We found an apartment, or flat, as the British say, the first day we moved here (September 10th) and in between then and Monday we worked on getting our deposit through so we could move in.
Our new flat!
That was more of a challenge than we expected. Apparently going with our UK and US banks it was going to take a week to wire the money needed (six months worth of rent because we have no UK credit history). This was going to be too long as we only had the hotel reserved through Sunday night and didn’t want to continue paying for rooms. We felt like the people on that commercial: “It’s my money and I want it now!” Fortunately Russell discovered Moneygram and we were able to wire the money. Of course it wasn’t easy though. Russell’s parents got the third degree from the Moneygram place in San Antonio (we owe them big!) and we had to do it in 2 transactions.
Then when we went to collect it in Winchester we had different hold ups. The first had to get authorization from someone on the US west coast, so that couldn’t happen until 4pm UK time. The second place had us in two separate lines with employee A and B wondering why we were in their line. My favorite part was when employee A asked employee B why she sent us to her line when she doesn’t handle Moneygrams. “Because,” shouted employee B across a room of 30 people, “it’s for 3,000 pounds!” Yikes. We did not get robbed but I certainly clutched my purse a little tighter as we walked out.
As we didn’t have a phone, communicating with our leasing agent was tricky and we were worried we would miss him. I was imagining we’d have to spend the night on the streets that night with 8 bags of luggage and a wad of cash. He did arrive in the nick of time, at 5:30pm, we passed off our money and got into our apartment! What a relief! My advice if anyone is going to do this is to just bring a suitcase full of money with you on the airplane. You will probably have any easier, quicker time explaining that to Customs than getting it some other way. I document this story to remind myself of how stressful it was and that it all worked out OK. Russell was a lot more patient with the situation than I was.
We love our new flat and are so thankful to all who prayed about this. That was our goal: to get into an apartment within 5 days. It was a great concern. It is in an old church (old by our standards but built in 1870s) with 10 other modern flats. It’s very close to the city center and next door is a beautiful old hotel, The Winchester Royal, which is the oldest hotel in town (we didn’t get to stay here as it was booked). The flat is also furnished which was a welcome surprise as we do not need to go out and buy too much stuff. We will provide pictures of the inside of the flat once we’ve fixed it up.
The weather is perfect. I love going out in a jacket and not sweating. It rained the first few days we were here but only in the afternoon and it was light.
As we didn’t have a phone, communicating with our leasing agent was tricky and we were worried we would miss him. I was imagining we’d have to spend the night on the streets that night with 8 bags of luggage and a wad of cash. He did arrive in the nick of time, at 5:30pm, we passed off our money and got into our apartment! What a relief! My advice if anyone is going to do this is to just bring a suitcase full of money with you on the airplane. You will probably have any easier, quicker time explaining that to Customs than getting it some other way. I document this story to remind myself of how stressful it was and that it all worked out OK. Russell was a lot more patient with the situation than I was.
We love our new flat and are so thankful to all who prayed about this. That was our goal: to get into an apartment within 5 days. It was a great concern. It is in an old church (old by our standards but built in 1870s) with 10 other modern flats. It’s very close to the city center and next door is a beautiful old hotel, The Winchester Royal, which is the oldest hotel in town (we didn’t get to stay here as it was booked). The flat is also furnished which was a welcome surprise as we do not need to go out and buy too much stuff. We will provide pictures of the inside of the flat once we’ve fixed it up.
The weather is perfect. I love going out in a jacket and not sweating. It rained the first few days we were here but only in the afternoon and it was light.
A view of Winchester from St. Giles Hill
Everything we need is within walking distance, which is important, as we won’t have a car this year. I believe we will get in great shape, especially since the University is at the top of a hill.
We’ve eaten out at a few places and have enjoyed the food. Russell loves St. George’s Fish and Chips and would eat there every night if he could. He is also renewing his love for Dr. Pepper as it tastes different here, and in our opinion, better. I’ve loved getting back to the snacks I enjoyed as a kid in England: Prawn Cocktail crisps and Digestive biscuits, to name a few (these may sound gross but don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it). The Sainsbury’s (grocery store) is very close so we’ve stocked up on essentials as well.
We’ve explored and been sightseeing as well but I’ll reserve that for another post as this is getting long. Cheerio.
We’ve eaten out at a few places and have enjoyed the food. Russell loves St. George’s Fish and Chips and would eat there every night if he could. He is also renewing his love for Dr. Pepper as it tastes different here, and in our opinion, better. I’ve loved getting back to the snacks I enjoyed as a kid in England: Prawn Cocktail crisps and Digestive biscuits, to name a few (these may sound gross but don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it). The Sainsbury’s (grocery store) is very close so we’ve stocked up on essentials as well.
We’ve explored and been sightseeing as well but I’ll reserve that for another post as this is getting long. Cheerio.
2 comments:
So glad to hear you're getting settled and doing well! Can't wait to see the pictures of your flat =)...it sounds really neat! Take care!
I'm so glad you got into your flat ok. Sounds stressful but at least you made it! Can you send us pics of your flat?
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