Hello everyone,
My move is finally here - I posted a while back (over the summer) about preparations and such. My husband has been living in London since mid-October, and I've been here while the pets finish their 6-month waiting period. It's finally up - they are flying out on Thursday, and I'm leaving the day after. The pet relocation company we are using has so far been completely incredible. While my husband's company is paying for the service, I'd happily pay it ourselves for the peace of mind it's given me. They have literally taken care of everything, short of walking around behind me and telling me what to do! They are going to pick up the pets Thursday afternoon, get them on the plane, get them through customs, then deliver them to our flat in London. They've dealt with the paperwork, dealt with the USDA, with my vet, booked the flights for the pets, and happily walked me through every step, and every moment of panic. Totally, totally worth it.
Currently in a frantic state trying to get all the last minute things under control - plus some of things that shouldn't have been last minute but that I somehow completely forgot about, like mail forwarding!
Anyway, in case people were curious about the housing outcome - we found a flat in Belsize Park which we liked very much, however, this fell through at the last minute as the landlord disappeared! He just wasn't able to be reached to finish the contracts, and at that point I had left the country to go back to NY, and my husband was reaching the end of his stay in temporary housing. We were able to get out of that situation, and David was able to find another flat - this one is right by the Chalk Farm tube station, and I think is actually going to be a better location for us. It brings Dave's commute down to 30 minutes door to door. We can easily walk to Primrose Hill, Hampstead Heath or even Regent's Park with the dog, Camden Town is 10 minutes walk away, and we are literally right on top of the tube. Northern Line only, so crossing my fingers that it won't go down too often!
We have way more space than we need - 3 bedrooms! And a private walled in garden for the dog, which is so incredibly awesome I can't quite wrap my mind around it. The idea of living somewhere like that, with such a short commute into the center of the financial district is completely impossible in NYC.
The landlord is American, which I have to say made negotiations significantly easier. It's more expensive than we wanted to pay, but due to the time of year, and the pets, our options were rather limited.
We may decide to look again in a few months once I get there, to see if we can get something smaller and less expensive, but after having done this move, I don't know that I EVER want to move again!
The other good news we had was that as David kept his company apprised of expenses and such, they decided that the 75% salary bump for employees in the UK was no longer sufficient, particularly considering the state of the dollar, so they raised it to 90%. I really like his company, they are very concerned about doing the right thing for their employees.
We are now considering our stay in the UK as indefinite. Dave loves living there so far, and from his descriptions, I think I'm going to be equally thrilled. While we were originally thinking that this was simply going to be for a year, beyond the fact that we think we are really going to love living there, I just never want to do a move of this magnitude again!
Now we have to figure out where our first trip is going to be! Probably Paris - now that Eurostar is leaving out of St. Pancras, it's even more convenient for us. But before that we need to find reliable pet care - if anyone has any pet sitter/dog boarding recommendations, I would really love to hear them!
Thanks again for all the support and advice!
Gwen
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