Hello friends!!
Im happy to say that Martin and I arrived in Texas on Oct 21 safe and sound along with our two cats.
The last few weeks of the move itself were - to put it simply - a nightmare. A nightmare in that we were both exhausted, our house was being dismantled before our eyes, and we barely had time to blink let alone accomplish all that had to be done before we boarded our plane to Texas.
The house is now being rented out by a nice couple who we met several weeks before we left. We dont know if they've settled in alright because we keep forgetting what time it is in the UK (6 hours difference makes it really hard to call during business hours).
I feel really guilty because we left the house in a bit of a state - we had to. The last day and a half before we left we tried to get everything done but we discovered at the last moment that we had too much to carry with us on the plane and ended up having to trash half of what we couldnt take and make a 2:00 AM last minute run to Martin's sister's place to drop off the other half. Mind you this last minute dash was only several hours before we had to lock up the house for the last time and get ourselves to the airport.
By the time Martin and I arrived in Texas we had not slept properly in over 37 hours. By the time we went to bed on the 21st we had been up for 44 hours!! We didnt have time to go to bed on the night of the 20th because so much needed to be done. We were up at 1:00 am hemming curtains in our house!
So Martin drove to Gatwick (3 hours) on nothing but one cup of coffee, two cans of red bull, and me talking at him to keep him awake on the road. I cant believe we actually managed to get to the airport on time. We left the house an hour late!
When we got there a lovely senior employee with BA took notice of us with our two cats waiting in line at check-in and took it upon herself to check us in personally. She even discounted the cost of the cats's excess baggage charge and upgraded us to bulkhead seats so that martin would have a comfortable flight (he's 6'2").
When we arrived we basically waltzed through immigration and picked up our cats and luggage. The cats were alright though they had weed in their kennels - I would have to! As we were walking to customs the Pilot saw me with the kennel on a baggage trolly and came to me to ask if the cats were ok. He said he raidoed ahead to IAH to tell them they had live cargo and to get them off the plane first because it was so hot outside. I was really impressed that he cared
Apparently our cats were the only live cargo too.
Anyway, we're doing ok and settling in as quickly as we can. Our only complaint is with several companies that we're still dealing with in the UK - IE, powergen, who have been keeping us on hold while calling internationally because theyre incompetant! But anyway....
Its nice to be in Texas and it'll be even nicer when our things arrive in 6 weeks time. Then maybe it'll feel more like home.
Thanks to everyone for all your well wishes and support! Its meant a lot to both Martin and I over the past year.
Take care!
Sarah
