper when calling the US versus London. 5 pence per minute to call home and 24 pence to call local. So, the first 10GBP was gone in about 2 days - skype more, use the internet on the phone less. Lesson learned.

Bank account was taken care of as well. Here is our online application, passports/visas, and two bills from home. Great, thanks, you'll have an account in 5 days. Wow - that was easy!

Day 3 & 4: total blur. Lots of walking around and flat searching. Walk during the day (all day) and scouring the internet for flats by night. We thought we found a great flat in Wembley (it is a very nice place), but found out that it is not a very safe neighborhood. With the help of my new co-workers, we have found the safest places in town. Next week we will start the serious search of finding a place in Islington - a lovely neighborhood that feels like home. It is near Angel tube stop which has the coolest wing structure we've ever seen (picture coming soon).

It's 11pm now and we are still wide awake - this is very odd for us. I (Beth) need to get into a normal sleeping pattern before Monday - I cannot stay up until midnight/1am and wake up on time to get to work.

The weekend is upon us and it looks like rain. I was hoping to take JaNae to some markets, but that isn't much fun during the rain. Keep your fingers crossed that rain is light and markets are flowing!

Oh - and if you haven't paid attention to details - Beth is writing in Veranda font and JaNae in Georgia. Just a note for future reading :)