We’re here!

We made it! 16 hours, 2 flights, and a great big taxi later, we have arrived at our sweet little house.

Our journey began with my amazing mom, who had generously lent us her truck for our last few days at home. She traveled with us in that truck to take us to the airport in Nashville. The first stop was to drop off our two beloved kitties, Korra and Katara, at pet transit. They were (and still are) very offended by their travel arrangements, as they believe themselves to be lap kitties and not common crate dwellers.

Our first flight was from Nashville to London. We had a ridiculous time trying to shuffle things around in our bags to stay under the weight limit, including a near disaster when the zipper broke on one of the the (admittedly over packed) suitcases. Randall is quite resourceful, though, and had us ready to go in no time. Most of that flight was in the dark, but the sun was up when we came down through the clouds approaching London. Unfortunately, due to the 6 hour time difference between Alabama and England (it was 3 am in Alabama!), the kids were too sleepy and grumpy to notice.

We had a long layover in London, where we went through immigration and had our entry visas stamped. Once we pick up our BRP (Biometric Residence Permit) cards, we will be able to travel in and out of the country as legal residents for the next three years.

After that was done, we really needed to eat. While checking out the different restaurants around the terminal, we were stopped in our tracks by an unexpected and truly magical sight: The Harry Potter Store! I can’t express how much it felt like we had just stepped into a Diagon Alley shop; the kids were awestruck and ran from display to display. Still, we were all hungry and grumpy. We had breakfast at Wetherspoon – amazing fresh squeezed orange juice, fluffy scrambled eggs, toast, and tea.

Next up was our short flight from London to Manchester. The kids were able to see so much more from the plane, although Abbie promptly fell asleep. Eli loved seeing all the green fields and tiny cars and houses, and couldn’t believe that you can just fly through clouds when they look so fluffy and squishy!

Once we had arrived in Manchester with our three giant (like seriously really big) suitcases and one small suitcase, plus all of our backpacks and carry-ons, we had to figure out how to get it all to our house. We walked way out of our way to go to what I thought would be the taxi pickup area, only to find that it was way back where we started, about 10 feet the other way. That was 75% my fault, and 25% Randall’s fault for listening to my directions – he really should have known better. So we found a big taxi that could fit all of our bags and people, and headed on to our house.

When we pulled up, the first thing I noticed was the strand of pretty snowflake lights hanging inside the entryway.  It was such a sweet little surprise and helped to ease my grouchiness a bit. The kids immediately ran around the side and into the garden, then checked out what they have dubbed “the kitty room,” a glassed in conservatory facing the garden. The landlady and estate agent came to let us into the house and finalize our paperwork, and the kids ran through the house squealing at everything they found. My sweet Eli ran up the stairs and declared, “I love this house, it has stairs just like Granny’s!” House pictures will come with the next post.

Two of Randall’s friends and colleagues, Ernie and his son Cameron, dropped by with some much-needed necessities: tea, milk, sugar, bread, butter, fruit cake, and some yummy chocolates. We are so happy to already know a few people here, especially ones as kind and thoughtful as Ernie and his family.

For dinner, we took the kids to the Trafford Centre, a huge mall just a couple of miles away from our house. It is also the home of the Legoland Discovery Centre and Sea Life Manchester, both of which are of great interest to Abbie and Eli. We did go visit the Legoland shop, but didn’t have time to do all the other fun stuff they have there – an adventure for another day. We ate dinner at Giraffe World Kitchen. Randall and I had the very delicious Malay chicken curry.

Our last great adventure for the day was to find pillows, bed linens, kitty supplies, and other basics, then also find a way to get home with all of it. Thank goodness for Uber! Convincing the kids to go to bed after such a long day was not too difficult, even given the time difference.  Before I went to bed, I noticed the lovely effect of the snowflake lights through the stained glass above the door.

This morning we were all a bunch of bums who slept until almost noon. Our little kitties were delivered safely to us not long after that. They were both hiding under the beds in their crates, and while Korra came out to explore and check on her people, Katara stayed back in the corner of her crate. It took her a little while to decide to venture out, but she has been finding sunny spots to sit in and warm laps to snuggle ever since.

Tomorrow is the day for getting Important Stuff done. This means getting our BRP cards, setting up a local bank account, getting cell phones and internet service, and (I hope) exploring the immediate area. There are two parks and a pub each within a quarter mile, an Aldi half a mile away, and lots of little shops to check out.

Thanks for reading about our big adventure so far!