Packed, Traveled, Temporary Settled and Happy

This is what it looks like when you pack up a family of four into an obscene amount of baggage. 4 Suitcases, 4 Extra Large Duffels, 1 Double Stroller, 1 Single Stroller, and 6 carry on bags (400+ lbs...not a pound of free-checked baggage to spare)....

And this is what it looks like right before that family gets started on the 14 hour journey "across the pond" to a new country....

I will not be posting pictures of what we looked like at the end of that journey as it was not pretty at all.  The good (unbelievable actually) news is that we made it, had absolutely no issues along our way, and are settling into London quite well.  It's the end of day four here, and since I've taken only minimal pictures ( none that interesting), I will do a brief synopsis of what has occured:

Sunday 4/11/12 (No, we didn't arrive in April...that's how they write out the November 4, 2012 date!)
- We were exhausted, so after arriving to our short term apartment ( very nice - pics to come later!), we settled into some movies, refreshing showers, and many naps.
- We Facetimed with pretty much anybody who would answer... and have decided that technology is going to make this long distance relationship with our family and friends much more manageable.

Monday 5/11/12
- We took our first journey around the area we are staying, Canary Wharf in South East London. It is a business district and we found a wonderful mall area with a really nice grocery store.....though the quick-moving business people on their lunch hour were not so thrilled about our giant American-super sized double stroller taking up the store and mall hallways and our $50+ lunch of burgers and fries pretty much guarantee that this location will not be a Flood family favorite.
- On the way to the park we found our little slice of home here in London - ASDA. ASDA is Wal-Mart in London. It is owned by Wal-Mart, has the same generic-type off brand foods as I buy often at home (at the same price), and I am pretty sure you would be able to find a "People of ASDA" website with the same sorts of grotesque images of exposed, overweight individuals as you can at home. Needless to say, we felt right at home, did a larger grocery shop and strolled back to our flat happily.

Tuesday 6/11/12
- I spent all day with our relocation specialist looking at flats, cottages, some dumps that I wouldn't have lived in on campus, and a few really promising rental locations.  Let's just say the rental market here in London gets you no where near the space, quality or locations you would get in Columbus. We'd be sitting downtown in a very nice sized apartment for the prices we are paying for a small flat here.
- Avery spent the day, and most of the evening making us take her on "Alligator" (Elevator/Lift) rides down to the recycling cans here in our building. She is lucky that her Mum and Dad are drunks thirsty individuals, so she'll have plenty of cans to keep her busy the next few weeks.

Wednesday 7/11/12
-We stayed up late and woke up early to the US presidential election results.... that's all I will say about that.
-The four of us ventured over to our chosen area to view a few flats that we are interested in. We found a decent sized, three bedroom (we only expected two!), flat in West Hampstead that we really like and are putting an offer on. Here in London, you negotiate and put offers on rentals as you would for purchasing a home in the states. This is an un-welcome aspect of our experience here so far as we just last week sorted out the sale and negotiation of our own home, and now we find ourselves nervously waiting again for this rental. We do have two backups that would suffice, but absolutely love our first one. It has a huge dining table ( anybody want to come visit for Thanksgiving?) and it even has a small private backyard garden and patio we get to use!
- First fully home-cooked meal. Spaghetti....was great to sit down as a family again here in our temporary flat....though we miss terribly our dog Brody and talk about him after every meal as we pick up corn, cheerios and milk spills.

Tomorrow we are going to find something "touristy" to do, as Lane's vacation days here in London are now limited as he starts work this coming Monday.....

Doing great, but already missing familiar faces,

Lauren et al