London's Calling!
Sunday, September 11th: We arrived into Heathrow Airport around 6:30am and were picked up by a car sent from Latham (Jeff's job). It was my first time having my name on a sign. Well, it said 'Boerneke, J', but it was still part of my name. ;) It was a special moment! We were driven to our temporary accommodation, which was a one bedroom apartment with a washer/dryer, living room and large bedroom. It was really nice! As soon as we arrived, I started the hunt for an apartment. Unfortunately, we didn't have our laptop yet, so we were doing all of our searching on Jeff's i-touch. Since I only had four days to find a place and sign on it, I had a lot of work to do. This is our temporary housing. I was open to just staying here and foregoing the trouble of searching. Jeff said No.
Although I had been doing research on apartments and locations since the time we got the offer, I had NO IDEA what I was in for. I thought I could simply search online, arrange some interviews and then pick a place. Well, it was definitely not that easy. Not easy at all! For four straight days, I spent every waking moment researching apartments (or flats!), walking around different areas of Central London to visit letting agents, in order to arrange viewings or get disappointing news that they didn't have anything available.
The process in London is significantly different than it is in the US. There were very few flats, in our budget, that were available in the time frame we needed it in. I was either told that they didn't have anything available or that it wasn't available until the end of Oct or Nov. Since we needed an apartment by the beginning of Oct, our options were limited. Another BIG roadblock was the cost of housing in London. We went into our apartment hunting with a price range that we thought we could get a two bedroom with. Unfortunately, we ended up with a one-bedroom and out of our original budget. Not good!
Thankfully, I found a place on Wednesday evening and started the process on Thursday morning. Jeff was able to finish up the final paperwork while I was in Michigan, and he moved in on Sept 24th. Here are the pictures on the original advertisement. It doesn't look that much different, other than the pictures, accessories and bedspread are different, and they took the hutch in the living room! :(
After finally finding an apartment, I got on a plane on Friday morning to head back to the States for Kelly Mae's wedding and some family/friend bonding time
Although I had been doing research on apartments and locations since the time we got the offer, I had NO IDEA what I was in for. I thought I could simply search online, arrange some interviews and then pick a place. Well, it was definitely not that easy. Not easy at all! For four straight days, I spent every waking moment researching apartments (or flats!), walking around different areas of Central London to visit letting agents, in order to arrange viewings or get disappointing news that they didn't have anything available.
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| Only a selection of the cards I gathered from the letting agencies |
Thankfully, I found a place on Wednesday evening and started the process on Thursday morning. Jeff was able to finish up the final paperwork while I was in Michigan, and he moved in on Sept 24th. Here are the pictures on the original advertisement. It doesn't look that much different, other than the pictures, accessories and bedspread are different, and they took the hutch in the living room! :(
After finally finding an apartment, I got on a plane on Friday morning to head back to the States for Kelly Mae's wedding and some family/friend bonding time
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